8 Best Restaurants in Downtown Orlando

Kres Steakhouse in Downtown Orlando serves up delicious and unique steak and seafood dishes for the whole family. Voted the best restaurant in Downtown Orlando by several prestigious publications, this dining experience is a top pick for an evening meal or a long lunch in the downtown area. Kres Steakhouse takes a fresh approach to steak and provides a historic dining experience with a modern twist.

The Rusty Spoon is a casual restaurant known for inventive dishes based around American classic recipes. Located a couple of minutes from the Amway Center on West Church Street, you can enjoy great food and a few drinks here. The menu ranges from slow-braised lamb and beef carpaccio to a collection of exciting salad bowls. The wine list is excellent, too.

If you’re looking for fancy fine-dining with all the trimmings, then the Boheme is for you. Located in The Grand Bohemian Hotel on Orange Avenue, you can combine a meal here with drinks afterwards in the fancy bars in the neighborhood. The dinner menu features such classic dishes as Cognac-flamed pepper steak with roasted mushrooms and Mediterranean baked salmon. Prices are on the high side here, though the fixed price menu costs around $50 (not including drinks), which is great value. The Sunday brunch is very popular, and the classy dining room has quite a romantic vibe.

Serving Japanese sushi and wagyu steak, this small but sophisticated restaurant has seating alongside the open kitchens, so you can be served your dishes directly. The fish served here is always fresh and of premium quality while the sushi rolls are inventive and modern, such as the spicy tuna, or the salmon, avocado and teriyaki sauce. Though Amura has 2 other larger branches in Orlando, we like the cozy ambience of their downtown branch on Church Street. It’s consistently voted among the best restaurants in Florida. Dishes start from $5 but it’s worth noting there’s a happy hour between 5pm and 7pm with discounted prices.

This restaurant serves huge, hulking burgers with drag queen cabaret shows in the evenings. Open for lunch too (but without the frivolities of the show), the burgers are all natural, all half-pound in weight and are reason enough on their own to check out this unforgettable restaurant. There’s a large menu of customized burgers, along with vegetarian options (made with black bean), chicken and turkey burgers. Burgers cost around $12. The live entertainment at Hamburger Mary’s could be anything from drag queen Bingo to Broadway musical Sunday brunch.

This popular and fun Orlando-born Tex-Mex restaurant chain has really made its mark, with 5 locations across the city and more throughout the USA. It's one of the most popular dining spots in Orlando's downtown area.

If you are an inquisitive traveler, unsure of what you want but willing to explore to find it, then head to Church St West, especially around the intersection with Orange Avenue. Here, you’ll find loads places to eat. All regional cuisine is on offer and all tastes are catered for. From all-American classic diners to swanky French bistros, sushi bars, fresh seafood, Italian, Thai and pretty much everything in between – Church Street has it. This really is the place to go for first-timers wanting to get to know Downtown Orlando a little better.