Thai Place serves lunch and dinner. It offers great portions for each, and at a reasonable price. They give each patron a small salad with peanut dressing. The salad is the perfect size to whet your appetite, and get you in the mood for Thai food. Rarely is the restaurant crowded, so you are able to have a quiet, intimate dinner with a date, actually being able to hear what the other person is saying. The service is great, giving you time alone, but not making you wait around to have your order taken, or waiting for a refill. I highly recommend Thai Place for a date, but this restaurant is great for a quick meal as well.

I was not impressed with California Pizza Kitchen at all. Gourmet pizza or not, the atmosphere is too formal for the food being served. The appetizers are mostly Asian inspired. The lettuce wraps appetizer and Carne Asada pizza cost almost $25. We finished the appetizer and pizza, with nothing left over, which was surprising given the price.

I would not recommend California Pizza Kitchen. If you really want gourmet pizza, go to Mellow Mushroom. They have bigger portions, better, pizza, lower prices, and a great selection of beer.

Larry’s Giant Subs is a decent place for a sandwich. Their menu might not offer a $5 foot long, but their subs are meatier, and better tasting.

Pie-Fection offers a unique pizza experience. It is a food assembly line, much like many sandwich places. They have personal size pizzas, and larger ones able to be shared. You are able to pick your crust, sauce, cheese and toppings. I had a wheat pizza, with Cuban Mojo sauce, shredded mozzarella cheese, Boar’s Head Italian sausage, green peppers, and onions. I got a combo which included a generous side salad and fountain drink. The salad and pizza were more than enough to fill me up, and tasted great. My only gripe would have to be the price. With a great, unique experience in building your own pizza, it would be nice to see a one price fits all, like a sandwich shop would be, rather than have to pay per topping.

Pie-Fection is a refreshing take on pizza, and worth checking out. I can see it being fun for kids as well, allowing them to watch their pizza being built as they tell someone what they want.

Pei Wei Asian Diner, owned by P.F. Chang’s, is like a stripped down version of P.F. Chang’s. The atmosphere is inconsistent, giving it a fast food feel while ordering, with more of a full service restaurant while dining. Because this, it might seem a bit expensive for what you get (both food and atmosphere). I don’t care for P.F. Chang’s much, so my feelings are the same for Pei Wei. If you like P.F. Chang’s though, but don’t want a long sit down meal, this is a good alternative. Meal options are much the same, as is the quality of the food.

The portions here are very large. The gyro platter comes with a ton of fries, a small salad (buried under the fries), and the gyro itself should be enough to fill you up. The spicy gyro will not disappoint you, either in flavor or spice.

Cornerstone Pizza is good. Nothing outstanding, but an acceptable pizza place in the area. You won’t be wowed by the pizza, but you won’t be disappointed either.

I have to admit, this is the first year I’ve paid much attention to it, and I was rather disappointed with many of the choices for Orlando area food and drink. Granted, this is a very subjective subject, but the number of national, and multinational chains on the list was surprising.

While I have many grievances with this list, these are the choices that really stand out to me.

Best Chinese
#1 P.F. Chang’s China Bistro
#3 Pei Wei Asian Diner

P.F. Chang’s is good, but far from great. Add in a mix of high prices, and an upscale atmosphere, and P.F. Chang’s moves much further down my list. Upscale Chinese food is like having an upscale wing place or upscale barbecue. They just don’t mix.

After seeing number one on the list, it’s not surprising to see Pei Wei at number three. Pei Wei is owned by P.F. Chang’s, and is basically a cheaper, lower quality version of it’s parent. Already not liking P.F. Chang’s much, Pei Wei falls even further down my list.

There are numerous mom and pop Chinese restaurants in Orlando. Some are bad, but some are excellent, and offer unique flavors. One great example is Summer Palace on South Alafaya Trail. The food is great, both in taste and portion sizes, the atmosphere is nice, but not too upscale, and it is unique to Orlando.

Best Breakfast
#2 Ethos Vegan Kitchen

As a disclaimer, I will say that vegan does nothing for me. However, breakfast without eggs, bacon, sausage, cheese, or milk leaves little to be desired. I don’t need a breakfast filled with heart attack inducing foods, but these items are staples of great breakfast. A notable absentee from this list, and a great replacement would be Brian’s Restaurant. Brian’s is a diner only open for breakfast and lunch. While I’ve driven by it for years, I only recently had the chance to try it (I rarely have ambition to go out for breakfast). After my first time trying it, I fell in love, and went 3 times in as many weeks. All the food at Brian’s is excellent, the eggs, bacon (giving you 4 strips, not just 2), omelets, pancakes, french toast, home fries, their famous sweet rolls, and anything I may have missed. The service is also great, not only being on top of your needs, but being friendly and striking up conversation with you too.

Lastly,

Best Wings
#1 Buffalo Wild Wings Grill & Bar

Based on wings along, this place is good. Account for their atmosphere, where you can’t hear the people at your own table, but can hear every TV in the place, the fact that any food other than wings is barely edible, and their consistently bad service, and Buffalo Wild Wings shouldn’t even be a consideration. An excellent place for wings, and in my opinion the best place for wings period, is Flyers Wings and Grill. Flyers has a quiet atmosphere, amazing wings, and great service.

My main gripe with this list is that Orlando is a hub for people from all over. These people often bring their cuisine with them. There are plenty of local only places that could top any of these categories. When friends or family visit Orlando, do you rave about the restaurant chains they most likely have in their home town, or do you tell then they have to try this local barbecue, or wing place, or Italian place, or whatever other place you love?

This is a nice little pizza place in downtown Celebration. They sell pizza by the slice. It is slightly more expensive than other pizza places in town, but I’m sure that is due to its location. There’s only standing room inside, with a couple tables outside, so dining in comfortably isn’t always an option.