PR's Taco Palace in College Park, FL

I visited PR's Taco Palace in College Park for lunch recently. This restaurant used to have a few locations, including one in Winter Park which was around forever and another in Longwood which was much shorter lived. As far as I know, their College Park location is the only PR's remaining.

I had the Lunch Combination, where you got to pick three items off the menu. I picked a tamale, something called a Truck Stop, and rice & beans. The Truck Stop was almost similar to a quesadilla, filled with cheese and beef pressed (and possibly fried) in a tortilla. The Tamale was smothered in cheese. Rice and beans were pretty standard. It was interesting that the normal sides counted as an item for the combination. I had the option of picking something which would be considered more of an entree in place of the rice and beans.

Pretty standard of what I'd expect from a Tex-Mex lunch special. Everything was good, but nothing ground breaking. It's good to know that there is still a PR's Taco Palace still around in Orlando...

Black Bean Deli in Orlando, FL

Black Bean Deli has been around for a long time now. They always win awards for the best Cuban food in the Orlando area, but I didn't get a chance to eat there until the past year or so. Since then, I've returned several times to their Orlando location on 50.

I had the Ropa Vieja lunch special on one visit. Tender, stewed, and shredded beef was served alongside black beans, rice, plantains, and a salad. I was surprised when I got the plate of food. Many of my previous experiences with Cuban restaurants involved mostly tasty food, but poor presentation. To me, this plate of food was very visually appealing. Everything was delicious, so that made it even better!

During another visit, I had the Papas Rellenas Platter. This included all of the same sides as the Ropa Vieja, but the meat was replaced with two deep fried mashed potato balls. I had one filled with beef and the other with chicken. I don't think I've ever eaten papas rellenas before. I became a fan!

I also have tried Black Bean Deli's Cuban Sandwich lunch which includes the sandwich and black beans and rice. It was a typical Cuban Sandwich filled with meat, cheese, pickles, and mustard. Cuban sandwiches are always a little disappointing for me, and this was no exception. I always have the expectations that they should be more than they are.

Pearl's Chinese Restaurant in Orlando, FL

I had lunch at Pearl's Chinese Restaurant in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Orlando. They are in a strip mall, located a few doors down from a Publix. I ordered their Curry Chicken lunch combo. The combo started with a bowl of wonton soup. It was pretty standard as far as wonton soup goes. It consisted of broth, dumplings, and scallions. Strips of pork which is sometimes found in wonton soup was absent.

The soup was followed by a plate of the curry chicken and a bowl of steamed rice. The curry sauce on the chicken was tasty with a little bit of heat. Bell peppers, onions, and carrots accompanied the chicken.

I enjoyed my meal at Pearl's. The food was tasty enough and I'd return!

Shaan Indian Cuisine in Lake Mary, FL

I ate at Shaan Indian Cuisine in Lake Mary. Since it was lunch time during the week, Shaan offered a lunch buffet, similar to the majority of other Indian restaurants in the area. I'm not 100% positive, but I believe this hasn't been the first Indian restaurant in this location. If so, let's hope Shaan has better luck.

The buffet had a nice selection of items. My first trip to the buffet table included trying their butter chicken, cabbage, mutter, rice, fried potato, and naan.

Second plate included tandoori chicken, curry chicken, and some more butter chicken.

Everything on the buffet was tasty, but the butter chicken was the standout. The creamy, slightly spicy, red sauce on the chicken was delicious. I would eat lunch here again without hesitation.

On the Border in Royal Palm Beach, FL

I was taking the scenic route home from a visit to South Florida and was searching for some Mexican food for lunch. We were in the Wellington/West Palm Beach/Royal Palm Beach area along 441 and wanted to find food before we continued along our route and ventured into the sugar farms. The first two Mexican restaurants that we attempted to try were either no longer in business or closed, so we settled on going to a Mexican chain called On the Border. I had been to an On the Border a very long time ago and didn't remember much. This visit started with chips and salsa.

I ordered the three item lunch special where there was a big list of foods and I picked what I wanted. I went with a chicken enchilada, guacamole tostada, and chicken empanada. This lunch ended up being far more food than I was expecting. The lunch was served on a huge plate with black beans and rice, enchilada, two empanadas, and a queso dipping sauce. The tostada was served on a separate plate. The food was tasty enough for a Mexican chain with the same parent company as Chili's but the portion size here was a bit of overkill. Half of the food served would have still been a whole lot of food. With this being lunch, I wonder how much larger the dinner portions are at On the Border?

Gateway to India in Longwood, FL

There are so many Indian restaurants in the Central Florida area, and I've visited so few of them when compared to other types of foods. Recently, I was able to give one of these Indian restaurants a try when I stopped into Gateway to India in Longwood for lunch. Gateway to India is located along 434 in an old Pizza Hut building. They had a lunch buffet for $10.95, so I went with that. It seemed a little pricy for lunch, but still probably a better value than ordering from the menu. My buffet experience included two plates of food, filled with chicken masala, tandori chicken, various vegetarian dishes, naan, and rice.

