Orlando 2013 now!

I searched but most threads about Orlando were pretty old so I'm starting a new one, hope no one minds.

We are heading to Orlando in March. We've been several times, most recently about 4 years ago. We stay off the WDW grounds and have a car so getting around isn't a problem.

Eating at WDW is a problem. We have always found the food to be absolutely hellacious (with an occasional exception like the CA Grill in Contemporary Resort) and way overpriced. After our first trip, we decided to move up to the chains, like Olive Garden and Ponderosa. Yes, we felt those were steps up from our WDW experiences. The Downtown Disney places were awful too.

Anyway, mainly looking for some good, family friendly, reasonably tasty and reasonably priced food (mostly dinners I think) that's not super far. Of course I have no idea where exactly we're staying, some Marriott time-share type place.

Not looking for gourmet stuff at all. But would really like to feel like the pasta wasn't cooked that morning. LOL

PS we always went to Angel's Diner, in a Holiday Inn I think, which had a seafood buffet with lobster and crablegs, and a coupon in the little booklets all over town. This was usually our best meal of the trip.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

I was in Orlando on Saturday and had a nice lunch at Press 101. It's a cafe and wine bar with outdoor seating probably about 5 miles from Disney proper. The focus is on sandwiches, soups and salads. I started with a bowl of lobster bisque which was well executed; no huge chunks of lobster but properly seasoned and satisfying. I had the Cuban sandwich, and while not having too many in my life, this one was surprisingly better than the one I had in Tampa on Friday. It really stood out based on the quality of ingredients used, from the bread to the ham to the excellent roasted pork loin. There was a pretty wide variety of other sandwiches on the menu and they were all in the 7-9 doller range and come with a small side salad. There are several other non-chain restaurants in this complex along with a 5 Guys Burgers outlet which I did not have a chance to try. Enjoy.

Press 101
7600 Dr Phillips Blvd Ste 22
Orlando, FL 32819-7232
(407) 351-2101

Wish I had better recs from our visit last summer, but everywhere we ate was pretty well covered here...it is a pretty dismal food situation.

We had one decent meal at WDW - Cinderella's Royal Table at the Magic Kingdom. The food was decent for what it was.

At Sea World - The sandwich carvery/beer garden with the free beer had good Brats and Turkey sandwiches.

For dinner out, we went to Charley's one night. It's a typical Morton's type experience, meat roadshow and all. I had the 22 oz bone-in rib eye. It was actually very good, as was the rest of our meal.

Another night, we went to Celebration - there are a few cute restaurants along the Main Street there. We visited the pub/seafood type one. They have a nice outdoor dining area. The crabcakes and key lime pie were excellent.

Other than that, we ate bad resort food or cooked in our condo.

So you're just ignoring the old threads that have a wealth of info in them? why not reply to the old thread and ask if there's any more info to add, instead of making us dig through old threads to copy/paste things that haven't changed?? what am i missing here? ... it's orlando. not exactly the culinary capital of the world, i'm sure whatever was said in the old threads is still mostly relevant..

Welcome to Orlando. In fact, I'm there at this moment on business. I get down here about once a year and unfortunately have had mixed luck on eats.

As far as chains go, I don't mind Bahama Breeze. There are a couple in town, one on International Drive.

On theme park properties, the only place I have been to that is worth mentioning is the Flying Fish Cafe on the Boardwalk near the Dolphin Hotel. I was there about ten years ago (!), but I recall it being a very pleasant area to walk around and a very nice meal.

There is a little restaurant row on Sand Lake Road which might be your best bet. We've been to Cedar's, a Lebanese restaurant, several times which is quite good and inexpensive. In fact, that has been our favorite spot over the years.

http://cedarsoforlando.com/

There is also a Thai restaurant across the street which looks good, although I've never eaten there.

Several other higher end restaurants are in that same area. I would not recommend the Roy's on Sand Lake Rd. The quality of the food has been far below the Roy's in Chicago - which is not really one of my Chicago favorites, but at least I have had good meals at our local outpost. Not so in Orlando. Same prices, similar menu, much worse results.

You might also want to check chowhound.com for more local input.

wak wrote: On theme park properties, the only place I have been to that is worth mentioning is the Flying Fish Cafe on the Boardwalk .

I'll also throw in an honorable mention for the Flying Fish Cafe. I'm usually forced down to Walt Disney Hell at least once a year for biz and this place has been consistently good. Food is typically excellent and they have a surprsingly good selection of wine by the glass. Prices, however, are outrageous!

