Restaurants in Central Florida
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Sweet Tomatoes
Travelers have been known to make pilgrimages here for the most incredible salad-/pasta-/soup-/bread-/dessert-bar buffet ever. Only the freshest ingredients are used for superb selections such as nutty mushroom pasta, tomato chipotle bisque and pesto orzo salad with pinenuts; excellent for vegetarians.
reviewed
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B
Satchel's Pizza
Two miles northeast of downtown, this wacky place has the best pizza on Florida's east coast (and a darn good salad, to boot). Here, you can sit surrounded by funky outsider art and savor steaming build-your-own gourmet pies served on mismatched crockery. Grab a seat at a mosaic courtyard table or in the back of a gutted 1965 Ford Falcon. Most nights there's live music in the Back 40 Bar; there's bocce ball and a head-scratchingly eccentric junk museum featuring various bizarro collections. Satchel's doesn't take credit cards; the fees from the on-site ATM go to charity. Skip Satchel's and you miss Gainesville's soul. Expect a wait.
reviewed
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C
Cafe Tu Tu Tango
An explosion of color and artwork cram the adobe walls of this fun Spanish eatery. Food is served 'tapas-style' (small portions), and dining is often interrupted by spontaneous performances of salsa dancing or magic shows. Chicken Cajun eggrolls and oriental steak skewers are the favorites - and don't forget a huge pitcher of luscious sangria.
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D
Arabian Nights
Combine dinner with a show and you usually end up with some lesser version of both; however, a lot of people find the combination fun enough that they don't mind. (Hint: you probably already have a pretty good idea if you're a dinner show type of person or not.) Good choices include the equestrian delight Arabian Nights.
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E
Sleuths Mystery Dinner Theater
Sleuths Mystery Dinner Theater has three theaters, a full-service bar and spacious outdoor patio. Dinner party guests suss each other out at the table before finishing off the meal (and a guest), then put their best 'clue' efforts to work. There are 12 different shows, each about 2½ hours long.
reviewed
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F
Johnson’s Diner
Nobody does soul food better than this Orlando institution. Their calorie-busting meat-loaf sandwiches and homemade sweet-potato pie will have you loosening that belt quicker than you can say, ‘More collard greens, please.’
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Rainforest Café
Just outside the park entrance.
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Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater
A 'drive-in' where you eat in abbreviated Cadillacs and watch classic sci-fi flicks. It's dark in here, and the sky twinkles with stars.
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Passage to India Restaurant
Heaven-sent for vegetarians needing a break from the salad bars. It’s a little pricey, but worth it. Try the bhaigan bharta (baked eggplant).
reviewed
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J
Sushi Hatsu
A Korean-Japanese place that serves excellent kimchee and sushi, and gets several thumbs-up.
reviewed
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Dandelion Communitea Café
Unabashedly crunchy and definitively organic, this pillar of the 'sprouts and tofu, green tea and soy milk' crowd serves up creative and excellent vegetarian fare in a refurbished old house that invites folks to sit down and hang out. The focus is on Florida-grown produce and locally blended teas, and it is 100% green. If it all sounds too healthy, try a Fluffer Nutter (wheat bread with almond butter, bananas and ricemallow fluff), its nod to junk food. There's an informal fire-pit, tables in the yard, and microbrew beer; check the website for details on art openings, poetry readings and live music. From downtown Orlando head north on Magnolia Ave, turn right at E…
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Taverna Opa
The waitstaff at this high-ceilinged Greek eatery crush up fresh hummus table-side and serve it with warm pita rather than just plopping down a basket of bread. While it can get kind of crazy at night, when the belly dancer shimmers and shakes from table to table and it isn't unusual for folks to climb onto those solid tables and kick up their heels, the rest of the time it's a pleasant, simple place for solid and tasty Greek classics, including plenty of vegetarian options
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Hemmingways
Located inside the luxurious grounds of the Hyatt Grand Cypress, this quiet spot serves up Key West fare. Crab cakes with big chunks of lump crab and very little filler pair perfectly with a salad and a glass of wine. Simple seafood dishes are clean, fresh and delicious. Ask to sit on the screened-in porch, nestled among the greenery and watched over by a bronze Buddha.
