Garden Cafe in Orlando, FL

Garden Cafe is a vegetarian restaurant in Orlando that serves mostly Chinese food. The restaurant is located just outside of downtown on Colonial Drive in an old Pizza Hut building. The menu was interesting, with sections for different types of meats regardless of this being a vegetarian restaurant. This initially was a red flag for me, but I got over it. Vegetarians that try really hard to find substitutes to the meats that they no longer eat is something that I can understand, but I wish restaurants like this would embrace their food for what it is rather than pretending it contains meat.

Garden Cafe's lunch specials were a good deal. They were a few dollars less than most of the other items on the menu. I had the mixed vegetables in curry. This consisted of zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, and mushrooms with a soy based meat substitute that had a similar color and texture to chicken. Brown rice was served on the side. As an omnivore, I really did enjoy this meal. It didn't seem like Garden Cafe was trying to overcompensate for the lack of meat like I've noticed at other vegetarian restaurants, nor did they charge far more than what the meal was worth since it was vegetarian. The flavors were nice and the meal was really filling.

I'd gladly return to Garden Cafe. After the demise of Udipi Cafe in Longwood, Garden Cafe takes my top ranking for vegetarian restaurants that I've tried in the Orlando area!