We also thought the food at WDW was pretty bad, but thats where the kids wanted to eat all of their meals. One night we did get to go off property, and went to get some all you can eat crab legs, and lobster @ a place called Boston Lobster Feast. For a seafood buffet it was not bad, but then again when I can crack all the crab legs I can eat, and toss in a few lobsters while drinking some ice cold beer I am there & will have no complaints..

enjoy your trip

www.bostonlobsterfeast.com

We will be in Orlando in March for a week with the kids, staying on property and without a car. It is our first time down there, so any other suggestions about where to eat on property or places easily accessed without a car are appreciated, as well! I have heard that it is not that expensive to get a cab out of the Disney compound, but we've never done it so I don't know how difficult it is to get back and forth.

Suzy

Sujormik, it might help if you detailed a bit more on what had disappointed you at WDW. Did the kids force you into the awful fast food places/buffets?

That being said, it is hard to find any reasonably priced, good food at Disney. If you want to eat well, you're going to pay through the nose.

It's been many years since I was there on my honeymoon, and even more years since I worked there (I worked in EPCOT), but here is what I recall as "good eats" for WDW. For some, I don't recall the specifics, for others, I'll detail what was good.

• California Grill in the Contemporary Hotel
• Boulangerie Patisserie in EPCOT- Wonderful croissants.
• Rose and Crown Pub in EPCOT- The best Fish and Chips I've ever had.
• The Brown Derby at the Disney MGM park (now, Disney Hollywood, I think) has an excellent chopped salad. It's been mentioned in another LTH thread on salads.
• Flying Fish Cafe at the Boardwalk.
• Fulton's Crab house in Downtown Disney - On par with some of the LEYE places here in Chicago. Owned and operated by Levy Restaurants.

I've also heard that Victoria and Albert's in the Grand Floridian is amazing, but I've never been there. It's very pricey, (I think over $100 per person) and NOT kid-friendly. They just enacated a minimun age to dine there. Not sure what it is.

The Dolphin hotel has a Shula's Steakhouse that is reputed to be excellent and new(er) place by Todd English called the bluezoo. FYI, the Dolphin hotel is a WDW property that is NOT operated by the Disney Corporation.

Disney food has definitely gone down hill in the last 15 years. Cutbacks in the mid-nineties resulted in outsourcing of items that used to be made fresh, in-house.

It also resulted in Disney becoming a lessor of many locations instead of an independent owner and operator. Downtown Disney (back when it was called Disney Village) used to have a couple of nice, sit down places. Chef Mickey's used to be there, featuring American seasonal fare. There also used to be a German deli that had fresh cut sandwiches. Then some suit came up with the idea to invite major chains to set up shop in the Village. Downtown Disney was born and now nothing is the same. Chef Mickey's was moved to the Contemporary and became a bland buffet .


Kim

Yeah, when Disney went all corporate on us, it was a real disappointment.

I kid. As someone from Tampa (a city with rough charms that was a city (with alleys, ethnics and such) when Orlando was not yet a concept), I'm somewhat bewildered by the fact that the city Disney built more or less left my formative town in the dust some years back in many areas. Certainly, food is not one of those areas.

Though Orlando is very close to Tampa, I and most Tampans know little about it, except go if you must then get out ASAP. That said, Charley's is very good; it's been around forever and is not touristy, for Orlando at least. Winter Park is a nice old respite from Orlando, too.

sdritz wrote:We will be in Orlando in March for a week with the kids, staying on property and without a car....Suzy

Suzy, if you sign up for the free Orlando tourism travel kit, they'll include a map of the I-Ride trolley that goes up International Drive (where most of the big restaurant chains are located.) I think its like $1 per ride. You're still in the world of TGIF and it's ilk, but at least you can pick your poison - I think every single national chain is represented there.

Also, when I went, I found another forum with this information

Thanks for the nice suggestions everyone. Suzy we should hook up when we're there LOL.

Kim, my main experiences with bad Disney food were kinda everything. We did have a nice meal at the Cal Grill once when my husband was there for work and I tagged along.

Otherwise, we found the restaurants in Disney Village Marketplace to be tremendous disappointmens (there was an italian place there that had fettucine alfredo with shrimp that HAD to be sitting in a pot all day). The character buffets, we didn't expect much and didn't get much. I don't epect much from inside theme parks, we would love to bring in our own food but don't want to run afoul of the disney police. lol

I don't really consider Orlando one of the better food towns that I travel to. For the most part, I find myself disappointed with many of the offerings there that are touted as excellent on the internet. For example, the humble little fried chicken stand, Dixie Chicken that many locals tout as having the best fried chicken in Florida, left this southern boy completely underwhelmed with its crispy, hot and completely unseasoned bird.