reviewed
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Ming Court Wok & Grille
Probably one of the snazziest venues in which you'll ever eat Chinese food, the interior walls drip architecture and treasures of the great Ming dynasty. The food is equally impressive, with great dim sum, and the 'Eight Treasure Duck' loaded with seafood, chicken and veggies, and smothered with a lip-smacking brown sauce is highly recommended.
reviewed
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Pirate's Dinner Adventure
Combine dinner with a show and you usually end up with some lesser version of both; however, a lot of people find the combination fun enough that they don't mind. (Hint: you probably already have a pretty good idea if you're a dinner show type of person or not.) Good choices include the rollicking Pirate's Dinner Adventure.
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Aroma Italian Café and Wine Bar
Father and son play guitar several nights a week at this intimate family-owned spot serving Italian classics. Check the website for special events like wine tasting for AIDS fundraising.
reviewed
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N
Fiasco's Dinner Show
- Orlando, USA
- Restaurants › Pub
Fiasco's Dinner Show has so much going on at once, it's hard to concentrate on where the next surprise is coming from. Sets fall apart, actors throw tantrums and then the show goes downhill from there - all in good fun, of course, or at least we think so. Great curry and traditional pub grub selection. Kids are free on Thursdays.
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Dessert Lady Café
Ask Patti Schmidt how she became Orlando’s first and only Dessert Lady and she’ll tell you that it all started with a carrot cake. Now enjoy desserts from fruit cobbler to bourbon pecan pie over coffee or a glass of wine. And if you really must have a meal with your dessert, you can get a piece of quiche. But that’s it.
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Capone's Dinner & Show
Capone's Dinner & Show is an amusing gangland revue set behind the makeshift 'ice cream parlor' in Prohibition-era Chicago. Guests knock three times and say the password to get in to the 'cabaret and speakeasy.' An unlimited Italian buffet, as well as a few campy gangsters and their molls, await inside.
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Gargi’s Lakeside
While the food is very good, the best part about this restaurant is its quiet lakeside location next to a playground. Sit outside and watch the kids play while you relax over wine and a bowl of pasta. The menu offers several cold salad plates, like chicken curry salad plate, and panini, perfect for lunch.
reviewed
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WonderWorks Outta Control Magic Show
WonderWorks Outta Control Magic Show is a 90-minute comedy and magic show that includes all the pizza, popcorn, beer and soda you can make disappear. Kids are often picked to spin plates and perform crazy dances, and adults are equally humiliated with prop-fuelled renditions of 'I Got You Babe.'
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Johnny Rockets
Straight out of Happy Days, with red vinyl seating, lots of chrome and flip-style jukeboxes on the tables. The Fonz would feel right at home.
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Thai Thani
Just past the gates to SeaWorld, Discovery Cove and Aquatica, this dark little place makes an ideal dinner choice after a day of dolphin shows and waterslides. It's friendly, cool and quiet, with gilded Thai decor and traditional Thai seating on the floor. Expect a dramatically watered down spice level, but it's fresh and tasty. There's a second location in Celebration.
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Angel's Lobster Feast
From steak to seafood, you can hopscotch along Hwy 192 an sample every known fast-food chain in the known universe. Like many others along this strip, Angel's Lobster Feast will pound you into submission with the sheer amount of fast, health-optional food on offer.
reviewed
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Q
Little Saigon
Nothing is expensive and everything is good at Little Saigon, an Orlando institution (the menu is on display at the Historical Center). It offers excellent service, quality charbroiled beef and pho (meat and noodle soup), and great spring rolls.
reviewed