Although this place is focused on custom burgers with an assemble-it-yourself side of the menu devoted to creating any combination you want, there are also quite a few other choices. We decided to try the combination ahi and ceviche bowl and one of the flatbreads featuring buffalo chicken and blue cheese crumbles. Both of them were excellent. The space is large and bustling but is nice when the roll-up doors are open into the outside. Service was pleasant.
I was pleasantly surprised by this place. I attended a reunion here with 30-40 guests held in the outside patio area. The servers did an amazing job of keeping up with drink orders and dining orders from individuals as we milled around and eventually sat down to eat. How they kept everyone straight and presented everyone with the correct checks at the end of the meal is beyond me.
The menu tends to be an upscale version of a sports bar menu with a large selection of appetizers and burgers, but also a surprising variety of salads and other dishes. I had the miso Asian salad, which was fantastic, very refreshing and light. Yet a large enough serving to be satisfying.
They also have an extensive selection of beers, including some dark ones that are my favorites. All in all, an excellent experience.
I have mixed feelings about this restaurant. On the one hand, it’s a brilliant concept and it has been very professionally done. On the other hand, about half of the food was not very good.
The themed interior decor is fantastic and will delight families, especially with kids who are fascinated by construction projects or equipment. The menu is one of the best conceived I’ve seen. It’s themed, attractive, and offers pretty much any kind of dish family or sports bar enthusiast could be looking for.
We started with the baked potato skins. The problem here is that they aren’t really baked potato skins. They’re essentially half potatoes with some sort of a cream cheese filling underneath the top more conventional presumably cheddar cheese and I guess bacon bits in there somewhere. They just weren’t potato skins.
For my main course, I had the very reasonably priced classic Cobb salad. It had all the correct ingredients for a Cobb salad, but there was nothing classic about it. As it was just a pile of lettuce with stuff on it. A classic Cobb salad would be served in the traditional rows of ingredients where you can dip and choose amongst them as you wish. But it was fine.
My wife had the chicken tenders, which were served with fries. The tenders were quite good, actually the best thing that we had. They had a delicate and very crisp fine-grained breading on the outside. The fries on the other hand were some of the worst fries I’ve ever been served. They were a huge mound served underneath the chicken. They were only about half cooked and it didn’t seem like the oil had been hot enough. They were heavy, limp, and large, although voluminous.
I don’t want to discourage you from trying this restaurant because I think they’ve put a lot into it, and it has true potential. If the food lives up to the descriptions on the menu and the pictures on the menu, it could be really good. Perhaps we went when the second-string team was on at lunchtime, and we should try it again in the evening. Great concept though.
https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-construction-zone-restaurant-kissimmee
What a delight this place is! Orlando so needed a classy place to enjoy good music, food, and drinks. Everything about this place is just about perfect. It reminds me a lot of Herb Alpert’s Vibrato restaurant in LA.: same chill vibe, great acoustics, and reasonable live music volume levels. The Tuesday night we went there was a solo guitarist who was excellent.
The menu is tapas style, with lots of shareable items, and only a couple of larger plates. We really liked the three types of hummus–who would have imagined carrot and sriracha could be so good! The chicken empanadas were also good, ruth a really crispy crust. The charcuterie was fine, but a bit more like a supermarket assortment than a high end offering.
There’s a nice assortment of wines, and almost all are available by the glass or bottle. The cocktail list is also good, although I went off-menu and had an excellent dirty martini made with Aviation Gin.
Service by Dulce was friendly and attentive. This is definitely a place we’ll put on our regular dining list.
Nice selection of beers on tap, particularly if you’re into IPAs and lighter styles. Not too much for us porter and stout lovers, but I did really like the non-alcoholic FLVR porter I had from a can.
The Everything Pretzel was a nice twist on a standard. Chicken wings are straightforward— simply deep fried, I had mine with the Sticky Korean sauce, which was good.
