Magical Dining Is Back in Orlando

Attention foodie fans and fine-dining aficionados – Orlando’s famous Magical Dining season is about to kick off, and that means the city’s restaurant scene is all set to get a whole lot brighter.

Yes, that special time of year is here, when many of our best dining venues take part in this Orlando-wide programme that offers magical meals from a set, three-course menu at reduced prices.

Amazingly, 2025 also marks the 20th anniversary of this innovatory period of prix fixe perfection, with a record number of restaurants signed up for this year’s dining delights. And, with fully 47 days in which to enjoy the feast ahead, we’re ready to test our waistbands to the limit!

What IS Magical Dining?

In simple terms, this imaginative idea from the folks at city tourism bureau Visit Orlando (sponsored by Orlando Health) is a way to sample some of the higher-class dining options in town effectively at a discount. Many cities offer a Restaurant Week once a year, but Orlando wanted to do it differently, initially setting aside a whole Magical Month in which to indulge our tastebuds.

The idea was that by setting a three-course menu, with three choices for starter, main course and pudding (or appetiser, entrée and dessert as they say in America), restaurants could reduce their prices for some of their most popular dishes each September. In recent years, the Magical season has been expanded to include some of August as well, and this year’s event will run for 47 days, starting on August 15 and ending on September 30.

Initially, there was only one, set price for the prixe fixe menu, but that has now been split into two tiers as some of the very best restaurants in Orlando have joined the programme. The regular price is $40 for a great range of dining, while the crème de la crème charge $60 per person.

Hence, a fabulous restaurant like the Michelin-recommended Ravello at the swish Four Seasons hotel at Walt Disney World might usually cost anywhere from $70 to $90 for an a la carte three-course experience, but is only $60/person from the Magical Dining menu option. Just as importantly, this special dining “season” is aimed equally at visitors as well as locals (even though the locals typically flock to many of the restaurants, especially anything that is new this year).

This year’s selection

With more and more restaurants keen to get in on the set-price action, 2025 sees a record 160-plus venues lining up for this year’s extravaganza. Fully 115 of them are in the $40 tier, while a further 49 are at the $60 level, and they run the whole length and breadth of the metro Orlando region, including International Drive and the Convention Centre area (with 31 restaurants on the list), Winter Park (27 restaurants), Downtown Orlando (22 restaurants), Restaurant Row (the section of Sand Lake Road west of International Drive, with 21 choices) and Walt Disney World/Lake Buena Vista (20 restaurants).

They also include Kissimmee, the Mall at Millenia, east Orlando, Lake Nona and even North Orlando/Sanford. It is an astounding range of cuisines and styles, but they all conform to the basic idea of providing a cost-conscious three-course menu that showcases each restaurant’s specialities.

There is even a selection of 27 restaurants that have created a 20th anniversary dish just for this year’s event, including Summer House on the Lake at Disney Springs (offering a Whipped Burrata Crostini, Four Cheese Ravioli and Key Lime Coupe), Morton’s Steakhouse on Restaurant Row (a Grilled Salmon Fillet) and Jack’s Place on I-Drive (a Vegetarian Pesto Pasta).

New restaurants for 2025

There are also 26 restaurants that are brand new to Magical Dining this year, and these are likely to be among the most popular, as they are either new outlets in Orlando’s burgeoning dining scene or long-standing restaurant favourites that have finally decided to take part in the programme for the first time.

They include Fogo de Chao Brazilian Steakhouse in the Regency Village shopping and dining plaza just off International Drive (near the Vineland Premium Outlets), Delmonico’s Italian Steakhouse on I-Drive and the chic new Palm Tree Club at Pointe Orlando, as well as the new-this-year Leiah in downtown, which has already been nominated as the Best New Restaurant of the Year.

Looking for something different? How about Pisco Peruvian Gastrobar in Lake Nona, or the Japanese cuisine of Sushi Saint in Downtown? The delicious Acropolis Greek Taverna is also new this year, as is the wine bar style of Sixty Vines in Winter Park. The choice is absolutely amazing.

This year’s charity

As well as providing great, budget-conscious meals, Magical Dining also seeks to boost a local charity each year, and this year’s chosen non-profit is the Reed Charitable Foundation, which is focused on ending the literacy crisis by ensuring all children have access to reading instruction based on how the brain learns to read, through educator training that’s both affordable and accessible.

Last year’s Magical Dining season raised a whopping $352,218 for its charities and has collected almost $3million since 2009, a truly staggering amount for such a humble programme. For more details, including all the restaurants and their cuisines, locations and special dishes, visit www.magicaldining.com.

PS: When you visit one of the 164 restaurants, be sure to ask for the Magical Dining menu when you sit down, so you don’t end up with the normal a la carte version.

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