Our family moved to Crestview about 15 years ago. Since that time, it seems we have lost several sit-down restaurants and gained fast food establishments.
Driving from one end of town to the other on Ferdon Boulevard, one sees an abundance of fast food restaurants, and a few casual dining establishments.
A casual dining restaurant generally offers a moderately priced menu in a casual atmosphere with table service. Some of these establishments may offer a full bar, like Johnny O'Quigley's, Applebee's, or Olive Garden.
There is also the fast casual dining restaurant, which features tables, booths and plenty of seating, but the customer has to place their own food order. The staff may or may not bring the food to the table. Examples would be Chick Fil-A, Taco Town, Panera Bread, McDonald's, Bamboo Sushi and so on.
There is also a place for fine dining, but many people only eat at a fine dining restaurant on special occasions, like anniversaries, graduations, and birthdays. I think of the Wild Olive as a fine dining restaurant.
While Crestview has a profusion of fast casual dining establishments, given our population we have a dearth of casual dining. When we moved here, the buzz about town was that we would be getting a Longhorn Steakhouse, Olive Garden, Ruby Tuesday and so on. That was over 12 years ago, and we have none of these restaurants.
I realize at the corporate level management must decide that Crestview has the population and income to sustain a restaurant, however, it seems to me we could support a few more.
While I enjoy many of the restaurants we have here in town, more variety would be appreciated. My husband, Jim, will eat about anything, while I am pickier.
Sundays after church it is difficult to find a casual dining place to eat. Cracker Barrel is slammed and very noisy, not an ideal place to converse.
It would be nice to have a place that is conducive to having a meaningful conversation after church, along with a meal. Since some people speak fairly quietly, it can be difficult to hear in a packed, noisy restaurant with all hard surfaces.
Jim would love to see a Village Inn or an IHOP come to Crestview. I would enjoy Longhorn or a nice buffet, as there is a wide variety of food that should appeal to everyone in the party.
Competition is good for business. As restaurants compete for our business, they need to uphold good food, service and maintain consistent quality.
We have great eating establishments, we just need more.
Janice Lynn Crose, a former accountant, lives in Crestview with her husband, Jim; her two rescue collies, Shane and Jasmine; and two cats, Kathryn and Prince Valiant.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: More sit-down restaurants would be welcome here