Chicken Ceasar Salad wrap was also good. Service was friendly.
https://www.yelp.com/biz/celebration-brewing-company-celebration
Another beautiful restaurant from Chef Henry Moso. As with his two Kabooki locations, this one really shows off his design sensibilities, and emphasis on wonderful fish quality.
This Mosonori, like its sister restaurant in Winter Park, focuses on hand rolls. The majority of service is a t a counter, where each hand roll is prepared as you are ready for it, assuring the nori is crisp and still slightly warm. About a dozen types are available, plus a few sashimi options.
Beverages include sake and beer.
Service is friendly and knowledgeable.
I love this concept: bake great sourdough bread, and then put stuff on it!
We went for lunch and had the Sourdough Bread Plate and the Cold Meat Plate. Both were excellent. I particularly loved the ezme, a somewhat spicy nut mixture that came with both.
Service was friendly, and the place was spotless.
I also got their almond cake to go. It had some yummy Turkish spices in the blend.
The place is a bit hard to get to, as no matter which way you go you’re going to need to make a tricky U-turn either coming or going, but it’s worth the effort!
https://www.yelp.com/biz/sourdough-bread-house-casselberry-4
Very nice interior with a great vibe. We went for lunch, and the lunch buffet was extensive and tasty. Service was friendly.
Considering they’d only been open a few days when we stopped in for a busy father’s day lunch this place is already running very well. The menu is upscale Mexican, and the prices are reasonable for the quality. I love what they’ve done to remodel the interior of this space. It’s not upscale and has a nice modern vibe, and the way it is divided up helps control the noise level.
We started with the guacamole, a generous serving that benefitted from a squeeze of lime and some diablo salsa that we ordered on the side. The diablo isn’t really all that spicy, but added the needed kick.
We also tried the tuna tostadas, which were tasty but very tiny–basically just one bite times three.
For an entree I had the pork enchiladas. They were beautifully plated and very tasty, and came with good cilantro rise and just okay black beans.
We finished with the sopapillas, which were nice and poofy, and served with a hazelnut Serrano sauce. Again, the sauced needed more kick, but was tasty.
Special shoutout for the cocktails. The standard margarita was very good, and the Flor de Don Juan was stellar: a mix of tequila, St. Germaine, and lime.
The approach to the new Conrad Hotel is not very promising, which makes the experience of stepping into the stunning lobby all the more spectacular, with the resort’s massive water feature spread out before you. The interior finishes are impressive throughout.
Equally stunning is the view from Ceiba, the Modern Mexican restaurant on the eight floor. This is probably the best place to wow out of town visitors, with a better view of Epcot and Magic Kingdom fireworks than anywhere except the Contemporary.
The menu is unique to Orlando: truly modern Mexican cuisine, with some familiar names such as flautas and tacos, but gourmet preparations inside, such as duck confit and braised lamb shank.
We started with the guacamole which, at $29, seemed pricy, but proved to be a generous serving, topped with ample crab meat, and spiced with salmon roe and thin slices of jalapeños. Delicious.
We’d planned on sampling several such botanas, but the serving was so generous that we went straight to entrees. Well, not exactly. My wife selected the Ceviche De Hamachi Verdi as her entree. Again, it was a generous serving of hamachi, but I would argue that it isn’t really a ceviche, as the fish hasn’t really been marinated in citrus, but rather is just served in a verde sauce. It was accurately described on the menu as coming with salsa verde, green apple, serrano, cucumber, and jicama, but I don’t think she’d order it again.
I had the Flautas de Pato, very crispy corn tortilla rolls (really more taquitos, if you will) filled with duck confit, and served with avocado serrano salsa, cabbage, and queso fresco crema. They were delicious, and I could only eat half of them…
…because I was saving room for the Tsokolate, a flourless chocolate sphere filled with dark chocolate mousse, accompanied by an assortment of delicious crumbles and gels. It was wonderful, and plenty for two people to share.
There’s a good wine list and a very extensive tequila list. I tried several interesting and creative cocktails.
Service was top notch. The entire staff was welcoming and attentive, and our server, Christian, was a genuine host, who made the experience special.