Chili's - Orlando

Since we stayed offsite in Orlando, we did what Disney called Good Neighbor Hotels.  Basically their concierge can book reservation and help you with Park tickets at the hotel before you get to the parks.  The pros about staying offsite is that it's cheaper and they have shuttles taking you to the parks.  Obviously, you lose the ease of being on campus and the perk of Magic Hours.  But our room rate was great and by the time we added the fee for Uber, it is still cheaper than staying on site that week. 

Surrounding it there's alot of food options.  Within 5 mins walking distances in all directions there's everything you can possible want.  For lunch, we picked Chili's.

Got my Shirley Temple. 

Skillet Queso - so good.  The chips did feel a bit stale-ish.

Got the Santa Fe Chicken Salad.  It has grilled chicken, guacamole, tortilla strips, and pico over a bed of lettuce.  You can have them add in the ranch dressing (top), or the Santa Fe dressing (bottom), I just asked for the side, so I can mix and match as I want.  Overall, it's a pretty going salad.  Granted lettuce isn't exactly known for nutrition, but since traveling hardly has any veggies, this is a decent option.  

I think it's it's lunch it's not super busy, so we got great service when we were there.  Our server was super tentative and came by to check on us couple of times, between cleaning booths and what-nots.

Chili's - Orlando

12172 S. Apopka Vineland Rd

Orlando, FL 32836

https://www.chilis.com/locations/us/florida/orlando/lake-buena-vista

 

Ragland Road - Disney, Orlando

For our last night, I wanted to check out Downtown Disney. We had gone there the first night to see Cirque. And since every park basically kept you busy till the time they close, weather is a firework show, parade, or parade plus firework plus water show. You just don't get the time to check out the rest the complex has to offer.

You really don't get a sense of how big the place is until you have to walk it. That is after you've been walking at all of the parks. At first, you only get the West side of it, and you saw a few restaurants. The Latin restaurant had 1hr45mins wait. Urm... nevermind. Wolfgang Puck Express is packed and their sit down has over 1hr wait. NEXT! We kept walking, and this girl handed me a map of the Downtown Disney, there's a bridge to go over Pleasure Island. I thought it was just a bunch of clubs since the music was pounding pretty heavily. Luckily, that is where we found food!
We ended up at Ragland Road, it had a 30mins wait and a gluten free menu. SOLD! The place is actually bigger than it looks. While you wait, there is an all-Irish Theme gift store. It definitely put the one in Disney and the one in Universal Studios to shame. They have so many Irish stuff, from T-shirts, to books, to family shields, to jam, to charms. Tons of stuff. They have a patio on one side, and a hole in the wall bar with outside seating on the other. For their express, it's called Cooke's of Dublin, which has your typical Fish and Chips.

Instead, we got a table and sat by the bar. Little did I know, they do accept the Disney Dining Plan, and they're very upfront about that. On top of that, it does include appetizer, entree and dessert. Alcoholic drinks are never included. That said, they also offer gluten free onion rings, and gluten free fish and chips. While we all know the fries are gluten free, but the batter they used for coating the fish or the onion rings are gf, that's pretty cool.

So, for appetizer, I had ordered the potato and leek soup (2nd photo). I had thought the soup would be thicker in body. But to my surprise it was light bodied and not as heavy as I had imagined it in my mind, which was closer to a baked potato soup.

For the entree, I had the Citrus Salmon salad for dinner. The salmon was nicely grilled and there are almond slices in the mix. The vinaigarette made a nice addition to the mixed greens. The entire dish is not too heavy.

For dessert, which we barely had room for, but since it comes with the plan, we felt obligated. We got the Dundon's Delight on the recommendation of the server. He knew we were eating gluten free, and recommended this and the sorbet. We ended up splitting the Delight. It's basically a pavlova, which is meringue broken, with raspberry sauce and vanilla ice cream. At first, we were like, what's the big deal w/ meringue; but then with the sauce mixed it was pretty flavorful. They must've put raspberry flavors in there. The ice cream was a good complement, but we were so stuffed that the thought of adding more was just unbearable, even though it was delicious.

