If you like your food then you’re in for a treat. Florida and the Orlando area can offer you the most amazing array of food you could ever imagine. A great deal of it is not on the healthier side of things – but hey ho that’s what holidays are for. Healthy choices can be made and vegan, vegetarian and food suitable for people with allergies, such as gluten and lactose are now being catered for much more. As mentioned previously customer service is amazing in Orlando – so if you go to a restaurant and can’t see anything you like on the menu, mention it to the server and you’re very likely to end up with the chef at your table asking what they can possibly cook you to make you happy. Allergens and vegan dishes etc are well indicated on menus in restaurants and theme parks so you never have to worry about struggling for food in Orlando, whatever your tastes, budget or personal choices are.
We were trying to figure out how to write this food blog – how to split it into readable subject matter. We’re at a loss!! When we think about the food in Orlando we bounce from talking about budget and chain restaurants, snacks in the parks, interesting and quirky food outlets, to high end really lovely restaurants and even the size and low cost of the pizzas and salads you can buy in the supermarkets. Needless to say by the end of our discussions we are wild with excitement reminiscing about so many different places and looking at photos of the vast array of food we have tried and the fantastic experience they have all been. You can spend as little or as much on food as you want in Orlando, so if you’re on a budget, fear not, but if you want to try some really lovely restaurants too – read on – and be warned, the photos might just make you hungry. Also be warned – Orlando food portions are generally on the large side – you will over order, you will get used to it! Whatever you’re about to order, maybe halve it and you’ll be about right.
Breakfast
Our favourite meal of the day in Orlando. The mornings are glorious, warm and a little misty at some times of year. The hot air balloons start drifting over and it’s quiet and the smell of orange blossom or oranges from the orange groves can often be smelled, depending on where you stay.
Our favourite place for breakfast is Cracker Barrel. Expect a good southern welcome and southern manners and some good home style southern cooking. The menu is huge, a great deal of it we could not even begin to describe (anyone know what sawmill gravy is??) but what we have tasted is unbelievable. They do the most amazing pancakes here, served with warmed mini bottles of maple syrup. They also come with these glazed cinnamon apples – oh my goodness what a treat. The usual fare is on the menu too, plenty of bacon and sausage patties and the most wonderful scrambled egg with cheese, sourdough bread toast and you can ask for your eggs any way you like, so expect to be asked 20 questions by your server. The biscuits (which are warm and served as a side with most breakfasts) are actually scones as we would know them and slathered with some butter and jam (or jelly as it is in the US of A) are delicious.
When you’re done you can sit outside on the porch in the rocking chairs to rest a while and wait for your breakfast to go down. We should also mention that this place is really amazingly reasonable in price. Breakfasts are anything from $5 – $10. Enough about Cracker Barrel or we’ll stay on this subject forever.
Denny’s also do fantastic breakfasts. Just about everything you could ever imagine, corned beef hash, pancakes obviously, and the most amazing sizzler type dishes which come on a hot skillet. It’s a diner style restaurant, very reasonable and very very good at dealing with allergies and food issues, and dotted around Orlando just about everywhere.
IHOP do delicious breakfasts too – don’t be mistaken into thinking they only serve pancakes – the eggs Benedict and the sizzling skillets here are fantastic – the vegetarian one is particularly good.
You may have a buffet breakfast as part of your hotel package. Expect a buffet style laid out breakfast which will include cereal, fruit, pastries, pancakes and waffles, sausage and bacon etc. The quality will depend on the hotel you’re staying in but certainly worth grabbing if they’re included.
There are quite an array of buffet breakfast restaurants – Shoneys and the Golden Corral spring to mind. These are very budget friendly places. You pay a set price per person and can go up as many times as you want to. Don’t expect cordon bleu food but it is good quality and the choice is massive – they prepare omelets while you wait and serve every possible breakfast item you could imagine. If you’re there long enough you can even merge into lunch by having meatloaf, turkey and mashed potatoes which is all available on the breakfast buffet!
Character breakfasts inside the Disney parks are an option if you want to be up close and personal with your favourite Disney characters. The food is good generally and the experience is great full. Costs range from $30-50, which is not cheap, but you’re guaranteed time with your chosen Disney character and its a good way of getting into the parks early ready to get cracking as soon as the ride queues open.
Supermarkets sell an unbelievable array of cereals, breads, pastries and fruit and if you’re in self catering accommodation this is a cheap and good option. Most hotel rooms have fridges and microwaves so it’s also a useful option on some days when you want to grab a quick bowl of cereal and be on your way.
