Orlando Best Dining Bets

The Best Theme Restaurants

Orlando has elevated themed dining to an art form. The food at these restaurants may not be the best in town (though it won’t be terrible either), but you can’t beat the atmosphere.

• World Showcase restaurants (Epcot; tel. 407/939-3463): Epcot’s World Showcase is home to Orlando’s best collection of theme restaurants in one setting. Dine in Italy, chow down in China, or watch a belly dancer do her thing as you eat couscous in Morocco. You’ll have a blast no matter which dining spot you choose.
• Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater Restaurant (Disney’s Hollywood Studios; tel. 407/939-3463): Your table is set inside a 1950s-era convertible, your carhop (umm … waitress) serves you popcorn as an appetizer, and you can zone out on sci-fi flicks on a giant movie screen while you eat. It’s an out-of-this-world experience.
• 50’s Prime Time Café (Disney’s Hollywood Studios; tel. 407/939-3463): Ozzie and Harriet would feel right at home inside this replica of mom’s kitchen (ca. 1950), where classic TV shows play on black-and-white screens. Servers may threaten to withhold dessert (choices include s’mores!) if you don’t finish your meatloaf, so clean that plate!
• Enchanted Oak Tavern (Islands of Adventure; no phone): Merlin himself would feel right at home at this dimly lit dining hall, set inside a hollowed-out “tree.” The evocative decor looks even better after you’ve imbibed one of the 45 different beers on tap at the restaurant’s Alchemy Bar.