Category Archives: Florida

Colorado Fondue Company

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B-Day_Moose_Group_2001 coloradofondue2007

***** (5 stars)

This place really is like a quick trip to the Rocky Mountains. They have done an absolutely amazing job with the interior decor. We’ve been going her for special occasions such as birthdays for more than a decade, an have watched our daughter grow up underneath the moose head where they take birthday pictures!

I love the fondue appetizer, but to me the place is really about the hot rock cooking. It is so fun, healthful and tasty to grill your own food right on the table. Just don’t take your two year old, or you’ll spend the evening trying to keep him from touching the hot rock.

And of course who doesn’t like chocolate fondue for dessert? There also a thoughtful selection of beers. Service is friendly and makes you feel like one of the family. Highly recommended.

Colorado Fondue Company
1016 E Semoran Blvd
Casselberry, FL 32707
(407) 767-8232
http://www.yelp.com/biz/colorado-fondue-company-casselberry-2

Bonefish Grill

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**** (4 stars)

I’ve been to a few different Bonefish locations, and this one is my favorite. There’s a great interior design and very friendly service. Everyone loves the Bang Bang Shrimp appetizer.

I’m really happy they started offering their Sunday brunch again, and that it has lunch items as well as brunch ones. Both are excellent choices. In fact they are currently open every day for lunch, and there are some very reasonably prices and excellent items available.

Bonefish Grill
3279 Daniels Rd,
Ste. 108
Winter Garden, FL 34787
(407) 654-6093
http://www.yelp.com/biz/bonefish-grill-winter-garden

Melange

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**** (4 stars)

I was very impressed by this creative concept. At first it does look like a CiCi’s pizza, with its salad and pizza buffet.

But the real treat is at the back, where you can get a sandwich, panini, pizza or ice cream with virtually any combination of ingredients you can imagine, made to order. For sandwiches alone, with about a dozen breads, a dozen meats, and a dozen toppings, there are a lot of possibilities.

You can order at the counter, but it’s fun to use the two touchscreens to assemble exactly what you want. Then it’s promptly made and delivered to your table. I selected rye bread, ham, turkey, swiss, fat free mayo and banana peppers. The sandwich turned out great, and all the ingredients were fresh and delicious. It was accompanied by a very tasty and zesty potato salad.

This is a great place for families, because there’s something for everyone, but it’s also one of the better places in town to get a sandwich, and I’d actually rate it above any of the sub shops and delis in the area. In fact, the only thing I didn’t like about it is the bright fluorescent lighting.

And at $7.99 for lunch, it’s hard to imagine a better deal.

Melange
8261 S John Young Pkwy
Orlando, FL 32819
(407) 704-3821
http://www.yelp.com/biz/melange-orlando

Panera Bread

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*** (3 stars)

It’s hardly necessary to review a restaurant chain that most people have been to, so I’ll restrict my comments to this particular store, and to the new food item introduced on this visit.

Compared to other Panera’s this location is:

-nicer than most interiors
-a bit more difficult to park near
-has a friendlier staff
-has an annoying habit of paging you before your meal is actually ready.

The new item I tried was the Soba Noodle broth bowl with chicken. The broth had a pleasant Asian-inspired flavor, and there was lots of tender and savory chicken. The noodles were a bit odd, grayish with a square cross section, and finer than true soba noodles. Overall the complexity of the dish did not approach that of the Japanese Ramen bowls it imitates.

If you’re looking for a Panera in Orlando, I’d rate this as the best one in the area.

Panera Bread
4700 S Apopka Vineland Rd
Orlando, FL 32819
(407) 217-6916
http://www.yelp.com/biz/panera-bread-orlando-10

American Gymkhana

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**** (4 stars)

If you’re looking for an incredible Indian fusion experience that combines traditional dishes with complex influences from other cuisines in beautiful presentations, proceed directly to American Gymkhana and don’t even bother to read the rest of this review. You won’t be disappointed.

If you’re the owner of this restaurant, please read on.

Your chef and her cuisine are wonderful. But if you want to succeed, you need to fix some things soon. The restaurant has been open two months, which is plenty of time for there to be someone working in service who knows what they’re doing.

Sadly, this is not the case. The food is so good that people will try again, but at some point we’ll give up unless basic levels of service can be achieved. It’s as if the whole staff has never been in a table service restaurant (not counting Denny’s) before.

On our Saturday brunch visit there were at least 15 servers huddled near the entrance, and exactly two patrons. Yet we were interrogated for five minutes at the front desk by three people before finally being shown to a table. Why do you need our names and phone numbers to serve us food?

We asked our server several questions about the food and beverages (let’s face it, the brunch menu isn’t exactly self explanatory, and contradicts itself regarding what the meal includes). The answer to every question was “well, I don’t know what’s in that, but we do everything very special here so it has lots of wonderful ingredients.”

