The Old Spanish Sugar Mill-DeLeon Springs, Florida

Has anyone eaten here? Sounds like fun! You get to cook pancakes right at your table. I know you can make pancakes at home, but once in a while a place like this can be fun. I moved to Florida about 2 years ago and I'm about an hour away from there. Is it worth the trip?

http://www.planetdeland.com/sugarmill/sugarpage2.htm

I have been to The Sugar Mill twice and really enjoy it. Sure, you can make pancakes at home, but the setting here is special! The last time I was there, my girlfriend and I were the only ones there who weren't reenactors. Make sure you give yourself enough time to look around the beautiful park.

Thanks Buffetbuster! We were looking for someplace different when we have company visiting from NY. We'll definitely have to make a trip there. It also sounds like a good place to go fishing. What do you mean by reenactors?

my fault....they were Civil War reenactors.

It made for quite the interesting meal!

Thanks for the clarification! There was this place on Long Island that was a whole town that did reenactments from I think the 1800's, Old Bethpage Village Restoration. When you said reenactors I was thinking of something like that. lol Brings back a lot of memories of elementary school field trips. I know the Sugar Mill is historic. I'll have to find out when they have reenactments, I love to watch them.

We had the pancake luncht there last February- it works best with a party of four or more, but you can also share a table with other guests if you want. It is inexpensive and good- all the fixins. sausage and such are extra as is coffee. The huge swimming pool is springfed and beautiful, there is a small interesting museum and extensive grounds to explore. when you arrive register at the restaurant for a meal and they wil lcall you on a loudspeaker- we waited over an hour, but found pleanty to do to amuse ourslves while waiting -it's not like you are stuck waiting in a line like at a certain steakhouse that we no longer patronize.

Cheers, John

yes, definitely worth doing and a great trip for when you have visitors. if you go when its warm enough, you can go swimming. the springs are so refreshing. if you can, go on a weekday, much less crowded. also, if you happen to be looking for dinner in deland (town is about 10 minutes away from the springs), we really like the holiday house. and the town of deland has a very cute downtown, worth checking out

Do they actually have an old Spanish sugar mill? Because if they don't and you want to see one (but it's not Spanish), it's only a short drive to Bulow Plantation near Ormond Beach:

i dont know if its spanish, but it does have a working water wheel on the side of the restaurant. i understand they grind their whole wheat pancake batter on the premises

Thanks everyone! We will definitely be going there soon. We have family coming for Thanksgiving. I'll let everyone know how it is.

bosco lover- We go to deland all the time, it's a cute little town. We live in Port Orange and go to the Holiday House in Ormond Beach several times a year. We have'nt been to the one in Deland though. It's a lot different than a regular buffet, but the food is better quality at Holiday House. We also like to go to Hampton's Drive-In on international in Deland. They have a classic car show that my Dad brings his classic cars to every once in a while.

BT- We have sugar mill ruins in our town. It's a botanical garden now. I've been past it practically everyday, but have never actually gone there. They are having a Christmas Fair on Nov. 25th, I'll have to remember to go. http://www.dunlawtonsugarmillgardens.org/

seafarer john- What is the Steakhouse you no longer patronize? I don't want to wind up there.

Again, thanks everyone! We will be going there around the thanksgiving holiday. I'll take pictures and try to post them on here.

qwerty79-
Please come back and let us know what you think and photos would be great, too. The surrounding area is so picturesque, you will have no trouble getting great photos.

To be honest we go to Outback once a year. We have a dear friend in St Pete who insists on treating us to a dinner at Outback, so we go and I order the rack of ribs (lamb) which is really pretty good. But I still resent the damn interminable wait for a seat in the damn place.

I think we have been to a BBQ joint in Port Orange, "Uncle Walt's???. It's a few years ago but as I remember it was pretty good... or maybe it was in Palataka...

Anyway, enjoy your visit to the Sugar Mill, we certainly did.

Cheers, John

I agree. We have been there many times and it is always fun. Buy some of their bread to take home. It is delicious. My daughter in law has this "thing" where she has to have real maple syrup on her pancakes.

One time we went there and she , as usual, brought along her maple syrup in a quart container. I was so embarrassed when one of the employees chased out to our car to catch us before we left and said "Here is the syrup you left...........it has to be worth more than your meal." (Incidentally, I think it most rude to bring anything into a restaurant to have with your food.)

This Yankee is happy to use molassas and corn syrup in all their various southern incarnations on his pancakes when i'm in that part o our great nation. When at home I use maple syrup.

