The Prisoner of Vineland Mall - Orlando Dining 2019

[Burgmeister]

Shame you didn't really like Applebee's. It's usually one of our standard halts during an Orlando holiday. Of course, we haven't been since 2013 so maybe it' snot as good as it used to be or, more likely, I have lower standards than you!

[Kat22]

Originally Posted by theCMG

Only a few days to go and I thought it was time to finally explain why the change from the original Universal trip to the new plans.

BTW this utilises a famous internet meme based on the movie Downfall so if you are easily offended (in which case I'm impressed you made it this far ) then you may prefer not to view , it isn't sweary or anything

captiongenerator/1363872/...happened-Harry

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Absolute class, had me in stitches all the way through, very well done! Hope you have a fabulous time anyway!

[markpwa8]

Only done Applebees once and wasn't impressed. Cant wait to read along with the rest of your trip.

[theCMG]

Originally Posted by Mexy02

Ha brightened my day , looking forward to more . Enjoy your holiday

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that's the main aim. First morning by the pool and lost at mini-golf already we're getting there!

Originally Posted by Burgmeister

Shame you didn't really like Applebee's. It's usually one of our standard halts during an Orlando holiday. Of course, we haven't been since 2013 so maybe it' snot as good as it used to be or, more likely, I have lower standards than you!

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lol bearing in mind my first suggestion was Taco Bell I'm not sure about the standards Applebee's food was pretty good, we forgot it was more of a bar before we went in and it wasn't the night for a few drinks, I would have fallen asleep. I do think Miller's is better though on a like for like comparison, similar food but smarter decor and much better drink selection.

Originally Posted by Kat22

Absolute class, had me in stitches all the way through, very well done! Hope you have a fabulous time anyway!

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Thanks, we intend to

Originally Posted by markpwa8

Only done Applebees once and wasn't impressed. Cant wait to read along with the rest of your trip.

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Thanks for reading, think we'll join you in the one and done camp There's a Village Inn across from our hotel so we may end up comparing that for a drink. Lots more food to come anyway

[theCMG]

Breakfast - Dixie Belle’s Cafe

Well this morning we both woke up at about 04:45 I started reading the updates on this thread and DW was starving after not eating that much last night (or having her usual array of late night snack options). So we ended up deciding on a breakfast outside the hotel and my arm was twisted into eating at 6am

Luckily, earlier planning had included Dixie Belle’s Cafe, a more local sort of place that was a little further away (see map) but looked interesting and opened at 6 slightly off the tourist trail.

So under duress in my case we set out from the Hilton at 05:45 in search of a cafe. You can see from the shot of the interior from after we arrived how dark it still is outside Bit of a hurried shot as there was a po-lice eating in the corner (golden rule of the caf, eat where the cops eat ) plus the locals and didn’t want to look even more like tourists than we already did with our shorts, rental car, British accents etc.

Loved the atmosphere and the decor in here, it’s like the independent version of the place that Cracker Barrel (which we also like) is trying to be. Menu here is good - link. Lots of choice across the usual breakfast categories with a Southern leaning and some special items.

We ordered coffee (me) and tea (DW) to start, these were both good and the coffee refilled attentively, our server (Cindy Lou) was a full 10/10 absolutely perfect.

I was keen to try the sweet potato biscuit which is their signature item so ordered a main which came with a biscuit option: Western Scrambler (Ham, green peppers, onions, and melted cheddar jack cheese). This came with a choice of potatoes - I went for hash browns but could also have had tater tots, breakfast potatoes etc. and with toast or a biscuit choice which I upgraded to the Sweet Potato biscuit.

The scrambler was nice and the hash browns really good - somehow they were crispy and well cooked without being even slightly greasy (or burnt) which is really hard to do. The star through was the biscuit.

Now I already love biscuits and like sweet potato so had high hopes but actually aside from looking like a darker biscuit it didn’t remind me much of either. If anything this was a warm, freshly cooked cinnamon muffin doused in butter. OMG this was incredible ! I’m thinking about it again now as I type. If you like all things cinnamon this is also your thing surely.

Anyway I haven’t mentioned DW yet. She was feeling hungry so obviously with it being 06:05 decides a 10oz steak and eggs is the way to go Pity the chef who comes in at 6 and is faced with taking steak out the fridge and preparing it properly rare without it being cold in the middle in 15 minutes Who knows how they did it but they managed and a perfect rare sirloin came out.

She loved this dish which also came with toast or a biscuit. She chose sourdough toast, also great - very buttery and fresh. There was enough left to make the ingredients for one of her famous steak sliders although to be fair she’d eaten it within 5 minutes of getting back to the room.