The neat thing about this place is that they have a set stage for entertainment. They have a house band that places Irish music to make you feel like you're eating in Ireland. And in certain interval, they have 3 Irish Jig dancers come out to demo and dance for you. The best part is when they dance accompanied by the band. So cool. How's that for live entertainment.

Ragland Road
Downtown Disney - Florida
http://www.raglanroad.com/

Yak & Yeti - Disney, Orlando

In Animal Kingdom, the food choices are definitely less than the other parks. There are more kids fare in the Dinosaur area and Discovery Island. The most recommended restaurant was the Tusker House, but they had buffet for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. For someone that have special dietary needs, that may not be a good idea.

We elected to go to Yak & Yeti especially when after the parade, it's on our way to Everest the ride. The decor of Yak & Yeti is very unique. They're very proud of the fact that most all of the artifacts you see in the restaurants are imported from anywhere from India to Mongolia. Even the stairwell which was made and imported from India. Not only that, you're welcome to roam around and take pictures.

The menu felt out of place. The decor from East Asia, I was half expecting cuisine from there. But, then most of the menu looked very Chinese food -centric. I got the sweet and sour chicken, and it really is not anything to write home about. It's not horrible, but it's not the best faux Chinese food I've ever had.

Again, they do cater to food allergies. The chef came out to talk to us about selections that they can make gluten free. We were thinking why don't they just have a separate gluten free menu. Then again, having the chef come to you does kick the customer service points a few notches.

Yak & Yeti Restaurant
inside Animal Kingdom
reservation is recommended but you can try your luck
http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/dining/yak-and-yeti-restaurant/

La Cantina De San Angel - Disney, Orlando

Another thing the Disney dining plan (the middle one) includes is quick meals. These are basically non-sit down restaurant meal. Mainly fast food. There are plenty of food courts all around the parks, so you'll never starve or go thirsty.

We walked and walked, and ended up at Mexico. It's kinda silly consider that we have great Mexican food in Houston. So, to go to fake Mexico for taco seemed weird. We ended up at the cantina outside of the little boat ride. They have a very simple menu: tacos, empanada, nacho, and guacamole.

The little taco dish we got comes with corn chips and you can get salsa dip from the counter. Because of the dining plan, they want you to have dessert and a drink. While I'm all for keeping hydrated, dessert I can save for better offer down in France. But if you tell the cashier you want to skip, they don't know what to do, like they can't apply your plan to it. So, instead, I just gave it the person next to us.

La Cantina De San Angel
Mexico Pavilion in Epcot
Here's an unofficial menu
http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/parks/epcot/dining/

Mitsukoshi - Disney, Orlando

As we walked up to Japan of World Showcase in Epcot, you can only imagine our delight to have sushi. All these days on the road, hardly touched any sushi at all. So, needless to say, this was a welcomed sight.

The thing that caught my attention was that we're eating at Mitsukoshi. While it is definitely a well known department store in Tokyo. To me, I've always known it to be a department store in Hong Kong, which closed after being in HK for 25 years. It was a place I remembered going when I was a kid. They sold high end stuff, but there were great household items.
Here at World Showcase, I guess each of the store in the area doesn't belong to Disney. So they must've bid for the space. Mitsukoshi owns the gift store downstairs at the fake Emporer's Palace and upstairs they have a Teppanyaki restaurant, as well as Tokyo Dining restaurant, which was where we ended up.

As part of my meal plan, they entitle you an appetizer, an entree, a dessert and a drink. On a side menu, they also have a set prix fixe menu to choose from as well.

This (above picture) is the Ginza Bento. It comes with 2 small veggie dishes, a bowl of miso, small sampler of sushi, and a platter of tempura with ponsu sauce and rice. Honestly, this is alot of food for me even though I have quite the stomach, but alas, the bento won... I admit defeat.