All parks serve breakfast items and coffee and you’ll find an endless supply of Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, McDonalds etc on your way to any of the places you are visiting if you want to do a quick grab and go!
Snacks, lunches and ice-cream
All of the Disney and Universal parks and water parks stock an amazing array and choice of foods for snacks whilst you’re visiting. You can get sandwiches and pastries and hot dogs and burgers, pizzas, ice creams, milkshakes, giant smoked turkey legs, interesting and fun cupcakes, character inspired snacks, cakes, chocolates etc – the list goes on.
There are way too many eating outlets to mention – we’ve posted some photos below of some of the fun things we’ve tried – candied bacon skewer – yes really! – along with a vast array of other treats and fun things to try. We’d probably mention Voodoo Donuts in Universal City Walk as a place to get any donut you can ever imagine, the list is vast and its a quirky and interesting place to visit. Casey’s Corner in Magic Kingdom do a dizzying selection of hot dogs, including a vegan one, the Mickey ice creams at The Plaza Ice Cream Parlour in Main Street Magic Kingdom are fabulous and massive! Two big chocolate buttons to look like Mickey ears and a cone as his wizard’s hat – fun fun fun! Turkey legs are a Disney staple and you’ll find these in various places in Disney World and Universal. Disney’s Hollywood Studios have a lot of food outlets on the street leading up to The Tower of Terror. There’s a fantastic selection of food up here – be warned a children’s pizza meal was shared between both of us as a lunch time snack, was an 8” pizza, fries and a drink for about $7, more than enough for two adults so bear this in mind when ordering.
Head over to the World Showcase in Epcot to sample international restaurants. – we’ve been to too many to mention – and if you’re lucky enough to be there during the food and wine festival well you are in for a treat – sample taster dishes are offered at a huge number of pop-up stalls in all the countries around the world showcase, along with wine and beer tasting and it’s all soooooo good.
We should also mention Joffreys inside the Disney parks and water parks, iced coffee and the most delicious Yum Yums – we think we became addicted to these during our last visit. If you don’t know what a Yum Yum is, think soft, doughy, chewy giant donut stick dipped in sweet icing. We’re drooling just thinking about it!
There is probably nothing you cannot find – if you’re not in a park, Dennys and Perkins do fabulous sandwiches, the Reuben being a particular favourite of ours, there are Subways and even Walmart and Publix supermarkets will make you up a fresh sandwich while you wait. There are the fast food outlets like McDonalds etc too and if you’re self catering you can grab anything you need very cheaply from a supermarket and put together a quick sandwich and salad feast while you’re chilling by the pool.
Dinner
Where to start – what do you fancy? Mexican, Steaks, burgers, a themed restaurant – want to eat your dinner with dinosaurs or in a Rain Forrest? French, Italian, American, seafood – you name it Orlando offers it. From the basic chain restaurants at the cheaper end of things, Taco Bell, Dennys, Perkins, Shoneys – to the mid-range restaurants like Longhorn Steakhouse, Bahama Breeze, Mannys Chophouse, The Cheesecake Factory, Bonefish Grill, Carrabbas Italian. Themed restaurants such as Rain Forrest Cafe and T-Rex Cafe are fun for the kids, the theming is great and the food is decent. Try City Walk at Universal and Disney Springs for some higher end eateries, amazing food and wines and service – you can even book wine tasting and pairing evenings to try lots of taster dishes and a good wine to match the food. We like STK, Terralinas and Paddlefish at Disney Springs. There are some amazing wine bars, Wine Bar George a particular favourite and absolutely loads of interesting places to sit and have a drink too. There are of course Planet Hollywood at Disney Springs and Hard Rock Cafe at Universal City Walk if those take your fancy too.
The restaurants in the theme parks are obviously a little more pricey but provide a good view of various fireworks displays if you fancy sitting enjoying a meal and a glass of wine rather than standing around waiting for the fireworks to start. Character and princess dining is also available for evening meal and the Crystal Palace at the top of Main Street is great fun with Tigger and Pooh and Eyeore.
Final mention in the food blog to Top Golf – not only a fabulous fun night out (which we’ll come back to when we look at the other things to do in and around Orlando that are not theme park related) – but the most fabulous food. The Chicken and waffles and the Garden Pizza with Cauliflower crust were amazing. We also go some mini donuts brought to our table with syringes full of jam, cream, custard and melted chocolate so you fill the little bite size donuts with whatever you want. Fun and delicious!
The places to eat in and around Orlando are astounding. We’ll look at individual theme parks in later blogs and give you an idea of more specific eateries and recommendations.
Hope you’ve enjoyed the food information – and hope we’ve not made you too hungry!
theohorlando.blog 