This was a great breakfast, $28 but including a full steak. It’s a bit off the usual tourist track but you need to be visiting if you can! Loved the place, got lost on the way home but still couldn’t spoil it.

Look at the time on the receipt

Lunch at Panda Express to follow later on, we’re having dinner at Kres Chophouse tonight.

[Disney Planning]

That breakfast sounds delicious and certainly a place to put on "the list". I'm sure it was just the Mickey Ears that gave you away as tourists!
Harry sure had a mishap with the toblerones, did any sneak onto the plane for a mid air snack...

[OB1LukeLucas]

I can’t believe I have so much to catch up on and it’s only the beginning of your 1st day!
I think I’m still too busy drooling over your meal at the Ivy to actually pay the correct amount of attention to what is going on
Anyway, loved your version of the video. It always makes me laugh-I’ve watched numerous football match ones and the dreaded my maths homework, bet my DH will be delighted when I force him to watch your take on it
Those M&Ms look interesting...the peanut butter ones are my favourite. I’m definitely a cinnamon fan too so want to have breakfast at Dixie Belle’s
Hope you enjoy your first day and don’t have to spend too much time shopping. Looking forward to the rest of your trip and the cocktails-I’m rather partial to a Negroni after reading about them in your last report...I wonder what cocktail you might tempt me to try this time?

[theCMG]

Originally Posted by Disney Planning

That breakfast sounds delicious and certainly a place to put on "the list". I'm sure it was just the Mickey Ears that gave you away as tourists!
Harry sure had a mishap with the toblerones, did any sneak onto the plane for a mid air snack...

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Yes it was the ears that gave us away dammit, good call. Harry sadly didn't manage to stash any Toblerones for later - a very rude joke came to mind but I'll settle instead for linking to this clip of the gorgeous Kate Beckinsale covering a similar subject on Graham Norton

Originally Posted by OB1LukeLucas

I can’t believe I have so much to catch up on and it’s only the beginning of your 1st day!
I think I’m still too busy drooling over your meal at the Ivy to actually pay the correct amount of attention to what is going on
Anyway, loved your version of the video. It always makes me laugh-I’ve watched numerous football match ones and the dreaded my maths homework, bet my DH will be delighted when I force him to watch your take on it
Those M&Ms look interesting...the peanut butter ones are my favourite. I’m definitely a cinnamon fan too so want to have breakfast at Dixie Belle’s
Hope you enjoy your first day and don’t have to spend too much time shopping. Looking forward to the rest of your trip and the cocktails-I’m rather partial to a Negroni after reading about them in your last report...I wonder what cocktail you might tempt me to try this time?

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Thanks for catching up, mint m&ms are my favourite, the choc hazelnut ones aren't bad either Funnily enough we went for the negronis tonight, I'll have to think of something new, I am partial to an expresso martini these days if that works!

[theCMG]

Lunch - Panda Express

This one is relatively low key because it's squeezed in between a big breakfast and a posh dinner later. We drove over to a new looking Panda Express branch for a quick lunch. This is one of those places I've been meaning to try for ages and never get round to, we don't eat in the malls very often and I've managed to miss the CityWalk one with all the other options.

Anyway, we made it there today. DW did not sound that impressed by my description of this as a standard sort of Chinese but I managed to lure her in with a promise that we could look around the branch of Dollar Tree nearby afterwards

We were hopeless at ordering at the speed they wanted and they were hopeless at understanding what we wanted but eventually we got our orders of an orange chicken with egg fried rice (me) and Five Flavour Shrimp with noodles (DW). We also ordered a cream cheese Rangoons just because they sounded interesting and everyone always adds the spring roll

This was the prawn dish. DW made them put extra shrimp on hers but she wasn't a huge fan. I only tried the noodles which came with some good fresh veg mixed in and though those were great.

Here's the orange chicken, an obvious classic it was a little blander than I'd hoped but still nice and I could eat this all day TBH. The rice was a little boring, I ate more of the noodles.

Cream cheese rangoons are an abomination. Dry overfried pastry around dry claggy cream cheese just yuk I thought these were awful.

Don't do it

Actually when I googled the Panda Express menu to find the name of DW's dish I came across this ranking of all the (16) Panda Express items. The rangoons came 16/16 and the shrimp 14/16 so there's an argument for saying we ordered badly. I wish I'd read that article before we visited!

All in all, meh, it was ok for me and DW was not into it on the day. My fortune cookie told me that 'my best is already good enough' which I'll take. DW said hers was 'You will be going to the Mall at Millenia' which I chose to ignore as we have shopping lined up for tomorrow when the weather is supposed to be bad

See you later

[Taffy1959]

I’m still giggling at that video it was so funny.
Great start to your holiday and I’m looking forward to more.