Every Orlando-area restaurant we've reviewed so far in 2024

Mares Peruvian Cuisine

13586 Village Park Drive, Orlando
"The fare, rooted in traditional Peruvian, won't be mistaken for the dishes served at Central or Astrid y Gastón in Lima. The exploding Toucan Sam rainforest interior falls, I suppose, within the bounds of a contemporary aesthetic, while the upmarket prices may have you squawking like the bird on a Froot Loops box. But one advantage Mares has over other Peruvian restaurants in town is that most of the ingredients come straight from Peru." Read the full review here.

Bakery 1908

2021 E. Colonial Drive, Orlando
"It’s hard not to be awed by the dazzling variety of pastries, breads, buns, cakes, rolls, tarts, cookies and savory baked goods churned out at the perpetually buzzing Bakery 1908 in Mills 50. The place is reminiscent of the Hong Kong- and Taiwanese-style bakeries I visited growing up in Toronto and, specifically, Markham. A pair of tongs in one hand and a paper-lined tray in the other, I’d wander through the pastry shops in my parka perusing myriad options like a lost monkey in IKEA." Read the full review here.

Mister 01 Extraordinary Pizza

1210 International Parkway, Heathrow
"Triangular-shaped, ricotta-filled pockets form an eight-pointed crust adding another textural dimension to the 13-inch rounds. In the case of the Star Luca ($18.99), a burning sun of tomato sauce, mozzarella, spicy salami calabrese and threads of basil form a heavenly bake. It floats in the same crusty constellation as the Claudio ($18.99), streaked with comet trails of creamy burrata stracciatella and white truffle oil." Read the full review here.

Chuan Fu

1035 N. Orlando Ave., Winter Park
"'This must be what eating firecrackers is like,' says a woman to her companion within earshot of my table. She's apprehensively chop-sticking la zi chicken ($16.99), the classic from Chongqing that's sometimes referred to as "firecracker chicken," into her gob. The brazen tossing of dried red chilies, aromatics, peanuts and, of course, Sichuan peppercorns is identical to the version served at Chuan Lu Garden and is a must-order for the initiated and uninitiated alike." Read the full review here.

Eet

1780 E. Buena Vista Drive Suite B, Lake Buena Vista
"Who's to say why it took so long for Indian food to make an entry into Disney Springs but, nevertheless, there's one in place now. It's called Eet and it's by celebrated culinary personality Maneet Chauhan. If the name rings familiar, then you're likely an avid watcher of the Food Network: The Indian-American chef is a regular on Chopped and maintains a pretty busy shooting schedule, we were told, so don't expect to see her inside Eet's quick-service kitchen anytime soon whipping up naan or pani puri." Read the full review here.

Jack and Honey's

808 E. Washington St,. Orlando
"The Thornton Park restaurant by Wendy Connor (an original partner in the space's predecessor, The 808) and Jason Lambert, owner of brunchers' paradise The Hammered Lamb, is fully invested in the 'tweener meal. It's named for Lambert's grandparents — Jack Quigly and Dorothy "Honey" Braham — who once ran a diner. They even procured the services of chef Hannah Wicker, whose restaurant experience at Disney, Universal and SeaWorld more than qualifies her to brunch things up all day at Jack & Honey's." Read the full review here.

Wa Ramen

10627 Narcoossee Road, Orlando
"'Wa' means 'the Japanese way' and the restaurant, says Wong, adheres to traditional Japanese methods and principles in food preparation and presentation. Seems Takayama is fully on board. His pan-fried gyoza ($8) came draped with a crisp square lattice that added a generous crackle to the pork-filled dumplings. Hanetsuki gyoza (or 'gyoza with wings') are what they're called and they, along with chicken karaage ($10) and sweet purple potato tempura ($6), drew the noisiest grunts of affirmation from the riotous gang of gourmands at my table." Read the full review here.

Summer House on the Lake

1498 E. Buena Vista Drive, Lake Buena Vista
"I sensed that all this Cali-inspired fare seemed to put folks in a relaxed state of mind. Us included. We took our drinks and enjoyed them in the front patio under the breeze of ceiling fans while watching a line form inside the cookie bar. Yes (YES!), the restaurant houses a cookie bar off to the side for walk-ups, but those same cookies can be ordered off the restaurant's dessert menu. Which we did, under the glare of the "YES" sign, but not before shredding into more savories we said YES to, like wood-grilled artichokes ($16.95)." Read the full review here.

Death in the Afternoon

930 N. Mills Ave., Orlando
"Ernest Hemingway and bullfighting go hand in hand like, oh, Ernest Hemingway and drinking. So the fact that there's a bar named after Papa's book on the subject — bullfighting, not drinking — is hardly a surprise. But Death in the Afternoon, the book, certainly has its fair share of dipsomaniacal characters, as does Death in the Afternoon, the bar. The primary culprit in both is absinthe, that much-maligned spirit falsely accused of everything from hallucinations to murder. No, if there's any slaying going on inside this moody Mills 50 booze den, it's at the hands of owner-bartenders Arthur Boothe and Julian Burgos, who kill it with their cocktail game, and chef Eric Norvelus, who executes with aplomb." Read the full review here.