There are two places that I consider regular standbys in Orlando. The first is Charley's Steakhouse mentioned a couple of times in this thread. It is a simple unadulterated upscale steakhouse. Old fashioned and hard to beat.

The second is a two store seafood outlet called Straub's Seafood. I've dined at the one in Altamonte Springs. The dining room is simple. There's an early bird for the tourists and old folks. What they serve is really well cooked simply prepared fish and seafood for under or around $20 an entree. It's of the beaten path from Disney and it's a place that caters more to locals than tourists.

http://www.straubsseafood.com/

YourPalWill wrote:I don't really consider Orlando one of the better food towns that I travel to. For the most part, I find myself disappointed with many of the offerings there that are touted as excellent on the internet. For example, the humble little fried chicken stand, Dixie Chicken that many locals tout as having the best fried chicken in Florida, left this southern boy completely underwhelmed with its crispy, hot and completely unseasoned bird.

This is why I haven't asked any of my local friends in Orlando for recs to post on this thread. They've all been there for so long, I know that they'll name the local chains or something that would not be considered fantastic in Chicago. You tend to get used to the banality of Orlando cuisine after being there for a while.

I'm always amazed by the people who come back from Disney ad say things like "I had the BEST pizza ever at Disney Studios" or "That meatloaf in the Magic Kingdom was to die for". I often wonder if the euphoria of the vacation affected their taste buds.

Suzy, no, it's not hard getting a cab to come on property at all, and that is the best option if you don't have a rental car. Just so you know, there is no public transportation that comes on property (ie, public buses or trolleys). Once you're on Disney property, they do everything in their power to make sure it's hard for you to leave.

Doc's Restaurant
1315 S. Orange Ave
(407) 839-3627

Full disclosure: I've never eaten at this restaurant, and I used to work with the chef, Neil Connolly, when he was the chef for the Kennedy family on Cape Cod. (He wrote the book, "In the Kennedy Kitchen".) Having had the privilege of eating many meals that passed through his kitchen, I can vouch for his skills, and the menu at the restaurant--heavy on seafood--looks tasty (particularly the dinner menu).

Don't know if it fits any of the parameters requested, but I'd be interested to hear any feedback from anyone who eats there.

Just noticed this article in the Trib: I don't recall seeing many of these places mentioned, might be a good resource...

Just back from Orlando and wanted to offer my followup to our visit there. Bottom line: park food was better than we remembered, our few restaurant visits were mostly underwhelming.

In the Magic Kingdom we had lunch at Columbia Harbor House, just outside the Haunted Mansion, and the tuna salad sandwich was remarkably ok. The toast wasn't too toasted but the sandwich was really quite acceptable. Similarly, dinner that same night in Tomorrowland (the big counter place) was a bbq pork sandwich that was quite acceptable. Rave-worthy, no, but compared to what I remembered from MK, I had no problem with either of these items, they weren't even ridiculously priced.

We ate at the French place in Epcot, not the super expensive one but the one right on the main drag that faces the lagoon. It was ok. Nah, it really wasn't that good. It wasn't horrendous/inedible but no, not very good. Bland onion soup, boring croque monsieur, odd creme brulee. Woudn't recommend it.

We also ate at Universal Islands of Adventure, a counter service spot back near the cartoon area (by the Dudley-do-right water ride) and that also was surprisingly ok. Had spaghetti with meatballs, the meatballs were not cringeworthy as I feared and the spaghetti was actually al dente. We also had a Cinnabon at Universal, please don't revoke my LTH membership status.

Grownup dinner (once) was at Moonfish, which was the overwhelming suggestion from a number of different sources. We were underwhelmed. It was pretty pricey, nothing was all that special, and the dining room was so behind on reservations that we witnessed people leaving and literally shouting at the hostess about the horrible wait and the food not being worth the wait. Really strange, considering how highly it came recommended.

Also had a quick lunch at Flippers, a local chain of 5 or 6 spots that do handtossed pizzas and pastas. It wasn't bad, a really tasty Ken's caesar dressing that I haven't been able to find in the grocery store, and decent if not stellar pizza.

