18 East

This place is great. Great food, great menu, and great owner. One of the top places to eat in Highlands County.

We eaten here several times and I must say that the food is great, the prices are very reasonable and the atmosphere is very friendly. I’ve had the prime rib Reuben and it was one of the top sandwiches I’ve had. The shrimp, scallops ravioli is hard to resist. I highly recommend this restaurant.

I absolutely love this place. The staff is very friendly and so is the owner. If you want an amazing steak I highly recommend dining at 18 east. The last steak I ordered here was cooked to perfection. Not only is this a great spot to have dinner, but it’s also a great spot to grab lunch. I love philly cheese steaks and they have one that is absolutely to die for. They also have a great beer and wine selection. It is by far the best restaurant in Avon park!

Was staying across the street at the Jacaranda and came in on St Paddy’s Day for dinner. They had a fantastic duo of young ladies playing guitar and fiddle and singing classic country hits. They had some good beer on tap and I loved the fish sandwich. Service was friendly (for such a busy night, anyhow). Came back the next night with some friends and had a meal that was just as good. I can’t imagine there’s a better place to eat dinner in Avon Park.

It’s easily the nicest place in Avon Park. If you include Sebring into the mix, it’s in the top 5 restaurant/​bars for sure. It’s across the street from the Jacaranda and street parking is usually not a problem.
The ATMOSPHERE is brick and wood, slightly dark, and pleasantly cozy. A small bar that seats around ten is separated by a low wall from the small dining area. BTW– This is a beer and wine only place.
At sat at the bar drinking some domestic merlot that was just fine at about $ 5. My bartender was friendly and competent and a pleasure to chat with. There was background music. They should consider adding a TouchTunes jukebox like most other folks in the area.
I noticed hand-​cut fries on the menu and I always find them impossible to resist. They go for $ 2.99 individually and $ 2.00 with a sandwich. They were very very good! See my picture.
The menu looks great and clearly heavy on the steaks. I’ll be back to try a meal but four stars for now.

Amazing Salmon! Smothered Chicken was devine. Very neat place to eat in Highlands county. Hidden Jem!

I went here for dinner after being at the hospital for 5 days taking care of my mother in law. I knew what I was going to order before I walked in, so I sat at the bar and ordered a glass of wine and the Smothered Chicken. My chicken, baked potato and a green veggie arrived. I cut up my baked potato and put butter etc on it. I cut my smothered chicken, and took a bite– raw chicken! The owner came by and took it back to the kitchen. A little while later a plate came out with another baked potato and green veggies on it– no chicken. I waited for my chicken, and ordered another glass of wine. About 20 minutes later, another plate came out with my smothered chicken on it, but my potato and veggies were cold.
No apology from the owner who turned around and walked away from me when I complained about the service. I paid for my wine, tipped the bartender and told him i was not paying for my dinner. I walked out and will never walk back in. The owner is rude, drunk and knows nothing about customer service. Unfortunately there are not many choices in Avon Park. I glad I didn’t get food poisoning from the raw chicken.

While staying at the Jacaranda across the street, 18 East was recommended as a local favorite. From outside we could hear a woman playing guitar and singing a Fleetwood Mac song. The interior was attractive and comfortable. Our server was prompt with drinks.
The food was really good. We had smothered chicken, salmon, and a tenderloin wrap with onion fries. The bread was served with apple butter. Each of us loved our entrée!
Service was very good. Drinks were constantly refilled and food came promptly. It would be difficult to improve on the meal.
The only critique I would offer was about the volume of the live entertainment. The female singer did a great job, however the volume was so high, it was nearly impossible to have a dinner conversation.
We are looking forward to a return trip to 18 East when back in town!

This may be the onlyyyy decent restaurant in avon park!!! (Jacaranda was recommended and proved to be far beyond disgusting) This place has a great ambiance and I love the live music! Service is decent but the food is suprisingly better than expected and the prices are GREAT! Never had a full course meal from apps to dessert with drinks for such a reasonable price! The owner is especially attentive and a really nice guy :) Ive been 2 times and will be back!

After waiting for 45 minutes for someone to take our order we decided that our ears could not take the noise anymore… So we left and won’t be back.

I first had extensive review written but figured short and sweet will get more people reading. The food was ok, nothing I would seek out though. There was a large party there and it seemed to overwhelm the kitchen, making actually getting the food take an hour from ordering. The wait staff NEEDS WORKS. How many times do you walk past an empty glass of water and not fill it. I had to stop them and ask EVERY TIME I needed a refill. There was nothing nasty so it received two stars.

