Offsite restaurants - Suggestions please

[SmilingGrump]

When we stay offsite, we tend to make most of our own dinners and breakfasts, but here's our experiences:

Waffle House is one of the best places for breakfast. MUCH better then IHOP, which we've had really bad experiences on the East Coast (West Coast and Hawaii IHOP's have been better, but still not as good as WH)

Buffalo Wild Wings is good for pub food and (of course) wings, but they tend to have the volume of the TVs up WAY too loud (the waitress had to yell into my ear to take my order)

Rio Mexican Grille was great the first time I went but went down hill for authentic Mexican the last time we were there. Margharittas were good though

Boston Lobster Feast was not very good. It was cheap, but sometimes cheap isn't good

 

[bankr63]

Seasons 52 is fantastic. Very good for health conscious eaters (DW), but I was very impressed with the food and enjoyed the atmosphere and service.

Favorite Mexican is Cantina Laredo (just off Sand Lake close to Seasons 52). They make a killer guacamole at your table to start you off, and the meals were outstanding. My only complaint there is that they don't carry Pacifico Clara (best beer from 2 borders south).

 

[tgropp]

I love Fudruckers which was in Crossroads. Not sure if it is still there.

 

[Josh Hendy]

We ate at the Pei Wei Asian Diner on Turkey Lake Rd. just south of West Sand Lake Road a couple of times in August and enjoyed it. It's like a budget, counter-service version of P. F. Chang's with many of the same recipes and the quality is just as good as far as I can tell.

Menu

 

[Ken_Breadbox]

Boy, it's frustrating, what with American retailers circling the Canadian landscape like sharks, that we don't have ANY of these chains up here. (Then again, I've never been able to figure out why there aren't Tim Hortons franchises in Florida...the first person to open one in Destin will OWN Destin in short order. And never mind the Canada pavilion at Epcot!

 

[beebumble]

We loved Bahamas Breeze
Cant wait to go back
Have a magical nite

 

[glenpreece]

Cracker Barrel - it is a homestyle restaurant where you chose your main dish then can have whatever sides you want - stuff like hashbrown casserole, homemade mashed potatoes, green beans, about a dozen choices etc. They bring a basket of biscuits and cornbread for you to munch on while you wait for your food. Their prices are really reasonable too.

They have a store attached to them that you can wonder through and look at things - it kind of reminds me of the store off Little House on the Prairie, they have the candy sticks in a jar, all kinds of interesting gift ideas. I have bought a few unique gifts for friends here.

They also have a huge porch with rocking chairs on it for sale that people can just sit in and relax. It is a totally different kind of restaurant from anything that I have seen. It is fun and great food.

Love Cracker Barrel

Earl of Sandwich and Cheesecake Factory!!!

 

[who's ur daddy?]

Surprisingly, I will also recommend Golden Corral. You would not expect a good meal from a high volume restaurant with prices that are relatively cheap. But have had great meals there - okay, great may not be the right word - more like satisfying meals.

Earl of Sandwich was good too.

 

[two*little*birds]

1. Black Angus (the one we used to go to burnt down recently, but they have other locations)
2. Golden Coral
3. Olive Garden
4. Wolfgang Puck Express

This year we're going to try...

1. Cheesecake Factory
2. Sweet Tomatoes
3. Texas de Brazil
4. Cracker Barrel

 

[c&m]

I just bought a Restaurant.com gift certificate at 80% off for Kimonos at the Swan hotel. I read on Tripadvisor that this restaurant is good if you like sushi or Japanese food. I haven't tried it yet - has anyone out there tried this place recently and report what they have on their menu for cooked items? (I don't eat sushi but my family does.)

 

[purple hippo]

Boy, it's frustrating, what with American retailers circling the Canadian landscape like sharks, that we don't have ANY of these chains up here. (Then again, I've never been able to figure out why there aren't Tim Hortons franchises in Florida...the first person to open one in Destin will OWN Destin in short order. And never mind the Canada pavilion at Epcot!

DH and I had the same idea for Epcot! The first time we went to Epcot we were looking for a coffee and the CM told use to go around the corner to Canada so we got excited and both instantly thought "Timmies!" We were so disappointed on many levels to find out it was regular coffee from a vendor cart. They would make money had over fist if they opened one there.

 

[thebigman65]

If you want Steak then you can't beat Charlie's Steak House in Orlando....It is not cheap, but you get what you pay for and it is Awesome! One suggestion........GO HUNGRY!!!

 

[Josh Hendy]

Boy, it's frustrating, what with American retailers circling the Canadian landscape like sharks, that we don't have ANY of these chains up here. (Then again, I've never been able to figure out why there aren't Tim Hortons franchises in Florida...the first person to open one in Destin will OWN Destin in short order. And never mind the Canada pavilion at Epcot!

Yeah I know what you mean. There was a Moe's Southwest Grill that opened in Ottawa and before I even got around to trying it, it had closed. As far as I can tell the problem was that Moe's did ZERO marketing in Canada to get people interested in their brand. Must take a lot of money to get a chain going in another country, much more than the cost of actually building and opening a franchise.

Timmies seem to be starting slowly in the northeastern US. I visited one in Cortland, NY but it was on a back road away from the interstate and it was deserted. But I went to one in Syracuse this year that had a great location on a busy corner within sight of I-81 and a raft of hotels, and it was pretty busy. They would probably do well on I-drive. I tried using the McDonalds near the Convention Center this summer and they were surprisingly useless at serving coffee through their drive-thru. They didn't have any milk! Or they didn't know if they had any milk, and couldn't be bothered finding out.

 

[two*little*birds]

If you want Steak then you can't beat Charlie's Steak House in Orlando....It is not cheap, but you get what you pay for and it is Awesome! One suggestion........GO HUNGRY!!!

I thought Charlie's was good but nothing to brag about. Maybe because our kids were only 6 and 4 at the time, it was a little harder to enjoy?

 

[SherryG]

We like Cracker Barrel, Olive Garden, Cici's Pizza and Cheesecake Factory. Really can't go wrong with any of them!

 

[who's ur daddy?]

Thanks for the great suggestion re: Sweet Tomatoes. What a gem of a restaurant. Such a tasty break from fried, fried, fried everything. Everything was fresh and had that hint of home/freshly made taste - a really really good thing.

Bahama Breeze was disappointing. Wife's steak was chewy terrible. My salmon was okay but nothing memorable.

Really had another few great meals at Golden Corral. I don't go to buffets for the volume anymore (everything now goes to the waist if you know what I mean) - we really go for the variety. The kids seem to eat quite a bit because there's always a selection for them. Price is right and food is pretty good.

 

[trish4bruce]

Any recommendations for non-chain type restaurants? We like to find try the restaurants that are recommended by the locals.