

(image taken from Civilization’s website).
No, this isn’t Sid Meier’s Civilization that we’re talking about here. Civilization is a quaint little restaurant that is situated almost in the middle of nowhere. I could tell you it’s on NW 2nd Street in Gainesville, but it would take you probably forever to find it (its address is 1511 NW 2nd Street though, if you must know).
Civilization is very unique in that it is the only co-op restaurant in the southeast United States (or so it claims). What does this mean? Basically, the community (or some members of it) own the restaurant and make decisions about it democratically. Investments are also made by the community, thereby removing all influence and dependence of banks. (for more info: http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/fall09/white_j/index.html)
But enough about co-ops, let’s get down to the restaurant level. Parking is ample, and makes the restaurant seem bigger than it actually is…because, I’ll be honest, it’s not that big. It has very high ceilings, which makes it all the more inviting (unlike the Jones, which seems dark and damp), but the actual square footage seems about the same. You could be waiting some days for a good 20-30 minutes…but we managed to get in with no problem around lunch.
For our office group outing, we went off the lunch menu. The specials board is nice and centered in the dining area, and there was a soup that probably a good third of the table wanted (cream of portabello mushroom).
As nice and centered the specials board was, it wasn’t very much updated. The soup was already sold out (can someone enlighten me how soup sells out by noon? yes, this place is open for breakfast, but it still doesn’t quite make sense to me). And to think I was gonna get a bowl of it.
So, anyway, I “settled” for the flank steak sandwich. This is from their website:
Broiled marinated flank steak topped with caramelized onions,
white cheddar, and habanero mayonnaise on a baguette

Awesomeness, in picture form. (Also, I love my iPhone 4S).
What they should have added was “it’s a chockful of awesomeness”. Seriously, the description doesn’t do it justice…granted, looking back, maybe there was more cheddar and more mayo than habanero, but there was still a bit of spice in the whole sandwich. The steak was cooked wonderfully, and the meshing of the baguette + onions and everything else was just immaculate.
The sandwich also came with “fried potatoes”, to which the smart-aleck might go “uhh yeah french fries, ever heard of them?”. But no, they were like french fries but with a homefry twist, if you will. Golden/orange-brown fried goodness surrounding fluffy potatoes = whee.
My friends/office workmates had an avocado melt (was deemed alright, but not sensational), pumpkin and garlic soup (two thumbs up), Florida Cobia burritos (great) and an egg salad (a regular ordered this one, so it’s good). I should also take the time to mention that everything made is from local and organic products.
The only turn-off was the price…$10 for a sandwich never seems fair, even if it was 1) flank steak 2) local/organic 3) with a side of (frickin awesome) fried potatoes. Other than the restaurant being situated in Gainesville-nowhere, I can see the price being a turn-off for most students too (definitely recommend coming during lunch rather than dinner). I understand it’s a co-op, so prices need to be a little more reflective of this fact, but still it seems a tad unsettling.
I will say that they have a nice selection of drinks, including Cheerwine for all you Southern folk (although this is not new, Cheerwine is slowly making its way into UF as well).
Also, service was alright…it wasn’t the best (we’d go sometimes 10-15 minutes without servers realizing I was out of water 20 minutes ago), but it wasn’t the worse. They do have a rule where no more than 4 cards can be presented at the table, but the guy was nice enough to handle all of our cards. I wouldn’t call it attentive service, but I’d call it passable. If you’re a stickler who wants to be the center of your server’s attention, however, you will be pissed.
Grade: A-/B+
Pros: Damn good food, need to try more of it.
Cons: Bit expensive for lunch, not very punctual in updating availability of menu, service is flaky.