Confisco Grille serves an ambitious menu of soups, salads, sandwiches and burgers, plus full dinners of meats and seafood. I had the “fully loaded” baked potato soup, which featured a potato puree broth surrounding a mound of mashed potatoes, which held up a potato skin boat filled with cheese and bacon bits. There wasn’t much in the way of soup, and it was all rather heavy for a first course. For the entree, I had a pork chop, a big, thick and ultimately tasty chop. It was a lot of food, and it was more creative than I was expecting for the drab atmosphere. The ambience at Confisco Grille is a little dark and depressing. There are a couple of windows to the walkway out front, but for the most part, you’d never know you were in a theme park. And I’ve come to realize there are a lot of parkgoers who look for just that sort of environment so they can avoid sensory overload. Whatever. Unless you really want to just sit down and have someone wait on you – and there’s a lot to be said for that – you can find pretty good food at the concession stands around the park. One of my favorites was the Enchanted Oak Tavern in the Lost Continent area. The restaurant is inside what is supposed to be a hollowed-out tree. There is inside seating but also a nice balcony that overlooks the main lagoon. It’s a pleasant place to sit.

Cooper’s Hawk Winery & Restaurant would love to sell you some wine-related gewgaws. Visitors enter and exit through a gift shop where they can buy corkscrews, coasters, and candles that look like glasses of wine. They’d also like to have you buy some tastes of the wines the company produces at its Arlington Heights, Illinois, winery; there’s a tasting-room feature in the gift shop, as well.

But I’m not convinced they’re all that serious about being a restaurant and providing a positive guest experience. On my recent visit I was subjected to one fail after another, and although a manager finally stepped up and did the right thing, enough ill will had been created by that point to prevent me from returning.

The final straw was the late delivery of a cold entree. Check, please! I cannot recommend this restaurant at the present time.

Crafted Block & Brew (I can’t explain the Block part, although the food is served on wooden trays, so maybe that’s it?) looks like it wants to stay a long time. With a little more attention to the food’s quality and less time trying too hard to make it creative plus more even service, it could make it.

Chef/owner Steve Saelg was one of the pioneers of Orlando’s food truck boom, and his Crooked Spoon truck was one of the more popular ones at area food truck rallies. But Saelg, who started out as a Wall Street financier before turning to a life in the culinary arts, longed to stop roaming. So he parked the truck and opened a gastropub with the same name.

In this case, gastropub probably means something closer to a sports bar. The atmosphere is casual, the bar is visible from most corners of the dining areas, and the requisite televisions hang all about.

I loved the pork belly BLT, a thick and delightfully fatty belly section with a crispy exterior, served on fresh brioche bread with spicy arugula, marinated tomato and remoulade. And as a wonderful surprise, an egg, sunny-side up, on top. It’s called a sandwich, but just try to eat it with anything but a knife and fork.

I also enjoyed the lobster grilled cheese, which was sort of like a lobster roll with a bit of melted cheeses, including brie, swiss and cheddar, on top. The sweet lobster meat was served with tomatoes on the buttery toasted bread.

Very expensive and not very good.

One of Orlando’s many — MANY — bars, but one of the few that pays attention to the quality of food it serves.

Part of the new Delaney, a boutique hotel, Delaney’s Tavern is more than a drinking spot. The food, under the direction of chef Anthony Albino, is innovative and expertly executed. The crab beignets and shrimp, scallops & grits (with purple grits) are favorites.

The name of the restaurant derives not from an age restriction but rather from the number of steps it takes to reach it down a curving staircase from the lobby level. (Yes, I counted; it’s 21 steps. In both directions.)

At Designer Greens, which occupies a small storefront space in the Waterford Lakes area, not far from the Home Depot, you have your own personal salad builder at your beck and call. She does the tonging and tossing — think of it as a salad bar without a sneeze guard.
You design your own salad in several steps. First you decide if you want a half salad or a full salad, which for our purposes we’ll call the Pittsburgh. (Go with a half; it’s plenty.) Then you choose the lettuce, romaine or spring mix.
In step three, you get to choose three toppings (five if you’re headed for Pittsburgh) from a list of about 36. You’ve got everything from artichokes and avocados to mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes and various cheeses. If you can’t limit it to just three, you can add others at 50 cents each, but this is a slippery slope if you’re going the salad route as part of a dieting regimen.
Step four is optional — you can add a meat, such as turkey, ham or tuna. Chicken-fried steak is not an option, but chicken tenders are. Beware.
The last step is the dressing, which you can have your salad maker add and toss or request on the side. There are a baker’s dozen options, including some so-called light dressings.

There are three distinct Dexter’s but all offer the same basic menu, which is unambitious but functional. Much more emphasis is placed on producing a lively atmosphere, which often includes live music. (Check Web site for details.)
For food, the pressed duck sandwich is a classic. And the chicken tortilla pie, a tall, layered affair, is one of those things you feel guilty for liking but keep ordering each time you go.