The promise of a good seafood restaurant has sailed into Central Florida aboard The Oceanaire. The Oceanaire Seafood Room is meant to take you back in time, with its interior that suggests a 1930s ocean liner.
Sample some of the fresh fish selections after you enjoy the crab cake appetizer. On one visit, my companion had the wahoo, or ono, a mild fish similar to the mackerel. On another visit, there was a monkfish from Georges Bank. It had the characteristic texture that mimics lobster meat but was a thick steak cut with the center cord intact. Not the prettiest presentation, but quite good.
It’s a bit pricey, but quality is worth paying for.
The Oceanaire brand was recently purchased by the Landry’s Seafood organization, but so far it seems the quality is being maintained.

This New York-based chain has shown some improvement in recent years and can now hold its own among the area’s high-end steakhouses. The meat is masterfully prepared — my New York strip was perfect. Whatever you have as your main course, be sure to get the au gratin potatoes for a side dish. These are so gooey and thick you may not notice there are potatoes included.

It certainly looks like an authentic British pub, albeit one that is about five times the average size. The British fare is fine — shepherd’s pie had some nontraditional cheese on top, but otherwise pretty good. Guests can tap their own beers from a wall of select brews using a prepaid card that meters the flow. (Gimmick)

Senor Frog’s is owned by Grupo Anderson, a restaurant group out of Mexico that also owns Carlos’n Charlies’, which made a brief appearance a couple of years ago in Lake Mary. Most of the company’s restaurants are in Mexico, but a few are scattered in the Caribbean and in the U.S. They tend to target tourist spots, hence the new location on International Drive. Some question the appropriateness of an establishment known more as a watering hole than a restaurant, given that Orlando is known more as a family destination. But its proximity to the convention center and the surrounding hotels means that it will be on the radar of plenty of adults looking for out-of-town fun, so it should do well there. Not that it should. At least not for the quality of its food. I won’t be surprising anyone by saying that food is not its forte. But I certainly recommend that you do order copious amounts of items from the menu if you visit on one of the rowdier evenings, if for no other reason than to fill your stomach with something that will help sop up any alcohol someone happens to squirt into your mouth.

The full name is Spencer’s for Steaks & Chops, but that’s a bit limiting. Spencer’s is a terrific all-around restaurant. Be sure to try the crab cakes and fried poached egg appetizers. Steaks are first rate, but so is the double-cut lamb chop and king salmon (served under a glass dome filled with smoke). Although Spencer’s is located inside a hotel next to the Convention Center, this is a restaurant worthy of local attention. The decor is upscale casual, and a meal here is a relaxing evening.

Amid the myriad chains and franchises that are populating the area around the Orlando Eye attraction, an independent restaurant is a welcome find. And that it offers very good food and a fun dining experience makes it all the better.

Tapa Toro comes to us from Vassilis and Katerina Coumbaros, who also own Taverna Opa at nearby Pointe Orlando, one of my favorite Tourist World recommendations. Opa, of course, is the Greek restaurant where every evening is a raucous party of napkins tossed in the air to buoyant balalaika music and belly dancing atop the tables.

At Tapa Toro the theme is Spanish and the music flamenco, and here the napkins stay in the lap and the clacking heels of the dancers punish only the floor.

This is not a place for a nice, quiet, romantic dinner, unless you consider a sound level louder than Hard Rock Café and dancing on top of a table with a scantily clad belly dancer to be romantic.However, the noise level heightens only after 7 pm when the entertainment begins.

But it’s not all ambience here. The food is surprisingly good. There are the usual items: domades, moussaka, pastitsio and the like. But you’ll also find more unusual things, such as lamb ribs, Greek country sausages, taramosalata, and a house-made yogurt that is crazy good. Don’t come here if you’re in a bad mood. On second thought, do, it’ll cheer you up, and you’ll have good food besides.

Churrascaria means meat. Well, not literally. Churrascaria (tchoo-huh-scah-REE-uh) actually means house of barbecue, but to fans of this type of Brazilian steakhouse, it means meat, meat and more meat. Texas de Brazil is a small chain out of, no surprise here, Texas that is riding the wave of low-carb popularity with a new location on International Drive.
Here’s the way it works: you first visit the salad bar, which is more than just lettuce and condiments. You’ll find all manner of salad fixings plus such items as hearts of palm, tabbouleh, artichoke hearts, Brussels sprouts, roasted red peppers and, for some inexplicable reason, sushi.
When you’ve had enough of the salad bar — and my advice is to go easy there — the waiters, called gauchos and dressed accordingly — will start bringing large skewers of meats, sausages, chicken and seafood to your table. And they’ll keep bringing them until you tell them to stop. (You do that by turning a small disc on your table over so the red side is showing.)
The thing that keeps this from being just another glutfest is the quality of the meats, which is first-rate. Plus, the overall atmosphere is upscale and attractive.

Beer it the forte here, with 140 tap handles, all connected via tubes to an overhead refrigerated keg room. Beyond that, there isn’t a whole lot more to get excited about. The food menu is also quite large, and although it initially reads like any other bar menu in America, it also has pan-Asian notes that go completely unexplained. There is an extensive list of burgers and your usual bar appetizers, such as calamari (fried or kung pao’d) and spinach cheese dip, interspersed with moo shu egg rolls and chicken garlic noodles.