Our Anniversary Dinner in Orlando
Posted on August 19, 2014 by Ching under Food and Drink.
We ate out a lot in the days leading up to our anniversary. We hit our favorite places in Wichita where we hadn’t been in a long time so we ate at the Anchor and also at Redrock but we didn’t really “celebrate” our anniversary until Orlando because I wanted Brian to try the Oceanaire Seafood Room.
I ate at Oceanaire for the first time when I was in San Diego on a work trip and loved it. I remembered that they had a location down the street from the convention center in Orlando so I asked Brian if we could wait to celebrate our anniversary when we arrived in Orlando that way we could have our anniversary dinner at Oceanaire. The place is so expensive, special to a frugal person like me. It’s not really a place that you could just go to eat just for kicks.
I really like the “Happy Anniversary” message on the menu. It’s a nice touch. Although, I liked the menu from San Diego better because it actually had my name printed on it.
I’m glad I warned Brian about the prices on the menu ahead of time. He would have had a fit. He is just as cheap as I am. LOL.
This is my super delicious sangria.
I also like the fresh veggies.
The chef also gives a small treat to first timers. Brian didn’t even want to try it. He saw the raw fish and that was enough for him. It actually wasn’t bad.
The “congratulations” card they gave us signed by the staff was also a nice touch.
It makes me want to celebrate every birthday and anniversary there. I’m cheap, but once or twice a year won’t be too bad. It’s a shame there’s not one in town.
They have the most delicious crab cakes ever. This one was just as good, if not better, than the ones I had in San Diego. I like that there’s hardly any filler and the crab meat has just the right hint of sweetness.
This ugly entree was the most expensive thing we ordered. $42 for this dish. It was just okay. I’d had better salmon before, for half the price. Actually I was thinking the dish would be around $32 but since I substituted the crab Oscar instead of the shrimp Oscar there was an up charge.
All I’m saying is that the crab cakes are worth every penny. I expected more out of this dish. Maybe I don’t know what good salmon tastes like? LOL. Maybe it’s because of the messy presentation? I don’t know. All I know is that I didn’t enjoy this dish as much as I thought I would have.
I didn’t complain or ask to exchange it though. I just ate until I was full, which is what I should do anyway rather than cleaning my plate every time.
This is the hash browns Oceanaire-style. We ordered it because our server said it was their most popular side dish. This was just okay also. Other than how huge the serving is, there wasn’t really anything spectacular about it.
Brian’s pork chop was just okay too. It was cooked well, but I thought it needed more flavor. That’s probably just me, though.
The baked Alaska was good but it was rock hard. It had just come out of the deep freeze so it was solid. She could barely cut it in half even after heating the knife. It was that hard. Here’s a photo of it from the side.
Here’s a video of the baked Alaska. The flames don’t always show up in photos so our server recommended taking a video instead.
Even though the Orlando location didn’t live up to the high expectations set by the San Diego location, our anniversary dinner was wonderful overall. Our server was delightful. Although, I think they are purposely nice to you though so you don’t feel so bad about the bill when it comes. LOL. I joked to Brian that we blew our entire food budget on one night. We were celebrating our 12th wedding anniversary though, so we had to pick a special place — one that’s worthy of the milestone.
Looking back though, I think we should have celebrated our anniversary at Twelve. I hear the food there is great and it would have been perfect because then it would have been our 12th at Twelve. Maybe I can talk Brian into a do over on Friday night. It’s just so far. I wish it wasn’t so far out on the West side of town. =P
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