Offsite dining options

[petunia]

I;m looking for offsite dining options (were from Canada), for places like Olive Garden, or even some fun or themed places for kids.

 

[ParkHopperFan]

Use Google Earth to look at the area with Restaurant overviews. You will find every type of restaurant you can think of within a few miles. 192 is packed with dining choices. Olive Garden is on 192 at Rolling Oaks Blvd.

For the kids.. try booking a few character breakfasts at Disney or Universal. There also is a Medieval Times on 192. Also.. T-Rex Cafe and Rainforest Cafe. Both are unique restaurants..

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Hi petunia,

We're Canadian as well, so I can give you our list of favourite American chains that we try to hit while we're in Orlando:

For dinners, we love Olive Garden, TGI Fridays, Chili's, Golden Corral, Giordano's, Cracker Barrel, Cici's Pizza, Buffalo Wild Wing, and Friendly's (Friendly's is also a suitable pick for lunch....long as you are hungry enough for ice cream!!).

Good for lunches are Steak & Shake and Sonic Drive-In. We have also enjoyed Checkers (super, super cheap) and Popeyes Chicken (yes, we have them in the larger centres here in Canada but none near our home, so its still a novelty).

Some "themed" or kid-centric dining that we've done (and enjoyed) are: the World's Largest Playplace McDonald's (on Sand Lake Road just off I-Drive....they have a special "Bistro" menu in addition to the regular McD's fare), Shrek Feast at Gaylord Palms (breakfast buffet at Villa de Flora which features Shrek, Fiona and Puss In Boots), and NBA City (at Universal's CityWalk....we have a basketball fan in the family).

I have heard great things about Millers Ale House. We aim to try that one in August.

 

[staceyrhood]

All of the restaurants in Celebration are great!
Celebrationtowncenter.com

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Forgot to mention.....we have had breakfast at Sizzler (was $2.99 pp for their buffet), Ponderosa (another very affordable buffet), Golden Corral (insane the amount and variety of food for breakfast....even the sundae bar ) and Dunkin Donuts (one of the few places we have ever been that has a chicken sandwich on the breakfast menu.....so DS, naturally, thinks its the best ever). All are okay choices and pretty affordable.

 

[Ametista]

Where is OP staying?

Here is the google map of restaurants
https://maps.google.com/maps?q=rest...142623,0.259895&t=h&gl=us&hq=restaurants&z=12

Right there at 192 and 429 there is Olive Garden, Sweet Tomatoes, Miller's Ale House, etc. We are usually fine just staying in that area. If you want to go to Cicis pizza make sure you google for coupons before you go.

 

[c4alymom]

We LOVED Steak N Shake, Giordanos, and Miller's Ale House. All VERY close and very reasonable!

 

[Dynamoliz]

Another Canadian piping in! We tried Cheesecake Factory for the first time on our most recent trip (Sept 13) and loved it. We also enjoy Benihana's, Sweet Tomatoes, Macaroni Grill, Bahama Breeze. I'm sure I'm forgetting another fav. Also, don't count out Disney hotel restaurants. We like Boma for breakfast or dinner. We like to go to IHOP for breakfast once each trip, just for fun, because we don't have one at home. There is no shortage of choices.

 

[petunia]

Thanks all, that list should last us for 2 weeks It will be our first time in 8 trips or so staying offsite with no dining plan (though I plan to at least do Ohana dinner..one of our fave), to be honest, I'm kind of nervous. I'm also having trouble making a food budget for 2 weeks for 2 adults, 2 teens and 2 kids...

Gina, thanks for all your info, you have answered several of my posts...I noticed in your trip report that you stayed at the same hotel in Buffalo we were at one year... you must be somewhat close to us, as you go to BUF instead of YYZ...we are in Durham...

As for Benihana, I had a question, do you pick your "meat" for the price stated, then add "noodles", which includes veg etc...I found the menu a bit confusing.

Also, anyone been to Texas de Brazil...it's pricey but I thought we could do a Friday for lunch maybe..

 

[dcessford]

I second Cheesecake Factory.It was the best food we had all trip last month. T-Rex was fun.Chilis was good.Dave and Busters was good.They have a games area where the kids can win tickets for prizes.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Gina, thanks for all your info, you have answered several of my posts...I noticed in your trip report that you stayed at the same hotel in Buffalo we were at one year... you must be somewhat close to us, as you go to BUF instead of YYZ...we are in Durham...

We are in Quinte, so just down the 401 from you. We prefer to fly from Syracuse as its closer that Buffalo and we can avoid the Toronto traffic, but we did fly from BUF last Christmas because the fares were far better than from our preferred SYR. We flew from YYZ once and now avoid it if at all possible!!!

Most of the restaurants I named have menus with prices available online....they might be useful in helping you plan for your dining budget . It will be MUCH cheaper than similar dining options here at home....one of the reasons we LOVE eating out in Florida!!! And it will be much, much, MUCH cheaper than eating onsite at Disney (and the food is equally as good and often better).

 

[jeff968]

+1 on Bahama Breeze, always a fun time.

 

[powellrj]

We love Texas de Brazil! It is pricey, but sign-up for their web club about 2 weeks before you leave for some great coupons! We also like Fuddruckers which is in Crossroads across from DTD. Its another place that if you sign-up for their web club you get coupons. In fact many of the off-site places mentioned have great coupons if you sign up on-line. Just don't sign-up too soon, they are only good a few weeks.

We have never been to Benihana, but at most of the other Japanese restaurants we have been to, you order what meat you want and then they cook the rice and vegetables together in front of you so that is all included in the price. It also usually includes the salad. I forget the name of the one we always go to in Orlando, but there are signs up for it everywhere!

 

[DisneyDreamer2325]

My family loved Uno's Chicago Grill
Weekday lunches are a great deal, plus kids get to make their own pizza! My kids wanted to go back every day
Enjoy your trip
Caroline from Montréal

 

[Dynamoliz]

As for Benihana, I had a question, do you pick your "meat" for the price stated, then add "noodles", which includes veg etc...I found the menu a bit confusing.

Also, anyone been to Texas de Brazil...it's pricey but I thought we could do a Friday for lunch maybe..

At Benihana we chose a very reasonably priced special as I recall ... , and it came with soup or salad, shrimp "appetizer" and the meat portion came with rice. Our daughter is vegetarian and she really enjoyed their tofu steak and was impressed by how the chef kept her meal, including the rice, well clear of any surface that had meat on it. They did try to upsell us, and we did regret that we didn't agree to their "special' rice because our daughter did and so did the rest of the 'table' and it was pretty darn delish compared to our plain rice.

Also agree with other poster about Texas De Brazil. We have also been to Fogo De Chao, which is another Brazilian style steakhouse, and we preferred Texas De Brazil, mainly due to its superior salad bar. However Fogo De Chao was very good value ... we were there for Orlando's September dining deal... I can't recall right now, but I think it was called Magical Dining, and so it was very well priced, and service was excellent, so really just nit picking.