Orlando remains NOT a culinary destination. LOL

I havent been to Orlando in years so the time I visited the Bulls had just beat Utah for the second time in the finals so I was a soph. in HS...Id like to think my taste was advanced back then but maybe not. I always loved the food at the Orlando ale house which is a mini state chain. It probably wasn't anything great but I liked it so much better than the usual mall strips with the usual chains.

I was raised in Orlando and visit family frequently.

The one restaurant I would definitely recommend would be Seasons 52. This place is really nice, the prices are right and the food is great. Every item on the menu is 500 calories or under...Okay, stop I know what you all are thinking, gross, boring.....well no, the food is actually very very good and you would never guess about the calories unless you read the menu.

Two locations, one in Altamonte Springs, which is a good 25 minutes North of where you will be at, and another off of Sand Lake Road, which is a lot closer to your location.

The best thing they have is dessert, the dessert is served in these little shot glasses and they bring all of them to the table where you can literally pick up the one you want to try.

http://www.seasons52.com/locations/orlando.asp

A couple years ago, while MsRev was out of town, I went to Disney World by myself for a weekend and loved it. Nice to know I haven't grown up. I was able to see everything without anyone holding me back. It was also helpful pushing those little kids to get a better place in line. Of course, I dined extremely well, at Blue Zoo and California Grill.

In a few weeks MsRev will again be out of town and I'm considering doing a weekend at Universal Orlando. I haven't been there in over 20 years. Do you think I will enjoy this as much as Disney? Are the attractions first rate, like Disney? I have a couple restaurants picked out if I decide to go. Normans was fantastic in Miami and great when Van Aken was at Louis' Backyard in Key West. I imagine this will be just as tasty. Another restaurant that looks very good is Primo, in the Mariott. I like the menu and the chef is a former James Beard winner.

http://www.grandelakes.com/Primo-78.html
http://www.grandelakes.com/Normans-74.html

There is a little restaurant row on Sand Lake Road which might be your best bet. We've been to Cedar's, a Lebanese restaurant, several times which is quite good and inexpensive. In fact, that has been our favorite spot over the years.

http://cedarsoforlando.com/

Will definitely second the Cedar's recommendation. Dined there on a horribly rainy night in March, took 45 minutes to go 3 miles (is there anything worse than Orlando traffic in the rain, besides Chicago?) so we were in desperate need for a good meal. And, to throw a monkey wrench into it, we were with my 83-year-old parents. Thus...there could not be any deviations from perfect or merely stellar in this experience.

Gladly, we weren't disappointed. Beautiful room, attentive waitstaff. The hummos were as good as anything in Chicago, my dad's rack of lamb was 'the best', in his words, Mom's salmon was very good, but the highlight was the farrouj mousahab, the boneless Cornish Hen. Howthehell they did this I don't know, but it was marinated, halfway-flattened, and just plain delicious. Moist & sturdy at the same time.

And we were just leaving as the belly dancer was getting started in the other room, and the hookahs were being carried out. Maybe next time!

One of the best meals we've ever had in the Sunshine State.

RevrendAndy wrote:In a few weeks MsRev will again be out of town and I'm considering doing a weekend at Universal Orlando. I haven't been there in over 20 years. Do you think I will enjoy this as much as Disney? Are the attractions first rate, like Disney?

If your a fan of thrill rides than it doesnt get any better than Universals Island's of adventure. Its like a disney world for the HS crowd with all of its amazing adventure rides. Just make sure your heart can handle them, the groundbreaking coasters are some of the best rides in the world. Dining inside the park offers the usual garbage, similar to Great America's themed food stations.

Theres also an outpost of Charley's Steak House in Orlando. From what I remember they come to you with the platter of steaks and you choose your cut from the waitress' plate.

Church St. station might have some decent lunch places but I havent been in 5 years.

Beefy King is another place I distinctly remember from my visits as a kid, its story is similar to Henry's Hamburgers. Here is a link I just found.

http://www.orlandoweekly.com/dining/rev ... ?rid=11258

Charley's actually originated in Orlando. The exception that proves the rule.

We just got back from Orlando and had a great time. Universal was fun but not as large as Disney, which enabled us to leave the parks early and get a round of golf in each afternoon.

We ended up dining at Norman's, in the Ritz, and Primo, in the Mariott. I would give the nod to Primo.

The service was a bit lacking at Norman's, which surprised me for a restaurant of this caliber and price. Although the restaurant was formal, my friend wearing jeans didn't look that out of place. After all, it may be the Ritz but it's still Orlando and Disney country.

