Round-up: Hotel Eateries Aren’t Just for Out-of-Towners

Victoria & Albert’s at the Grand Floridian Resort & Spa isn’t just a great hotel restaurant. It’s a great restaurant, period. One of the standout entrées is butter-poached Maine lobster salad with Florida tangerine vinaigrette (above).

It used to be that any restaurant you’d find in a hotel was the last place you’d want to dine. These were the three-mealers that existed for travelers too busy, too intimidated or too lazy to leave the confines of their hotel to find something better to eat.

With a captive and ever-rotating clientele, these internal eateries didn’t have much motivation to do better.
All that has changed. Perhaps it’s because the traveling public is more savvy, or that hotels realize that locals can keep their restaurants full during tourism downturns. The upshot is that hotels now encompass some of a city’s better dining venues – and that’s true of Orlando, too.

There still are people who refuse to go to a hotel for dinner. Heck, some won’t get anywhere near a place where tourists tend to gather.

But there’s real pleasure in strolling through the lobby of an elegant hotel on the way to and from a good dinner. There’s the convenience of pulling up to the front of a hotel and leaving your car with a valet. And, although Disney properties are a major exception, most hotels will validate your parking when you patronize their restaurants.

Here are some hotel restaurants worth checking out without checking in:

NAPA, Peabody Orlando, 9801 International Drive, Orlando; 407-345-4570. Although it’s named for a county in California, Napa celebrates regional Florida fare. Thankfully, though, the extensive wine list features Napa labels.

CALA BELLA, Rosen Shingle Creek, 9939 Universal Blvd., Orlando, 407-996-3663. Enjoy upscale Italian in a grand setting, with windows overlooking the resort’s pool and, just beyond, Shingle Creek, the headwaters of the Everglades.

EVERGLADES, Rosen Centre, 9840 International Drive, Orlando; 407-996-2385. This is one of the area’s hidden gems. But it’s one of the few places I recommend for alligator, a meat that rarely satisfies. Plus, the gator chowder is excellent.

THE BOHEME, Grand Bohemian, 325 S. Orange Ave., Orlando; 407-313-9000. As the hotel’s lone restaurant, The Boheme (pronounce it boh-HEEM) serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. Noontime might find downtown businesspeople power-lunching through deals. Evenings, however, are more relaxed and often feature the live music in the rotunda just outside the front door. Kessler calamari and sautéed scallops are menu highlights.

EMERIL’S TCHOUP CHOP, Royal Pacific, 6300 Hollywood Way; 407-503-2467. Chef Greg Richie serves as Emeril Lagasse’s proxy and offers stylized pan-Asian cuisine. Order the pan-seared Maine jumbo sea scallops just to get the shrimp and corn risotto they’re served with.

THE VENETIAN ROOM, Caribe Royale, 8101 World Center Drive, Orlando; 407-238-8060. This is one of the region’s last bastions of old-school fine dining, with an emphasis on the fine. Crab cake, foie gras, lobster bisque – all wonderful, and impeccably served.

VICTORIA & ALBERT’S, Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, 4401 Grand Floridian, Lake Buena Vista; 407-824-2591. It’s funny, but I rarely think of this as being a hotel restaurant. It’s simply one of the best dining experiences in the southeastern United States. Also at this hotel: the very good Citricos and the much-improved Narcoossee’s.

CALIFORNIA GRILLE, Contemporary Resort, 4600 N. World Drive, Lake Buena Vista; 407-939-3463. It’s easy to forget that this local favorite is located in a hotel, even though you have to pass all of the resort’s guest-room floors to get to the restaurant’s 15th-floor aerie. – Scott Joseph