Before you blame the server for this response, let me note that I overheard this same conversation at two other tables with two other servers and the response was essentially identical. If you ever get a patron with a food allergy, they’re dead.

There were a dozen other minor issues with the service provided by everyone who visited our table: inability to clearly explain what came or did not come with various dishes on the menu, wrong drinks served with no one noticing, no one offering dessert before the check–nothing show-stopping or that prevented us from enjoying the truly wonderful food. But there is no excuse for it.

You own a Michelin listed restaurant in New York, and I know this isn’t what the service is like there. Someone needs to move to Orlando and take charge. It would be a shame for one star service to kill a restaurant with 5 star food.

American Gymkhana
7559 W Sandlake Rd
Orlando, FL 32819
(407) 985-2900
http://www.yelp.com/biz/american-gymkhana-orlando

Taquitos Jalisco

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TJ

***** (5 stars)

This is still, after more than a decade, the only authentic table service Mexican restaurant in Orlando. There are some Tex Mex items, but the real key is to order the authentic dishes such as the pastor or the mole. I like the Plato Botanas appetizer sampler, but for a real treat try the Gorditas Pastor with everything. Also excellent margaritas.

Taquitos Jalisco
1041 S Dillard St
Winter Garden, FL 34787
(407) 654-0363
http://www.yelp.com/biz/taquitos-jalisco-winter-garden

Hemingway’s

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**** (4 stars)

I guess I’m what you’d call a long-time customer since I’ve been going here for almost 30 years. It’s a magical little oasis outside the Grand Cypress hotel, completely surrounded (and high above) the rock work waterfalls that feed the elaborate pools. Every room is essentially a glassed in veranda, and one is screened in for those balmy evenings.

The food is reliable and tasty, and the service is friendly and accommodating.

Over the years many menu items have changed, but one constant has been my favorite salad, the Key Wester, and complex combination of a mild blue cheese dressing, ham, bacon, a few olives, and other goodies. Highly recommended.

Hemingway’s
1 Grand Cypress Blvd
Orlando, FL 32836
(407) 239-1234
http://www.yelp.com/biz/hemingways-orlando

Kabooki Sushi – An Extravaganza

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***** (5 stars)

We returned to our favorite sushi place (in the world) for an extravaganza, taking advantage of Dani being in town, and a visit from our friend Pamela from Australia. Truly, there is no better sushi in the world, and no more creative sushi chef than Chef Henry. Every visit offers new and spectacular selections, and this trip was no exception. Each course was accompanied by matching wine.

The kitchen

The kitchen

Tom yum soup with coconut broth, lime and head-on shrimp

Tom yum soup with coconut broth, lime and head-on shrimp

Kanpachi tartare

Kanpachi tartare

Our favorite, maguro truffle

Our favorite, maguro truffle

Sashimi patter featuring whole branzino with a ponzu-based sauce

Sashimi patter featuring whole branzino with a ponzu-based sauce

Kobe beef nigiri with black truffle

Kobe beef nigiri with black truffle

Pork belly with mushrooms

Pork belly with mushrooms

Chef Henry flames the lobster

Chef Henry flames the lobster

Lobster

Lobster

Three layer flan, molten chocolate cake, bread pudding, cappuccino creme brûlée

Three layer flan, molten chocolate cake, bread pudding, cappuccino creme brûlée

What an amazing meal! We’re ready to go back!

 

Kabooki Sushi
3122 E Colonial Dr
Orlando, FL 32803
(407) 228-3839
http://www.yelp.com/biz/kabooki-sushi-orlando

Cariera’s Cucina Italiana

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**** (4 stars)

This latest incarnation of Cariera’s (December 2014) follows several previous ownership changes under that name, and several names before that. But this is the most significant in the span of 25 year we’ve been going there, because the interior space has been remodeled from pizza parlor to fine dining restaurant.

From what we sampled, the new menu backs up this move to upscale Italian dining. Both the Caesar Salad and the Grilled Romaine salad were excellent. The Lobster Ravioli was better than at any of the Italian restaurants in Orlando where we’ve tried it. And the Chicken Picatta (which they made special because I’m not a veal fan) was also quite excellent.

Wine corkage is available and reasonably priced.

Service was extremely accommodating, and the manager is gracious and professional. I suspect this restaurant will give the other Italian places in the area significant competition, because the food is better than any of them, and is a fraction of the cost of the closest competitor.

Cariera’s Cucina Italiana
The Market Place
7600 Dr Phillips Blvd, Ste 12
Orlando, FL 32819
(407) 351-1187
http://www.yelp.com/biz/carieras-cucina-italiana-orlando-3