Interior
Son of baconator
** (2 stars)
Pros:
Nice interior decor, Coke Freestyle Machine
Cons:
Well, it’s Wendy’s food; pretty much flavorless burgers, and fries are inferior to all other fast food places.
Wendy’s
6517 Old Brick Rd
Windermere, FL 34786
Presidente Margarita
Interior
Exterior
Nachos with no beans or meat
Taco Al pastor
Special dessert
**** (4 stars)
I had avoided this restaurant for many years after a bad experience when they first opened, but I’m glad I decided to try it again. It’s a pretty interesting Mexican restaurant, particularly considering it’s in a tourist area where it doesn’t need to be all that good.
I admit I started with the Presidente Margarita, which at 24 ounces may have favorably colored my experience of the rest of the meal! It was much too sweet, but a plate of lime wedges fixed that.
I started with the nachos, a generous serving to say the least. I don’t like bean and meat on my nachos, so I had them without that, and they were really good–even though I usually want melted cheese, not queso on nachos. There was a generous mound of pickled jalapenos on top, and they were just the right degree of spiciness.
After all those nachos, I just had a single taco al pastor. It was very authentic, with two corn tortillas, bits of pineapple, and just the right level of spice in the marinade.
Even though I was full, I couldn’t pass up a dessert special, bunuelos. This was a stack of three deep-fried flour tortillas coated in sugar and cinnamon and topped with vanilla ice cream. It was really excellent, very freshly made and crisp, with the perfect combination of sweet and salty, crisp and chewy, hot and cold. A dessert home run.
I really enjoyed my lunch, which was not cheap, but was just what I wanted. Everyone else in the place was taking advantage of the lunch buffet, which is a good deal, especially for a tourist area.
Service was attentive and friendly, and the place is nicely decorated. I will definitely return.
El Patron Restaurante Mexicano
12167 S Apopka Vineland Rd
Orlando, FL 32836
(407) 238-5300
https://www.yelp.com/biz/el-patron-restaurante-mexicano-orlando
Beer sampler
Interior
Exterior
Nachos
Pretzy
Happy hour winds
**** (4 stars)
This place has a nice open feel with a large bar in the center and lots of TVs. The menu is basic sports bar food, but well prepared.
The best feature, of course, is the list of beers made on-site. I like porters and stouts, and most microbreweries only make one or two, so I was pleased to see four on the list. A sampler of all four was only $8, and I really enjoyed several of them. There were some pretty wild flavors!
It’s worth noting that there is a nice list of happy hour appetizers, and beers are half price. Since happy hour runs all Sunday afternoon, that’s a great time to go.
Sea Dog Brewing Company – Orlando
8496 Palm Pkwy
Orlando, FL 32836
(321) 329-5306
https://www.yelp.com/biz/sea-dog-brewing-company-orlando-orlando
Exterior
Triple Decker club with Cole slaw
**** (4 stars)
Avalon Diner offers classic diner food, but in a modern building that also has a nice outside seating area.
My triple-decker club was very good, with nice crisp lettuce and tomato, and generous mayo. I liked the option of getting ham or beef instead of the classic turkey.
Service was very friendly and attentive.
Avalon Diner
16106 Marsh Rd
Winter Garden, FL 34787
(407) 614-4233
https://www.yelp.com/biz/avalon-diner-winter-garden
Interior
Exterior
Boneless spare ribs with beef fried rice
Bourbon chicken with pork fried rice
Pork lo mein with pork fried rice
Curry chicken and onion with shrimp fried rice
***** (5 stars)
I’ve been looking for good Chinese takeout in Orlando for a while, and this place is the first really good one I’ve found.
All four dishes I tried were excellent. Bourbon chicken was probably my favorite, with big, meaty chunk of chicken, and not super sweet, just right. Boneless spareribs were meaty, and not over-sauced. The lo mein in the pork lo mein was a bit overcooked by the time I got home, but it was a long drive, and it was still very hot, so that’s not their fault. Curry chicken and onion was an interesting non-Chinese dish.
The fried rice that came with each was excellent, and the protein–whether beef, pork or shrimp–was plentiful.
Each lunch was huge, so at about $5 each, they’re an amazing deal. There is literally 2 pounds of entree and rice in each meal.
Because my order came to $20 I got two free eggrolls. These were easily the best eggrolls I have ever tasted, including in Hong Kong. They were extremely savory and flavorful, and the wrapper was delicate and crispy without being oily.
