Dining in Orlando - Making Your Experience the Best!

Dining in Orlando should be a fun and enjoyable experience. A few common missteps and that may not be the case. Here are a few tips that’ll make your next Orlando dining experience a success.

Check Out the Website

Most Orlando Florida restaurants have a website. This makes it easy for you to figure out where you’d like to eat. You can check out the menu, prices, ingredients and even special offers. This makes dining in Orlando a breeze!

Ask a local

Orlando, Florida locals know the best places to eat. They can even tell you where the smaller restaurants are and which have the best food. If you have the luxury of knowing a local to ask, make sure you do.

Ask Your Server to Make a Recommendation

No one knows the menu better than the people that are serving the food from it regularly. Your server will know the most popular items. They will also know the best items to order. Plus, they will have a few favorites of their own.

Some servers may lead you to the most expensive items on the menu just to get the cost of your meal up. If they point out three of the most expensive items just simply thank them for their recommendation.

If it seems like they truly love the items they're suggesting then by all means give it a try. Most servers want you to be happy with your meal. If you aren’t that just spells trouble for them.

Speaking of waitstaff a few things to remember if you want friendly sevice:

Don’t Run Your Server

Orlando dining is a wonderful experience. You can expect to be treated like a King (or Queen.) And you should feel like you’ve had a great time and that you truly enjoyed your meal. But it’s never okay to run your server.

That’s when someone at your table asks your server for something. Your server retrieves your item and brings it back to your table. Then someone else (or sometimes the same person) asks for something else.

Sometimes this can be a honest mistake. If you realize that everyone at your table needs something then try to ask for everything all at once.

Most Orlando, Florida restaurants give their servers 6-10 table sections. That means that your server can be helping 6-60 people all at once. That’s a lot of work!

It’s very frustrating for wait staff to run back and forth for items they could have gotten all at once. If it's unavoidable and you end having your server make numerous trips to your table just make sure you leave a better tip than you had planned.

Please Remember to Tip

In other countries the gratuity is already included in the final bill. If you’ve ever been overseas or anywhere that does include the tip you may have realized a few differences. Mainly the speed of service.

Orlando, Florida is a pretty fast paced town. People want things five minutes ago. So when dining in Orlando just remember that part of the cost of your meal is the gratuity. If you receive bad, slow or no service at all then by all means tip accordingly.

If you get exceptional service (i.e. your drinks were full, plates cleared from your table and you get all around attentive service) then it’s customary to leave 18-25% of the total cost of your bill. So if you racked up a $100 bill don’t forget to add an additional $18-$25 on the back end.

The other major difference is wages are lower for servers in Orlando. Most typically only make a little over $4 an hour. Their bread and butter relies on the generosity of their patrons.

Not to mention that servers usually have to tip other people on their team (bussers,bartenders,food runners etc..) up to 10% of their sales. At the end of the night that can add up to a lot of money. So if you leave little to no tip for them they are essentially paying to serve you.

Also if you use Orlando coupons to help pay for your meal just remember to tip on the total amount before the discount is taken off. So if you have a $25.00 coupon that you plan on using on your $100.00 tab just remember to add on the $18.00-$25.00 tip to the final total. It's great to save money but not at someone else expense.

If You Make a Mess, Clean it Up

When you eat at home do you leave trash all over the floor? Probably not. If so then I'm scared to see what else lives with you.

Babies are adorable and we all love them. But when dining in Orlando they can spell trouble.

Most finger foods that are given to small children are messy. They end up everywhere. If your going to be dining in Orlando with small childen and they leave a big mess just remember that someone has to clean that up.

If not you then your server. If you leave it for your server just remember to leave a little extra gratuity for their trouble.

Orlando, Florida Restaurants are not Jungle Gyms

While dining in Orlando I’ve seen my fair share of crazy kids running around freely. This is not only distracting to other diners but also a hazard to the children. There’s a lot of people trying to make their way around the dining room of the restaurant.

Servers carry hot food, bussers carrying lots of plates, hostesses seating other guests. If there are children running around unattended and they happen to bump into the server carrying a hot plate and it falls on them no one is going to be happy.

Ask someone to bring your child some crayons or something to hold their attention. Maybe even bring a backup if you know your child has a tendency to wonder around. Or, ask that their food come out as soon as it's ready (many times their food takes less time to cook.)

Children in their seats makes everyone's Orlando dining experience an enjoyable one!

Have a Great Time!

Eating is one of life’s greatest pleasures. Follow these tips and have a great time dining in Orlando!

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