Dining in Florida

Eating out in the US is fun and very enjoyable. The meals are generally very good with portion size being much bigger than the UK. Almost always Tea, Coffee and Sodas are free refills. Most “service personnel” waiters & waitresses (Servers), bar staff etc work on a very low wage. They therefore rely on tips to make up their wages. Hence the service is generally very good if not a little over the top. As a Brit I tend to find this a bit strange as we are used to being served by people who get paid the same no matter how the service has been and whether or not the server can be bothered to be polite and give a smile. I like the way it is done in the US.

When it comes to tipping, if you are happy with the service you should tip between 15% - 20% of the check (Bill) total. Unfortunately the Brits don’t have a good reputation for tipping in Orlando. One other thing most places add the gratuity to the check for parties of 6 or more, even if one or more are infants. So always check to make sure that it hasn’t already been added.

Around Orlando at most times of the year there are often long waits to get to the popular restaurants. So you will have to make sure that you either arrive early or late. Generally they get busy from 6pm to about 8pm. On a few menus the Entree (Main Course), includes a choice of soup or house salad. They serve the salad up as a starter. The desserts in the US tend to be quite big and sometimes very sweet but some are really delicious!! It is quite acceptable to order one sweet and more than one spoon.