Hi all fodorites:
A reminder as to who we are - mum and dad, a sprightly granma, 11 yr old boy and 15 yr old girl, travelling to Florida for 5 weeks from mid Dec to mid Jan.

I am looking for some dining ideas whilst we are in Orlando for 7 days. I don't really want to go to very expensive 8 tables in a room chef extrodinaire places, and I like the idea of a salad/ entree at one place and desert at another.
We are not big eaters and like healthy options as well as steaks and grilled fish.
Restaurants that we don't get in Cape Town would be great such as a basket ball theme places etc.

Here are some of my thoughts:
Rainforest cafe for the experience - even if we just go for desert
California Grill at the contemporary resort to watch the magic kingdom fireworks
Blues Brothers at Downtown Disney - sunday brunch for the gospel singers
Whats good at Epcot?
Green eggs and ham cafe at Universal for my 11yr old
Wolfgang puck cafe - downtown disney
Bongos cuban cafe
Spoodles at Downtown Disney
landry's seafood house- Lake Buena Vista

Nascar Cafe - City Walk for the boys
NBA - City Walk
Seasons 52 - Sand lake Rd
Roys - W.Sand lake Rd
Dexter's - Thornton park

Any suggestions for when we are Winter park for lunch?

If any of the above are misguided ideas on my part, please say so
thanks a lot

Sorry, thats House of Blues at Downtown Disney and the Trip Advisor reviews say its not so good!

If you are in the mood for sandwiches for lunch, Panera Bread is good. It's a chain so you'll see them all over the place.

Be sure to try the dessert "shots" or tasters (or whatever they call them at Seasons 52. A great solution for those of us who would like a taste of something sweet after a meal but don't have room to "really" order dessert.

In the International Drive area consider Cafe Tu Tu Tango if you want a fun place to eat. Tapas approach to food and just a lot going on. Artists at work, tarot card readers, tango dancers at times, etc. It's my favorite place to eat (casual) in Orlando.

Be sure to take the kiddies to see the parade of ducks at the Peabody Hotel (twice a day).

Spoodles is on the Boardwalk, not Downtown Disney. We had dinner there in January, it was fine, not great. We were staying at the Boardwalk Inn so it was very convenient. I wouldn't make a special trip to visit Spoodles.

At EPCOT, LeCellier and Rose & Crown are very popular.

Have fun!

Hi capetownfolk!

There is a Mexican restaurant in Epcot called San Angel Inn that is really neat; you dine by the water as gondola boats (carrying passengers) float by. The ambiance is really cool-they make it look like you are eating outside at night with many lanterns hanging about-I love it!

Also in Epcot, there is an Italian restaurant called L' Originale Alfredo di Roma Ristorante (the creator of Alfredo sauce)!

Heres a link that describes these and other dining options (for the two mentioned above, scroll down to “special and unique dining”).

http://tinyurl.com/p3uy8

Have a great time!

If you are going to Islands of Adventure at Us, make sure you eat at Mythos. It's a fantastic restaurant. The food and atmosphere are GREAT!

You've definitely done your research! Good Choices!

The way you like to eat, appetizer here, dessert there, is very conducive to Epcot. None of the food is really great here, even at the supposed "fine dining" experiences, but the atmosphere is fun. The French and Canadian restaurants are considered "best," the Mexican has great atmosphere, Morocco features live music and belly dancing, Norway has a buffet (lots of cold fish!), and Japan has knife jugglers that perform at your table to chop and cook.

The California Grill is wonderful. It will probably be your most expensive meal, but also definitely the best.

For a really great steak, go to Schula's (in the Swan or Dolphin). The Flying Fish on the Boardwalk is excellent for seafood. The portions, particularly at the former, are large but you can consider sharing for a "plate charge." Well worth it, if you like your meat done to the same temp. (If you go to Shula's, order things like salads, veggies, and starch for the table and share family style.) These are both in the Boardwalk area, as is Spoodles. Spoodles has a mediterranean tapas menu which we like very much. It's also fun to rent a bicycle surrey built for 4 (or 5? ) at the Boardwalk! Nice to do while waiting for a table or after your meal.

We did not like our meal at House of Blues particularly - much the same fare as Rainforest Cafe, Planet Hollywood, etc. But it's fun for the themed atmosphere. We did like Bongos in the same area. Check to see if they are having floor entertainment while you are there. (Sometimes Latin music or salsa dancing.)

Our favorite restaurant in the Orlando area is Hemmingway's at the Grand Cypress Hyatt. We just find the atmosphere and lighting so relaxing, and the fried Coconut shrimp are colossol and incredible. They have many high quality fish and meat entrees.

I'm trying to remember what's at Winter Park... I think we ate at PF Chang's, which is a better-than-average chain of asain food. Antoher good beef "chain" is Flemings, which has a couple locations in the area. (But order side dishes in the same fashion as ordering at Schula's. )

Oh - MGM has a couple fun dining options. At the Sci-Fi diner you sit in "convertibles" (cars) and watch B-science fiction movies from the 50's under the "stars." They serve burgers, nachos, etc. And there is something I think called the Primetime Cafe that serves comfort food favorites where each table has a mini TV of old sit-coms and the waiters will tell you to take your elbows off the table and such.