Again, the manager came out and speak to us about the allergies choices. Japanese food was quite easy to eat for gluten free allergies, since quite a variety doesn't contain gluten, it was not as hard to do as other dishes, say Italian.

To end our meal, we ended pu with the Green Tea Pudding. Honestly, it's really a flan with a hint of green on it. I can hardly taste any green tea in the dish. And yes, that's the caramel layer on top. Like I said, it's like a flan.

What I do appreciate is that they have hired Japanese ex-pats to work there. So the service is excellent and supreme but their English is so-so. There were a bit of disconnect with certain server, but you may luck out and get someone who has great English skills. Either way, you get alot of smiles and your order is correct, that's all that I ask for.

Definitely go downstairs and check out their gigantic gift store. While majority of their items are authentic Japanese made, but you can get alot of them for a fraction of the cost outside of Disney. For instance, any of the Hello Kitty item, you can easily get at Sanrio store or online. Their Kimono might be hard to get elsewhere, but the green tea, chopsticks, weird snacks...etc, you can easily get it from your local Asian market. Spend your money on a limited edition of Mickey over spending it on stuff like that.

Mitsukoshi
Japan, World Showcase Epcot
reservation is recommended, especially for the Teppanyaki portion, but you can always try your luck.
http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/dining/tokyo-dining/

Kouzzina by Cat Cora - Disney, Orlando

So one of the amenities of staying onsite is that you have a few more choices than you would staying offsite and have to go find a place to go. We ended up at Kouzzina's by Cat Cora. Yes, Cat Cora, the Iron Chef.

Yes, the Dining Plan is accepted here, to which, for breakfast, you get: 2 drinks (coffee and juice) and entree and side. It's kinda weird that they offer that, because your main breakfast entree already includes a decent portion of side, so side on top of sides is alot of food.

What was so great about any sit-down restaurant at WDW is that if you have any allergies, don't feel like you're inconveniencing them, they are more than happy to oblige. When you walk in and put down your name for a table. They also ask if you have any food allergies.

So while they do not have a separate menu for your food allergies, they will get the chef from the back to come and talk to you. If the chef is not available, they will have the manager on duty to come and speak with you as well. Apparently, everyone in the food service of the resort has to go thru this course training about the different kinds of sensitivities, intolerance, and allergies. Then, they have to take a 65 question test, which if they missed one question, they have to re-do the entire test. So, don't ever feel like you have to work around their menu, they are more than happy to come and work around yours.

So, one the first day, we didn't know that is possible. So we ordered something simple. The American (first photo) where you have eggs, potatoes, and bacon. The second day (second photo), I had ordered the Spinach, Tomato, Feta, and Scrambled Eggs. The normal combo without the feta is just a normal breakfast combo, but having the feta it does add a kick with the cheese.

On the second day, David had order the Turkey hash with two eggs and arugula salad. The weird thing is that they had hidden the eggs inside the salad and you get the hash on the side, so your whole plate looks like there's only hash with salad. Since David wasn't a big salad person, we switched. So, the third day, I got what I got before, since I never really got to try it (see 3rd photo).

When the chef got word that David eats gluten free, she had whipped up some Mickey Mouse waffles. And since I thought that was cute, even though I'm not eating gluten free, they whipped up the Mickey waffles with fruit too. The syrup was light and mashed well with the fruit. I would probably add some creme fraiche.

Kouzzina by Cat Cora

at the Boardwalk Inn

walk-in for breakfast is welcome, but reservation for dinner is recommended.

See the breakfast menu here, they are open for dinner and they serve Mediterranean style.

50's Prime-Time Diner - Disney, Orlando

If you ever get to go to WDW, make sure you spend enough time for each of the parks. The first day, we went to Hollywoods Studios. Some people kinda writes it off as a half day park. But honestly, between the lines and going thru the rides and shows you want to go, it does take the entire day.

