12 Best Restaurants in Orlando, Florida

The gift shop of the Modernism Museum across the street is attached to this tearoom-turned-restaurant, which helps to explain its striking and sublime decor. The menu features dishes from Florida and elsewhere in the South that are made using local ingredients whenever possible; wood oven–fired oysters, slow-cooked octopus with Japanese eggplant, or barbecue lamb shank are just some of the possibilities.

Ethos has been vegan for so long (it opened in 2007) that if feels as if the rest of the culinary world has simply caught up with it. “Chickun” of the plant-based variety substitutes for meat, along with tofu, tempeh, and seitan. The black bean Samson Burger is one of the best veggie burgers in town.

The menus at Kessler restaurants are always special. From waffles served with Grand Marnier syrup for breakfast to extravagant Saturday and Sunday brunch to tenderloin au poivre for dinner, the fare is sophisticated. Craft cocktails and sinful desserts round out the experience.

At this restaurant, award-winning, James Beard–nominated chef Braden McGlamery emphasizes innovative American dishes. Sophisticated barbecue might find a place on the menu next to Florida redfish as well as some of the best burgers in the area. The bar serves creative cocktails crafted with house-made tinctures, and the Sunday brunch is a must.

A large and interesting selection of American dishes is served at breakfast and lunch, as well as, perhaps, an early dinner (as in before 6 pm). Offerings range from burgers and hand-tossed pizza to gator bites and frog legs.

Armando Martorelli has opened many local restaurants in his career since coming from Italy to Florida, but his namesake eatery is the epitome of his craft. It has a relaxed neighborhood vibe and serves what is perhaps the area's best Neapolitan-style pizza. Other menu highlights include daily fresh-seafood specials, veal saltimbocca, and a signature pollo di Tatiana with vodka cream sauce.

Operated by a family with Boston roots, this New England–cuisine eatery has a double personality: the interior is a brass, glass, and dark-wood-paneling kind of place, while the outside patio has table seating plus the Paddy O' Bar. The food ranges from landlubber treats like baby back ribs, prime rib, and half-pound burgers (from $8) to exquisite seafood including Ipswich clams, lobster rolls, scrod, and 2-pound lobsters (all flown in from Boston), plus, on occasion, a salute to the Sunshine State with Florida stone crabs in season. Although the place has a polished demeanor, there are plenty of menu choices right out of a working-class Boston bar—meatball hoagies, Philly cheesesteak sandwiches, and Buffalo-style chicken wings. For dessert there's great—what else?—Boston cream pie.

Talented chefs bring big city sophistication to Downtown Orlando at this casual eatery with a French-American fusion menu and craft cocktails. Everything that can be made in-house—pickles, condiments, bread—is, and although the chicken, steak, and seafood entrées are fantastic, the frites (fries) alone are worth the trip. Coffee and pastries are available in the morning, and a very prolonged happy hour fills afternoons.  There's complimentary valet parking in the evening.

A holdover from when neighborhood restaurants were actually in a neighborhood, award-winning Maxine's is casual, hip, local, and friendly. The menu ranges from sophisticated seafood to brisket burgers and Black Angus filet mignon. The wine list is unique and special, and the bar rivals the extended outdoor seating for popularity. There's live music several times a week, an unusual Friday brunch, and special events feature wine dinners and drag cabaret nights.

At this authentic Spanish restaurant, Iron Chef celeb Roberto Treviño uses unique grills to prepare inventive dishes, including seafood, chicken, lamb, or vegetarian paella. The tapas menu features a great gazpacho soup and fiery patatas bravas (home fries with a spicy tomato sauce). Flamenco dancers visit the dining room hourly at night.

Hampton Social covers many bases with its menu of "coastal inspired food." With options ranging from California-style pizzas and lobster rolls to steak or seafood tacos and crispy calamari, there's likely to be something for everyone in your party. Weekend brunch adds boozy and non-alcoholic bevs, as well as live music.

Using locally sourced ingredients, the chef at this small, independent redbrick eatery on Sanford's main drag creates Southern-fusion dishes. His house-made biscuits and gravy are renowned, the Saturday brunch menu includes a BLT with house-cured bacon and heirloom tomatoes, and dinner choices include pan-seared Florida trout with bacon from Tennessee and the ever-popular shrimp and grits with corn from Zellwood, Florida.