I enjoyed all of the food from Gateway to India's buffet. I've been to other Indian restaurants with larger buffets with lower prices for lunch, but the quality of food seemed substandard at some of these other restaurants. Here, the food seemed fresh and everything tasted good. I guess that's a plus of paying a few dollars more for a buffet!

Max & Meme Cafe in Longwood, FL

I tried a new breakfast/lunch place in Longwood called Max & Meme Cafe. This restaurant took over a former Burger King and although they did some renovations, it is still pretty obvious how the building started its life. The menu consisted of mostly breakfast items along with some sandwiches for lunch. I ordered one of their specials that were written on the space that once displayed Burger King's menu and went with Joseph's Frittata.

The frittata was filled with chorizo, bacon, jalapenos, cheeses, and various other ingredients. It was really flavorful and had a nice spice from the chorizo and peppers. Homefries were served as a side, but I personally found them a bit bland. Otherwise, I was pretty impressed with the breakfast menu here. There were items like the frittata that weren't the typical breakfast foods that every other restaurant serves, which is definitely a good thing.

The service at Max & Meme Cafe could definitely use some work though. There were a couple of us at our table that didn't get drinks for the entire meal, even with several reminders to our waitress. Service otherwise was acceptable, but extremely slow. Looking at the reviews on Urbanspoon, issues with the service seems to be a common theme at this restaurant. I hope they get their service issues sorted out because their food was good!

O'Boys Real Smoked Bar-B-Q in Baldwin Park, FL

This is the Smoked Turkey Lunch Platter from O'Boys Real Smoked Bar-B-Q in Baldwin Park. After a morning of exploring Cady Way Trail and the pathways surrounding Lake Baldwin, this huge portion of thinly sliced turkey, fries, baked beans, cole slaw, and garlic bread was very tasty. With the addition of the spicy barbecue sauce, the already good food tasted even better. The food here was definitely a step above some of the other bigger local BBQ chains.

(Restaurant has closed since the time of writing this post.)

Dominic's I in Boca Raton, FL

I've always liked Dominic's II in Boca Raton but I had never been to Dominic's I just off the Florida Turnpike. That all changed when I stopped for lunch at the restaurant during some of my travels. They had some good lunch specials going on and I ordered this Spinach Stromboli for $3.50. The stromboli was comparable in size to what other Italian restaurants serve for full price and was overflowing with spinach and cheese. This was definitely a really good deal for lunch...

Pine Garden Chinese

I was doing some shopping for a birthday present in the Waterford Lakes Town Center outdoor mall and started getting hungry. After wandering from store to store in search of a giant Pez dispenser in the horribly designed mall, I stopped by the Pine Garden Chinese Restaurant. I ordered the Kung Pao Chicken lunch combo, which included wonton soup, rice, and the chicken. I wasn't too happy with the food. Everything was pretty much tasteless. The soup tasted like oily water with wontons floating in it. Kung Pao chicken is normally somewhat spicy, but Pine Garden's chicken was very bland. The price was good, but I don't think I would return to Pine Garden any time soon.

Chicken & Eggplant from Imperial Dynasty

I ate at Imperial Dynasty in Longwood, FL for lunch. I ordered the Chicken & Eggplant with Garlic Sauce lunch special. It came with the chicken, rice, and a choice of a side.

Fried noodles were served first.

They were followed by the side. I went with some Wonton soup. In the past, I've always been happy with the soup from Imperial Dynasty, but on this visit I found it to be way too salty.

The soup was followed with the main dish. The Chicken & Eggplant was pretty much what the menu described it to be. There was lots of chicken and lots of Chinese eggplant, and not much else. There was a side of brown rice, but I felt the meal needed more variety. There was way too much of the same thing, and it would have been better if there was some other types of vegetables in with the chicken and eggplant. Just something to mix up the monotony of the meal a bit.

It did taste good though, so I guess that's all that matters for the most part.


Like Sanford's China Wok, Imperial Dynasty also had posters hanging up to be one of the Top 100 Chinese Restaurants. The 2008 contest is over, it looks like Imperial Dynasty made it into the top 100 on the winners list. I don't see China Wok...

Bayridge Sushi Bento Lunch Box

I ate lunch at Bayridge Sushi in Longwood, FL. Bayridge Sushi has very good priced bento boxes for lunch, with most of them under $7. I ordered the Hibachi Salmon Bento. Miso soup and salad came out first.

The actual bento box soon followed, filled with salmon, rice, California Rolls, dumplings, and fruit. It was good, but my only complaint was about the salmon. It tasted fine, but should have been cut into smaller pieces. The pieces of fish given were very hard to eat with chopsticks, especially the pieces of salmon with lots of skin. Besides from this minor complaint, Bayridge Sushi's lunch bento boxes are very good!