This location is a bit of dejavu, since it is almost the same as the previous Bar Louie on Sand Lake Road. No doubt this is a better spot for the evening tourist trade. The large bar makes it good for groups, and the many roll-up doors are nice on cooler evenings. The menu is the same as other Bar Louies, with a mix of bar foods and burgers. A few of my favorite items from the past have disappeared or been simplified, but it’s still probably one of the better choices in the tourist corridor.
The food here is good. Everything is made to order, and you can select the ingredients for your gyro. They also have kebab platters.
The fries are particularly good, freshly made to order, and with a crisp crust.
The only problem is that it takes a long time for the food to be ready, so it’s not what you could call a quick serve concept. But if you have time to relax while your meal is made, it’s a good choice.
It’s nice to see a new place in the old Stonewood building. The decor has been brightened and opened up, and it is distinctly more casual now, more like sports bar food than fine dining. The new floor plan makes better use of the outside dining area, which is quite pleasant.
Service in the weeks after opening was fairly good, and will probably get better. The menu is basic burgers and salads. They have the Impossible Burger, and it was nicely cooked.
The manager seemed to be very engaged, which is a good sign.
EntryInteriorChef Henry MosoSushi barSushi barInteriorInteriorBarMenuFlounder, kanpachi, hamachiOctopus tempura with squid ink sauceLobsterA5 Wagyu and hot rockDessert samplerPrivate wine lockers
***** (5 stars)
For years I’ve been saying that Kabooki Sushi on Colonial is the best restaurant in Orlando, even surpassing Disney’s super upscale Victoria and Alberts. With this new location near Sand Lake Road’s restaurant row, Chef Henry Moso has even upped the ante.
We’ve had sushi at Nobus and Morimotos all over the world, and none of them comes close to what is happening at Kabooki Sushi. The complexity of the sashimi preparations and the extreme attention to detail, especially on the omakase are simply unsurpassed.
This new location also lets Chef Henry demonstrate his interior design skills, with a build-out that is beautiful, trendy, upscale and welcoming all at once.
We attended a soft opening and already the service is at peak levels, with everything running like clockwork in a packed restaurant on only its third day.
This place is going to be the biggest hit Orlando has seen in a long time, for both tourists and locals, so make sure you have a reservation, because word has already spread.
I really like the interior decor at Applebee’s. It’s a lot more like an intimate bar and grill than a coffee shop. The food is good (if typical) sports bar food, and the service is decent. I’d rank it as one of the better chains of this type, at least at this location.
For a chain restaurant, there are some surprisingly authentic Carribean dishes in the Bahama Breeze menu. I visited the original location when they first opened and thought it was just okay, but a recent visit to this larger venue was more impressive.
There are standard sports bar-like items, of course, including an appetizer sampler that had some nicely fried coconut shrimp and onion rings. But there are also authentically seasoned items such as the goat curry bowl, which I thought was excellent. Best of all, unlike traditional goat curry, there were no bones!
My favorite item was a drink sampler that included 8 different tropical and tiki-style drinks. They were large enough that the assortment is intended for more than one person. Since I’ve recently been researching tiki drinks at some of the country’s top tiki bars, I wasn’t expecting them to be as good as they were. There were excellent examples of a Zombie, Painkiller, and Dark and Stormy, among others. At about $26 it was a good deal.
Service late at night seemed a bit harried, but was friendly. The restaurant is very large, nicely decorated, and there is a large outside dining area with live music.
This is Orlando’s best real tiki bar, with an excellent selection of rums, and a nice variety of traditional and modern tiki drinks. The Sunday bartender, Eric, is particularly passionate about all things tiki, and can give you an amazing guided tour of the science of making a great tiki cocktail.
The intimate size and eclectic historic tiki decor make this a very cool place for tiki aficionados to hang out and experience the real thing.
A lot of pizza restaurants think they know how to make calzones, but they basically just fold their pizzas in half. Not at Papa D! This is a real calzone, with a light, crisp, paper-thin crust filled with the best ingredients. I had pepperoni, red peppers, and ricotta, in addition to the standard mozzarella. It’s served with a bowl of fresh marinara. It was easily the best calzone I’ve had anywhere.
This is an open, clean and nicely designed Uno location. Of course it offers the standard chain menu, but that’s okay, because it’s fairly interesting, with much more than just pizza.
Service is friendly, and the lunch specials are a good deal.