Epcot has a cool aquarium fish restaurant in The Living Seas section. You set by a huge glass wall in a darkened restaurant and watch the fish doing their thing while you dine. Again, you won't rave about the food, but the atmosphere.

And on Tom Sawyer's Island between The Haunted Mansion and Thunder Mountain Railroad at Magic Kingdom you can have a picnic lunch of cold chicken or peanut butter and jelly sandwhiches!

Hope this all helps!

Hello again capetownfolk-

I have taken the liberty of quoting myself from another travel website posting several months ago. I think the information may be helpful to you.

You did not mention a price range, so here are some of my recommendations irrespective of price, and in the general area, but outside the parks:

1. Seasons 52 <http://www.seasons52.com/> on Sand Lake Road. This is a very classy restaurant and requires reservations 1-2 weeks in advance.

2. Bahama Breeze <http://www.bahamabreeze.com/> on International Drive. Use their call ahead seating to get your name on the waiting list before you come. Casual dress is the norm.

3. Sweet Tomatoes <http://www.sweettomatoes.com/> at 6877 South Kirkman Rd. is one of a chain of "salad bar" restaurants but is very conveniently located to the Prime shopping outlets <http://www.primeoutlets.com/cntrdefa...p?cntrid=1077> at the north end of kirkman Road.

4. Straubs Sea Food <http://www.straubsseafood.com/> is a short drive away in the "downtown" Orlando area to the northeast. Just take I-4 east (toward Daytona Beach) and get off at Colonial Drive (State Road 50) and go east several miles. The food is good and the prices moderate. It is very popular with locals. The "early bird menu" (before 6 P.M.) is a particularly good value. Again, casual dress is O.K. reservations are not required but a good idea, particularly for the early bird menu.

Use the restaurant search tool in the Orlando Sentinel <http://www.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment/dining/> and try to find restaurants in the area of interest (e.g. I-Drive/Universal or Disney/Lake Buena Vista) that have been favorably reviewed by restaurant critic, Scott Joseph, or are a "Foodie" award winner. One of these, Red Bamboo Thai, is a Foodie Award winner - Critic's Choice (2005: Best Thai). I think they have priority seating if you call ahead.

Hope this helps!

Seasons 52 and and as starrsville mentioned, Cafe Tu Tu Tango both very good. And Dexters! Good for you for find a good neighborhood places with good food.

Winter Park? We like a number of places on Park Avenue: Panullo (Italian), Bosporus (Turkish), Maison des Crepes (Guess!) and Park Plaza Gardens for brunch. I haven't been, but lots of people seem to like the Briar Patch. It's fun to go to Wm. J. Sweets for ice cream, which you can eat in the park. BTW, there's a branch of Dexters in Winter Park. Here's a map:
http://orlandoonline.com/ParkAveDir.htm#Restaurant

Winter Park Village, a nearby mall has all the usual suspects: PF Changs, Cheesecake Factory, etc.

Thank you all so much - we are really grateful for your input and I will go through everything in detail - thanks especially Vic and dreamer.

Feeding 5 people can get pricy, but if the the whole experience is great then you can justify it - eg california grill to watch the fireworks.
A 5 week trip is also making us work to some sort of a budget. Its not like when you are at home you can have an expensive weekend followed by ideos and pizzas at home the next.
We also have to keep in mind that we have travelled so far and it would be short sighted to not try to see as much as possible whilst not letting the trip get too hectic as in if this is Tiesday then this must be Epcot

anyway, thanks agian - can't wait to get there

We were just in Orlando in May.

I heartily second Bahama Breeze and Sweet Tomatoes! Bahama Breeze was by far the best meal we had our entire vacation.

We didn't get to eat at Mythos in Islands of Adventure, but we had hoped to due to the great reviews we'd heard before our trip. I believe they close at 3pm, so be aware of that. If you're going during a busy time, be sure to call ahead and make reservations.

We did Rainforest Cafe after spending the day at Animal Kingdom. The restaurant was COLD, freezing cold. Entree portions were enormous, but nobody in our group really enjoyed the meal. The presentation is good, but the taste is just so-so. They did have some gigantic desserts that looked tasty. Just bring a sweater when you go. >wink<

We had dinner another evening at Margaritaville in Universal City Walk. It was good. Nothing special.

We walked through the bottom level of NASCAR Cafe at City Walk, and I was disappoined in the atmosphere. IMO they should have had more memorabilia on display. The retail area was small. The upstairs dining room may be different. There are 3-4 actual race cars outside the restaurant on the plaza, so your boys will probably enjoy those.

In my experience, the theme restaurants rely more on their theme than their food to draw in guests. I suspect they don't get many repeat visitors.

Hope you enjoy your trip!

If you go to Bahama Breeze, save room for their signature banana dessert. It is wonderful.

I used to have meetings often in Orlando and we would alternate between Bahama Breeze and Cafe Tu Tu Tango. We were on expense account and could eat anywhere - but the group just liked those two restaurants so much we usually went there.

Another interesting choice is Mama's restaurant in Portifino. Good Italian in a replica of Portifino, Italy. There's a good locally owned Thai place nearby too.