Off-site: Where would you eat right after arriving?

[busyshrew]

We are supposed to arrive at MCO at around 11:30 am. The plan is to pick up our rental car at the airport and then drive to our hotel. We would be happy to sight-see a bit around Orlando on the way; we have no plans for our first afternoon.

Fellow DISers, would any of you have a recommendation for a pleasant place to eat a late lunch? I would especially love to hear from Orlando natives. Does the airport area have any good restaurants?

The rest of the week we will likely be in the LBV district, so this is a good chance for us to eat somewhere a little further away that we might not otherwise have the time for. TIA.

 

[kmk1180]

for us arrival day would be Boma for dinner.

or T-Rex for lunch.

But we have toddlers so I don't know if that works for your crew.

sorry didn't read the whole thread, just the title.
For a out of the way place. We ate a a italian place in Winter park that was fantastic.
i don't recall the name but bet if you google winter park's home page and look
at resturants you'll find it.

 

[HeatherC]

If you want offsite, you could try Bahama Breeze. We are planning on trying this next week. Gets really good reviews from Mousesavers...and I happen to have some Darden Restaurant gift cards which helps.

We also arrive around 11am and I think we are going to try Sweet Tomatoes for lunch on the way to our hotel. It is a soup/salad, pasta all you can eat place that also gets good reviews and is very reasonably priced. If you sign up on their website, they will email you coupons.

Have a great trip!

 

[ShannonMB]

I was going to suggest Sweet Tomatoes, too. Not from Orlando, and didn't try it personally, but my mom drove down a day early and stayed offsite that night, ate there, and raved about it.

I love Nathan's hot dogs at the airport (we don't have that here), but probably not what you were looking for!

 

[HeatherC]

Shannon - You can always grab a hot dog on the way to Sweet Tomatoes! After all it is vacation!

 

[bangzoom6877]

I agree with Sweet Tomatoes. I have eaten there in Southern Florida and it was excellent. Lots of healthy choices which is nice, but the food is really good too. Price is very reasonable as well. Looking forward to eating there again with my uncle when we go to visit him in Southern Florida before heading to Disney this summer!

 

[tarheelmjfan]

Bahama Breeze is very good for a chain restaurant. We're not much into dining at chain restaurants & were surprised by how good it was.

You could also consider spending the afternoon/evening @ Celebration or CityWalk @ Universal. There's a Columbia Restaurant in Celebration. I've never eaten there, but our Columbia Restaurant (Tampa), is fabulous. CityWalk has a lot of restaurants. Emerils is the crowned jewel. Our next choice would be Latin Quarter. After those, there's also a lot of fun chains to choose from.

PS: You'd probably have more luck getting local & frequent Orlando visitor help on the Orlando board.