Our Offsite Dining Reviews

[TwoAtDisney]

At WDW from 5/17 - 5/25. Stayed at Disney's Pop Century. We keep our weight down by being careful with our diet - at home! While at Disney, we eat foods we normally would not eat - such as desserts, fast food, pork, & beef. Ate at the following -

1. 5 STARS!! - Twistee Treat, 11947 S Apopka Vineland Rd, Orlando 32836; 407-239-1400; http://twisteetreatocoeelbv.com/Lake_Buena_Vista.html
It's yummy & cheap! It's soft serve, but has the consistency of custard - very thick & creamy. The flavors are chocolate, strawberry, vanilla, or a swirl of choc/van or straw/van. Offered in cones, including waffle cones plain or dipped & rolled in sprinkles, nuts, etc. Ice cream in cones can be dipped in coating of choice. Offered in cups. Make up own sundae or a "twirl" (like a blizzard, but much better). I was hooked on a chocolate ice cream Twirl with Cookie Dough & Reese's Peanut Butter Cups mixed-in. It was packed with mix-ins. 2 mix-ins are included without charge. It was so rich I couldn't finish my first one - a medium. So, next times got a small & it was difficult to finish - darn it!! Cost about $3.45. Also available - shakes, malts, floats. The staff was great - patient for us 1st timers, helpful, friendly. 3 inside tables, driveup service, & some outside tables. I'm having terrible withdrawals!

2. Rainforest Cafe Downtown Disney - Loved the Pastalaya - spicy, but not too spicy. Hubby & I split one & were full. Was about $25.

3. Steak & Shake - had some coupons from home & used them at the one on Apopka-Vineland Rd. Enjoyed having a burger. We like S&S's $4 menu burger & fies - not as large, but filling. Did not get a shake - we preferred Twistee Treat!

4. Golden Corral - Do not like these at home - too dirty & poor quality food. However, the one on SR535 & Vineland Rd (407-938-9500) is much different - possibly because it's at Disney's door? We ate breakfast & lunch. Loved both. We went off hours to avoid crowds. Current special is $7.49 (drink included for seniors). May be different on weekends - not sure? Ham carved for both B. & L. - real baked ham, not lunch meat. A whole turkey was picked & served at lunch. Made to order omelets, eggs, & pancakes for breakfast. Very good. Service was good. Huge salad & dessert bar. Unbreaded fish fillets were really good.

5. Miller's Ale House (407-239-1800) in Lake Buena Vista on Apopka Vineland Rd (535), just North of Downtown Disney. We always eat here for their lunch and dinner specials. One night (Wed I think) is a whole 1 1/4 lb Maine lobster. We got the Thur lunch special - Meatloaf, mashed potatoes/gravy, roll for $4.99 & the meatloaf slice was so huge that both ends hung over the plate + it was very good. Also got the Sandwich of the Week - Rueben - didn't have hardly any kraut on it, so didn't care for it, but it had lots of meat - had to ask server for extra sauce or it would have been too dry for me. Mon nite special is whole rack of ribs for $10.99. Lots of good specials. Food good. Service was good. website is millersalehouse.com.

Here are some "specials" & coupon tips - Note - ones received for signing up on websites are time limited to about 1-2 weeks from signup.
1. Miller's Ale House - signup online & get coupon for free dessert - was delicious ice cream cake big enough 3 of us shared it!
2. O'Charley's - has Free Pie Slice on Weds; signup online & get $5 off $20 & Free Appetizer.
3. Texas Roadhouse - signup online & get Free Onion Blossum; also have $8 early bird specials (opens 3pm M-F).
4. Cracker Barrel - M-F lunch specials $6
5. Maggiano's - $10 off $30 if signup online.

 

[joanchris]

Thanks for the great reviews! Added this to my "things to look at" the month before our Fall trip.

 

[tiki2014]

Good information & discounts. Thanks for taking the time to share.

 

[greenclan67]

We stay at Grande Villas often in Florida. We visit twistee treats a little too much my girls fav spot and had a banana split once it was huge and awesome. Lol

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Thanks for the review, OP .

We are looking forward to trying Miller's Ale House for the first time on our next trip .

Golden Corral and Steak & Shake are two of our must-do's on each vacation. They are an awesome value and the food is consistently very good (fabulous for the price!).

I'm thinking after the positive reports on Twistee Treat that we may have to give that one a whirl . I see its only 1.9 miles from the Vistana Resort. The prices are really reasonable!

The Waffle House is also on my dining wish list. I have heard positive reviews about that chain as well.

 

[TwoAtDisney]

Thanks for the positive replies. Hope you all enjoy your offsite dining.

 

[stairstepmom]

Great info, thanks!

 

[mikehn]

I never leave Orlando without an order of hot wings from Millers ale house.

 

[floridacrazy]

Thanks for the info. Just signed up online for the coupons. I'll be ay Cypress Pointe Resort next month for 3 weeks. I have a feeling every time we go to Winn Dixie we will stop at Twistee Treat first. My nephews love ice cream.

I just signed up for a Winn Dixie card too.

 

[Plumeria9]

Thanks for the reviews. My family and I will be going in less than 2 weeks, we have a big volleyball tournament that we will be staying off site at for 5 nights before going to stay at Disney. Was just starting to look into what to do and eat before Disney. I have been so focused on trying to get my Disney plan together, I haven't paid much attention to the five days before it!

