iSpice in Altamonte Springs, FL

iSpice is a fast food Indian restaurant in the Altamonte Mall Food Court. I've considered eating there at dinner time in the past but I always worried about the turnover on the food. iSpice never seems to have the volume of customers that their neighbors have and I always wondered if the food had been sitting there since the morning. Not saying it works that way, but that thought always stopped me from eating there. I was recently at the mall at lunch time when the food would ideally be fresher and decided to finally give them a try.

I ordered the platter which came with a choice of one meat dish, one vegetable dish, rice, naan, and rice pudding. I had the chicken korma for my meat. The chicken was nice and tender and the sauce was very tasty. I had some of the sauce over the rice as well. For the vegetable, I chose the spinach dal, which consisted of lentil and spinach in a very soupy sauce. The naan worked well for soaking up all of the extra sauce. The portion of rice pudding was small but good.

Overall, I did enjoy my food at iSpice. It was cheaper than a sit-down Indian restaurant and the platter ended up being plenty of food. Everything tasted good, and iSpice was definitely a much better choice than some of the other more corporate options in the mall's food court. I'll try them again!

Ancho Burrito Company in Altamonte Springs, FL

I tried Ancho Burrito Company in the Altamonte Mall food court. This place followed the Chipotle's model where you tell the person behind the counter how you want your burrito filled. I went with a chicken burrito, filled with rice, black beans, lettuce, onions, jalapenos, sauce, and other fillings. The burrito was pretty tasty, although it was really moist. So much so that all the liquid in the burrito soaked through the tortilla and started to fall apart. I think they needed to drain their beans a bit more before putting them in the burrito. Chips and salsa were served on the side.

Elephant Bar in Altamonte Springs, FL

I had dinner at the Elephant Bar Restaurant in the Altamonte Mall. I was here a few times in the past and have always enjoyed my food. This particular visit wasn't quite as good. I ordered the Bangkok Pad Thai with Vegetables. For an extra three dollars and change, I had shrimp added to the dish. The Pad Thai looked good when the food arrived, covered in bean sprouts and cilantro. Underneath though, except for a few snow peas, the noodles and other vegetables were overcooked almost to a mush. There were only four small shrimp mixed in, definitely not worth the upcharge.

I hope I just caught Elephant Bar on a bad day. I always liked their food in the past, so hopefully they aren't going downhill...

Cafe Murano in Altamonte Springs, FL

I ate at the newly opened Cafe Murano in Altamonte Springs, FL. This Italian restaurant was formerly Gina's Lakefront and has a nice view of Cranes Roost Park. After waiting about ten minutes, we were seated. We ordered our food and then waited. The food took a very long time to be served, about an hour. During that wait, I took notice of my surroundings. The restaurant had way too many TVs in the room, all playing something different. In the environment that the restaurant seemed to be trying to create, the TVs really didn't fit in. There was a very loud and drunk birthday party on the other side of the room, and then a DJ took over the TVs and started playing music videos.

Finally, the food was served. I ordered the Rigatoni Broccoli Rabe, which consisted of large rigatoni noodles topped with Italian sausage, garlic, and broccoli rabe. It was good, but reminded me too much of something I would make myself at home. It was a really simple dish, and truthfully, I ordered it for the broccoli rabe because I don't see that on menus very often. I'd get it again!

Someone else at the table ordered a brick oven pizza topped with meatballs. They couldn't finish the whole pie on their own, so I tried a slice. I wasn't expecting much since the restaurant didn't seem to specialize in pizza, but I was pleasantly surprised. It had a nice thin, crispy crust. There was a perfect amount of cheese and sauce on the pie, and I liked the meatballs too. Sometimes the meatballs on pizza taste like plain ground beef, but these had plenty of flavor. The edge of the crust was a little burnt in spots, but besides from that, I had no issues. If I return to Cafe Murano, I think I'll definitely be getting the pizza too!

Cafe Murano had really good food, but that hour long wait for food that generally doesn't take that long to make was a bit of a turnoff...

Raspberry Crush from Orange Julius

I didn't like my smoothie that I had on my last visit to Orange Julius on their free smoothie day. Someone from Orange Julius' corporate office apparently reads this blog, and they kindly offered to send me a gift certificate to try one of their premium fruit smoothies to see if I like it any better.

I went to the Orange Julius/DQ in the Altamonte Mall this time. I ordered the Raspberry Crush Premium Smoothie, and I liked it much more than my last free smoothie from Orange Julius. The raspberry crush tasted like actual fruit, like it should, rather than artificial sweetners. I'd gladly get this smoothie again!

Thank you Orange Julius for two free smoothies!

Auntie Anne's Jalapeno Pretzel

I had a coupon for a free pretzel from Auntie Anne's in the Altamonte Mall. I picked out a Jalapeno Pretzel. It could have used a lot more jalapeno...

Altamonte Mall Hovan Falafel

I ate a falafel pita from the Hovan in the Altamonte Mall Food Court. It was filled with falafel, hummus, lettuce, and tomato and was served with a side of stuffed grape leaves. The falafel pita tasted good enough, but I've had much better. For example, as far as fast food Middle Eastern food goes, I liked my falafel from Mrs. Fields Cookies at UCF a whole lot better than this one from Hovan. One of the major issues that I had with Hovan wasn't necessary about the taste, but rather how the pita was wrapped. The pita was wrapped in aluminum foil, and then was cut in half. This left little shards of aluminum in the sandwich that I had to constantly pick out.

The grape leaves left a lot to be desired though. They tasted very bland and the rice mixture inside was very mushy.