Grand Floridian Cafe: Light Version of Grand Floridian Dining

The Grand Floridian is Disney’s most prestigious hotel in the Florida side, and arguably the most prestigious in the entire world of Disney outside of the one in Tokyo DisneySea. And it will only get better once they get the Vacation Club section a couple years from now. But the price range of this place goes from ridiculous to are-you-kidding-me? Yes, the place is expensive, and it will drain your bank account. The restaurants fall under the same category. For example the legendary Victoria and Alberts is such a commodity that it’s the only dining spot in Disney World with its own website---as well as the ultimate dining rating of the Five Diamond Award.







Despite my poorness though, I really wanted to give at least one Grand Floridian restaurant a try. Enter Grand Floridian Café, arguably the cheapest of the uppity-scale half-dozen restaurants in the Grand borders. The place still has the look, feel, and scale of the Floridian, but the price range is a little more bearable. The place looks fantastic, even if they don’t go the whole nine yards like the other spots. The servers are all full of smiles and there isn’t a moment of discontent from the second I walked in to the second I sat down. The menu isn’t very big, but did have some nice variety. Their boast to fame though is their Grand Floridian Burger. This was actually my main draw, being a burger fanatic.







I went with their Caesar salad (shocker) and their burger, knowing there was some bread before the actual meal. The bread was sourdough (my eternal favorite) and multi-grain, and it came with butter seemingly peppered with salt. Odd, but quite a good combination I must say. The place was packed with many large parties so the wait time was longer than usual. I get the salad and being the tradition of your fancier joints, they offer very little dressing and very little topping. Like good samples, they are good but never enough. The croutons were amazing, as well as the cheese pieces and the dressing that was barely dabbed on the dish. The greens tasted fresh, crisp, and had a nice bite. But curses did I wish it had more dressing.




And then came the burger.


This elegant behemoth boasts a large patty, caramelized onions, arugula, crispy prosciutto, red onion marmalade and lastly---butter lobster. This is practically a big dinner wrapped up in a burger. The burger was fantastic to say the least, well worth the $19. Think about it, you get lobster, a thick burger, and more at less than twenty dollars—it’s actually quite a deal. Back to the burger. This burger was legit, and although the caramelized onions may have been plentiful in quantity, everything else fell perfectly in terms of flavor. The lobster worked with the arugula, the thin ham worked with the burger, and the marmalade was very unique but complimented the chips quite well. Hands-down one of the most unique burgers I’ve ever had, but it made me forget that it was missing cheese; my usual partner to the patty.



Dessert was interesting because they were all such small portions. Are you cutting costs? In an area notorious for large desserts, I was shocked Disney didn’t offer anything huge for the final course in this place. Perhaps all this disappointment stems from the fact that the ridiculously small boston crème pie that they serve is out of this universe. The biggest issue with the pie is size, but everything else worked from the chocolate to the cream to the crust. At least the price tag was small ($3.29).





Bottom Line: If you want to dine like a Grand Floridian guest, then have no fear because there is a spot that won’t assassinate your bank account. The Grand Floridian Café is by no means cheap, but it offers great service, superb food at (slightly) reasonable prices. While the appetizer menu doesn’t draw attention, their burger (and their pasta) will. It is one of the best burgers in Disney World, and with the lobster inclusion it just brings the experience of consuming a burger to a unique level. It is worthy of at least one visit and who knows? Like a slew of the guests in the area, you might be a regular.


Final Verdict: Recommend




Grand Floridian Café
Disney World
Lake Buena Vista, Fl

Sloppy Taco Palace: Hidden Messy Fun

With the mammoth numbers of Ale Houses that sprinkle Central Florida, it can get pretty tough to find a local bar/hangout spot that can compete with the multitude of other drinking/eating options. With the chains increasing their repertoire on food and alcohol, many of the smaller bars and pubs die out. We even had an extremely popular billiards location in the South Orange Blossom Trail area die out because of the zillions of options elsewhere.



One spot that has survived all this though is Sloppy Taco Palace, a uniquely named bar that is known for serving up great food as well as offers a nice local young-at-heart atmosphere. A guest at Disney World actually recommended this place to me years ago. I finally gave it a shot. The outside fascinates me because the sign is so gosh-darn small. This place comes off as almost like an exclusive club that relies thoroughly on word-of-mouth.

Sloppy Taco Palace is located in the smack middle of a big plaza that is hidden behind restaurants in the front, a busy intersection, and a tall bridge that rises right next to it. Indiana Jones would have trouble finding this spot. The inside is decked out through vintage license plates, pictures everywhere, a small bar, a few tables, and of course a stage for live music. Despite the name, there is much less Mexican and much more Bar going on around here.


The menu is small on the food side, while very creative and expansive for the alcohol end—over 30 types of beers are mentioned on the menu, and that doesn’t include all the extra alcohol they most likely possess at the bar itself. I went with their sloppy taco basket, and got it with chips and queso dip. Nothing major. What makes their tacos different is that besides making everything fresh and to order, they lightly fry their tortilla shells before decking it with the toppings and fixings.

Sloppy’s tacos are legit, even if they are outside of the usual taco box. Your usual tacos come with the meat, lettuce, tomato, guacamole, etc. These bad boys come with the meat, some of the queso sauce, and a heavy dosage of pico de gallo. I am not a fan of pico de gallo in the least bit, but “when in Rome,” might as well try it anyway. The quality of the meat in the tacos was astounding, as I ordered one with chicken and the other with ground beef. The meat was plentiful, and was filling to say the least, with the ground beef being far superior. The pico didn’t distract but it didn’t enhance either—I wished there wasn’t so much. The shell itself was good, the chicken was good, and the consuming itself is quite an adventure as the food isn’t afraid of getting all over you.

The tacos weren’t the hit of the meal though; it was those decent chips combined with the spectacular queso dip. The queso dip felt, smelled, and tasted straight out of Mexican food heaven, as it was extremely thick, very creamy, and rich enough to flush away any negative thoughts. I avoided the salsa altogether because my heart was set on queso and was not going to let go. All this happened at less than $10. The prices inside this eatery are phenomenal with plenty of specials flying around. In here, you can definitely get your money’s worth.



Bottom Line: Not many bars can double as a good place to find good food. Sloppy Taco Palace defies the norm and defies the competition by becoming a low-key staple in the Universal area with good prices, good food, and good times. While I am not a drinker by any means (Despite being a Dolphins fan) I still recommend this place because you can still get a kick out of this joint without the help of an ounce of alcohol. Here’s to more years of continued success in the Sloppy Palace.

*holds up messy taco*

Final Verdict: Recommend

Sloppy Taco Palace
4892 South Kirkman Road
Orlando, FL 32811
(407) 574-6474