Since moving to Florida, my hubby and I looked for a modestly priced casual restaurant where you can eat outside with a view. We wanted to find our own “Cheers,” a place where we could go and get to know the staff and locals.  A place to call “home.”

Now while this sounded easy since we live in Florida, it wasn’t. Some places were right on the water, but way overpriced. Some were the kind of “dive” we usually love, but all they had were fatty and fried foods, and that’s not an option for someone without a gallbladder! 

Some places had amazing food but no view. (I mean, we found a restaurant in a strip shopping center that got rave Yelp and Google reviews, and it was amazing, but it had no view.) Some places we fell in love with, but they didn’t survive COVID. (I am sure you all can relate).

Finally, we thought we had found our place. An outside deck with fans so you could sit outside no matter how warm it was that sat over the bay and had a variety of moderately priced food and friendly wait staff. A place you were happy to be at, where everything was right. Kind of like a facility that was READY for survey — you know what I mean?  

But then, yeah, everything became inconsistent. I mean, the spectacular view didn’t change, of course, but the menu changed, and the prices went up. That wouldn’t have been so bad if the food was consistently good and the wait staff were consistently friendly. However, sometimes you would get these tasty and fat wings with crispy skin, and sometimes you’d get these wings that had to have come from an anemic chicken with rubbery skin. 

Then, the friendly staff was hit or miss. Sometimes, you got a server who actually checked on you where you felt that they cared if you were having a good experience, and sometimes, you’d have to stand on the table doing a tap dance singing “Yankee Doodle Dandy” to get someone’s attention. (No, I haven’t really done this, but I have contemplated it!) 

We tried the restaurant one more time last weekend for lunch. All I can say is that it has an amazing view but not so much anything else. We won’t be going back. Sadly, it was like a facility that had passed its survey without too many citations and went back to not trying so hard. 

The thing is, we all want more than a view. We can spiff up our facilities, paint the walls or put down new floors, but if we don’t make our residents and staff feel like we care about them, then so what? If we can’t be consistent on how and what we “serve,” then all we have is a view. 

At least once a year, I visit a facility in Tennessee. It’s not fancy (aka it has “no view”). It still has some faux wood paneling and old flooring, etc. But it is always clean and smells great. I pop in unannounced and see residents loved on by the staff. The staff are always smiling and joking around with each other and with the residents. 

The food is homemade. Not fancy, but it’s what the residents want to eat, and they rush to the dining room at mealtime like it’s time for bingo! No view, but a place you want to call home. 

I’m going to go back to the restaurant in the shopping strip. While it doesn’t have a view, I know I’ll be well taken care of. Let’s all treat our residents like we care. 

Just keeping it real,

Nurse Jackie

The Real Nurse Jackie is written by Jacqueline Vance, RNC, CDONA/LTC, Senior Director of Clinical Innovation and Education for Mission Health Communities, LLC, and an APEX Award of Excellence winner for Blog Writing. Vance is a real-life long-term care nurse. A nationally respected nurse educator and past national LTC Nurse Administrator of the Year, a 2024 McKnight’s VIP Woman of Distinction award winner, and an accomplished stand-up comedienne. The opinions supplied here are her own and do not necessarily reflect those of her employer or her professional affiliates.

The opinions expressed in McKnight’s Long-Term Care News guest submissions are the author’s and are not necessarily those of McKnight’s Long-Term Care News or its editors.

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