19 Best Restaurants in Orlando, Florida

The Pig established the gastropub category in Orlando and then went on to spawn several offshoots. Run by James and Julie Petrakis, a husband-and-wife chef team with multiple James Beard Award nominations, its delicacies include pork porterhouse and the pub burger, though the daily-changing menu always includes less-expensive pub fare like rock shrimp tacos and homemade pretzels. All charcuterie is made in-house, from the spiced orange salami to the game-bird terrine. Adjacent is the Ravenous Pig Brewing Co., serving small-barrel craft beers and ales in a beer garden. The Pig received the Michelin Bib Gourmand designation in 2022, which recognizes great food at great value.

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 changes daily featuring dishes from Florida and elsewhere in the South that are made using local ingredients whenever possible; roasted oysters, slow-cooked octopus with Japanese eggplant, or barbecue lamb shank are just some of the possibilities.

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.

This chic, modern, Michelin-starred dining room atop the luxury Four Seasons resort highlights the culinary culture of Spain, starting with authentic tapas and continuing with exceptional steaks, among them dry-aged strip and Wagyu. A range of caviar or oysters is available, and everyone will enjoy the Madrid churros.

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.

Top Chef winner Richard Blais has fun with his beloved Florida seafood at this Michelin Recommended restaurant. Although he's rarely in the kitchen, his flair for inventive combinations and wacky molecular-gastronomy touches are obvious in dishes such as monkfish in oxtail ragu, turmeric-rubbed fresh Florida catch with banana leaf grits, or scallop ceviche in coconut.

The name of this award-winning steak house comes from the classic Florida novel by Patrick D. Smith, and its notable menu choices include a 36-ounce tomahawk rib eye for two and Harris Ranch prime Angus beef. Starters can be elegant or Floridian—perhaps steak tartare, mac and cheese with big lobster chunks, or Cajun-spiced frog legs with mango-rum glaze. The Cataplana broiled seafood sampler of sea bass, shrimp, scallops, clams, and Maine lobster tail is a fish lover's delight.

James Beard Award–winning chef Melissa Kelly's ode to her Italian-American roots and farm-to-table sensibilities received a Michelin Recommended award in 2022. The homemade pastas and breads, Florida meats, and offerings from the pizza oven are essential; locally caught fish is served with Florida clams; and the chicken from nearby Lake Meadow Naturals is, yes, primo.

Named a Recommended Restaurant in the Florida 2023 Michelin Guide, Sear + Sea has a wood-fired grill and features an elegant steak and seafood menu, a unique cocktail list, and a 1,200-bottle wine cellar. Dine indoors at a white marble table amid a relaxing natural color scheme, or head outdoors to enjoy your meal while overlooking the  resort’s pool and greenery.

Business travelers love to spend money at Christini's, one of the city's fanciest places for northern Italian cuisine. A throwback to elegant dining in the 1950s, the menu is filled with high-end versions of familiar dishes like chicken marsala and veal with lemon-wine sauce. You may be so enchanted by the rose each lady receives and the serenade by a roving accordion player that you forget to check the price of the recommended wine, which will cost you.

This elegant-but-casual, Michelin-starred eatery is helmed by two-time Top Chef contestant John Tesar (you know, the mean one) and focuses on turf (prime, house-aged steaks) and surf (raw bar, local seafood). Interesting dishes include sushi-grade tuna and torched foie gras or 45-day, dry-aged, 32-ounce, bone-in rib eye (at $130). As is typical for a steak house, sides like kimchi creamed spinach or fried potatoes with caviar are extra.

The big draw here is fondue, and the bubbling pots of bouillon, cheese, or chocolate on offer give fans of food on skewers a chance to share plates with friends. It might seem like an old idea, but Melting Pot continues to draw families and dating couples for a surprisingly fun meal. Lunch is available weekends, and there are midweek and date-night specials, too.

In the Key West atrium of the Gaylord Palms Resort, a large, anchored boat in the indoor lagoon welcomes guests aboard for a delicious meal. This restaurant partners with local farms and fishmongers to bring fresh, quality dishes to the table. Chicken, steaks, and pork chops are also featured, however seafood is the star here. 

This fine choice among Orlando's many steak houses looks like a sophisticated private club, and youngsters with mouse caps are not common at the nationwide chain's local outpost. Center stage in the kitchen is a huge broiler, kept at 900°F to sear in the flavor of the porterhouses, sirloins, rib eyes, and other cuts of aged beef. For true value, nibble on "bar bites" in the lounge area during happy hour, when they're half price, and you'll enjoy top-quality sliders and such for $6 to $7 a plate. The wine list has about 350 vintages from around the world.

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, $54 Delmonico rib eye, also (very much) check.

From the Berries & Bubbles martinis that start off the meal to the chocolate peanut butter dessert draped in bittersweet chocolate ganache, Ocean Prime wows. This local outpost of an upscale chain holds its own with consistently good food, if uneven service. The jumbo-lump crab cake with pickled fennel is a good way to begin, as are the white truffle caviar deviled eggs, ahi tuna tartare, and goat cheese ravioli. Follow with a simple grilled steak, sea scallops with Parmesan risotto and citrus vinaigrette, or the teriyaki salmon. Locals find the daily happy hour to be a bargain.

Don't let the 1930s-era ocean-liner interior fool you—as theme restaurants go, this place is a good one. The straightforward preparation (grilled or broiled, brushed with lemon butter) is welcome, and the chefs change the menu every day based on what's fresh. Lobster bisque is a standout, as is the chilled shellfish platter and the day's fish specialties. Save room for the baked Alaska, which is flamed at the table.

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.

In addition to excellent Greek staples and a nice selection of meze (small plates), this restaurant has a fun, high-energy ambience. The ouzo flows like a mountain stream, the Greek (and global) music almost reaches the volume level of a rock concert, and the roaming belly dancers actively encourage diners to join in. The only thing missing is the tradition of throwing dinner plates, made up in part by the throwing of small paper napkins, which sometimes reaches near-blizzard level. Menu standouts include traditional staples like spanakopita, saganaki (the traditional flaming cheese appetizer), avgolemono (lemony chicken-rice soup), and perhaps the most famous Greek entrée, moussaka. Family-style meals for groups of four or more are available at $48 and $58 per person. The best dessert is the baklava.