Orlando Fast Food Critic » Downtown

Tropical Smoothie Cafe – Downtown Orlando

Seth Cardoza — Tue, 11 May 2010 02:41:07 +0000

Michael Riley, part of the family down at Tropical Smoothie Cafe in Downtown Orlando, invited me down to review this establishment. It is a family run franchise, opened a little over a year ago. There are currently 3 generations of this family working various positions at this eatery.

They are located a little of the beaten path of downtown Orlando, just west of Orange Ave. on Washington St., so you might not have visited them yet, but it is worth the extra few minutes of walking. They have a wide selection of smoothies, wraps, sandwiches, salads, and flat breads. The food keeps with the tropical motif, and is very refreshing and perfect for the Florida heat. The smoothies are made with mostly fresh fruit, while some of the more exotic fruits are frozen or from concentrate. They also have excellent breakfast options that taste much better than fast food alternatives, and are competitively priced.

One of the things that Michael and his family do to differentiate from other Tropical Smoothie Cafe, is customer appreciation day. Generally, about once a month, they have a day for a particular business downtown (Regions Bank, Channel 13 News, etc.) where employees can get $1 low fat smoothies. You may say, “eww low fat”, but they are naturally low fat because of their fruit base, not because they are modified versions of regular smoothies. They also offer 50% off their low fat smoothies on Monday through Thursday from 4pm to 6pm. Lastly, they have a breakfast club, which entitles the bearer of one of those key chain tags to 20% off their breakfast order before 10am, Monday through Friday.

One of the great things served to me during my visit was the Royale cookie, colloquially known as “Fat Kid’s Heaven”. It is an amazing mix of oatmeal, chocolate chips, macadamia nuts, and cocoa nut. This definitely isn’t the healthiest item on the menu, but it is one of the most delicious.

Connect with Tropical Smoothie Cafe Downtown Orlando on Facebook.

Mochi Frozen Yogurt

Seth Cardoza — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 02:52:13 +0000

Mochi Frozen Yogurt offers all natural frozen yogurt in a variety of flavors. They rotate their flavors, but have several available at all times. It is all self serve, both the yogurt and the toppings. Most of their flavors are a bit unconventional, but they offer free samples. The yogurt is more tart than you might be used to because it is all natural, rather than processed and full of sugar. The toppings include different types of cereal including Fruity Pebbles and Captain Crunch, fresh fruit, a handful of other more common toppings such as crushed candy bars, and mochi. If you are wondering what mochi is, from their website:

Mochi is a popular Asian rice cake made of sweet rice flour that is usually eaten as a snack or dessert.

Not to be outdone by their unusual flavors and toppings, Mochi keeps with the trend with their pricing. It is $0.45 per ounce, including any mix of yogurt flavors you want, and all the toppings you care to have. I think it is a great pricing strategy because it lets people get as little or as much as they want to pay for. It is a great, refreshing treat that can be made as healthy or as fattening as you want it.

Gino’s Pizza

Seth Cardoza — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 00:53:33 +0000

Gino’s Pizza has 3 locations in downtown Orlando. The main location downtown is open 24 hours. This gives them some automatic bonus points because there are few places to eat late at night in Orlando, and even fewer where you would actually want to eat. At first glance, Gino’s might seem expensive, with a single slice of pizza ranging from $3-$4, but the slices are huge. For lunch, one slice will probably be enough for you. Each slice also comes with a free garlic knot. A slice of cheese pizza will cost $3, and a one topping slice is $3.50, while all other slices are $4. I had a slice of bacon and cheddar, and one with spinach, tomato slices, and ricotta cheese. Both tasted great, but I prefer the ladder because it has a wider spectrum of flavors.

Gino’s offers lunch specials Monday through Friday, from 9am to 4pm. These specials offer a ton of food, at a low price. You could easily split one of these lunch specials with someone else, there’s that much food. The service is fast and pleasant. If you are downtown, I would definitely recommend you give them a try. Even if you aren’t downtown, the food is worth the trip.

Gino’s menu is available on their website.

