DINING IN ORLANDO

Dining is a very subjective experience and many people's views will differ on what is good and not so good. Our intention here is to show you some of the places you can eat in various locations and some of the well known and popular eateries. We will include some restaurants that either from personal experience we have enjoyed, or if there is popular feedback from guests (so please let us know if you find anywhere you particularly like). We are not endorsing any restaurants on here nor do we have connections or affiliations with any of them, we are just giving information. One thing is for certain you are never far away from somewhere to eat in Orlando!

CHAMPIONS GATE

Champions Gate is 7 miles from Providence and has an array of restaurants and shops. As well as fast food outlets there are a number of very popular restaurants

 

If you fancy some fine dining there are a number of restaurants at the Omni hotel

THEMED RESTAURANTS

Hard Rock Cafe situated in the CityWalk entertainment complex next to Universal Studios is always a popular venue and is the biggest Hard Rock Cafe in the World! It has more pieces of rock memorabilia than any other location. The site also hosts Hard rock Live Orlando, a 3,000 person concert/party venue. Hard Rock does not accept reservations for dining but they do accept a limited number of priority seating requests per day. This does not guarantee actual seating but does reduce the wait time if there is one.

House of Blues Orlando is situated at Disney Springs West Side (formerly known as Downtown Disney). This is a Rock and Blues theme chain of restaurants offering a mix of American and international dishes. In addition to the House of Blues restaurant where you can enjoy live music, there is the Crossroads table service restaurant.

Planet Hollywood is located adjacent to Disney's Pleasure Island at Disney Springs West Side (formerly known as Downton Disney). Movie memorabilia takes centre stage here in a tribute to Hollywood. The restaurant serves American fayre.

Ford's Garage restaurants are officially licensees of the Ford Motor Company. "We pay tribute to America’s most iconic automobile brand by offering a truly historic dining experience—right down to our nostalgic auto shop uniforms and the hand-hammered copper bar top at each of our locations". As well as burgers they offer "comfort foods" and other sandwiches. The restaurants have classic Ford vehicles and memorabilia.

Restaurants at Disney Springs include: The Boathouse - American/Seafood/Steakhouse, Bongo's Cuban Cafe - Cuban, Cookes of Dublin - American/Irish, Earl of Sandwich - American, Fulton's Crab House - American/Seafood, Portobello Country Italian Trattoria - Italian/Seafood, Rainforest Cafe - American, T-Rex - American, 

This one we can recommend!! Manny's Original Chophouse is the place for steaks. Located at, 35496 US-27, Haines City, FL 33844, United States. Simply the best steak house, great choice of food and friendly, homely atmosphere.

Ovation Bistro is a family owned and operated smokehouse. It is located at 42605 on Hwy 27 North (near Posner Park). We have eaten here a few times and the food and service has always been excellent. It can get busy but you can also reserve a table online. As well as the traditional smokehouse dishes there are chef selections such as lamb and pork shanks which are a nice alternative from burgers, steaks and ribs.

The Lazy Dog opened in 2023 and is located on the 192. Great venue and atmosphere with a good menu and extensive choice of drinks. Reviews have been very positive and from our own experience somewhere we would recommend.

First Watch offers something a bit different and certainly caters for those after healthier food options. Everything is prepared fresh and the menu welcomes each season with ingredients and flavours inspired by the position of the sun. Breakfasts are especially good and a welcome change from the offerings of the main chain restaurants. There are a number of locations around the area but the two closest to our villa are at Posner Park and Champions Gate

Keke's is a great place for breakfast. There are a number of locations around Orlando but the closest is on Osceola Polk Line Road just up from Champions Gate. All the food is made fresh to order and the menu offers such things as waffles, pancakes, French toast, omelettes amongst other things - just a warning the portions are huge! We have always found the food and service excellent but it can get busy, we ahem found from around 10.00 a.m., so if you get there earlier should get seated a lot quicker.

Reggiano's of Celebration is an authentic Italian restaurant overlooking the lake. The impressive open kitchen atmosphere and wood burning oven is paired with Authentic Italian Cuisine, Gourmet Wood-Fired Pizza, Fresh Fish, Steaks & Chops. There is an excellent wine menu as well as speciality cocktails and house made desserts.