If you do go to that park, you must go to Sci-Fi Dine-In theater, but the problem was that it was so dark that no photos were going to come out. But you must go there just to check it out. The other place you must check out is the 50's Prime Time Cafe.
Because of the Fantasmic show, which is a light, water, firework show only at DHS, it took us a long while before we can make it thru the crowd to the restaurant. Generally speaking, their rides and restaurants close when the park closes. But they will honor reservation 15-30 mins after your time. So, even though we were super late, and I can tell they were breaking down the place, they went ahead and honored our reservation. So I'm telling you it has it's benefits!

Anyway, the diner itself is cute and kitchy. In the waiting area, it has the 50s/60s furniture, light fixtures, and wall paper. Every corner you turn there's a TV. They play snip bits of TV shows from that era like Mickey Mouse Club or Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. And one of the secret we were told by our server was that they are flat screen TVs fitted into one of the old units.

The food is really a diner's food with milkshake and cobbler to boot. I had the boneless pork loin. The pork was ok, but the mashed potato was super awesome that I definitely cleaned up. The specialty here, aside from the decor, the kitchy-ness, it's their servers. They all talk back at you, and you'll love it. If you tattle at each other, they'll call you out on that. If you don't eat your vegetable, they'll be sure to tell you that too. Tons of laugh.

50s Prime Time Cafe

inside Disney Hollywood Studios

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/dining/50s-prime-time-cafe/

reservations are highly recommended at least 48 hours ahead but they will take reservation 180 days ahead and they do not allow changes 2 hours prior to your reservation time.

407-WDW-DINE

House of Blues - Disney Downtown, Orlando

First night at WDW, we had tickets to go see Cirque. Since we were super late, not knowing how the Disney buses worked, we didn't get to have a good sit down dinner. After the show, we ended up at House of Blues. We were hungry and it was right there at the West End of Disney Downtown.

We had the creamy spinach dip, it had a very thick layer of cheese on top and while the cheese was good, it was too thick to cut a chip thru it. The dip comes with home made potato chips that is nice and thick for the dip, and it carried it well.
For the entree, we ordered the New York strip steak. It came with seasonal vegetable and onion rings. I love the onion rings because it was thinly sliced and crispy. The steak was nicely done and you can taste the grill.

Too bad it was way too late and the room is way too cold. The server was quick and friendly, and while I'm sure we weren't the last table there, you can tell they were ready to pack up. So, to get such great service and still get good food out of it. I'm all for that. Thumbs up!

House of Blues Orlando
1490 E. Buena Vista Dr.
Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830
Phone: (407) 934–BLUE (2583)

http://www.houseofblues.com/venues/clubvenues/orlando/

Big River Brewing Company - Disney, Orlando

Since Hurricane Irene passed thru the Eastern Seaboard, alot of the route from DC to Orlando was not available. Mainly our return train trip back to Orlando. Instead, we took on I-95 ourselves, good thing we had our car.

That driving trip, however, left very little to desire. Of course, the incentive at the end was well worth it. Welcome to eating at Disney World (here on known as WDW).

After a long drive, we were dying to find anything that serve food. If churros were around, I'd take that too. Luckily, at our hotel has alot of stuff going on at the boardwalk, so we went to the brewing company.

The place is smaller than it looks from the outside. They do honor the Disney Dining Plan here. (If you don't know about the plan, it's well worth it. We got a deal where we stay onsite and the plan is included. But if you were to go when it's not included, try to get on the plan anyway, it's well worth the price.) Anyway, they brew their own beer here at the brewing company. It's really a honest to goodness microbrew.

They offer flights if you don't know which one of their local brew to pick. It goes very well with their burger. While that's the item to get, I ended up with a salmon salad. It was freshly grilled and it was on top of a bed of ceasar salad. The dressing was done just right, and the salmon wasn't too over done.

