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Eat 3-course meals for $35 at these 100 restaurants for Orlando's Magical Dining Month

 
Bulla Gastrobar serves a variety of Spanish and Portuguese dishes.
Bulla Gastrobar serves a variety of Spanish and Portuguese dishes.
Published Aug. 23, 2017

In the early 1900s, hotels offered "table d'hote" or "prix fixe" menus as a form of loss leader. Hotels didn't necessarily make money on these lower-priced, multi-course meals, often served at communal tables, but they made up for it on the booze. Prohibition may have contributed to a gradual shift toward a la carte pricing in American restaurants, but surely this trend also reflects the dining public's insistence on choice. We want options, balking at being told, "You get this appetizer, followed by this entree and this dessert. Deal with it."

The pendulum always swings back. These days a value-oriented, multi-course prix fixe sounds pretty good. Many American cities are running with this notion, offering a restaurant week (or month) during which participating spots offer inexpensive prix fixe menus. It's a win-win. Restaurants are full during traditionally slow weeks. Diners get to try unfamiliar restaurants relatively risk-free.

In its 12th year, Visit Orlando's Magical Dining Month warrants heading east on Interstate 4 for dinner, starting Friday and running through Oct. 1. More than 100 of the greater Orlando area's best restaurants offer three-course menus for $35, excluding beverage, tax and gratuity. For the first time, six restaurants from Walt Disney World Resort hotels join the program's growing lineup, with loads of celebrity chef-driven restaurants as well as sophisticated independents that crowd Winter Park and Orlando's trendy Thornton Park neighborhood.

Each year a local charity receives $1 from each meal served. This year the program benefits two Orlando nonprofit organizations: Freedom Ride Inc. and BASE Camp Children's Cancer Foundation.

Go to orlandomagicaldining.com for menus. Make reservations, indicating you are coming for the special menu. Here's a sampler (firswet year Magical Dining restaurants in bold):

What's Hot

Bulla Gastrobar, Chroma Modern Bar + Kitchen, DoveCote Brasserie, Earls Kitchen + Bar, Luke's Kitchen and Bar, Reel Fish Coastal Kitchen + Bar

Walt Disney World Resort

Jiko at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge, The Wave at Disney's Contemporary Resort, Boatwright's Dining Hall at Disney's Port Orleans Resort, the Turf Club at Disney's Saratoga Springs Resort, the Grand Floridian Cafe at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort, Olivia's Cafe at Disney's Old Key West Resort

Big Night Out

Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steak House, Fleming's Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar (Orlando, Winter Park), Morton's the Steakhouse, Ocean Prime, Prato, Ruth's Chris Steak House (Lake Mary, Orlando & Winter Park), Slate, Spencer's for Steaks and Chops, STK, the Capital Grille (I-Drive, Mall at Millenia)

Romantic

Boheme Restaurant (Grand Bohemian Hotel), Chez Vincent, Christini's Ristorante Italiano, Le Coq au Vin Restaurant, Luma on Park, the Melting Pot (Orlando, Longwood)

Staycation

A Land Remembered at Rosen Shingle Creek, American Kitchen Bar & Grill at B Resort & Spa, David's Club at Omni Orlando Resort, Forte at Reunion Resort

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Family-Friendly

Amatista Cookhouse at Loews Sapphire Falls Resort at Universal Orlando, Benihana (Orlando, Lake Buena Vista), Brio (Winter Park Village, Mall at Millenia), Copper Canyon Grill, Kobe Ichiban Japanese Steakhouse, Mitchell's Fish Market, Paddlefish, Seasons 52, Shogun Japanese Steak House, the Kitchen at Hard Rock Hotel at Universal Orlando

Dinner With A View

Canvas Restaurant & Market, Eddie V's Prime Seafood, Eleven at Reunion Resort, Lakeside Bar + Grill, Ravello, Sharks Underwater Grill at SeaWorld Orlando

Girls Night Out

Cooper's Hawk Winery & Restaurant, KASA Restaurant & Bar, RusTeak at College Park, the Stubborn Mule, Vines Grille & Wine Bar

Notable Chefs

Luma on Park (Brandon McGlamery), the Rusty Spoon (Kathleen Blake), the Ravenous Pig (James and Julie Petrakis), Todd English's Bluezoo (Todd English)

Exotic

Cuba Libre Restaurant & Rum Bar, Dragonfly Robata Grill & Sushi, Fogo de Chao Brazilian Steakhouse, Kabooki Sushi, Mango's Tropical Cafe, Morimoto Asia, Tapa Toro