Restaurant Review - Fuddruckers, Festival Bay Mall, end of International Drive, Orlando, FL

A couple of weekends ago, Hubby, the boys, and I were at Putting Edge glow-in-the-dark indoor mini-golf at Festival Bay Mall, when we started to get hungry for lunch. We decided to eat at Fuddruckers in the mall since the boys were hungry for cheeseburgers and we were not in the mood for McDonald's. Fuddruckers is located at the main entrance of the Festival Bay Mall in what is becoming the mall's "restaurant row." There is also a Dixie Crossroads there (see my review here http://restaurantmom.blogspot.com/2006/04/restaurant-review-dixie-crossroads.html) and they are finishing up a Cricketer Arms English Pub and a Bergamo's Italian Restaurant (both relocating from the Mercado Center, also on I-Drive). Fuddruckers is the only one of the four to also have an entrance inside the mall besides an outside one.

When you first walk into Fuddruckers, you are "funneled" along a narrow pathway that leads to the ordering counter. Along the way, you pass several menu boards, along with a display of raw hamburger patties - I guess so you can gauge how big of a burger you would like to have? At Fuddruckers, you can have a 1/3 lb, 1/2 lb, 2/3 lb, or even a full 1 lb burger, with all sorts of toppings. There's also salads, and grilled and crispy chicken sandwiches, sides (all burgers are a la carte - if you want fries, you'll have to order them separate) plus a whole dessert counter. The kid's menu offers cheeseburgers, hot dogs, grilled cheese, chicken fingers, all with fries on the side (lucky kids) or mac-n-cheese. For $3.99, the kid's meals come with a drink and a cookie as well. Hubby wasn't feeling "burger-y" so he ordered the All-American Grilled Chicken Sandwich ($6.69) that comes with smokehouse bacon, mushrooms, and American cheese on a bakery fresh Fuddruckers bun. He then took the boys to find a table while I finished the order. I chose one of the Specialty Burgers (meaning some premium toppings are already included), the Southwest Burger in 2/3 lb size ($6.89), which comes with guacamole, pepper jack cheese and smokehouse bacon. Both boys wanted cheeseburgers and I upgraded their drinks to chocolate milkshakes for an extra $1.49. I was then handed a milkshake-shaped sign with a number to put on our table and was asked for a name for the order. The order taker said our milkshakes would be delivered to us but to come back to the counter when our name was called to get the food.

I arrived at the table with the sign and drinks for Hubby and me. The seating area is large, but feels very crowded. There are square booths and circle booths, and regular tables and high tables. There is pretty much no place to put a stroller and if you have a high-chair child, you'd better hope one of the regular tables is empty because that's the only kind that can accommodate a high-chair. About 5 minutes later, the kids' milkshakes arrived, which was good because it was something to keep their attention. Hubby wondered why they took the sign with the number on it when the shakes were delivered - how were they going to deliver our food now? I explained that, no, we had to listen for our name and then go back up and get the food. He thought that was very inconvenient for parents, especially if there is only one adult and a bunch of children - how would you keep track of your kids when you are going up to get the food? With so many other "fast-casual" restaurants today delivering food right to your table, I wonder why Fuddruckers hasn't adopted this as well. About 15 minutes later, our food was ready and I went up to the counter to get it. There are no trays for you to get your food with so I had to juggle the three burger baskets and one chicken basket on my way back to our table. The boys both wanted ketchup and mustard and BB wanted tomatoes, pickles and lettuce, too, on their burgers so I had to go back to the toppings and sauces bar to fix up their burgers. It's actually a pretty nice spread with fresh veggies and other toppings including onions, salsa, jalapenos, relish, BBQ sauce, ranch dressing, mayo, and about 4 different kinds of mustard. Back to the table again and now Hubby got up to fix up his chicken sandwich how he wanted it. My Southwest burger looked really good as is so I didn't feel like I needed any additional toppings. After cutting up LB's burger into quarters and BB's burger in half, it was now time for me to eat! Yum! The mix of guac, pepper jack cheese and bacon really gave the burger a great taste. Plus, I just love Fuddruckers' bakery buns. They slather them in butter and then toast them and they just taste perfect with the burgers. Hubby thought his chicken sandwich was okay - the chicken was a little dry but otherwise pretty good. Both boys did pretty good with their burgers and fries (homestyle cut and seasoned) but only got halfway through with their shakes. It's not clear when you are leaving whether you need to bus your own table or not but we didn't see any garbage cans so we left everything on the table. As we were leaving the table, though, a server did come by and start clearing our table. She also reminded us to get our kid's meal cookies at the bakery counter and that we just needed to show our receipt. That's right - the cookies! We had totally forgotten about those. I went by the counter and got two kid's chocolate chip cookies on our way out. I really like the food at Fuddruckers and the boys enjoy it too but Hubby doesn't like how it is so "self-serve" focused. I tend to agree and I'll have to make sure I have another adult with me when I bring the kids back.