My friend started with yuca stuffed crispy shrimp which were very tasty. I had lobster ravioli with lobster consomme, which were good, not great. Entrees were mongolian marinated grilled pork chop, which was terrific, and a trout special I thought was just ok. Dessert was good, but I can't remember what it was. I just know it had chocolate.

Primo, on the other hand was superb. We ate at the bar and our service was excellent.

We shared a meal of 4 courses beginning with ethereal grilled octopus with white beans and lemon vinaigrette. The octopus was quite tender. We then had Maine Lobster sweet pea-lobster stuffed ravioli with lobster butter sauce. It was quite pricey, at $39., but the ravioli were accompanied by a 1 1/2 lb. lobster out of the shell consisting of the 2 claws and 2 other chunks of tail meat. This dish was to die for and blew away the lobster dish at Norman's. We continued with Sautéed Scaloppine of Pork Saltimbocca in a sage infused mushroom-madeira jus with prosciutto, spinach and roast garlic mash. It was excellent, but I won't say it was better than the pork chop at Norman's. Dessert was cannolli and it was just about the best I've had in the US. Instead of the normal shell they used an almond tuile. The ricotta stuffing was almost as flavorful as what I had in Italy 6 months ago.

We are heading to Orlando in June instead of October to take advantage of the current stay 4 nights get 3 free promotion Disney is running(we are going for a week, instead of the 4 days we planned on going). We plan on only eating one days worth of meals at the park(Cinderella's Castle, and somewhere else), on our one day at the park(thats all I could handle). SO alot of meals off the Disney property thankfully

We will be hitting Boston Lobster Feast one, or perhaps two nights(I am bad, I cant get enough all you can eat crab legs, & lobster), as well as making the drive into downtown Orlando, and the surrounding towns, and hotels to hit as many restaurants as we can. We are going to go to try to go a couple of fish camps for some alligator, frog legs, etc. I have a few places in my guidebooks but am looking for any other rec's.

I am not interested in chains, but am looking for good steakhouses(a few blow out steak, or surf and turf dinners are in the cards), seafood(stone crab claws, grouper, etc), alligator, & frog legs. Like all my Chicago searches, must be kid friendly, and have beer, and preferably tequila.

Any recent visitors with rec's outside of the Disney property? We have a vehicle and if you know me I dont mind driving to a neaby town if it is worthy.

thanks.

there are a few suggestions here and in those pesky old threads ( viewtopic.php?f=15&t=6933&p=62100 ) that would classify as kid friendly... celebration florida is an area that pretty much has no choice to accept kids, a few good places to eat there... winter park is probably slightly less kid friendly but good independent restaurants there ..

the only problem with the old threads is the info can be out of date, especially with how restaurants close, and can change for the worse over time.

I can get my fill of asian food, Italian food , and other ethnic food here in Chicago. I am just looking for solid places to get stone crab claws, alligator, shrimp, and other local seafood, as well as a few good steaks while we are down there. I printed about 20 menus yesterday from restaurants, fish camps, and raw bars from Orlando, to Kissimme, to DeLand, to New Smyrna. I think I have afew good ideas.

We are also heading over to either Daytona/New Smyrna for a day at the ocean during our visit.

I have a buddy who works for ESPN aka Disney and is stationed in Orlando and I just asked him about any spots to eat at when I come down to Tampa and Orlando later this year and he sent me this place and said by far his favorite sit down in the area. Its located in Winter Park which I guess isn't a far drive and car rentals are abundant down there.

http://theravenouspig.com/Home_Page.html

Coincidentally I see it mentioned in the Florida state plate section from the new Saveur issue. Looks great.

Da Beef wrote:I have a buddy who works for ESPN aka Disney and is stationed in Orlando and I just asked him about any spots to eat at when I come down to Tampa and Orlando later this year and he sent me this place and said by far his favorite sit down in the area. Its located in Winter Park which I guess isn't a far drive and car rentals are abundant down there.

http://theravenouspig.com/Home_Page.html

Coincidentally I see it mentioned in the Florida state plate section from the new Saveur issue. Looks great.

thanks,

I had seen The Ravenous Pig mentioned in some of my searches on other sites. Ill check out the website.

A car is not an issue, we are driving down from Chicago. The airfares were ridiculous for June. The cheapest was almost $1000.

I can rent a mini van for the week up here including unimited mileage for $380, I prefer driving anyway.