Sports & Game Day Orlando

Winter Park · bbq, southern

Where 4 Rivers was born: John Rivers left a healthcare career, started with a 2004 charity cookout he called the Barbecue Ministry, and flipped the Hot Brisket Now sign on Fairbanks Avenue in 2009. Now a 16-store group, still family owned, with vegan burnt ends and a kids menu.

Make a UCF football Saturday an east Orlando outing, then drive about 5 miles to East Colonial Drive for a meal at the nearest places on our list.

See UCF basketball or the Orlando Valkyries pro volleyball team on campus, then drive about 5 miles southwest for a meal.

Winter Park

Catch Tars baseball in Winter Park, then walk or drive a short way for a cocktail, a bakery stop or barbecue.

Winter Park

Watch Tars soccer or lacrosse in the middle of the Rollins campus, then walk to Park Avenue for a meal.

Downtown

A 1920s-style cocktail and coffee bar on the ground floor of the historic Angebilt Hotel at Wall Street and Orange Avenue, open until 2 a.m. Thursday through Saturday. It pitches its cozy corners for a quiet drink, which is rarer downtown than it should be.

Winter Park · turkish, mediterranean

The original of what it calls Central Florida's first Turkish restaurant, opened on Park Avenue in 2004 and dressed in ebru paintings, silk carpets and handmade Turkish glassware. Halal meats, never frozen, and this room is where a six-city Florida group began.

Winter Park · american, brunch

A Park Avenue breakfast room since 1980, owned by the Pertz family since 1989, with Joe Pertz still making the layer cakes and his son John running the kitchen. It started dinner service in October 2025, Wednesday through Saturday.

Parramore

A neighborhood craft beer room on West Church Street with rotating taps rather than a fixed lineup, now run by Three Odd Guys Brewing of Apopka after the original closed in January 2025 and reopened that March. Hours flex around soccer games, downtown concerts and whatever else is on.

Plan a Florida Classic, a bowl game or a 2027 Jaguars game, with a taproom and soul food within about a mile on Church Street and Carter Street.

Winter Park · $$$ · southern, new american

The restaurant of The Alfond Inn, owned by Rollins College, which sends the hotel's net income to student scholarships and hangs more than 400 works of contemporary art on its walls. Chef Antwan Ellis cooks Florida Southern with local ingredients.

Winter Park

See Tars basketball or volleyball at Rollins, then eat on Park Avenue, a few minutes from campus.

Downtown

See Orlando City, the Pride or the Storm, then eat on West Church Street or stop at a taproom that lists soccer games among its special openings.

An independent brewery named for the park George Russell's land became, with a patio facing the sunset over Lake Ivanhoe and food trucks nearly every night. Its pilsner won Best American Pilsner at the 2020 Best Florida Beer Championships.

Parramore · southern

A Southern restaurant and lounge on West Church Street that shows local artists in its own gallery, turns cozy and intimate at night, and runs a Soul Train Sunday buffet on selected Sundays. Saturday brunch is bottomless small plates.

Catch UCF baseball in a ballpark that seats about 3,800, then drive about 5 miles southwest for a meal.

Downtown

Make a Magic or Solar Bears game a full day out, with meals a short walk away on Church Street and a brewery a short drive north that posts watch parties.

Downtown · steakhouse, seafood

An independent steakhouse in the old S.H. Kress five-and-dime, a 1930s Art Deco landmark whose terra cotta ornaments look like parrots on the window ledges, and where Black residents held sit-ins at the whites-only lunch counter in 1960. Prime beef aged in-house, more than 200 bottles on the wine list, and reservations capped at six.

Parramore · southern, soul food

Parramore's table since 1949, when Roser Mae Jones opened Roser's Restaurant and fed chitlin' circuit musicians, athletes and civil rights leaders. Nick Aiken Jr. and his wife Inez renamed it for their daughter in 1999, she runs it now as the third generation, and an 18 percent operations charge on every check funds fair wages and benefits.

Winter Park · italian, pizza

Owned and hosted by Michael Schwartz and Richard Pannullo since March 1993, facing Winter Park's Central Park, which explains the motto: the only thing we overlook is the park. Grandma-style meatballs and Chef Pannullo's own cheesecake.

Winter Park · italian, pizza

Opened on Park Avenue in 2011 by the team behind Luma on Park, and it outlived its parent: Luma closed in 2020, Prato is still here. Window-paned doors, year-round patio seating and a long communal bar, with a 2026 Michelin recommendation.

bbq, southern

A barbecue business that grew out of catering, up to corporate events at Walt Disney World, with pitmasters starting before dawn over real wood. It shares its East Colonial plaza with The Earthy Kitchen, the rare stop where a brisket fan and a vegan both leave happy.

Winter Park

Orlando's first dedicated cocktail bar by its own account, opened downtown in 2012 by Gene and Diana Zimmerman and moved to Winter Park after its tenth year. Best for small groups, with Saturday classes where you build three cocktails from scratch.

$ · puerto rican, vegan

Vegan Puerto Rican cooking on East Colonial Drive, from mofongo topped with jackpork to alcapurrias and pasteles, run by Javier and Karina Muniz. The menu marks gluten-free and soy-free dishes.

Winter Park · bakery, desserts, brunch

Named for the Depression-era glass cake knives once given away in oatmeal boxes; the family collection is on display, and chips of the glass are sprinkled through the terrazzo floor. A Winter Park favorite since 2017 with 16 first-place wins in local awards.

Winter Park · $$$ · new american, gastropub

James and Julie Petrakis, Winter Park natives who met at the Culinary Institute of America, opened it in 2007 and brew their own beer, with a beer garden out back. Four straight years as James Beard semifinalists and a 2026 Bib Gourmand.

Watch UCF men's or women's soccer on campus, then drive about 5 miles southwest for dinner.