1881 Dubai Restaurant

315 Pleasant St., Orlando
"The expansive space is home to both 1881 Restaurant (fronting Broadway) and 1881 Dubai Restaurant (on Pleasant). Both offer the exact same menu spotlighting the crossroads cuisine of Central Asia, but 1881 Restaurant looks like a modern saloon, which is fitting given the building was once a saddle shop and catered to cowboys of yore. But it's attached to a somewhat posh wine bar and connected to a tropically styled outdoor pavilion. At the back of the sprawling complex is the "Dubai" variant, its booths resembling Bedouin-style tents and its decor festooned with the flavor of the Middle East." 1881 Dubai Restaurant has since closed. Read the full review here.

Beef N' Buns

12200 Menta St., Orlando
"Along with a little help from Beirut Grill & Deli/Beirut Bakery & Deli owner Riad Elkhatib, the trio have been sizzling some of the finest burgers money can buy in the south lands of Orlando. Their secret: halal, grass-fed, hand-slaughtered beef." Read the full review here.

The Joint at West End Trading Co.

202 Sanford Ave. Suite 420, Sanford
"There's a wackass mural of some blitzed Florida wildlife on one of the bar's walls. It held my gaze for a while and I felt myself getting tense. The bulging eye of the paranoid-looking red snapper was starting to freak me the F out, so I took to inhaling my Pineapple Express ($10), a quarter-pound hot dog sticky-ickyed with pineapple-teriyaki sauce and a mango-habañero slaw. It came with tater tots I initially dismissed as not being crispy enough, but these generously salted spud buds grew on me." Read the full review here.

Kyuramen

3402 Technological Ave., Orlando
"Lin is a ramen-crazed geek who turned his ramen-ya chain into a fixture in Japan and Taiwan before opening 30-plus locations here in the United States. John Zhao, the man behind YH Seafood Clubhouse and Bakery 1908, among other eateries, runs the UCF-area outpost, and it's been a hotspot since its debut in the student-heavy sector back in November. They come for the ramen, no doubt, but many a young'un have been lured by a viral little vid making the rounds on the socials." Read the full review here.

Simply Capri

114 Ruby Red Place, Winter Garden
"Nick Valenti has quite the résumé — James Beard Award winner, chairman emeritus at the Culinary Institute of America and former Patina Restaurant Group (now Delaware North) CEO. Over at Flamingo Crossings Town Center in Horizons West, Valenti's latest concept — Simply Capri — anchors the master-planned, mixed-use complex of retail, shopping and dining. Oh, it's also owned by Disney, which explains the very Disney-like experience we had inside the very Disney-like designed ristorante." Read the full review here.

The Drake

361 N. Rosalind Ave., Orlando
"On both my visits here, we started with the poofy za'atar-spiced flatbread served with a trio of delectable dips ($24) — black-eyed pea hummus with black garlic oil, tahini verde with garlic chips and, the favorite among both sets of friends, eggplant caviar with pickled peppers." Read the full review here.

DBA

809 N. Mills Ave., Orlando
"The object of desire: a creamy green-curry aioli brushed alongside a superbly fresh tuna tartare ($19) positioned atop triangular snaps of lavash. We even bypassed the pimiento cheese spread that came with the warm pretzel ($6.50) and scooped that aioli up with torn shreds of the Olde Hearth twister. Not that the pimiento cheese was lacking in any way. It's just that we wanted more of the other comforting spread." Read the full review here.

Smokemade Meats and Eats

1400 S. Crystal Lake Drive, Orlando
"Is there barbecue being served in this town better than the smoke-made meats and eats at Smokemade Meats + Eats? No. No, there isn't. Pound for smoky pound, no one's doing it better than pitmaestro Tyler Brunache. His regional barbecue style focuses on Central Texas, where beef, sausage and sauceless proteins rule, just like the barbecue gods of the Lone Star State intended. And that means seasonings are kept to a minimum as well, so that the flavor of the meat (smoked over Florida oak) speaks for itself." Read the full review here.

Pho Ga Hien Vuong

5282 W. Colonial Drive, Orlando
"The flavors of the 15-hour liquid are as pure, clean and unadulterated as you'll find anywhere this side of Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City. 'We have so many elders who come in and thank us for making chicken phở like this,' says Nguyen. 'They all say it reminds them of when they would eat phở gà on Hiền Vương Street in Saigon.'" Read the full review here.

Mid Drive Dive

2401 Edgewater Drive, Orlando
"To drive College Park's dining scene forward, Matt Hinckley checked the rearview mirror and reversed it back to America's Golden Age of the 1950s and 1960s. In Mid Drive Dive, billed as a "mid-century dive bar and restaurant," Hinckley and Jacob and Brittany Zepf of Freehand Goods and The Neighbors have done just that. Well, the "restaurant" part, anyway, because there's really nothing divey about the bar area." Read the full review here.

Earthy Picks

420 E. Church St., Orlando
"On one weekend visit, every seat in the cozy little joint was taken within 10 minutes of us showing up, and the bustling place was a vibe. The constant whir of Vitamixes suggested folks were really into the smoothies, us included. The 16-ounce "Fill Me Up" ($10), with its mix of berries, bananas, peanut butter, dates and oat milk, emptied real quick." Read the full review here.