-
$$$ | |
Celebration's branch of this high-end, family-owned chain might be better than the original in Tampa, which has been operating for more than a century. For your main course, zero in on the paella—either à la Valenciana (with meat and seafood) or campesina ("farmer's" paella with beef, pork, chorizo, and chicken). The best dessert, brazo gitano cien anos (sponge cake with strawberries that is soaked in syrup and Spanish sherry and flambéed table-side), was created for the restaurant chain's 100th anniversary in 2005, and is well worth its price just for the show. Friday and Saturday nights feature a tapas bar and entertainment.
649 Front St., Celebration, Florida, 34747, USA
Known For
- Oldest continuous restaurant chain in Florida
- Upscale Cuban cuisine
- Paella à la Valenciana
-
$$ | |
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
Known For
- Long dedicated to a meat-free menu
- Plant-based "meats"
- Chickpea bay crab cake substitute
-
$$ | Central Orlando |
Trina Gregory-Propst and her team of bakers and cooks make the biggest and most satisfying breakfasts, lunches, and sweet treats in town. Try a from-scratch chicken pot pie, which has the most glorious crust; the mile-high meat loaf sandwich; or the "7th Trimester" of buttermilk garlic biscuit, over-medium egg, and smoked bacon, smothered in five-cheese mac-and-cheese. Look for the "Let us fill your pie hole" mural.
617 Primrose Dr., Orlando, Florida, 32803, USA
Known For
- Over-the-top Southern breakfast specials
- Funky Downtown location
- Featured on TV show Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives
Restaurant Details
Rate Includes: Closed Mon.–Wed. No dinner
-
$$ | |
A large and interesting selection of American dishes is served at breakfast and lunch, as well as, perhaps, an early dinner (as in before 6 pm). Offerings range from burgers and hand-tossed pizza to gator bites and frog legs.
225 Celebration Place, Celebration, Florida, 34747, USA
Known For
- A quick bite before or after theme park visits
- Eclectic American menu
- Lobster Benedict breakfast
Restaurant Details
Rate Includes: Closed weekends
-
$$$ | |
This bright, modern restaurant serves fairly standard sushi rolls and an interesting range of hot dishes. Menu standouts include the bulgogi or shrimp bibimbap rice bowl.
671 Front St., Celebration, Florida, USA
Known For
- Japanese and Korean specialties
- Affordable lunch specials
- Unusual roll combos
-
Recommended Fodor’s Video
-
-
$$$ | College Park |
Armando Martorelli has opened many local restaurants in his career since coming from Italy to Florida, but his namesake eatery is the epitome of his craft. It has a relaxed neighborhood vibe and serves what is perhaps the area's best Neapolitan-style pizza. Other menu highlights include daily fresh-seafood specials, veal saltimbocca, and a signature pollo di Tatiana with vodka cream sauce.
2305 Edgewater Dr., Orlando, Florida, 32804, USA
Known For
- Wood-fired oven pizza and other Neapolitan specialties
- Superb seafood
- Extensive wine and cocktail list with a very popular bar area
-
$$ | International Drive |
Open from early breakfast to late dinner in the Hyatt Regency, this slick modern diner is not exactly cheap, but the salads, sandwiches, and griddle foods are tops. The classic B Line Burger is done beautifully. And there are lots of selections you'd never expect to find here, like an appetizer of stuffed avocado and a portobello quesadilla entrée.
9801 International Dr., Orlando, Florida, 32819, USA
Known For
- Updated diner theme
- Breakfast and late-night specials
- Large dessert menu
-
$$$ | Sand Lake Rd. Area |
Exceptional Turkish cuisine served in a relaxing, indoor-outdoor setting is a welcome surprise among the big-budget chains on Sand Lake Road. Servers at this independently owned neighborhood favorite bring to the table piping-hot, oversize lavas (hollow bread) to dip in appetizers such as a hummus, ezme (a zesty, garlicky, chilled chopped salad), and baba ghanoush. Many twosomes make a meal of the bountiful mixed-appetizer platter with a lavas or two. Following are oversize platters of char-grilled whole or filleted sea bass, kebabs, and lamb dishes, each prepared expertly. Light eaters enjoy the boat-shape spinach-and-cheese Turkish pastry. Other locations are in Winter Park, Lake Nona, and Winter Garden.
7600 Dr. Phillips Blvd., Orlando, Florida, 32819, USA
Known For
- Turkish appetizer plates
- Grilled sea bass
- Chicken and lamb shish kebab
-
$$ | Lake Nona |
With nine permanent food and drink vendors, all housed in colorful repurposed shipping containers, Boxi Park is like a big, stationary, food-truck park, just with more alcohol. Three of the venues serve microbrew beers and margaritas or other mixed cocktails to go with the hand-rolled sushi, burgers, chicken sandwiches, tacos, lobster rolls, and more.
6877 Tavistock Lakes Blvd., Orlando, Florida, 32827, USA
Known For
- Everything from lobster rolls to sushi
- Beer and cocktail stations
- Casual, fun outdoor neighborhood setting
Restaurant Details
Rate Includes: Closed Mon.–Wed.
