Non WDW Restaurants-Long Waits?

[awhitey]

We are traveling to WDW in mid September and will be staying on WDW property but renting a car. This is our first time renting a car while staying on Disney property. I was planning on going off property a few times for dinner to say Olive Garden or Chilis, but I was talking to my SIL last night who has gone several times and stayed off property, and she informed me that even in off seasons such as September expect an hour wait at any restaurants. Is this accurate?

 

[dyna]

I thin it depends on when ya go to the resturants and size of party too. When we ate at Olive Garden in June we went for a late lunch about 2 or 3 an the place was empty except for a few tables. I did notice the parking lot really filled up later in the evenings tho for dinner an ppl waiting outside.

TGIFridays looked very crowded when we was there but we got seated immediately even Fathers Day that was mid afternoon also.

 

[awhitey]

I thin it depends on when ya go to the resturants and size of party too. When we ate at Olive Garden in June we went for a late lunch about 2 or 3 an the place was empty except for a few tables. I did notice the parking lot really filled up later in the evenings tho for dinner an ppl waiting outside.

TGIFridays looked very crowded when we was there but we got seated immediately even Fathers Day that was mid afternoon also.

I was thinking we would probably be going during normal dinner hours....5-6pm

 

[TotoToo]

I was thinking we would probably be going during normal dinner hours....5-6pm

Actually in Orlando its a late dinner crowd - after Park time or at least when most tend to leave. The rush seems to occur 6:00-7:30 or even later. 4:30-5:30 or close to 6 is actually fairly slow at most places.

 

[meandmytwogirls]

We've found the restaurants up on Apopka Vineland Road (out past the DTD area resorts) to be much less crowded than the ones on 192. Usually a small wait or walk right in.

 

[Mrs Doubtfire]

Normally we don't have to wait too long - over Christmas it was about 30 mins at TGIs. Think Bahama Breeze was the longest at nearly an hour - but the table became available quicker than that so we were in luck

 

[awhitey]

We've found the restaurants up on Apopka Vineland Road (out past the DTD area resorts) to be much less crowded than the ones on 192. Usually a small wait or walk right in.

Can you tell me which restaurants are on Apopka Vineland Road? I was starting to question my decision to rent a car, but after these posts, I think it might not be as bad as my SIL made it seem.

 

[bootc3]

We were just in Orlando for the day on Thursday to just do some outlet shopping, no disney this year, wife needed the beach for the week! We went to the Macaroni Grill about 630pm party of 6 no wait.

 

[inkkognito]

September is a relatively dead time. Some of the more popular places will still get a wait during peak dinner times, but if you're flexible and head a bit father down the road, you'll find a walk-in. Just remember, every night in Orlando is like a weekend night anywhere else. Most people are used to restaurants only being packed on Fri. and Sat. nights but here it's every night unless you go out past the tourist areas. You might want to check out the restaurants at the Loop (Osceola Parkway and John Young Parkway). My favorites there are BJ's Brewhouse, Abuelo's, and Mimi's.

 

[erinch]

Bahama Breeze does phone ahead seating. worth checking on other locations as well. It's not the same as a reservation, but your name goes on the list as if you were there. If you're not present when they call your name you go to the bottom of th list.

 

[dioxide45]

The popular chains on 192, 535 and at Sand Lake Rd and International Drive will always be busy during the dinner rush. As others indicated, this is a little later than you might expect at home. We had a wait at the Olive Garden on 535 at 9:00 pm. About a half hour wait. Like others said, every night will be busy, not just weekends as you see at home. If you are flexible and can go during non peak times you will be fine. Also anything off the beaten path will have shorter waits except maybe on weekends when the locals all head out too.

 

[Detailor]

We've experienced long wait times at many off-site restaurants in the past, but didn't have that experience in either of our trips (late February, last week of June into 4th of July weekend) this year. I believe that our long wait time was 15 minutes at Bahama Breeze in February - it was less than 10 minutes both times that we went there this summer. We didn't try the Olive Garden on either of these trips but have in the past and found that wait times, just as service and quality of food, varied a bit by location. The Olive Garden at the corner of Palm Parkway and SR 535 (Apopka Vineland Road) always seemed to have very long wait times and, I thought, was not a particularly clean restaurant. But we've had good experiences at the relatively new (two years old or so now) Olive Garden on Osceola Parkway in Kissimmee.

The good thing about the area is that there a lot of restaurants and most of the chains have several locations. I think that you'll be able to find a bit of variety and lots of choices both in the immediate Disney area and throughout the central Florida area.

Dick Taylor

 

[RumpleMom]

If you are looking for pizza, we really like Flipper's in the Cross Roads Shopping center, that's the one that has Gooding's grocery store.

We recently tried Sweet Tomatoes (in the same shopping center) because it was talked about on the Dis. We liked it. It is a self-serve soup, salad, pasta, baked potato, ice cream restaurant, not fancy, but the food was fresh, and soups delicious.

 

[gymboqueenkaylee]

We've found the restaurants up on Apopka Vineland Road (out past the DTD area resorts) to be much less crowded than the ones on 192. Usually a small wait or walk right in.

I agree with you there. I NEVER had to wait more than 10-15 mins the last time I was there. We stayed away from the ones on 192 because even the parking lots looked crazy.