Miller’s Ale House Restaurants

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**** (4 stars)

I’m not completely in tune with the whole sports bar thing, probably because I’m not a sport fan. But Miller’s Ale House is certainly the most successful chain of them in Orlando. This location, on Kirkman, is packed every day, and the food is good (just don’t check the calorie counts on their website).

Burgers and salads are good bets here, and I also like the chicken fajitas, one of the healthier choices (they are lower in calories than many of the salads).

Service is decent, but it’s pretty much impossible to have lunch here in less than an hour, so don’t go if you’re tight on time.

Miller’s Ale House Restaurants
5573 S Kirkman Rd
Orlando, FL 32819
(407) 248-0000
http://www.yelp.com/biz/millers-ale-house-restaurants-orlando-6

The Big Easy

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**** (4 stars)

The Big Easy offers fairly authentic New Orleans style food in a convivial, neighborhood sports bar-like atmosphere. The emphasis is on fried food, including shrimp, crawfish and oysters, which can be ordered as an appetizer or in a po’boy sandwich.

We enjoyed the mixed seafood appetizer and the fried pickles, but my favorite was the Mufaletta sandwich, as good as any I’ve had in New Orleans. The ham was tender and generous, the olive spread appropriately tangy, and the bread had the perfect crusty consistency. The sandwich was accompanied by some great battered fries, served piping hot.

There are also entrees such as Étouffée and Jambalaya and blackened redfish. I found the flavors of the Étouffée and Jambalaya a bit too similar.

Service was a real standout. A single waitress handled the whole room, and was more efficient than three people might have been. She kept our drinks refilled, checked back often, and made the whole experience a very pleasant one.

The Big Easy
15502 Stoneybrook W Pkwy
Ste 120
Winter Garden, FL 34787
(407) 654-3279
http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-big-easy-winter-garden

BurgerFi

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**** (4 stars)

This latest outpost of the BurgerFi empire is at the entrance to Windermere, next to Isleworth and Bay Hill in the Grove shopping plaza. The weird design of the parking makes finding a space a bit of a puzzle, but it keeps down the traffic, which makes dining outside on the large, covered patio pleasant.

I like BurgerFi’s approach to burgers, because they make it easy to assemble your burger from the ground up. My favorite is with bacon, white cheddar, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle relish, ketchup, mustard and mayo. It’s no problem to rattle these off and get exactly what you want.

The burgers themselves are fairly small, about the size of a fast food burger, not a gourmet hamburger restaurant’s patty. But that’s fine as far as I’m concerned, because you get all the flavor without so many calories. And the flavor was good, especially the crispy bacon, which was generous. The bun was a bit blah, even though it had been “branded” with the BurgerFi logo. And the meat was definitely well done, which might turn some off, but I don’t mind a well-done burger as long as it’s juicy, which this one was.

The accompanying onion rings I ordered where huge, crispy and tasty, but dripping with oil. My companion liked his fries less well. The order was huge, but the variant he ordered was covered with a white sauce that made them slimy.

BurgerFi has Coke Freestyle machines, so you can select from hundreds of combinations, which is always fun.

You order at the counter, and then the food is delivered to your table using a clever scheme involving restaurant pagers placed on a special mat that must signal the servers which table you’re at. Very neat.

If you’re expecting Red Robin or Burger 21, BurgerFi isn’t really in that category, but if you want an excellent fast food burger in a nice environment, it’s a good choice.

BurgerFi
4750 The Grove Dr.
Windermere, FL 34786
(407) 217-7612
http://www.yelp.com/biz/burgerfi-windermere-6

Mei Asian China Buffet

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* (1 stars)

There’s really nothing horrible about this Chinese buffet if your expectations aren’t too high. The meat items are a bit questionable, but there are other choices that are okay. However our meal got off to a bad start when a roach crawled across the table, and I see from other reviews (and pictures) here that our experience wasn’t unique, so perhaps best to go elsewhere.

Mei Asian China Buffet
8255 International Dr
Orlando, FL 32819
(407) 352-0881
http://www.yelp.com/biz/mei-asian-china-buffet-orlando

Paxia Modern Mexican Restaurant & Tequila Bar

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**** (4 stars)

This modern Mexican restaurant has recently been remodeled, and now has a beautiful interior with great ambiance. There’s a nice selection of interesting cocktails in addition to excellent margaritas.

The food is a modern spin on traditional Mexican dishes, not Tex Mex.

I had the Pastor, marinated pork served with diced onions and pineapples on corn tortillas. The presentation was authentic, but the rich spicy flavor of authentic pastor wasn’t really there.

My wife had the open face salmon quesadilla. This was a fantastic creation, with large pieces of savory house-smoked salmon atop arugula. After eating the top as a salad, she folded the tortilla in half and ate it as a regular cheese quesadilla. It had been grilled to perfection.

