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Dining in Orlando ranges from fast food and national chains to celebrity chefs—both international and local—serving locally sourced foods, creative preparations, and clever international influences. The theme parks now have some of the best restaurants in town, although you may opt for a rental car to seek out the local treasur
Dining in Orlando ranges from fast food and national chains to celebrity chefs—both international and local—serving locally sourced foods, creative preparations, and clever international influences. The theme parks now have some of the best restaurants in town, althoug
Dining in Orlando ranges from fast food and national chains to celebrity chefs—both international and local—serving loc
Dining in Orlando ranges from fast food and national chains to celebrity chefs—both international and local—serving locally sourced foods, creative preparations, and clever international influences. The theme parks now have some of the best restaurants in town, although you may opt for a rental car to seek out the local treasures.
The signs of Orlando's dining progress are most evident in the last place one would look: Disney's fast-food outlets. Every eatery on Disney property offers a tempting vegetarian option, and kiddie meals come with healthful sides and drinks unless you specifically request otherwise. Chefs at Disney’s table-service restaurants consult face-to-face with guests about food allergies. And big-name chefs are now well represented in Disney Springs, though less so at Universal's CityWalk.
Around town, locals flock to the Ravenous Pig, the Rusty Spoon, and other gastropubs where the menu changes regularly; Luma on Park, a suave home of thoughtfully created cutting-edge meals; and any number of dining establishments competing to serve the very finest steak. Orlando's culinary blossoming began in 1995, when Disney's signature California Grill debuted, featuring farm-to-table cuisine and wonderful wines by the glass. Soon after, celebrity chefs started opening up shop. Disney has since completely revamped California Grill so it's a trendsetter once again.
Orlando's destination restaurants can be found in the theme parks, as well as in the outlying towns. Sand Lake Road is now known as Restaurant Row for its eclectic collection of worthwhile tables. Here you'll find fashionable outlets for sushi and seafood, Italian and chops, Hawaiian fusion, and upscale Lebanese. Heading into the residential areas, the neighborhoods of Winter Park (actually its own city), Thornton Park, and College Park are prime locales for chow. Scattered throughout Central Florida, low-key ethnic restaurants specialize in the fare of Turkey, India, Peru, Thailand, Vietnam—you name it. Prices in these family-owned finds are usually delightfully low.
The gift shop of the Modernism Museum across the street is attached to this tearoom-turned-restaurant, which helps to explain its striking and sublime decor. The menu features dishes from Florida and elsewhere in the South that are made using local ingredients whenever possible; wood oven–fired oysters, slow-cooked octopus with Japanese eggplant, or barbecue lamb shank are just some of the possibilities.
Locals like this legendary, uncomplicated, very large, family-run steak house, which delivers carefully prepared food and attentive service in a traditional setting of red leather and dark wood. When your steak arrives—still sizzling on a hot plate—the waiter asks you to cut into it and check that it was cooked as you ordered. Don't let the location in an industrial part of town keep you away. The menu is simple: rib eye, porterhouse, filet mignon. Seafood such as lobster, shrimp, and salmon fill out the surf side of the menu. End your meal with a big slice of the award-winning mandarin orange cake.
Celebration's branch of this high-end, family-owned chain might be better than the original in Tampa, which has been operating for more than a century. For your main course, zero in on the paella—either à la Valenciana (with meat and seafood) or campesina ("farmer's" paella with beef, pork, chorizo, and chicken). The best dessert, brazo gitano cien anos (sponge cake with strawberries that is soaked in syrup and Spanish sherry and flambéed table-side), was created for the restaurant chain's 100th anniversary in 2005, and is well worth its price just for the show. Friday and Saturday nights feature a tapas bar and entertainment.
Ethos has been vegan for so long (it opened in 2007) that if feels as if the rest of the culinary world has simply caught up with it. “Chickun” of the plant-based variety substitutes for meat, along with tofu, tempeh, and seitan. The black bean Samson Burger is one of the best veggie burgers in town.
601-B S. New York Ave., Winter Park, Florida, 32789, USA
A hip space nestled in a former private house off Colonial Drive, Kaya gives traditional dishes from throughout the 7,000 islands of the Philippines inventive new angles. Though pricey, the "five-wave Sama Sama Tasting Menu" is truly memorable—what should be a standard dish, the yam noodle pancit, becomes extraordinary, and California long-grain sushi rice is transformed into a revelatory fried-garlic-infused plate with locally grown squash, eggplant, and lion’s mane and oyster mushrooms. Indeed, chef Lordfer Lalicon, who honed his craft at the famed Blue Hill at Stone Farms, takes local sourcing very seriously.
618 N. Thornton Ave., Orlando, Florida, 32803, USA
The menus at Kessler restaurants are always special. From waffles served with Grand Marnier syrup for breakfast to extravagant Saturday and Sunday brunch to tenderloin au poivre for dinner, the fare is sophisticated. Craft cocktails and sinful desserts round out the experience.
At this restaurant, award-winning, James Beard–nominated chef Braden McGlamery emphasizes innovative American dishes. Sophisticated barbecue might find a place on the menu next to Florida redfish as well as some of the best burgers in the area. The bar serves creative cocktails crafted with house-made tinctures, and the Sunday brunch is a must.
640 South Orlando Ave., Maitland, Florida, 32751, USA
Trina Gregory-Propst and her team of bakers and cooks make the biggest and most satisfying breakfasts, lunches, and sweet treats in town. Try a from-scratch chicken pot pie, which has the most glorious crust; the mile-high meat loaf sandwich; or the "7th Trimester" of buttermilk garlic biscuit, over-medium egg, and smoked bacon, smothered in five-cheese mac-and-cheese. Look for the "Let us fill your pie hole" mural.
Tabla's reputation for great Indian food has lasted since 2008. Start with a selection from the enormous range of house-made breads before choosing from the menu of biryanis, curries, tandoor-fired meats, or vegetarian dishes like bhindi masala and sautéed paneer.
216 N. Park Ave., Winter Park, Florida, 32789, USA
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