Emmy,
Ooh goody, food - my favourite topic!
There are now literally hundreds of excellent options, with more opening all the time.
Gaylord Palms is an amazing hotel and worth a visit in its own right, but it also has three excellent restaurants. Sunset Sam's Fish Camp (unsurprisingly, a fish restaurant) is in the Key West section and is partly on the 60' sailboat on the lagoon. We ate there for lunch and, although very good, the menu was a bit limited - it's more extensive at dinner. Villa del Flora (buffet) is in the St Augustine section. I'm not usually crazy about buffets, but this one was very good (loosely mediterranean), although again we did lunch. The Old Hickory Steakhouse in the Everglades section is our favourite of the three, but it has a more formal feel to it and a very hushed atmosphere. Maybe not the 'fun' place you're looking for.
Emeril's Tchoup Chop at Universal's Royal Pacific Resort is simply stunning. Luckily the food is pretty amazing too and is described (I think) as Asian Fusion. This is an upscale restaurant, but one with a real buzz (read noisy!). Expensive, but definitely fun.
Sticking with Universal, we also enjoy The Palm (steak and jumbo Nova Scotia lobster) at the Hard Rock Hotel. As New Yorkers, you'll probably be familiar with it, and it may hold less appeal, but again, HRH is worth a visit in its own right.
CityWalk has a host of themed restaurants including Nascar Cafe, Motown Cafe, NBA City, Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville and Pat O'Brien's; but the Hard Rock Cafe is head and shoulders above the rest in my view. Good (but not fabulous) food in an absolutely amazing setting.
Restaurant row in the Sand Lake Road/Dr Phillips area has simply masses of new eateries. Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, Thai Passion, Moonfish, Seasons 52 and Samba Room are those which spring immediately to mind.
Another which gets rave reviews is Bahama Breeze - there's one on I-Drive and another at Lake Buena Vista. This is very definitely a fun place, but I was very disappointed with the food. Most people seem to love it, though. It does get <i>very</i> busy, but that's what creates the atmosphere, I guess.
As you can probably tell, I love eating. We're looking forward to trying Norman's at the new Ritz Carlton in January, plus several others we haven't done before.
I could go on! Where are you staying and will you have a car?
). Yes we have a car so getting anywhere will be no problem.
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