Category Archives: Winter Garden

Cold Stone Creamery

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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

Wings of Winter Garden

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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

Culver’s

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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

Bella Italia Ristorante

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Exterior

Bar

Interior

Clams Casino

Fettuccine Alfredo

Eggplant Rollatini

***** (5 stars)

Bella Italia is definitely a level above what you’d expect in a strip mall location. The decor, food and service are all top notch.

We started with the Clams Casino, a generous portion with a delicious lemon and garlic broth.

Fettucine Alfredo was equally generous, nigh on to huge. It needed a bit of salt to bring out the flavor, but had plenty of butter, cream and cheese.

Eggplant Rollatini was a nice improvement on Eggplant Parmigiana, with grilled rather than breaded eggplant, stuffed with four kinds of cheese, baked in marinara sauce, and topped with melted mozzarella.  It was delicious. The accompanying spaghetti was fine, but not needed.

All of these dishes were less than $9 at lunch, a great deal. Lunch also came with a basket of fresh bread and an excellent pesto/olive oil mixture for dipping.

Service was friendly and attentive.

Bella Italia Ristorante
13848 Tilden Rd
Ste 192
Winter Garden, FL 34787
(407) 347-3277
http://www.yelp.com/biz/bella-italia-ristorante-winter-garden

La Perla Deli

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Chilequiles

Quesadilla

Nachos con queso

Interior

Exterior

**** (4 stars)

This is a small, well-run restaurant that offers table service food, with a fairly extensive menu of home-cooked classics. Counter service to-go food is also available.

Nachos con queso were served with plenty of jalapenos, but I’d rather they’d left off the refried beans, which I don’t think were mentioned on the menu.

Our favorite item was the chilaquiles, which were served with a very savory green sauce. The house-made chips really made a difference. I also liked the simple but flavorful rice.

Service was friendly, and prices are reasonable.

La Perla Deli
608 S Dillard St
Winter Garden, FL 34787
(407) 905-0440
http://www.yelp.com/biz/la-perla-deli-winter-garden

Taco Norteño

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Nachos with ground beef

Tostada Barbacoa, taco pastor

Exterior

Interior

Salsa bar

**** (4 stars)

This neighborhood Mexican restaurant is very popular, probably in part due to the fact that their tacos start at $1.85.

I tried the taco pastor with a soft corn tortilla, the tostada barbacoa, and the nachos with ground beef.

My favorite item was the tostada, which had a nice, crisp, sturdy tortilla and generous slices of avocado. The barbacoa didn’t have a lot of flavor, but the refried beans did.

I didn’t care for the pastor, which was completely dry, with no evidence of marinade or sauce, and didn’t include the somewhat traditional pineapple either.

The nachos were by far the most expensive, but the serving was giant. You have a choice of meat, and indeed they were all about the meat, with very little cheese, and the limited cheese was a thin queso anyway.

The best feature of Norteno is the salsa bar, which offers not only an array of salsas, but also fresh cilantro, onions, jalapenos and limes, so you can deck out your food however you like. There are also free chips to accompany it.

Taco Norteño
12307 W Colonial Dr
Winter Garden, FL 34787
(407) 656-2567
https://www.yelp.com/biz/taco-norte%C3%B1o-winter-garden

Breakfast Club

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Club skillet

Exterior

Interior

**** (4 stars)

This is an old style coffee shop that emphasizes breakfast but also serves lunch food.

My “skillet” was actually just a plate, but I liked that I could select every ingredient, including choice of potatoes, veggies, meats and eggs. The hashbrowns were nice and crispy as requested.

The room is bright and airy and the servers are friendly, even when swamped, as they are on Sunday mornings after church.

Breakfast Club
13750 W Colonial Dr
Winter Garden, FL 34787
(407) 347-9726
https://www.yelp.com/biz/breakfast-club-winter-garden

Scoops Old Fashioned Ice Cream

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Exterior

Interior

Cappuccino Crunch

***** (5 stars)

I’m old enough to remember ice cream parlors in the 1960s, which I suppose were a lot like those from the 1920s, and Scoops certainly captures that feeling. The historic building, retro furniture, and decor all contribute to the feeling of stepping back to 1927. The friendly service also harkens back to a bygone era.

But of course, it’s all about the ice cream, and that will not disappoint. There are dozens of interesting flavors such as birthday cake, plus classics like butter pecan and pistachio. I chose the Cappucino Crunch, and it was superb.

I’d never heard of Hershey’s Ice Cream, but they’ve been around since 1894 (no relation to the candy company). I wish more places served it, as it is fantastic.

You can also get soft serve with mix-ins, but I urge you to go for the real thing, and get a scoop at Scoops.

Scoops Old Fashioned Ice Cream
99 W Plant St
Winter Garden, FL 34787
(407) 656-3369
https://www.yelp.com/biz/scoops-old-fashioned-ice-cream-winter-garden

Harry and Larry’s Barbeque

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Smoked brisket 1/4 pound

St Louis Ribs & Cole slaw

Exterior

Interior

***** (5 stars)

This small shotgun style business is always packed, and there’s a reason. While there is lots of pretty good BBQ in Orlando, it’s largely represented by small local chains such as Bubbalou’s and 4 Rivers. While those places turn out some good products, Harry and Larry’s seems to take it to another level, because of the small, home-made approach to everything.

Both the St. Louis Ribs and the Smoked Brisket I tried were, simply put, awesome, with a smokey crust and tender, flavourful meat.

Even the house-made coleslaw was a cut above, with fresh, crisp cabbage and carrot flavors coming through the light and flavorful sauce.

The only miss was the soggy piece of grilled bread served with the ribs.

Note: It can be a bit confusing on your first visit. You order at the counter (inside or out) and if you’re dining in they give you a playing card to put on your table to keep track of who to deliver it to.

Harry and Larry’s Barbeque
54 W Plant St
Winter Garden, FL 34787
(407) 614-5950
https://www.yelp.com/biz/harry-and-larrys-barbeque-winter-garden

Beijing & Tokyo

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Polly roll and spicy salmon roll

Pad Thai

Yellowtail jalapeno (seared)

Exterior

Interior

Menu

Lunch menu

**** (4 stars)

This small mall-based restaurant offers sushi, Chinese, Thai and other Asian cuisines. Although it describes itself as Fusion cuisine, there aren’t actually any blendings of cuisines, just a variety.

The quality of the sushi we had was very good, and the Pad Thai was also nicely done, although it could have used lime instead of the small slice of lemon.

The place is very clean, and the service was friendly.

Beijing & Tokyo
16112 Marsh Rd
Ste 413
Winter Garden, FL 34787
(407) 654-3800
https://www.yelp.com/biz/beijing-and-tokyo-winter-garden