what do I know

One of the reasons I starting blogging about local restaurants in the Central Florida area was because I can never find any decent reviews for local places online; this is especially true for the Melbourne area. I really feel like chain restaurants and franchises don’t need the press, good or bad, because they have marketing initiatives that can do that for the them, IMO local joints don’t. That being said, I think I’m going to have to break my own rule for this one post.

A favorite place of my wife’s is the Darden restaurant Season 52, particularly the Dr. Phillips location. We’ve always been for dinner and I’ve had some really fresh and tasty meals. They have really great fish selections and creative menu choices which change 4 times annually. Just as a note, I had a Curry Red Snapper dish that was so good, I wanted to take home another one for leftovers the next day. The concept for the restaurant is low calorie meals with fresh ingredients. They don’t even have butter in the restaurant which I find kinda funny, but holds true to their mantra.

A couple days ago, my wife and I had lunch at the Dr. Phillips location next to my office. I really like the price points for the lunch entrees, usually around $8, and that fact that each comes with a nice side salad (romaine, baby greens, a strawberry, and a slice of mango, with a sweet oil-based dressing). I had tried the Grouper sandwich, which was ok, but this time I felt like something more on the veggie side of things. We ordered the side salad (~$7), a chicken flatbread (~$9), and the Fresh Market Roasted Veggie Sandwich, which came with a side salad (~$8). I didn’t ask the waitress what came on the sandwich; I was just hoping it wouldn’t be wimpy, simple, bland tomato, lettuce, and zucchini sandwich like I’ve gotten in the past from other restaurants. Boy, was I wrong. I think this was the heartiest vegetable sandwich I’ve ever had. I was so full after eating everything, I felt like I had consumed a lot more than the 400-whatever calories the meal was supposed to be. The sandwich had a stack of grilled zucchini, asparagus, grilled red onions, grilled mushrooms, a thick cut of tomato, and some type of three cheese blend that tasted like a mild version of goat cheese. What a sandwich! It was so good as were the other items we ordered. We didn’t do dessert, which for this restaurant is a must, because we were so full.

My only gripe about this restaurant is the fact that their beer selections are dismal as best. The food however is really great. Dinner has the best selection of food, excluding the sandwich I mentioned above, but it is a bit pricey and a little pretentious at times with the whole “we’re a wine bar, why wouldn’t you like wine with your meal” deal. Darden did a good job with this concept restaurant in Orlando (we didn’t like the Galleria location in Fort Lauderdale at all). We’ll definitely go back.

Season 52 is located in the Dr. Phillips area at 7700 W Sand Lake Rd, Orlando, FL.

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