Big River Brewing Company

on the Disney's Boardwalk at the Boardwalk Inn

reservation can be made: 407-827-2253

feel free to take your chance, it's not super busy.

Three Broomsticks - Universal Islands of Adventure

Now, you know that I can't come all the way to Orlando and not go to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. What kind of person do you think I'd be if I do make that pilgrimage. Plus, I'm sure my friends who are big fans of HP would've thought that I'm crazy going all the way there by car and not go to HP.

As a matter of fact, in the Islands of Adventure, we spent the most time in that corner of the park. By the looks of it, I'd say alot of people did too. There were 3 rides in that corner, the dragon challenge was too fast for me. The Flight of Huffogriff was more my speed. And then of course the main Hogsward castle ride, the Forbidden Journey.

Here's the trick to the rides. They have 3 lines. One is the main line, one is for their Express pass, and the 3rd one is for Single Rider. Meaning, you are riding the ride separate from your party. Frankly, we didn't care, we just want to ride. And once you sat down, you realized, being with your party or not, doesn't really matter because you're in your own compartment type seats, you know the other people are there, but you aren't talking to them thru the ride.

The first time we rode it, we were stuck in the middle, so it prompted us to go back for second. And hey, that's why they have single riders right? Right!
After all the riding and walking and stuff, we were tired and felt relief to find a/c. Again, August heat, bleh! And where would we have eaten if not at the Three Broomsticks. While it's more cafeteria style, it was also managed quite well. For instance, they put you in a line, say number 4 and you go to number 4 counter to pick up your food. Then a hostess will find you a seat. And they're very good about the no cheating system. I was very impressed.
One of the recommendations I was given was that I have to have the frozen Butterbeer. Unlike it's name, it has no alcohol content in it. It's like a very buttery cream soda but in a slushee mode. Wherever you walk, you'll see lines after a big Butterbeer cart. The other thing I didn't get to try was the Pumpkin Fizz. That sounded good too, but I was told the Butterbeer was a must!
What goes well with Butterbeer you asked? Why, Fish and Chips of course. I will have to say, the battered fried fish was nothing to write home about, but the tartar sauce they gave you more than make up for it. It was tasty and I can't quite place it, it's not tangy like normal tartar sauce that I'm used to. The fries weren't heavily salted but it's fried alright.

There's no other place to eat in that area. So this is pretty much it. I will say, if you don't care for what they have to offer, at least go in and check out the structure, they did it almost exactly how the movie had it. So it's something to see. In that area, you get a candy store and a bunch of drink carts, in terms of food. The rest are stores and I think aside from Zonko the gag gift store and the Honeyduke the candy store, there's a line to the other stores. So, remember to bring your patience with you.

Three Broomsticks

inside Universal Islands of Adventure

www.universalorlando.com/Amusement.../threebroomsticks.aspx

Three Broomsticks

Finnegan's - Universal Studios

So, our first park in Orlando was Universal Studios. After much walking in this August heat, we were lured by the cool a/c of Finnegan's. It's a neat little bar that totally done it up like a real Irish pub. They have Guinness and mix drinks. But it was too early for lunch. Instead, I had the Banger and Mash.
In case you're not well versed at British/Irish pub food, Bangers and Mash is really just sausage and mashed potatoes. They threw in some veggie which was a welcomed site. You don't get alot of decent veggies on the road.

The sausage was a hint of spice, you don't detect it until it goes down. The mash... well, it's mashed. I can see how well this go down with a pint. Alas, no drinking without eating first. The bar was lively with people, and they also have an in-house musician as well, to keep you entertained. After all, you're in the Universal Studios. Right when the in-house musician ends, is when the Blues Brothers arrive right across from the pub, so you can leap from one performance to another.

Finnegan's

Inside Universal Studios Orlando

http://www.universalorlando.com/Theme_Parks/Universal_Studios_Orlando/Restaurants/finnegans_bar_grill.aspx

Keke's - Orlando

So, here we are in Orlando, hungry, trying to find decent breakfast that's not part of fast food. So on to YELP we went. It's been a guide to a city you've never been to and wanted to make sure you get something decent. At any rate, Keke's is a great fine!