-
$$$ | |
Operated by a family with Boston roots, this New England–cuisine eatery has a double personality: the interior is a brass, glass, and dark-wood-paneling kind of place, while the outside patio has table seating plus the Paddy O' Bar. The food ranges from landlubber treats like baby back ribs, prime rib, and half-pound burgers (from $8) to exquisite seafood including Ipswich clams, lobster rolls, scrod, and 2-pound lobsters (all flown in from Boston), plus, on occasion, a salute to the Sunshine State with Florida stone crabs in season. Although the place has a polished demeanor, there are plenty of menu choices right out of a working-class Boston bar—meatball hoagies, Philly cheesesteak sandwiches, and Buffalo-style chicken wings. For dessert there's great—what else?—Boston cream pie.
721 Front St., Celebration, Florida, 34747, USA
Known For
- 99-beer selection
- Fried Boston scrod
- Steak scampi
Restaurant Details
Rate Includes: Sunday brunch
-
-
$ | |
You can enjoy outdoor patio dining at this popular seafood shack in Lake Wales, which was visited in 2016 by Emeril Lagasse for his show Emeril's Florida. Fresh shrimp, blue crab, and catfish sourced from Florida fishers are all on the menu in season.
802 Henry St., Lake Wales, Florida, 33853, USA
Known For
- Fresh Florida seafood
- Very casual atmosphere
- Appearance on Emeril's Florida TV show
Restaurant Details
Rate Includes: Closed Sun. and Mon.
-
$$$ | International Drive |
The dining rooms at this Cuban restaurant feel as if they're movie sets of Old Havana, with dramatic touches upstairs and down. Start your meal with a meat-filled arepa rellena corn cake or a platter of two to four empanadas filled with savory ground beef and olives, chicken, cheese, or pork; for the main course, consider the churrasco a la Cubana (grilled skirt steak) with a lemon-onion sauce plus a watercress-mushroom escabeche salad. Go traditional with a pressed Cuban sandwich, which is part of the classic platter featuring black bean soup, salad, and chips, or a good version of the traditional ropa vieja, shredded beef brisket with tomatoes, bell peppers, and onions in a red wine sauce.
9101 International Dr., Orlando, Florida, 32819, USA
Known For
- Menu via celeb chef Guillermo Pernot
- Extensive rum bar
- Friday and Saturday late nights with salsa dancing
Restaurant Details
Rate Includes: No lunch. Closed Mon. and Tues.
-
$ | Thornton Park |
Noisy and visually loud (commissioned graffiti makes up the decor), casual and astoundingly popular Graffiti Junktion holds the burger/wrap/sandwich crowd in thrall. Burgers run large and juicy, with hand-formed patties bursting from the bun in varieties like the Iron City (Angus beef, Canadian bacon, cheese, and a fried egg), and all three of the Orlando locations are open until 2 am.
700 East Washington St., Orlando, Florida, 32801, USA
Known For
- Late hours and noisy sports bar atmosphere
- Fresh-formed burgers with inventive toppings
- Hand-cut french fries
Restaurant Details
Rate Includes: Closed Mon.
-
$$$ | Downtown Orlando |
A local favorite since 1947, this down-home steak house serves good cuts of meat, expertly cooked and reasonably priced. Butchery is done on premises, and there are no TVs over the bar to distract from a pleasant conversation over a great steak. The menu is short and to the point, including about a dozen steaks (most of them different sizes of top sirloin strip, filet mignon, or T-bone) and just enough ancillary items to fill a single page. Among the fish selections is the 12-ounce blackened red snapper. The chicken, veal, or eggplant parmigiana topped with marinara sauce and mozzarella is good for nonsteak lovers. With every entrée you receive a salad plus a choice of spaghetti (which isn't particularly noteworthy), baked potato, steak fries, green beans, or broccoli. There's even an old-fashioned early bird special for seniors before 6 pm.
4721 E. Colonial Dr., Orlando, Florida, 32803, USA
Known For
- An Orlando classic
- Hand-cut, house-aged steaks
- Seafood and pasta entrées
Restaurant Details
Rate Includes: Closed Sun. and Mon. No lunch
-
$$$ | Lake Nona |
Part tavern, part bistro, and part sports bar, Nona Blue has a little something for everyone. Kettle chips smothered in blue cheese or Buffalo chicken wings, check; burgers and salads, check; filet mignon or a 16-ounce, $44 Delmonico rib eye, also (very much) check.
9685 Lake Nona Village Pl., Orlando, Florida, 32827, USA
Known For
- Casual atmosphere with high-end steaks
- Signature burgers
- Bar with craft beers and single-malt whiskeys
-
-
$$$ | International Drive |
Hampton Social covers many bases with its menu of "coastal inspired food." With options ranging from California-style pizzas and lobster rolls to steak or seafood tacos and crispy calamari, there's likely to be something for everyone in your party. Weekend brunch adds boozy and non-alcoholic bevs, as well as live music.
9101 International Dr., Orlando, Florida, 32819, USA
Known For
- Free parking with $25 purchase
- "Rosé all Day" lounge
- Weekend brunch with live music and kids' choices
