Italian restaurant in Orlando, FL?
November 25, 2010 6:17 AM Subscribe
Two questions about visiting Orlando, Florida. (1) Please suggest an (italian?) vegetarian-friendly restaurant (2) Can I get some space-centre related souvenirs without actually visiting the space centre?
I'm looking for a vegetarian-friendly restaurant in Orlando, Florida to take some colleagues for a dinner on the evening of Sunday, 5th December. We'd strongly prefer an Italian place, but any veggie-friendly place will do in a pinch. We're after a decent sit-down meal, but aren't looking for anything posh to impress a client or anything like that.
I'm not at all familiar with Orlando, so I have a strong preference for restaurants that I'll be able to find on Google Maps :).
Location is slightly tricky. We're there for a convention at the Orange County Convention Centre, so will be starting out from there. We don't have a car, so wherever you send us needs to be within walking or easy public transport distance from there.
Bonus Question: To my utter dismay, I almost certainly won't have time to visit the Kennedy Space Centre. However, I'd still love to pick up an armful of space-related souvenirs for my relatives if possible. Do you know anywhere near-ish the convention centre that might sell this stuff?
I'm looking for a vegetarian-friendly restaurant in Orlando, Florida to take some colleagues for a dinner on the evening of Sunday, 5th December. We'd strongly prefer an Italian place, but any veggie-friendly place will do in a pinch. We're after a decent sit-down meal, but aren't looking for anything posh to impress a client or anything like that.
I'm not at all familiar with Orlando, so I have a strong preference for restaurants that I'll be able to find on Google Maps :).
Location is slightly tricky. We're there for a convention at the Orange County Convention Centre, so will be starting out from there. We don't have a car, so wherever you send us needs to be within walking or easy public transport distance from there.
Bonus Question: To my utter dismay, I almost certainly won't have time to visit the Kennedy Space Centre. However, I'd still love to pick up an armful of space-related souvenirs for my relatives if possible. Do you know anywhere near-ish the convention centre that might sell this stuff?
Oh, and there are a ton of restaurants along International Drive (where the convention center is located). You can see a list of them here. I can't personally recommend any of them - I live here, but I pretty much never go down to I-Drive. I ate at the Olive Garden there once. It was like every other Olive Garden in the world, and probably not what you are looking for.
Good luck!
posted by Lokheed at 6:49 AM on November 25, 2010
Good luck!
posted by Lokheed at 6:49 AM on November 25, 2010
I hope someone local will come along to give you better info than I can. I once went to a conference at that convention center in Orlando and the main thing I remember is that there wasn't much choice for nice restaurants that you could get to without a car. There is a mall across from the convention center that has some restaurants. (You can see it on the google map). There is a long string of chain restaurants on Universal Drive. All of the restaurants are the standard suburban mall chain restaurants you can find anywhere in the US. At this point I don't even remember which ones I ate in but none of them were either particularly horrible or particularly good. Just average.
The hotel I stayed in had a shuttle to take you to Universal City Walk which has restaurants but there was a long wait to get in them all. And they were pretty much chains too.
posted by interplanetjanet at 6:50 AM on November 25, 2010
The hotel I stayed in had a shuttle to take you to Universal City Walk which has restaurants but there was a long wait to get in them all. And they were pretty much chains too.
posted by interplanetjanet at 6:50 AM on November 25, 2010
There are several places for souvenirs around I-drive, some of them should have space center stuff. Sorry I couldn't be more specific than that. I live a stone's throw from KSC so if you don't have any luck, message me. I'm sure I could mail you some souvenirs.
Yes, most of the restaurants you'll see are chains. There's a Sweet Tomatoes in the I-drive vicinity. If you've never been, it's a salad-soup-pasta buffet with many vegetarian options. I can't say much for public transport in Orlando, as I've never used it. See if there are shuttles that can get you from your hotel to other places.
posted by Kitty Stardust at 7:07 AM on November 25, 2010
Yes, most of the restaurants you'll see are chains. There's a Sweet Tomatoes in the I-drive vicinity. If you've never been, it's a salad-soup-pasta buffet with many vegetarian options. I can't say much for public transport in Orlando, as I've never used it. See if there are shuttles that can get you from your hotel to other places.
posted by Kitty Stardust at 7:07 AM on November 25, 2010
I also now remember there is some sort of little shuttle bus that goes up and down International Drive. I was there in July and it was a long hot walk up and down that road so I did take the bus.
posted by interplanetjanet at 7:36 AM on November 25, 2010
posted by interplanetjanet at 7:36 AM on November 25, 2010
Best answer: The convention center is on International Drive, and there's an I-Drive trolley that's a nice, cheap way to get up and down that road. Most of what you're going to find in that area is big-chain restaurants. You'll be near Pointe Orlando, which has a Maggiano's Little Italy among other choices. Sadly, locals may not have much to recommend, as it's a touristy area that a lot of people avoid if they can.
posted by themissy at 8:41 AM on November 25, 2010
posted by themissy at 8:41 AM on November 25, 2010
I ate at an Indian restaurant called Dakshin when I was at Disney World last year. It accomodated two vegetarians (lacto and lacto-ovo) and someone with a gluten allergy (they were really excited that they could eat the appetizer because it was fried using chickpea flour). We shared everything. It was magical. Sorry it's not Italian, but if you must go veg then this can be an option.
Map
posted by chinesefood at 7:04 PM on November 25, 2010
Map
posted by chinesefood at 7:04 PM on November 25, 2010
Response by poster: Thanks very much for your help, folks.
In the end, I booked a table a "Maggiano's", which looks like it should be survivable for the vegetarians and is only about a kilometer from the convention centre.
It's good to know that I can get some space swag from the airport if I don't make it to the space centre myself.
posted by metaBugs at 5:16 AM on November 29, 2010
In the end, I booked a table a "Maggiano's", which looks like it should be survivable for the vegetarians and is only about a kilometer from the convention centre.
It's good to know that I can get some space swag from the airport if I don't make it to the space centre myself.
posted by metaBugs at 5:16 AM on November 29, 2010
Response by poster: In case anyone else has similar criteria for choosing a restaurant: I was impressed by Maggiano's. Definitely "Italian-American" rather than plain "Italian", but tasty food, good service and the vegetarians in the group ate very well.
posted by metaBugs at 9:38 AM on December 10, 2010
posted by metaBugs at 9:38 AM on December 10, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Lokheed at 6:45 AM on November 25, 2010 [1 favorite]