Tabla in Oviedo, FL

I've eaten at the Tabla location near Universal, but today I tried their Oviedo location. I had their Homestyle Curry Chicken Lunch Special. Was served with rice, naan, somosa, and lemon coriander soup. It was all pretty good, with the highlight being the soup. That stuff was delicious. I enjoyed that they still did lunch specials without having a buffet.

Apparently Tabla is a much bigger chain that I thought. I knew they had the local Orlando, Winter Park, and Oviedo locations, but they had a flyer on the table about franchises. Looking at their website, Tabla has locations across the country.

Jeff's Bagel Run in Oviedo, FL

Jeff's Bagel Run is a newish chain in the Central Florida area that's been expanding like crazy. They've been around for a while, but I just tried them for the first time at their Oviedo location. I was surprised how simple their menu was when I walked it. I was expecting a selection of bagel based sandwiches like other bagel chains in the area, but it seemed like they kept it basic with only bagels and cream cheese, with a bigger focus on drinks than the bagels.

I ordered an asiago everything bagel with chive and onion cream cheese. I decided against getting a coffee because I'm trying to cut back on my caffeine intake. Sat down and waited for my bagel. About five minutes later, I was handed a to-go bag. Since it was already bagged, I decided to go eat in my car. Got to say I was surprised and annoyed when I opened the bag to find an un-toasted bagel with a separate container of cream cheese.

Why did it take five minutes to shove this in a bag when there was nobody ordering ahead of me? Why did I select to leave a tip when I'm doing all the work putting the cream cheese on the bagel? I don't get it. It was a fine bagel, but there's other better bagel shops in the area that don't make me do the work. I probably won't return to a Jeff's because of the cream cheese thing. 
 

Tahini Mediterranean Grill in Oviedo, FL

I had lunch at Tahini Mediterranean Grill near UCF in Oviedo. This fast food restaurant/coffee shop makes some good middle eastern foods...

I had the Falafel Pita Platter. This came with the sandwich, two sides, and a few slices of pita bread. I choose the Greek salad and baba gnoush as the two sides, both of which were really good.

The falafel pita was also really tasty. The chickpea balls were nice and moist with plenty of flavor. The other sandwich fillings included lettuce, tomato, and onions (although no pickles as mentioned on other food blogs).

Overall, I enjoyed my meal at Tahini and would gladly return! (Except Tahini has since gone out of business and become a Dunkin Donuts)

Mobile Deli Food Truck in Orlando, FL

Mobile Deli is one of Orlando's newest food trucks and also has one of the most generic names. Who would think that a truck called Mobile Deli serves Korean-fusion food? I tried them while at the Oviedo Food Truck Bazaar and I'm glad I did. My first taste of Korean tacos in Orlando was delicious...

I had two tacos, filled with chicken bulgogi and pork bulgogi, both on corn tortillas. These two overstuffed tacos were plenty to eat, containing the meat, onions, tomato, cilantro, and lime. The pork bulgogi was okay, although I thought the meat was kind of dry. The chicken was definitely the standout of the two meats. It was much spicier than the pork (good thing) and it was perfectly cooked. The flavors all mixed very nicely, so nicely that I was even thinking about getting another chicken taco. I will definitely be tracking down Mobile Deli on another day...

Oviedo Food Truck Bazaar

Food truck events have begun to spread out of Orlando. Last night was the first time food trucks have congregated in Seminole County. The Oviedo Food Truck Bazaar happened in the Oviedo Marketplace Mall parking lot and consisted of fifteen trucks. Food pictures of what was eaten will come soon, but enjoy this Food Truck Bazaar video until then...

Sunray Chinese Restaurant in Oviedo, FL

I ate dinner at Sunray Chinese Restaurant in Oviedo. Mu Shu Chicken was ordered and was quickly served. The large portion had lots of chicken, cabbage, carrots, onions, and other vegetables along with a plate of pancakes to essentially make what could be described as a Chinese version of a taco.

The food was good, but some of the norms in a sit-down Chinese restaurant never happened at Sunray. There were no fried noodles brought to the table as an appetizer. No fortune cookies were served after the meal. It's no big deal, but when this stuff is expected and doesn't happen, it's sort of disappointing...

Leo's Italian Ice Factory

I found a coupon in a newspaper for a free Italian ice from a place called Leo's Italian Ice Factory in Oviedo, FL. On one hot afternoon, I decided to go and utilize my coupon.

