Where to eat in Orlando, Florida

I was in Orlando last weekend with my family, enjoying the fabulous legacy of Walt Disney and the amazing rides at Universal. Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey in itself was really worth the trip! The ride is exciting and extremely sophisticated in terms of technology! Wow. Even better than The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man which is way up there.

Unfortunately, my level of excitement came down when it came time to eat. Let’s be honest, the rides and entertainment are great but the food is really terrible! Oh, they did introduce bleached carrots as a substitute for French fries in some fast food counters. And yes, the stands offer apples, bananas, and fruit salads now. But when comes time for a real meal—besides Emeril’s which is quite expensive—there are not many choices. But I was not going to let that spoil my fun and the foodie and health conscious mummy that I am did find a few great places to eat! Note that there are great, expensive restaurants and steak houses in Orlando but I was looking for family-friendly and good prices for quality value and this is what I found in three days:

Joe’s Crab Shack turned out to be my favourite—lively, casual and friendly, as a shack should be, they serve three different types of fresh crab, prepared in six different ways, with clams, shrimps and sausage. All the bucket dinners are served with new potatoes and corn on the cob, and their clam chowder is also excellent. I had snow crab, my favourite.

I found Italian food at its best at Bravo! The setting is upscale and cozy and the marinara sauce is perfectly fresh and home style—the meatballs are almost as good as mine :) The pizza is also a good indication of the quality of a place, if they are perfectly thin and crispy, you know it's the real thing! Lots of families and great prices for the quality value.

Ohana in Disney’s Polynesian Resort is a nice exotic family restaurant where they serve an all-you-can-eat dinner including stir-fried vegetables, fried dumplings, lo mein noodles and a salad starter, plus they come to your table with long skewers of meat grilled on an large oak wood fire pit. The monorail stops at the door on the way from Magic Kingdom. You do have to make a reservation, seems like the place is always packed!