Great food, great staff. We always have a great time. Anne and Don

It was our gateway for Valentine’s week. We decided to stop here. The ambience was great… however, service unfortunately was not good at all. The owner was in the restaurant and decided not to help the two lost waitress that were overwhelmed by a party. So don’t bother to go if they are busy. I asked for water continuously and a glass with ice which is the basic and the response was wait, wait, wait, wait… and I had to remind them. The owner approached the table at the end when we got our food two hours later. the food is good but service unsatisfactory!!!

Food is good, but way too loud… can’t have a conversation with your table w/​out yelling, décor is excellent

Ok so we discovered this restaurant two weeks ago while taking a motorcycle ride from sebring, it was on a Sunday so they were closed, figured we go there next time we cane into town. Two weeks later here we are, was really looking forward to going to a new restaurant! Walked in last night and the restaurant was cute inside, could do without the paper bag signs hanging on their beautiful brick wall but anyhow to each his own when decorating… so I ordered their shrimp & scallops ravioli they called it and my husband ordered the rib eye steak also a bottle of wine, didn’t have the first one we ordered so settled for another choice. When my ravioli came out I was a little surprised on the presentation, looked like a soup, way too much sauce, needed a spoon not a fork to eat… the taste was ok but just way too much sauce, my husband loved his steak so that was good! Oh we also ordered a wedge salad, which before ordering asked our waitress if we could replace our two salads that our meal came with for 1 wedge salad that we’d split and she said sure no problem and then when the check came she charged us $ 6 for the wedge salad… wth??? Any we asked about the charge and she rambled on some explanation that didn’t make sense but it wasn’t worth arguing over so we paid the $ 6 over charge. So in conclusion… the restaurant was decent we may try it again… not our favorite go to restaurant, maybe next time we’ll try the sandwiches or burger type foods and I’ll stay away from that so called ravioli! And by the way the service was GREAT!!!

David is such a fun host & restauranteur … the Pork Chop is to-​die-​for and the wines are quality. Clean, historic brick interior, and attentive staff make this one of our favorites. If ever in central Florida, this is a definite stop for good late afternoon-​evening dining!

Hands down our favorite restaurant in Highlands County…
There is nothing mediocre in the restaurant. Food, service, atmosphere, and price… everything is superb. It’s not uncommon for the owner to be walking around talking to everyone. Everything in 18 East stems from the idea of service and quality. It doesn’t matter who your server is, everyone working there will stop by to ask if they can bring you something. The menu isn’t huge; the small menu guarantees freshness and quality.
Suggestions: 18 East Burger, French fries (all hand cut), fish tacos (special), prime rib wrap, and onion petal/​chips.

Best food and atmosphere in Highlands county!!! Lots of wine to pick from and everything I have ordered is excellent… Dave is a excellent host!

I went back and forth all nigh trying to decide between giving 18 E 3 or 4 stars. But ultimately, by the end of the meal it was clear a 4 star rating is in order. Here was my experience:
Ambience: very nice and impressive. Both my husband and I said wow when we walked in. It has a mix of a comfortable, family restaurant with a chic, stylish feel. A perfect balance.
Service: this was my main issue why I thought of giving them 3 stars. We were seated right away, by the owner at that. The waitress got our drink order right away. All good. By our food took forever!!! Maybe we came at the wrong time, as they were busy, but even still, 2 entrees should not take 30 mins.
Food: their menu is pretty limited to burgers, pizza and meat dishes. As a wanna be vegan this place was impossible. They didn’t even have pasta or soup. So I decided to just deal with it and cave in and eat some dairy. I had the margharita pizza and man oh man was it delicious. It was made with naan bread which was a pleasant change and the veggies were super fresh. My hubby got a jalapeño burger and he said it was great.
Dessert: they only had one dessert and we decided to give it a try since I ditched being vegan for the night. It was called an apple dumpling and it was uh-​may-​zing. An apple covered in pastry with a cinnamon drizzle and cinnamon ice cream. One word: yum. Honestly, the dessert is probably what gave them the extra star.
Price: for $ 33 (tax included) we got 2 entrees, 2 beers and a dessert — not bad.
All in all, we will back and we felt it was worth the drive from sebring to Avon park!

4 relative stars… I say that because there are not many choices in this neck of the woods.
Good ambience, background music (no country music, yay!) & service. The owner is extremely friendly but just a little touchy feely. Don’t be surprise that your dinner might come with a complementary back or shoulder run. It is a «neighborhood» bar after all. The food is tasty and priced fairly. This restaurant/​bar only serves beer and wine which is perfectly alright with me.
Try the only dessert 18E offers. I won’t ruin the surprise. I’ll give you a hint. I am a chocoholic… but there is no chocolate in the dessert and I still absolutely LOVE it!!!