The ceviche appetizer was interesting. The salmon “tartare” was more like chunks of salmon that had been tossed in an interesting sauce and mixed with guacamole, capers and cilantro (an unusual but successful combination) then served atop tostones (fried pressed green plantains). It was a generous serving, plenty for two.

The Sunday brunch menu offers many egg-based creations with a Mexican flair, although most involve beans, which isn’t an ingredient I like with eggs.

Service is very friendly and efficient. One of the best choices for dining in College Park.

Paxia Modern Mexican Restaurant & Tequila Bar
2611 Edgewater Drive
Orlando, FL 32804
(407) 420-1144
http://www.yelp.com/biz/paxia-orlando-2

The Attic Door

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**** (4 stars)

Since Winter Park’s revival, Plant Street has become a wonderland of interesting bars and restaurants with live music. Of all the bars, The Attic Door has my favorite ambience, like being in someone’s living room. Lot’s of funky tables, chairs and couches, all mismatched, moderate lighting and noise levels, and talented singer/guitarists create a wonderful place to spend an hour or the whole evening.

The only downside is the food, which is pretty limited and not that great. In particular, the pretzels and beer cheese dip is a secret family recipe that should have remained a secret. Skip the food an enjoy the very reasonably priced wines and beers while enjoying the cozy atmosphere.

The Attic Door
28 W Plant St
Winter Garden, FL 34787
(407) 877-0266
http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-attic-door-winter-garden

Oishi Japanese Restaurant

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**** (4 stars)

Based upon the tourist location and other reviews I wasn’t expecting much, but I really liked this place.

The room is great, almost a tiki bar decor, with nicely partitioned booths and stylish tables.

The extensive menu offers a huge selection of sushi rolls, plus a page of noodle dishes and two pages of teppan steak offerings. We sat at a table and had sushi for lunch.

A lot of the rolls feature cooked eel or tempura ingredients, making them slightly sweet, so those new to sushi will find it very accessible. There are also very reasonably priced combinations and sashimi samplers.

Of everything we tried my favorite  was the orange blossom roll, which involved no orange, but did look orange. A creamy salmon concoction with crispy fried bits of roe, it nicely incorporated salty and sweet flavors with a crispy yet chewy texture.

Service was extremely attentive and friendly, and pricing, especially for a tourist area restaurant, was extremely reasonable.

Oishi Japanese Restaurant
11025 International Dr
Orlando, FL 32821
(407) 465-0088
http://www.yelp.com/biz/oishi-japanese-restaurant-orlando

Agave Azul

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**** (4 stars)

This is one of the more stylish Mexican restaurants in town, and is trying to do authentic Mexican more than the usual Tex Mex. Unfortunately the food isn’t really up to the level one gets at the real Mexican hole in the wall places.

I had the pastor, which was authentic looking, but lacked the rich spicy sauce that makes the marinated pork dish a favorite of mine. I also sampled both refried and black beans, and both white and yellow rice. None had much flavor.

Guacamole was hand made, and quite good.

The facet of Agave Azule that stands out is the decor, with a trendy blue interior that is Mexico City modern rather than some tacky fiesta theme.

Margaritas and other drinks are excellent, and the service in this often busy restaurant is prompt and efficient.

Agave Azul
4750 S Kirkman Rd
Orlando, FL 32819
(407) 704-6930
http://www.yelp.com/biz/agave-azul-orlando

Teak Neighborhood Grill

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***** (5 stars)

This comfortable neighborhood bar offers a great environment for drinks, lunch, or casual dinner. The extensive menu takes a gesture pub approach, with a variety of offerings, but the stars of the show are the burgers.

What’s great about the burger selection here is that every burger is distinctly different, with a true range of flavors from spicy to beer-glazed to caramelized and even peanut butter and jelly! All burgers are a half pound, cooked any way you like, and most come on a pretzel bun, accompanied by your choice of side item. My favorites are the Drunken Monk and the Crone burger (which comes on a cinnamon dusted croissant/donut and is pictured above).

The bistro fries, with a strong rosemary flavor, and the sweet potato tater tots are two good choices.

Definitely in the running for best burger in Orlando.

Teak Neighborhood Grill
6400 Times Square Ave
Orlando, FL 32835
(407) 313-5111
http://www.yelp.com/biz/teak-neighborhood-grill-orlando

Kings Bowl Orlando

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***** (5 stars)

This is a really nice bowling center with amazingly good food, certainly as good as any sports bar in town. Their wine and beer selections are also very well thought out.

It’s especially a great place for groups, as they will close off a section of lanes with a curtain and you can have a wonderful private party for the whole evening.

You don’t need to be even mediocre at bowling in order to enjoy this place, which in my case is a very fortunate thing indeed.

Kings Bowl Orlando
8255 S International Dr
Orlando, FL 32819
(407) 363-0200
http://www.yelp.com/biz/kings-bowl-orlando-orlando