Ichiban – Downtown Orlando

Seth Cardoza — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 01:20:53 +0000

Ichiban, a Japanese and Sushi restaurant in downtown Orlando, has a great variety of food, and reasonable prices for the quality and quantity. I had their chicken Teriyaki lunch platter, which comes with soup, vegetables, and rice. The chicken is a mix of white and dark meat unless you want to pay $1 extra for all white meat. The Miso soup is delicious. The chicken has plenty of sauce which makes it taste great, and the vegetables are a perfect complement. The rice is rather bland, as it is in most places, but the rest of the food makes up for it. I recommend you try them, but it is probably not an everyday location due the the slightly high price, but like I said before the quantity and quality of the food warrants the price.

Remembering Those We’ve Lost

Seth Cardoza — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 03:33:34 +0000

The bad economy has affected us all, and it has hit the food service industry hard. There have been numerous closings in the area over the past year. I’ve compiled a list of places I know have closed in the past year.

Whataburger – University Blvd. Orlando, FL
Shane’s Rib Shack – Orlando Ave. Maitland, FL
Shane’s Rib Shack – Sand Lake Rd. Orlando, FL
All Bennigan’s and Steak and Ale Restaurants (2008). There is actually one Bennigan’s left on US-192, near I-4
T.G.I. Friday’s – E. Colonial Dr. Orlando, FL
Denny’s – E. Colonial Dr. Orlando, FL
Pizzeria Uno – E. Colonial Dr. Orlando, FL
Smokey Bones – Sand Lake Rd. Orlando, FL
Natural Chicken – Orange Ave. Orlando, FL
Quizno’s – Blake Blvd. Celebration, FL
Casselberry Kitchen – Casselberry, FL (via Damien McKenna)
Fazoli’s – E. Colonial Dr. Orlando, FL (via Paul J)
Fazoli’s – Babcock St. Melbourne, FL
Hu Hot Mongolian BBQ off of Sand Lake Rd (via Ryan Price)
BD’s Mongolian BBQ off of 434 in Mailtand (via Ryan Price)
American Pie Pizza Co. – Semoran Blvd. Orlando, FL
Barney’s Steak and Seafood – E. Colonial Dr. Orlando, FL
Donato’s – All Central Florida locations (via Brian Ashe)
Krystal’s – Semoran Blvd. (between University and Aloma) Winter Park, FL
Uncle Jones on 436 in Altamonte Springs. (via Mark Branson)

If you know of one I missed, please let me know and I will add it to the list.

What’s Your Beef?

Seth Cardoza — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 03:11:22 +0000

I was invited to What’s Your Beef? in downtown Orlando by the owners, Mike and Lisa Fracasso. They are a new place, they’ve only been open for a couple months, and they have a style new to Orlando. They moved to Orlando about 10 years ago from Chicago, and missed some of the food so much, they opened their own place to make up for it. It’s a nice little place, with bar style seating.

They have a variety of excellent food on their menu. They have Chicago style hot dogs, tamales, a unique style of pizza, and a couple different styles of subs. Their specialty is the Italian beef sub. Italian beef, for those that don’t and I was one of them, is a slow cooked roast beef specially seasoned. They wouldn’t tell me their secret ingredients, but I do know that it has chopped carrots and celery. It is a very juicy sandwich. It has just the right amount of spice to it, giving a little hot sensation, but not sticking with you for too long. They have sausages with peppers and onions, and a combo sub with Italian beef and sausage.

Their meatball sub has homemade meatballs, which are plump and juicy. The sub has plenty of sauce as well, so it isn’t dry at all. The tamales are a platter covered with chili and cheese. They are flavorful with just a little bit of a kick to them. The pizza is only available on Fridays right now. It is made from scratch, and topped with peppers, Italian beef, and sausage. They have spicy and sweet varieties.

The prices are reasonable. Expect to pay between $6-7 for a sandwich and drink. They are very filling though, and the ingredients are tasty and fresh. I definitely recommend them, as they are an excellent and unique taste to the area.