Dutch Valley Restaurant — Restaurant in Siesta Key

Let me start by saying - I always enjoy the wait staff. They are fun, funny, engaging & welcoming. That said -

I used to look forward to going to Dutch Valley - the atmosphere is...um, "dated" but the menu is filled with comfort food. DV is also within walking distance of where I live & it's NOT part of a chain so I've made it a point to go to DV for several years. Recently, however, I've decided my last time eating at DV is my last time eating at DV.

A friend & I met at DV for a late lunch - 2 sandwiches, 2 sodas, 1 coffee & 2 desserts. The bill came to $60 + tip. Yes, $60 PLUS TIP....for SANDWICHES. Nothing fancy, nothing noteworthy - old fashioned sandwiches.However, it's not the cost alone that's bothering me, it's the atmosphere too. It's just...dingy. The decor screams of 1970s with some 1980s thrown in to kinda cover the 70s. But it's not the fun, retro-y look or feel of the 70s OR 80s. It appears someone tried to "update" the place in the 80s but went under budget & chose to "refresh" the environment with an okay-ish mural, old Dollar Store silk flowers, & paper streamers but gave up & decided to never go to the trouble of even thinking about updating again.

My point is, if we're going to pay 2025 prices for sandwiches it would be nice to feel like the owners cared enough to put SOME effort into making the place feel clean, fun & alive instead of an out of touch eatery festooned with desperation & awkward "this is good enough" decorations. People today are looking for atmosphere & cleaner experiences. On the whole, we're not excited by the idea of plopping down anywhere for an average burger & fries plate when the bill turns out to be will be so ridiculously high.

But adding to the awkward "atmosphere" - there's always at least 1 boss & 1 or 2 employees standing near the register staring at customers. STARING....STAAARING at us. Not smiling or conversing with people, just STARING like we're going to run out the door which almost no one, who eats at there, is capable of. Most of DV's customers are older (over 60), on the heavy side & lumbering at best. We don't have the physical ability to run out the door & fly down the street without paying but they stare, unsmiling at us anyway. It has a bored to the point of angry, Simon Cowell, "Hot or Not: Fat Americans Edition" judgey vibe.

In closing, the next time I decide to eat out, I'm going to the place next door - it's CLEAN, airy, hip, fresh & youthful. In fact, I ate there last week & thought "oof, this is delicious but when did pizza get so expensive???". However, compared to DV, I'm seeing the cost in a...

Yikes. In fairness to Dutch Valley, there is a portion of my experience over which they have little control. I will mention it here to say that there is part of my dissatisfaction with my dining experience which were related to factors beyond their control.

I ate at the restaurant at around 7:30PM on a Sunday night and found the restaurant to be largely empty. The few people who were in the restaurant were regularly and loudly coughing. This persisted throughout the time I was in the restaurant and was less than appetizing, to say the least. As noted above, this is not the fault of Dutch Valley and I do not hold this against them personally, but it was an unfortunate addition given the negative parts of the experience which were in the the control of the restaurant.

The negatives began to show themselves when I was handed the menu. The menu was extremely sticky, covered in stains, and completely warped. I have been to quite a few greasy spoons so a sticky menu is nothing new to me, but this menu was especially sticky. Holding the menu and turning the pages was especially gross, made all the worse by the extreme warping of the menu so that it resembled more of a "U" shape when placed on the table. Looking at the dirty, sticky, warped menus did not inspire confidence in the quality of the food and overall added to the feeling that the restaurant was dirty.

The most oppressive part of the restaurant, however, was the heat and air inside of it. The restaurant was extremely hot and stuffy, made all the worse by a strange odor which was present throughout my meal. I could not pin down what the smell was but would compare it to a bathroom. I'm not sure why it was so hot inside the restaurant, but it was extremely uncomfortable. The restaurant was also very dark inside, which would not have been much of an issue except for what I have already mentioned.

As for the food and the service, these were the highlights of my visit. I ordered a burger, which was brought quickly and tasted fine. I would not call it a particularly exceptional burger, but it was tasty. The service was also very good. My waitress was friendly and helpful. These parts really helped to redeem my experience. Additionally, the prices are pretty reasonable here.

Overall, I would not say I would generally recommend this restaurant if someone were going to have the same or a substantially similar experience to my own. I acknowledge that I may have come at a bad time or hit just the perfect storm to not enjoy myself, so I would say that if you are at all curious about the menu or what is on offer here, try it...

I’ve driven past this place and their big sign out by the road and their parking lot completely full of cars always catches my attention. I made it a point to stop in today for a late breakfast. The service was good before I got my order but after that, I never saw my server again. He never told me his name which is fine because my rant isn’t about him. I ordered coffee and it was very fresh, I ordered the stuffed French toast with apricots and an order of boring home fries. When the server presented the food to me, I dug in. The first bite of the stuffed French toast burnt the roof of my mouth so bad. It was not a normal temperature, it was as if the filling inside the French toast was just microwaved for 5 minutes. I beg someone at the restaurant to investigate this. The temperature of the cream cheese filling inside of the French toast was literally boiling hot so much so that it was curdling. I looked up what temperature does cream cheese curdle and the internet said that cream cheese curdles at 160 degrees. This 160 degree scalding hot cream cheese was encased inside of these two pieces of French toast and somehow cooked to a temperature of 160 degrees which is what I bit into. How have you not had little kids get burnt from this before? I’m not exaggerating the inner filling was really freaking hot. It burnt my taste buds so the rest of my meal completely unenjoyable. As I said I never saw my server again to tell him that it was too hot. I waited until it cooled down, finished my meal and coffee, waited 10+ minutes for the server to come by, which he never did, finally I got up and went to the registers and paid the woman and left. I am extremely disappointed. I hope there is someone at the establishment that reads this and cares enough to investigate why the temperature of that cream cheese filling is so hot when it is served to the guest. I’m an adult so I can take the blame for putting something that hot into my mouth but little kids won’t and when you serve them boiling hot cream cheese stuffed French toast and they get totally burnt, and you catch a lawsuit, you’ll only have yourselves to blame for not correcting it now. There were so many wonderful items on the menu that I wanted to try at future visits. Its a shame that the first time I tried this restaurant I was completely...