It’s just counter service with very little seating, so it’s mainly a takeout place. I don’t think they really started fixing my Internet order until I arrived, but it was pretty quick, and that guaranteed freshness.
Ok China Restaurant
7359 W Colonial Dr
Orlando, FL 32818
(407) 299-8955
https://www.yelp.com/biz/ok-china-restaurant-orlando
Exterior
Interior
Counter
*** (3 stars)
This seems like it’s probably not one of the better locations for this chain, based upon the raves I’ve heard about others. When you enter it seems cramped, and there’s no obvious way to get the cups for the frozen yogurt machines, many of which are not operational.
“Stone” appears in the name because the ice cream is frozen to order on a cold marble counter, while being mixed with any desired add-ins. I had a mint and chocolate combination that was just okay. It would have been better without the lumpy brownies that were included as one of the chocolate ingredients. On a reutrn visit I had a coffee lovers combo which I liked much better.
Cold Stone Creamery
3310 Daniels Rd
Ste 112
Winter Garden, FL 34787
(407) 877-3744
https://www.yelp.com/biz/cold-stone-creamery-winter-garden-3
Interior
Exterior
interesting Flavors
9 wing lunch combo
**** (4 stars)
This place serves good wings in a counter service style. The building is new, and very clean.
They really have a lot of wing flavors here. I had the hot garlic, which were good. Curly fries were just okay. I didn’t care for the somewhat oily seeming blue cheese dressing at all.
Service is friendly, although the kitchen takes quite a while to prepare orders.
Wings of Winter Garden
12801 W Colonial Dr
Winter Garden, FL 34787
(407) 656-4492
https://www.yelp.com/biz/wings-of-winter-garden-winter-garden
Bacon cheese single burger
Interior
Exterior
Mint and m&m mini custard
**** (4 stars)
My friends from the Midwest were excited about the local arrival of Culver’s, so I was looking forward to checking it out.
The Bacon Cheese Deluxe Single burger I had was good, better than most fast food burgers, and came with all the trimmings I like.
The specialty here is frozen custard, especially “concretes” made by mixing in ingredients. I had vanilla custard with mint flavoring and m&ms added. It was very tasty, fairly indistinguishable from soft serve ice cream.
It’s worth noting that custard is REALLY high in calories compared to alternatives. It’s also worth noting that the serving sizes are really large. I had a “mini” which, when I was a kid, would have been called a large. Between the caloric content of the custard and the size inflation, it would be easy to order a single serving that had over 1000 calories!
Service was very friendly. I was greeted on arrival and departure, and the food is delivered to the tables and the tables are bussed, all nice services not usually found at fast food places.
Culver’s
13649 W Colonial Dr
Winter Garden, FL 34787
(407) 395-2225
https://www.yelp.com/biz/culvers-winter-garden
BBQ Bacon cheeseburger
Interior
Exterior
***** (5 stars)
This is the best quick serve burger I’ve found in Orlando. It’s also the best-priced quality burger I’ve found, costing barely more than fastfood chain burgers.
I had the BBQ bacon cheeseburger, which came will all the trimmings I’d usually order, standard. It was juicy and flavorful, and the bun held together well.
Breaded onion rings were nicely crisped, and the manager offered me some ranch dressing that was perfect for dipping them.
The burger, rings and a large drink came to under ten bucks. It was a great meal for that price.
Service was friendly, and the cooked-to-order meal came out very quickly.
The Habit Burger Grill
4706 Millenia Plaza Way
Orlando, FL 32839
(407) 351-9009
https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-habit-burger-grill-orlando-2
Interior
Pabellon
** (2 stars)
This nice space has been a succession of restaurants, all of them better than this incarnation.
The extensive menu offers a variety of Latin cuisines, with an emphasis on Venezuela. The prices are pretty ridiculous, with a soda or iced tea costing $5, and a milkshake an astounding $15.
Fortunately there are lunch specials for $9. We tried several, and none rose above mediocre. Your money would certainly be better spent at an alternative such as Pio Pio or Arepas El Cacao.
Service can only be termed snail-like, despite the place being only half full, with plenty of servers.
I’m already looking forward to the next restaurant in this space.
Bocas Grill – Orlando
7600 Dr Phillips Blvd
Ste 22
Orlando, FL 32819
(407) 723-8351
https://www.yelp.com/biz/bocas-grill-orlando-orlando-2