 

[Beth D]

The Waffle House is also on my dining wish list. I have heard positive reviews about that chain as well.

OMG! I had to tell DH your quote. The only two times we've ever eaten at a Waffle house he's lost his cookies afterwards.

It's an ongoing joke on the one radio station in Cleveland that nothing good ever happens at a Waffle House. They are known for cheap food, and lots of overnight incidents when the bar crowds hit.

I hope your experience is better than ours if you make it to one!

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

OMG! I had to tell DH your quote. The only two times we've ever eaten at a Waffle house he's lost his cookies afterwards.

It's an ongoing joke on the one radio station in Cleveland that nothing good ever happens at a Waffle House. They are known for cheap food, and lots of overnight incidents when the bar crowds hit.

I hope your experience is better than ours if you make it to one!

Oh my, that is awful!!!

Maybe I need to think my Waffle House dreams .

 

[LadyBeBop]

Good reviews. A few thoughts.

1) Looking back on it, even though we stayed offsite, we actually ate most of our meals in the parks. We only ate at two offsite restaurants, the Columbia in Celebration (well worth it) and the aforementioned Golden Corral. Comparing the GC here and there....I thought the GC there was slightly better than at home. However, I got sticker shock. Maybe it's because it's at Disney's door, but the price of the buffet is about $3 more than at home.

2) I wouldn't worry too much about Waffle House; especially in Orlando. We eat at Waffle Houses here. Granted, it's not as good as other breakfast places (Bob Evans, IHOP, etc). But I've never heard of anyone getting sick at a Waffle House. You gotta go there at least once.

 

[Momma2PrinceNPrinces]

We only have a few waffle houses around but I've never gotten sick from one! I haven't been to the one in Orlando but the ones here are hit or miss....either wreak of smoke and filthy or clean as a whistle

 

[pk1959]

I'm surprised to hear the good reviews about the Golden Corral on 535. We were there this past January and it was horrible. Just overall not clean, not well stocked and the woman behind the counter where the desserts are was NOT in a good mood. 2 out of the 3 'fountains' were not working and the chocolate and vanilla flavored toppings were just sitting there in bins. They had cotton candy that the heat had got to and it was just DRIPPING down the holders AND THEY LEFT THEM THERE THAT WAY. I looked once and they were gone, and thought finally they were replacing them with fresh ones, but nope, they just moved them to another spot. I made the mistake of asking the woman (nicely) behind the counter if there would be fresh cotton candy anytime soon and you would think I asked her to whip me up a pie from scratch or something. When we left, we said we would never go back to that particular place. We were there on a Sunday, so the prices seemed awfully high also. Definitely not worth the price we paid that day.

Later in our trip we stopped at one of the ones along 192 and it was much, much better.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

I'm surprised to hear the good reviews about the Golden Corral on 535. We were there this past January and it was horrible. Just overall not clean, not well stocked and the woman behind the counter where the desserts are was NOT in a good mood. 2 out of the 3 'fountains' were not working and the chocolate and vanilla flavored toppings were just sitting there in bins. They had cotton candy that the heat had got to and it was just DRIPPING down the holders AND THEY LEFT THEM THERE THAT WAY. I looked once and they were gone, and thought finally they were replacing them with fresh ones, but nope, they just moved them to another spot. I made the mistake of asking the woman (nicely) behind the counter if there would be fresh cotton candy anytime soon and you would think I asked her to whip me up a pie from scratch or something. When we left, we said we would never go back to that particular place. We were there on a Sunday, so the prices seemed awfully high also. Definitely not worth the price we paid that day.

That's the one near the Vistana Resort? We were there last August and it was awesome. Very clean, very friendly service. I hope it was just an off day for the staff.

 

[pk1959]

That's the one near the Vistana Resort? We were there last August and it was awesome. Very clean, very friendly service. I hope it was just an off day for the staff.

This is the one that has a Bahama Breeze in the same parking lot practically. We have been to it many, many times previously and had better experiences. Could have been an off day for it I suppose, but we would not risk trying it again, it was that bad. Especially since we know there are others nearby.

 

[TwoAtDisney]

Hope I don't post this twice - my 1st one disappeared!

pk1959, so sorry to hear about your bad experience at GC. I think we increase our chance of a positive experience by going during the week (not weekends), & on off hours for each dining time period. When we were there, it was not very busy at all - never more than a few diners at the buffet. And all of the buffet areas were kept well stocked.

We thought both the breakfast & the lunch buffets were well worth $7.49 per person, plus as seniors, we got a soda (although we drank water!). However, that was a new price being offered & probably was higher when you went & may be higher now. But we figure 1 hamburger & fries in other restaurants cost at least $8!

Glad you found a GC that you liked better.

Since we've been back, we sure are having Twistee Treat withdrawals!

 

[I-4Bound]

I have eaten at Waffle Houses my whole life and never had a problem, so don't worry too much! Granted, it's kind of greasy, but their waffles are soooo good

We discovered Twistee Treat on our last trip and fell in love! My kids can't wait to go back. We eat pretty much exclusively off site except for yummy treats in the parks (helllloooo Dole Whip!).

Another one of our off-site favorites is Sweet Tomatoes. There's one on 192 near Super Target and one at the Crossroads Shopping Center. Both are really tasty, and you can get good coupons if you sign up on their website. Salads, soups, pizzas, breads, and dessert bar. My kids love it there!