They mainly serve breakfast food. They are open till 2pm, the only days they're closed are Christmas and Thanksgiving. Their food was good. Not too oily, not offensive at all. It's definitely something you would make at home.

I ordered the mushroom omelet, you can tell that they used real eggs, and it's definitely authentic real food. It was nice and filling, not too much. It was just right. I had the ham and cheese, although I had seriously considered the Greek omelet. It came with a nice side of home fries, which from Yelpers review, that's the thing to get. The homefries were a tad oilier than I liked, but it did the job just fine.

Our server was super perky, and seriously, if you need someone to wake you up, you'd want someone friendly like her.

Keke's Breakfast

4192 Conroy Rd, Ste 100
Orlando, FL 32839

407-226-1400

http://www.kekesbreakfastcafe.com/

Landry's Florida

It's nice to be on the road and find something you know and familiar with. We were at Pensacola area, and were hoping to try something local. Except, they had more than a 45 mins wait. As much as I'd like to experience the local flavors, I also was super hungry, and 45 mins was not going to be ok.

So, needless to say, it was nice to see Landry's at the foot of the bridge. The service, I will tell you is nothing like home. They didn't even bother to ask if you're a Signature Select member, which is Landry's big membership deal. While that's an obvious frequent diner deal, it was suppose to get you better seating should you forget to make a reservation and such.

Anyway, the food, however, was better than the ones back home. Not sure why. But, they offer sweet tea, which ironically, Texas doesn't offer that. But the tuna steak was good, and it came with this mixed rice. I, of course, needed some greens and ordered some asparagus. It wasn't too olive-oily, wasn't over cooked. It was good. Add the rice to the mix, the flavor was rich and sublime.

Our server was super friendly, but there were moments that felt like she was treating us like she would treat her kids. That's a tad much. Otherwise, everyone else was very blase' about having customers there. For not having full tops everywhere, the service was slow and there are times you can't find your server. That's very strange.

Landry's Seafood (FL)

905 East Gregory

Pensacola, FL 32501

Emeril's Orlando

Here we are at Universal Studios Orlando. One of the things we have to scope out is food because D is on a low carb/paleo type of diet. That said, we knew that Emeril's is one of the places we want to try.

The restaurant is located inside CityWalk, where they have shops and restaurants as well as bars and clubs all located in one centralized area. The other thing is that it's also serve as a gateway between the two parks: Universal Studios and Islands of Adventures (home of the World of Harry Potter).

We were very greatful and surprise how accommodating the restaurant people were when we told them we were looking for gluten free option. Since I'm less picky than David, I can always go for salad or seafood, or seafood salad. Since he's more particular, that made making recommendation for our server a challenge. But he was more than happy to check with the kitchen or just ask about ingredients, but that is not before he flip thru the knowledge he had about the menu and making recommendations for us. That part was great.

I had the scallops with the white sweet potato. I can taste a hint of ginger inside, while that was a surprise, it wasn't as spicy as I thought, and mixed well with the sauce the scallop comes in. White sweet potato, remember that! Because it tasted awesome! Had to have a green vegetable, I ended up with the humongous asparagus, go figure.

We ended the meal with a creme brulee' it's my measuring stick for their pastry chef. It came with two little shortbread cookies, it's nice and dense. The brulee was free formed like a flan. We saw the pastry chef firing up the torch to give that nice glace on top. Not to mention you can taste the raspberry puree all nice and fresh.

Emeril's Orlando CityWalk

6000 Universal Blvd #702

Orlando, FL 32819

407-224-2424

Reservations recommended, but if you are willing they do have chef's bar where you sit in front of the flatbread/oyster/salad chef.

http://www.emerils.com/restaurant/6/Emerils-Orlando/