Best Off-Site Restaurant's Thread

[staceyrhood]

Town Tavern, Columbia, and d'antonios...all in Celebration, all really great!

Also, on the corner of 192 and 429 are Bahama Breeze and Ale House, they are good as well.

 

[Bella the Ball 360]

This thread is so long but I do not know if these were mentioned, 4 Rivers BBQ....tons better than Babbalou's, and Yellow Dog Eats both FANTASTIC.

 

[Cinderella2006]

some great suggestions! Thanks

 

[Minniemom66]

Texas Roadhouse is our new favorite in Orlando! It's become our tradition to eat there our last night. They have free shelled peanuts in the waiting area, and also bring a basket of them to your table. They have great fresh food!

 

[MikeP22]

Our new favorite is Hollerbach's Willow Tree Cafe. However it's a 45 minute trip to Sanford but it was definitely worthwhile.

 

[2girlsmom]

Also a regional chain, but new to us is Chuey's Mexican. It is on I Drive, super cute, good prices, and some good texmex food. The creamy jalapeno dip is so good we call it crack sauce.

 

[JimMIA]

Another newish place is BJ's Brewhouse at 8761 Vineland.

That's just on the other (South) side of I-4 from the Crossroads shopping center.

We ate at this one for the first time in June, and it was quite good. American sports bar atmosphere, but with upgraded food, moderate prices.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

Wow! this thread is still going! It brings me back to my first posts on the DIS!

We've mostly been eating onsite the past few years (that may change!)

(Does US count as offsite?)

A few places we have enjoyed are:

McCoy's at MCO! This is located in the Hyatt. Go up the glass elevators to the hotel lobby. Some pluses are late hours, great sushi, and very good kids meal options. Kids can order half-portions of anything on the adult menu, plus a kid menu.

The Whole Foods (Sand Lake/I-4). This is very close to US! Just off I-4. (use the MCO north exit)

It is not so much a place save money, but rather a place to get really healthy options. The place is HUGE, with tons of fun, healthy options: fresh squeezed juices of all kinds, brick oven pizza, fresh seafood cooked to order, barista, quality bakery. Also extensive hot/cold bars, salad bar, soup bar, etc.

It is also a great place to stop for anyone with food allergies! Food bar ingredients are listed, no nasty chemicals, and lots of delicious vegetables.

The dining area is pleasant, and three's even outdoor tables. They also sell beer/wine and groceries! We've never tried the other dining in the same plaza, but it looks nice.


We've also now made several visits to the Tampa area! If we can't get good airfare rates to MCO, Tampa (or St. Petersburg)+a rental car works well! Lots of fun places to dine.

 

[Candleshoe]

This is one of my favorite threads

Does anyone have any recent experience with Restaurant.com offerings for Kissimmee?

 

[vacation_junkie]

This is one of my favorite threads

Does anyone have any recent experience with Restaurant.com offerings for Kissimmee?

I'm interested in this as well...

 

[mickeyluv'r]

Ooh, wow this very old thread has been revived!

We tried Restaurant.com some time ago. Another website listed a few places at/close to WDW as offering coupons and a deal at the time.

My experience using them was slightly mixed. In one sense, they easily saved us more than what I paid for the coupons. In another sense - and this is a bit hard to explain- they didn't really save us money. It is a bit like shopping at Marshalls. All the merchandise was previously rejected by customers at another store. Only struggling businesses resort to (deep) discount coupons. Reasons vary: ugly décor, bad service, overpriced menu, or a hidden location.

On the last front, we did end up finding a few gems! That's how we found McCoy's at the Orlando airport! A real gem! Serivce can be slow, but we returned recently and had a super meal!

Many places listed early in this thread probably don't exist any more! Just off the top of my head- most of Citywalk has completely changed. Citywalk has some great options, BTW! The HP areas in both parks also have great food!

One offsite place I highly recommend is Azteca d'Oro. (7320 W Colonial Drive) It is near the JW Marriott. This little Mexican gem is also convenient to MCO. (Bonus: bypass the toll!) We ate there again last month, and it was super! Our bill was VERY reasonable.

A little further out is a decent steakhouse called Manny's Chophouse. I think there are several, but none close to WDW. Not fancy, but we all enjoyed our food.

Above I mention the Whole Foods near Universal. It is still a very good alternative to theme park food, especially if you crave healthy. And if WF isn't your thing, there are several options in the same plaza. Mostly inexpensive chains (PeiWei for one), but it is very close to Universal.

 

[bankr63]

I would add a caution about Whole Foods MRE options for those with allergies. Although they do list ingredients, they do not pay attention to placement so a GF item is placed right next to a pasta and the chance for cross-contamination is great. They have great rotisserie chicken as well, but do mixed batches so cannot guarantee that items aren't cross contaminated (and since they drip all over each other, they probably are contaminated).

I was hopeful first time I walked in there with DS who is celiac. We left empty handed (er, bellied). We did find good GF options on the shelves so went back to our TS and cooked, but that wasn't the objective. Also, for Celiacs most of the products at WF are available at Publix down the street for better prices.

 

[J-Dog]

I noticed that both of the chain-type Brazilian Steakhouses - Texas de Brazil and Fogo de Chao - are conspicuously absent from this list.

I have heard good things about both on other sites, and we were going to make a point of going to at least one of these (or maybe both) next month, but maybe everyone on here knows something that I don't know?

Are they worth it? Thanks!

EDIT: I apologize, because someone did mention Fogo de Chao about 4 or 5 pages back. Still would like opinions on these places if anyone cares to give one. Thanks again!