The ice I ordered was half lemon and half passion fruit. The lemon tasted like a normal lemon ice, but the passion fruit tasted much more like grapefruit. I like grapefruit, so this was no problem for me. The ices weren't as solid as other ices that I've had in the past, but were still really good.

Del Taco & the Big Burrito

Del Taco is one of the newest fast food Mexican chains to pop up in Central Florida. It went into the old Fazoli's building in Oviedo, FL and there was quite a bit of a buzz on the internet when this place opened. I signed up for Del Taco's email club on their website and received a coupon for two free chicken tacos. Eventually, I made it to Del Taco and got my free food.

The tacos tasted okay, but weren't anything I'd go running back for. The chicken at Del Taco actually resembled meat, unlike a few other Mexican chains that I can think of. I was impressed that they used Romaine lettuce instead of iceberg, but other then that the tacos weren't anything special. I was also surprised with Del Taco's menu. Rather than being all Mexican, they also served burgers and fries. Because of this split menu, both the Mexican and burger sides of the menu both seemed somewhat limited. Taco Bell has a much more impressive menu when it comes to their available items on the menu.

A few weeks later, Del Taco had a grand opening event where they made a really big burrito, cut it up, and then distributed the slices among the onlookers. They filled the burrito with ground beef, beans, cheese, onions, lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream, and a red and green sauce. While making the burrito, the announcer/DJ kept on referring to this as the world's largest burrito and said that people from Guinness were there. Somehow I doubted that a fifteen foot burrito had never been made in the past. I googled it and found pictures of a much larger 3,578 foot burrito. But who's complaining? The big burrito resulted in a free dinner and tasted pretty good! They were giving out coupons for free chicken tacos at the event, so I took one of those for my next visit. That's three free meals from Del Taco so far!

Peppino's Ristorante Italiano

I ate at Peppino's Ristorante Italiano in Oviedo, FL. One of the first things I noticed upon entering the restaurant was that I seemed to be the youngest one eating by forty years. That didn't last long when about 100 people entered the restaurant for an Oviedo High School Basketball team banquet. From that point on, the restaurant got very loud. Luckily, our order was in before the banquet, so the food didn't take too long.

Salad came first.

For the main course, I ordered a tortellini dish served in a pink sauce with ham and mushrooms. I asked for no mushrooms, but I really didn't see any ham on the plate either. Besides from that, it was pretty good. The sauce was definitely homemade and although it wasn't as creamy as most other pink sauces I've come across, it was still very tasty. The sauce was definitely much more interesting that what I've had at other local Italian restaurants.

The other person I was eating with did complain that their portion was tiny for what Peppino's charged, but my tortellini was enough.

Town House Restaurant

I ate at The Town House Restaurant in downtown Oviedo, FL. Apparently they had the Best Breakfast in Orlando in 2005, judging by the sign in the window.

I ate the Greek Village Omelet, which consisted of three eggs (presumably from the Oviedo Chickens), feta cheese, gyro lamb, onions, and black olives. I'm not normally an egg person and was actually planning on getting something from the lunch menu. I found out when I got to the Town House that only breakfast is served on Sunday. Because of this technical difficulty, I ended up with the omelet. As far as omelets go, it was good and had plenty of flavor. The feta was good, but I think the omelet could have definitely used some spinach.

The omelet came with some very good homefries and a tasty biscuit.

Cafe Panuzzo's Tortellini Alfredo

In the shopping center at the intersection of Lockwood and Mitchell Hammock in Oviedo, FL, there is an Italian Restaurant called Cafe Panuzzo's. The neon lights out front attracted me to the restaurant while I was riding by, and I eventually returned to give Cafe Panuzzo's a try.

I ordered Tortellini Alfredo. It came with a salad and bread, both of which were served before the tortellini. It was pretty good bread.

The tortellini itself tasted okay, but it was a bit boring. It was basically the pasta and sauce on a plate, and that was it. Adding anything at all to break up the monotony of the pasta would have been an improvement. Sprinkling some basil leaves on top or something would have helped.

The food did taste okay, but it was nothing that will have me going out of my way to return to Cafe Panuzzo's any time soon to eat more boring food.

Fazoli's Fettuccine Alfredo

Fazoli's raised their prices. I ate at the restaurant in Oviedo, FL, across from the Oviedo Marketplace Mall. I had Fettuccine Alfredo. For a few dollars more than what this cost, I could have eaten at a non-fast food Italian restaurant...