Restaurant Review: Dixie Crossroads, Festival Bay Mall, Orlando, FL

Update 5/31/08: We drove by Festival Bay Mall a few weeks ago and it looks like the Dixie Crossroads there has closed. Too bad, I liked a local place to get those little rock shrimps. However, if you liked Dixie Crossroads, you can always visit the original flagship restaurant in Titusville at 1475 Garden Street, Titusville, FL 32796. It is a LOT bigger than the Festival Bay restaurant ever was.

A new addition to the Festival Bay Mall at the end of International Drive is "World Famous" Dixie Crossroads (of the Titusville Dixie Crossroads), a Florida-style seafood restaurant. The restaurant is located outside of the main entrance to the mall, next to the now defunct Caddyshack restaurant. There's a fun looking patio with an indoor/outdoor bar at the front and the main restaurant area inside. Of course, since this is mostly a tourist mall, you can also take your picture by the Mr. Rock (Shrimp) statue by the door. I actually really liked the decor with whimsical undersea motifs including manatees, dolphins, and other Florida underwater creatures. When you are with children, I believe the best area to be seated is the center "house" that features a large aquarium to occupy the little ones' attention. There is but one menu at Dixie Crossroads, all listed on your paper placemat, kids' meals included. Prices are a little high for some of the entrees but the restaurant boasts that they catch all of their own seafood and ensure it is fresh. I won't be able to do the menu justice but be prepared for a boatload of different types of shrimp and seafood preparations (pun intended). Pretty much any type of shrimp or fish (that is in season, of course) can be done almost any type of way - fried, broiled, steamed, grilled, blackened, seasoned, stuffed, "coconutted", etc. All kids' meals are $2.99 and include fries, drink, and a chocolate pudding. Kids' choices are limited to a hamburger, chicken nuggets, shrimp, fish or clams. BB asked for fried shrimp and we ordered chicken nuggets for LB. Hubby was hungry this Saturday afternoon and so ordered a crab cake for an appetizer and then the mahi-mahi basket ($7.99) for lunch. From what I could tell, the only difference between the baskets and the entrees on the menu was an extra side item for the entrees (and about $2). Hubby chose the shrimp soup as his side and asked for the fish simply broiled with butter. I went for the specialty of the house - the rock shrimp. I had first tried rock shrimp about 3 weeks ago at this same restaurant and had come back for more. If you love lobster, you'll love rock shrimp. They are like tiny little lobsters pretending to be shrimp. Last time, the sweet potato side had been a disappointment due to its small size (although the cinnamon butter served with it helped) so I went for the regular baked potato hoping for the best. The rock shrimp basket goes for $9.99 and comes with one side; if you go for the entree with the two sides it will run you $11.99. Before we even got our drinks, my favorite part of eating at Dixie Crossroads arrived at our table - the corn fritters. These little hot balls of fried cornmeal dough come dusted with powdered sugar and are just wonderful. LB's eyes lit up as soon as the basket hit the table and he quickly grabbed one. Hubby is not one to eat sweets before lunch so he left the rest of us to gobble up the little goodies. Soon enough, Hubby's shrimp soup arrived. He claimed it was "okay" but was similar to potato soup with some tiny shrimp thrown in at the last minute. But, LB was willing to help him finish. Hubby was a little annoyed that our request for an extra spoon took a bit of time, especially with LB chanting, "Soup, soup, SOUP!" Our meals arrived soon after and I was pleased to see a large baked potato accompany my shrimp. Hubby peered down at my 12 small shrimp and asked if I had enough food. Okay, they do look small but they taste really good and with a baked potato and a bunch of corn fritters, it makes a nice meal. Hubby tried one of the rock shrimp and did declare that they tasted like lobster but that a dozen would probably have not been enough for him. His mahi-mahi he said was good and done as requested. LB had apparently stuffed himself with fritters, crackers (they come ready for snacking on every table), and shrimp soup and was just picking at his chicken (which really resembled chicken fingers versus nuggets). BB was carefully eating his fried shrimp, trying to avoid the tail shell that we warned him about. He actually got pretty good size shrimp with his kid's meal, most hidden under the french fries. Hubby, who is a quick eater, finished and then took LB to walk the mall so BB and I could finish our meals. BB did pretty good, eating most of his shrimp, and I polished off all of mine. The kids' meal dessert - the chocolate pudding - is of the pre-packaged variety and comes in the basket when the food is delivered so BB dug into his, and, well, okay, I ate LB's pudding (what he doesn't know won't hurt him). It was actually pretty good, almost mousse-like. Dixie Crossroads is a nice place to bring the family for a seafood meal, only marred by some hit-or-miss service (trust me, you don't want to hear about the service the first time I visited). You've got to try the rock shrimp when you visit [Mr. Rock told me to say that].