Excellent deli sandwiches, quickly prepared. Lots of choices and generous portions, even in the pick two categories. Nice to have nachos as one of the pick two choices.
Really enjoyed my New Yorker with the Pecanberry salad.
McAlister’s Deli
Sushi Saint
Sushi Saint is brought to you by the chef behind Michelin starred Soseki. We liked the sushi at Soseki, but weren’t fans of the hot food there, so we were interested to try this hand-roll concept.
The location is a bit funky, in the back of an industrial building off a parking lot, but the interior is nice. It’s divided into several distinct areas, including booths, a sushi counter, and a private room. We sat at the counter.
The secret to hand rolls is temperature and timing. The rice must be at the perfect temperature, the nori wrapper fresh from the warming box to ensure its crispness, and the whole assemblage delivered within seconds.
Sushi Saint excels at this. And unlike other hand roll concepts we’ve tried, this is definitely not an assemblage place where the rolls are largely constructed from already prepared tartares. Here they are delicately assembled one ingredient at a time, and the results show the difference.
There are a number of preset combos that are slightly less expensive than ordering ala carte, but once you know your favorites it’s easy to order just those.
We started with a wonderful sunomono. The cucumber was elevated by the inclusion of onions and ginger.
Our favorite rolls were:
- Akami
- Hamachi
- Salmon
- Ikura
- Unagi
The wine list focuses on sakes, but there are also several wines and sake-based cocktails.
Service was fast and friendly.
Norman’s
I wasn’t expecting to be wowed by Norman’s based on previous restaurants, so we put off visiting for more than a year, but absolutely loved our experience here. The interior is beautiful, and just what I am looking for in a fine dining experience: classy, not noisy, and not brightly lit.
The food really stood out for us, too. The dishes seemed more cohesive than those we’ve had in his past restaurants, with a perfect melding of complex flavors. We opted for six small plates so we could sample many things. Standouts were:
House salad: this was startlingly good! Mixed greens with a light but complex vinaigrette, pepitas, dried fruits, and some crumbled blue cheese. Rarely has a simple salad been so memorable.
Shrimp Ceviche: not really a ceviche, but more of a cooked, creamy combination with some tomato in the sauce and a dollop of avocado crema.
Octopus: absolutely tender and flavorful, so hard to find prepared this well.
French Toast Foie Gras: I had read about this dish, and it did not disappoint! The perfect combination of sweet brioche and lightly seared foie.
Pumpkin Cheesecake: I would call this a pumpkin s’more caramel taco!
Service was impeccable–professional, friendly, and attentive.
I wasn’t a fan of the Norman’s at the Ritz Carlton (mostly due to the coffee shop atmosphere) or his Mount Dora effort (LOUD!) but this one absolutely nails it, with a classy, romantic interior, great acoustics, and subdued lighting. Highly recommended.
Volcano Hot Pot & BBQ
Nicely decorated place with large booths. It’s okay; probably of more interest to hot pot lovers than to Korean BBQ fans. Buffet-style ingredient selection. I think the food quality is better at some alternatives such as KPOT, SoGongDong, and Gyu-Kaku, but if you’re in the area it’s worth a try.
https://www.yelp.com/biz/volcano-hot-pot-and-bbq-winter-garden
The Monroe
This place definitely has a hip atmosphere. It looks like it could get boisterous, but we were there for a late lunch and it was great.
The concise menu has lots of interesting selections, and we enjoyed everything we tried. We started with the hummus, which was served with fresh-baked pitas. The hummus was topped with an assortment of herbs and seasonings, which made it fun to experiment with different combinations.
I had the three-piece fried chicken, and it was terrific. The crunchy, complex batter kept the tender, moist chicken steaming hot throughout our meal. The accompanying macaroni salad and cucumber chunk salad were both excellent.
My companion had the steak frites, a classic preparation with perfectly seared steak and a huge pile of nicely crisped truffle fries.
There are some interesting wines by the glass. I finished with the very intriguing root beer latte.
Service was cheerful and attentive.
San Jose’s Original Mexican Restaurant
There are quite a few San Jose’s in the area, but this one is definitely better than the others. It serves an extensive menu typical of American Mexican restaurants, so there isn’t really much in the way of authentic Mexican food, but it will seem familiar.
There isn’t much in the way of acoustic treatment, so it can be quite noisy, even when not at capacity.
Note that the top shelf maragarita is made with a lot of orange juice, which is rather odd, so if you want a more traditional margarita maybe go with the house margarita.
https://www.yelp.com/biz/san-jose-s-original-mexican-restaurant-orlando
Mosonori
Chef Henry Moso is the magician behind Kabooki Sushi. Now he brings the quick service hand roll concept to Orlando.
The secret to hand rolls is temperature and timing. The rice must be at the perfect temperature, the nori wrapper fresh from the warming box to ensure its crispness, and the whole assemblage delivered within seconds. Of course Mosonori nails this perfectly. I would expect nothing less from Chef Henry.
We attended the first night of the public preview, and service was already perfection. The friendly staff filled the place in minutes and made sure everyone was having a great time.
The menu focuses on about a dozen items, nearly all of them hand rolls. They can be ordered ala carte, or grouped into various combinations. All were excellent, but my favorites were the Yamaimo (a crispy white yam seasoned with spicy mentaiko [pollock roe]) and the eel, which was beautifully flambéed.
Pricing is extremely reasonable.
Beverages will be limited to sake, beer, and some sake cocktails.
Chef Henry is not just a master chef, he also has a brilliant sense of decor, and Mosonori is a truly beautiful restaurant. I understand it will also be open for lunch, and perhaps all afternoon, which would be a great way to above what I’m sure will be a line of people waiting to get into this great new concept.
Note: Exterior signage is not up yet, but it’s unit A of City Place. Parking is available immediately north of the space, so don’t turn in to the south, or you can’t get to it.
Señor Tequila Mexican Grill Winter Springs
Expansive, nicely decorated (inside and out) purveyor of standard Tex-Mex favorites. The sampler platter is a good way to get a taste of a large variety of offerings.
Excellent house margarita!
Service was friendly and fast.
Sixty Vines
This is a great addition to the Sandlake Road dining scene. It’s a beautiful restaurant, with a light, airy feel to the center portion, and more intimate summer house rooms at either end. Seating in the center is at long communal tables, but there are also individual tables and even lounge seating. The long bar in front of the wine taps also looks like a great bet.
As you would expect from the name, there are sixty wines on tap. We really loved the selections, as many come from our favorite smaller producers and areas, such as California’s Central Coast. Pricing seems very reasonable, perhaps because the wines are distributed in larger, more eco-friendly form. And since you can get pours as small as 2-1/2 ounces you can try a variety of wines without breaking the bank. The cocktail list looks very interesting, too.
The lunch menu also seems fairly priced. We loved the two dishes we tried: fried chicken topped with lemon cream and caviar, and crispy zucchini topped with blistered shishito and peppadew.
Service was friendly, but still learning the ropes.
I’m pretty sure I would hate the noise level in here at night, at least in the main room, but for a mid-afternoon lunch the ambiance was delightful.
Torchy’s Tacos
Nice location for this chain. Counter ordering with table service. There’s a large outdoor area here, in addition to the indoor “garage” feel.
Our go-to starter is the Threesome, a combination of fairly spicy green chile queso, guacamole, and red or green salsa.
My favorite tacos are Mr. Orange (salmon), and Hellfire (jerk pork plus a really spicy dipping sauce).
Staff is pleasant and the service is fairly quick.
Unusual for counter service places, they have margaritas and other spirits.