Address	802 Virginia Drive
City	Orlando
Phone	407-412-6979
Price	$$$
Scott's Review

Santiago’s Bodega has opened in the space formerly occupied by Logan’s Bistro on Virginia Drive in Orlando. Actually the place takes more than the Logan’s space. It has incorporated the storefront next door and has produced a new brick porch/patio in front. For all its newness, Santiago’s has a well-worn look that makes it immediately likable and comfortable. This is a tapas restaurant. Although Santiago’s is new in Orlando, this is a second location for a restaurant in Key West. So the concept isn’t new and neither is the menu. Still, the restaurant was struggling the night I visited as hordes of curious diners descended on the place and overwhelmed the staff. Mistakes were made, most of them accountable to the vagaries of a new operation, new location and a staff unfamiliar and shell-shocked. Those things can be ironed out. My main complaint was the cost. My check came to over $68 for five tapas and one glass of wine. (We had two other glasses of wine but the server said they were on the house because of some problems at the beginning of the meal; otherwise the check would have been over $90.) That isn’t a tremendous amount of money for a night out, but the cost-to-quali... Read more

Address	1185 Spring Centre South Blvd
City	Altamonte Springs
Phone	407-960-2605
Price	$$
Scott's Review

An Altamonte version of the popular Mills 50 restaurant, except bigger and with better parking!... Read more

Address	5080 W. Colonial Drive
City	Orlando
Phone	407-203-6777
Price	$
Scott's Review

Here’s an interesting little place on the west side of town. It’s a Japanese restaurant called Sapporo Ramen in a weary worn shopping center now called Chinatown. Most Americans know ramen only as something they haven’t eaten since grad school. But this is not same as the incredibly cheap -- multiple meanings there -- Top Ramen sold as a dry noodle soup mix in the crinkly packages. This is something truly delicious. Ramen is, indeed, a type of wheat noodle. Although it is mainly associated with Japan -- and here is served in a restaurant named for either the city or the brewery in that country -- ramen originated in China, so it isn’t so strange that Sapporo Ramen is located in a place called Chinatown (the Italian restaurant around the corner is another matter). And as long as we’re on the name, you should know that ramen isn’t the only type of noodle available. Soba and udon noodles have their own sections. And if you prefer rice, there’s a section on the menu board for curries served with rice. I love Japanese curries, which tend to be roux-ier than Indian curries. And in fact it was the spicy beef stew curry that was the favorite dish I tried at Sapporo. By appearan... Read more

Address	Disney's Hollywood Studios
City	Lake Buena Vista
Phone	407-939-3463
Price	$$$

It’s an outdoor drive-in theater indoors. The movies glorified here are the wonderfully trashy movies of the '50s - those low-budget flicks that had spacemen clad in Reynolds Wrap and rocket ships dangling by all-too-visible wires. Of course, when you go to a drive-in, you sit in a car, so the Disney folks have constructed some special vehicles. The cars are convertibles set up as booths, and everyone faces forward. Most of the cars have a front seat, a back seat and a middle seat. A family of six can sit two by two by two. If the kids start acting up, Dad can turn around and take a swat at them. There's a real possibility, however, that you'll be seated in a car with strangers. If those strangers' kids are acting up, it is not all right to take a swat at them. As for the food, well, no one ever went to a drive-in movie for the cuisine. ‘Nuf said.... Read more

Address	617 N. Primrose Ave.
City	Orlando
Phone	407-203-0727
Price	$

A small bakery that does some nice fancy sandwiches. Good for a quick bite.... Read more

Address	3812 E. Colonial Drive
City	Orlando
Phone	407-895-0985
Price	$$

The Sea in the name is an acronym for Southeast Asia, but there are also some good seafood selections among the traditional Thai dishes. Try one of the curry dishes or ask if the whole snapper is available. If not, the tilapia fillets are a good substitute.

I sampled two of the curry dishes: yellow with chicken; and a massaman with beef. I enjoyed the subtle spiciness of the yellow curry, the heat of the spices tempered by the creaminess of coconut milk. Besides the pieces of chicken, the sauce had peas, carrots, onions and big chunks of well-cooked potatoes to spoon over rice. I am in starch heaven when I can enjoy rice and potatoes in one dish.

Both were included in the massaman curry, too. And it also had a base of coconut milk, but in this one had a slight gravylike texture that coated the mouth with each bite. The pieces of beef were rather negligible but the dish was otherwise enjoyable.

Spicy basil duck was something of a floorshow in its presentation.

... Read more

Address	719 Good Homes Road
City	Orlando
Phone	321-800-6846
Price	$
Scott's Review

The most interesting thing I learned about Seana’s, a Caribbean and soul food restaurant in West Orlando, is that there is no Seana. Owner Joshua Johnson said that it was just “a name I’ve always loved; it just feels like a warm embrace.” That’s a pretty good description of the restaurant itself.... Read more

Address	14900 Chelonia Parkway
City	Orlando
Phone	407-919-6300
Price	$$$

Seemingly out of nowhere, a big new JW Marriott has appeared and along with it a pretty darned good restaurant, Sear + Sea Woodfire Grill. The hotel is a new neighbor of other large hotels like the Waldorf Astoria, Hilton and Wyndham in the area known as Bonnet Creek. In fact, if you sit on the restaurant’s comfortably spacious veranda, as I did on my recent visit, you’ll have a view of the actual creek and its woody banks just below. As you might deduce from the clever name, Sear + Sea is a steak and seafood restaurant, which might sound a bit ho-hum at first. But the menu, under the direction of chef de cuisine Alex Pyser, is creative and appealing.... Read more