Cheers, john

i took some friends to the sugarmill right before thanksgiving. they had never been but are now definitely converts.
ive never uploaded a picture before, hope it works

these are from inside the restaurant

and this is from outside. we even went swimming that day


thanks to unclevic for photo tutorial

Thanks Bosco, Those photos bring back fond memories of a very pleasant day spent at DeLeone springs.

Cheers, John

bosco lover-
Really nice photos of this great place. How cold was the water in the pool? The time I was there and went swimming, it was September and the water was freezing!

water is always the same temp, roughly 72 degrees, since it is a spring. that day the water and air were about the same temp, so it wasnt too bad. plus, there's an ego thing to going swimming in november-look how tough i am

bosco lover-
Yeah, the ego thing definitely played a part in me getting in the pool in the first place. There were about a half dozen senior citizens goading me, telling me it wasn't too bad. Well, I got in and it was just too cold. They were much tougher than I was!

It's a fantastic place. I was born in Miami, but my greatgrandmother lived in Glenwood, a hamlet with shell roads outside of DeLand, and we used to go swimming at DeLeon all the time.

'Pool' is a bit misleading. It's a huge spring with built-up sides. Absolutely marvelous and not to be missed. Swim over the springs if you can.

It isn't a real Spanish mill, see http://www.floridastateparks.org/deleonsprings/History.cfm

Doug

Reviving this old thread to share info about my recent visit. We visited on a cool, rainy Monday and found both the park and the restaurant very, very quiet. After strolling around the park a bit and visiting the small museum to learn some of the park's history, we decided it was time to eat!





As others have already explained, the Old Sugar Mill is right next to Deleon Springs. 72 degree water flows from the spring all year round. After our meal my kids insisted we take a dip despite the 60 degree weather and rain. We got a few strange looks, but the water was really wonderful.






The day we visited was very quiet, too quiet according to our waitress.














Below is a place mat that explains the concept quite clearly.






All of our group opted for pancakes, along with some bacon, sausage, and eggs on the side. As we ordered the griddles were turned on and we were told how to prepare our pancakes. Shortly after ordering we were brought two large pitchers of batter. I tried both the whole grain and white flour pancakes and found both to be light, fluffy, and very tasty. The syrup was not real maple syrup, but seemed to be the type made with Mapleine and was pretty good. We had some blueberries to add in, but I preferred the pancakes plain. The sides orders of meats were good, but the pancakes were the real stars. We bought a few bags of pancake mix so we can enjoy them at home.






The sausage and bacon were cooked in the kitchen area, but my dad ordered eggs and was brought to eggs in the shell and had to make them himself. You can see my daughter didn't really enjoy the place very much. Actually, it was a great place for kids. Mine really enjoyed the food and the process, saying it was the best breakfast place ever!





As you can see, the restaurant was almost empty the day we visited. A far cry from the hour waits and photos shared by others. 





Just out the door is an opportunity to see all kinds of natural beauty, right in Deleon Springs park, as well as in Blue Springs and Lake Woodruff parks which are close by.






This is a genuinely unique place and is most definitely worthy of a visit if you are in the area. The whole area is a wonderful diversion from the typical tourist spots most people hit when in these areas.


 

Tony Bad, Nice write-up and pics. 
 
That water temp is probably about the same as Long Island in the summer  Now swimming with that gator would have really turned some heads.
 
 

Tony-
Thanks for the really nice report and beautiful photos.  Even if it was a Monday, I'm still surprised that the place was empty.  And I'm not surprised your kids liked it, since us big kids like it, too!
 
I did go swimming one time and the water was so cold.  The only reason Johnny and I got in was because all the senior citizens already swimming were teasing us about being wimps.

buffetbuster


Tony-
Thanks for the really nice report and beautiful photos.  Even if it was a Monday, I'm still surprised that the place was empty.  And I'm not surprised your kids liked it, since us big kids like it, too!
 
I did go swimming one time and the water was so cold.  The only reason Johnny and I got in was because all the senior citizens already swimming were teasing us about being wimps.

Having read the reviews and reports, yours included, we expected to have to wait even on a cold, wet Monday. The comment by the waitress about it being slow lately surprised me. I thought about your visit and the civil war guys when we were there. That must have been quite a sight!

It's a fantastic place. I was born in Miami, but my greatgrandmother lived in Glenwood, a hamlet with shell roads outside of DeLand, and we used to go swimming at DeLeon all the time.

 


Glenwood has some real pretty old houses, and still has a lot of those old shell roads. I like to visit Lake Woodruff nature preserve whn I am in the area and the entrance road is right in Glenwood.

Great place for pancakes and I'm not a pancake fan!  Nice place to walk around too!  Great setting.  

Hi Babs.  Welcome to RF.