Day 7 – Daytona Market
Awake at 6.45am this morning. I can't believe we're already a week into our holiday! We had a cup of coffee and a swim before heading to Denny's for breakfast. When we arrived, there was a 20/30 minute wait, so we decided to head to IHOP across the road instead, where we were seated straight away.
We had 2 coffees and 2 apple juice. DH had the Breakfast Sampler (2 eggs, 2 bacon, 2 sausages, slices of thick cut ham, hash browns and 2 pancakes). DS1 had a Pancake Combo with Mexican Churro pancakes, scrambled egg, bacon and hash browns. These pancakes were amazing! They tasted like a warm, sticky cinnamon bun. DS2 had toast with a side of sausages (surprise, surprise!), and I had the Split Decision (2 eggs, 2 sausages, 2 bacon, a slice of French Toast and 2 pancakes). Food and service were great, as always. IHOP delivers a really consistent level of quality and service - we love it! Cost was $43.45 plus tip.
Breakfast was late, so we decided to skip lunch. We had a few handfuls of kettle popcorn that we bought in Daytona Market – 2 huge bags for $10.
On the way back from Daytona, we decided that we'd have an early dinner this evening, so settled on Chilis on the 192. We thought as we'd skipped lunch, we could “splash out” a bit on a bigger dinner. Big Mistake. This was the most disappointing and expensive meal of our trip so far.
We ordered 2 lemonades, a red wine and a beer. We also ordered a sample to share as our appetiser. Triple Dipper – buffalo boneless wings, fried pickles and awesome blossom petals (that weren't awesome) – they was basically bits of onion rings. The sampler came with 3 dips and was ok, but pretty greasy. When our appetiser arrived, our server went off to get some side plates, but never returned.. This was the start of things to come..
We waited for our mains and finished our drinks and there was still no sign of our entrees or our server. The restaurant was busy but not massively busy. 40 minutes after finishing our drinks and appetizer, our main course arrived along with some ice water - we clearly weren't getting refills on our drinks!
DH and DS1 had the Smokehouse Combo – brisket and ribs, side of corn on the cob, garlic toast and fries. They said this was nice. DS2 had the cheese quesadillas and fries, which he enjoyed. I had the 1975 Chilli soft tacos and a side of broccoli. My food was stone cold, everyone else's was just warm. I went looking for our server but couldn't find her and we were hungry, so we made the most of what we had and started eating.
When our server finally returned to ask if everything was ok, I mentioned my cold food. She immediately said it was her first day and she'd get the manager. A few minutes later the manager came over to apologise. We didn't want a fuss and I had made an attempt to eat the food anyway. The manager offered us desert but we declined. Bill arrived - $88 - AND we had been charged for my meal and the side of cold broccoli, even though we had complained! I was so annoyed that I made sure to reflect how I felt in the tip. It still galls me that I had to leave a tip for such a bad experience..!
After leaving, we headed back to the villa where DH discovered his phone was gone. We rang it and it wasn't answered but the only place it could have been was the restaurant. All I was worried about was the photos for my food report..!
He hopped in the car and drove back - thankfully, he got it back, but it could have been a
REALLY expensive meal. We definitely won't be back to Chilis – there's much better places to eat.
Finished the evening off and calmed down with a few drinks around the pool.
Total food spends today - $141.45 excluding tips
Overall food spends - £36.26 & $781.67