Restaurant Review - Zaxby's Chicken, 4067 Millenia Blvd, Orlando, Florida

Zaxby's is a fast-food chicken restaurant chain that has recently hit Central Florida. We visited the location across the street from the Millenia Mall (near the Target) but there is also a location in Kissimmee on John Young Parkway. Zaxby's has a nice look when you walk in - nice dark wood for booths and eclectic stuff hanging all over the place similar to a Bennigan's. But, it is still a fast-food restaurant so while not completely messy and dirty, not exactly sparkling clean either. However, it was a busy Saturday for lunch and we were able to find a mostly clean table for us. Grandma stayed with the boys at the table while Grandpa and I went up to order the food. If you are wondering what is on the menu at Zaxby's, it's one word - CHICKEN. You can get chicken wings, chicken fingers, chicken salad, salad with chicken on it, chicken sandwiches, etc. The menu board is a little overwhelming at first so I looked in the middle where the "Most Popular" dishes were displayed with photos. There are no descriptions of the menu items anywhere so I had to ask the order taker several questions before I was sure of what I wanted. For example, the Big Zax Snak Meal is just a smaller version of the Chicken Fingers Plate, but with a drink and without coleslaw. I choose the Wings & Things (which by the way is ONLY located in the Most Popular section and nowhere else on the menu board) which is a "sampler" platter if you will of 5 wings, 3 chicken fingers, crinkle fries, and Texas Toast for $5.99. I added on a regular drink for $1.29. For the boys, I got BB the Kiddie Fingers Kidz Meal (I assume they are made out of chicken!) and for LB the Kiddie Cheese (grilled cheese), both $2.99, both come with a drink, fries, and a surprise. By the way, those are the only choices for the kids' meals so if your kid likes wings, you might have to get a regular meal. Grandpa also went for the Wings & Things and Grandma got the Big Zax Snak Meal for $4.99. I went to get drinks while Grandpa waited for our order.

They certainly have a nice selection of Coke products including Barq's Root Beer, Sweet and Regular Tea, and lemondade. Grandpa yelled over that he wanted the Fanta Cherry Soda. BB ran up to me and declared that he wanted the same. I had never tried Fanta Cherry so I took a sip of BB's before I gave it to him. Yuck! It tasted like a 7-Eleven cherry Slurpee that has melted and you are just left with the cherry syrup. So of course, BB LOVED it! He and Grandpa thought it was the greatest drink ever. I went back and got sweet tea for me and lemonade for LB. A few minutes later our orders arrived via Grandpa. Wow! You sure get a lot of food for the money at Zaxby's! My plate was loaded with food. A nice touch was including celery and carrots sticks with the wings. Also, Zaxby's provides Ranch dressing with the wings and their own Zaxby's sauce for chicken fingers. It's hard to describe the Zaxby's sauce except to say it was good - and was a great dipping sauce for the crinkle-cut fries as well. It was almost like a Big Mac's secret sauce. I had ordered my wings mild - and they were - so they tasted nice. My only complaint was that the wings were a little small, although I barely finished my entire meal so the big chicken fingers really made up for the wings' smallness. Might be different if you just order wings for your meal, though. Grandpa ordered his wings Medium and he thought they were a little too mild. The kids' meals came in a bag that also had a fun "toy" featuring the Zaxby's chicken mascot. LB's grilled cheese came on a folded up Texas Toast piece and it looked good! (I am a sucker for Texas Toast). He and BB ate all of their meals. The food was very good and I would definitely go back.

Restaurant Review - Beefy King, 424 Bumby Ave, Orlando, FL

Today for lunch, we ate at Beefy King, a small non-descript fast-food restaurant on Bumby Avenue, just south of SR 50. Well, non-descript except for the large Beefy King sign with the bull on it.

We have passed this place many times before but it always looked a little "questionable" to me. However, Hubby recently ate there and declared it great so we all went along to try it. As Hubby says, it's like Arby's, only better. Beefy King, apparently, has been around since 1968, yet the inside is nice and if not modern, then at least clean. As you enter, the menu is on boards at the back. Their specialty is beef - what a surprise - especially roast beef, corned beef, pastrami, and BBQ beef - however, they also offer ham, turkey, and BBQ pork. The best part is that right in the center of the open kitchen, an employee freshly cuts all the meat on a deli slicer. There is no kid's menu but they do offer a Junior size combo that comes with a small sandwich, "Beefy Spuds" (tater tots), and a small drink for $4.95. They also offer plain hot dogs for $2. Both boys got the Junior size combo with roast beef. I got the Regular size combo for $5.95 - same as the boys, just the larger size roast beef sandwich. Hubby ordered a Combination Sandwich which combines any two meats that you want. He got the roast beef and ham which I thought might taste weird but he said he's had it before and it is very tasty.

Nothing is too fancy at Beefy King so the food is served in plain wax paper wrappers with plain bags for the Spuds. The sandwiches are served on fresh kaiser rolls, although the junior sandwiches looked like they were on hamburger buns. The roast beef was great! It was really tasty and tender and didn't really need any sauce. Those who like sauce, however, have several to choose from including BBQ and horseradish sauce. The Spuds were tasty as well. I was surprised that the boys both ate pretty well, each finishing about half of their sandwiches. Maybe next time I'll have them share.

Apparently, Beefy King is only open for lunch (10a-3p M-F; 11a-3p Sat; closed Sun) but they do offer a drive-thru that is open a little later during the week (til 5:30 pm M-F). They also have milkshakes, in the standard vanilla and chocolate, but also cherry and orange. I'll have to try a cherry milkshake next time, it sounds interesting! I found Beefy King to be a really nice fast-food restaurant that doesn't taste like fast food, with friendly employees and a nice, clean interior.