Suggestions Near JW Marriott - Grande Lakes (no particular cuisine or price - just good food)

[wintersummer]

I'm looking for lunch and dinner suggestions for places near the JW Marriott at
Grande Lakes. I'm hoping to have a very relaxing, laid back type getaway, so I really don't want to drive far to eat. We will stay at the hotel and have some meals, but would love to experience a bit of Orlando.

I'm not limited to any particular cuisine or price....just looking for good food!

Thanks!

[wintersummer]

Original poster here. We're back from Orlando. We ended up eating at Primo 2 nights and Normans the other night. All meals were great!

[LilMsFoodie]

which did you prefer? I have always loved Primo and usually eat there when in town. Norman's is good as well, but I always felt the service was a little fawning to me. Typical Ritz, my pleasure, this and that.

I like the attention to vegetables at Primo and think their wine list is great.

[wintersummer]

Without a doubt - Primo was the best! I can't really remember much about the Norman's meal. However, I could have eaten everything on the Primo menu. In fact, on our second night there, we just ordered 6 appetizers. It was wonderful. And service was great. Norman's was slow, where Primo was packed both nights.

[Sandwich_Sister]

two places I recently discovered.

Orlando Snack Cafe - while the name is unassuming is a small cafe located on town center blvd off of john young. It's authentic Venezualan food, with daily lunch specials. The food is delicious.

Fortuna Bakery is in the deer field plaza on john young. The menu is almost entirely in spanish but you can ask the girls that work there what is best. Their pastries are scrumptious. Great place to get dessert or lunch.

[beteez]

A few miles north is Sushi Thome in a strip center, not fancy, but reasonable & authentic, not a lot of sauce & geese, just good fresh fish, generally not many round eyes. Sad to hear about Los Generales it was the best bargain in town with the coupon.

[wintersummer]

PeggyKate - thanks for letting me know about Los Generales. I printed their coupon and was ready to go. Website is still up and running, with very lively music!

Thanks for the lead on the cuban restaurant. I'll check it out. These are the exact types of suggestions I'm looking for. Any more ideas about nice local places?

[wintersummer]

Thanks for letting me know about Los Generales. Their website has a $15 coupon with purchase of $35. Pretty good discount!

[PeggyKate]

Los Generales went out of business a couple of months ago. Down the road in Hunter's Creek there is a great Cuban restaurant, Padrino's. In the same shopping center is a excellent sushi restaurant, Mikado. Both of these places are very affordable. Almost everything else around the area is a chain restaurant.

[Sandwich_Sister]

Peggy,

I agree, We love Mikado great fresh quality dishes here and Padrinos is always wonderful.

[chriscinfl]

Los Generales is near there. Authentic Mexican food. If you go, let me know what you think. Enjoy! http://losgeneralesrestaurant.com/Hom...

[wintersummer]

I already have reservations at Primo!

Any other spots within relatively short driving distance (5-10 minutes)?

[Corporate_40]

Well yea, right there in the JW you have Primo which is excellent. And at the Ritz across the street you have Norman's, which a lot of people like but I think is extremely overpriced for what you get (and that's very rare for me to say).

There's tons of other choices, but they're at least a 15-20 min drive from there.

[RevrendAndy]

Primo in Grande Lakes is really good. Other than Disney restaurants I can't help you, although I enjoy California Grill at the Contemporary in Disney with a great view overlooking the fireworks show every night.