7 Best Restaurants in Orlando, Florida

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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 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 Boheme Restaurant

$$$$ | Downtown Orlando Fodor's Choice

The Grand Bohemian, a luxury boutique hotel, is the setting for this sleek city-center restaurant. Start with the calamari or the porcini flatbread followed, perhaps, by a selection from the famed Angus beef menu, the Chilean sea bass, or the Hunter's Board of handcrafted charcuterie. The Sunday Jazz Brunch here is legendary, with stations for omelets, seafood, and carved prime rib, as well as an expansive dessert selection. Local politicians favor this place for power breakfasts, and local jazz stars perform in the Bösendorfer Lounge most evenings.

Cask & Larder

$$ | Airport Area Fodor's Choice

People have been known to check their bags at the airport and then go back through security and change terminals just to eat at C&L. The draws at this locally owned restaurant are the gastropub-inspired menu and the microbrews. Locally sourced ingredients highlight the breakfast, lunch, and dinner menus, with items like sandwiches, pulled pork and ribs, and specialty burnt-end meat loaf.

Highball & Harvest

$$$ | South Orlando Fodor's Choice

Modern spins on locally sourced Southern staples are the crux of this sprawling restaurant, where scratch cooking by Ritz chefs is the rule, and produce is grown on the resort's own private Whisper Creek farm. Dinner entrées change regularly and might include Florida shrimp and grits, waffle fried quail or diver scallops with wild mushrooms. The "devil" chocolate cake and homemade doughnuts with coffee gelato are choice sweets. 

Recommended Fodor's Video

Se7en Bites

$$ | Central Orlando Fodor's Choice

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 potpie, 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.

B-Line Diner

$$$ | International Drive

Open from early breakfast to dinner and desserts 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 a stuffed avocado salad and a portobello quesadilla entrée.

Euphoria Fish House

$$$

Named after Jimmy Buffett's beloved yacht, the Euphoria Fish House is just off of the lobby of the Margaritaville Resort Orlando. It's open for breakfast and lunch, as well as dinner, when featured dishes range from lobster rolls to pan-seared Chilean sea bass served with citrus-marinated bok choy. Be sure to ask your server about the margarita of the day—after all, you are in Margaritaville!

Salt & the Cellar

$$$$

The bright, shiny, and oh-so-hip ette hotel is home to this eatery, created by celebrated chef Akira Back, who has 22 restaurants worldwide and a Michelin star to his credit. The menu delights with Mediterranean-Asian (emphasis on Asian) dishes that might include miso black cod with pickled cauliflower or garlic maple soy chicken. The hotel and restaurant are strictly nonalcoholic, so drinks from the creative mixology menu won't trigger any breathalyzers.

3001 Sherberth Rd., Kissimmee, FL, 34747, USA
407-288–1919
Known For
  • Menu from an international chef
  • Sophisticated surroundings in a very hip hotel
  • Alcohol-free establishment
Restaurant Details
No dinner Mon. and Tues.
Reservations required
Afternoon tea also served Sun. (noon–5 pm)

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