The Best Food Near Me in Orlando

4,000+ People Agree

When you search "best food near me" in Orlando, you are going to see a lot of chain restaurants and tourist traps. We get it. Orlando is full of places that survive on location alone, banking on the fact that you are hungry and you are here. Ciao Italia Ristorante has been doing the opposite since 1991: earning every single one of its 4,000+ reviews by actually being good.

The Navarra family opened this restaurant on Westwood Blvd, on the International Drive corridor, and built a reputation one plate at a time. Handmade pasta, fresh seafood, sauces made from scratch every day. No shortcuts, no frozen bags, no corporate recipes. Just real Italian food from a family that knows what they are doing. Thirty-five years of doing it tends to show.

What Makes It the Best

The word "best" gets thrown around a lot in Orlando. Every restaurant claims it. But when you look at the numbers, the story is clear. Ciao Italia has 4,000+ reviews across Google, TripAdvisor, OpenTable, and Yelp. Nine dining awards including Zagat ratings and Wine Spectator recognition. A loyal following of locals who have been eating here for decades alongside tourists who find it for the first time and come back every trip.

What sets this place apart is consistency. The fettuccine alfredo tastes the same on a random Tuesday as it does on a packed Saturday. The veal piccata is always tender. The risotto pescatore always has that deep, rich seafood flavor. When you have been doing this for 35 years, you do not have off nights.

The Menu That Earned the Reviews

The menu at Ciao Italia covers every corner of Italian cuisine. Start with sautéed calamari or burrata with pesto. Move to handmade pastas: fettuccine alfredo, pappardelle with wild boar ragu, sacchetti, lobster ravioli. The seafood is outstanding. Risotto pescatore, linguine vongole, shrimp scampi, and zuppa di pesce. For meat lovers, there is veal piccata, chicken marsala, and brasato.

The kids menu is $13 and comes with gelato, because the Navarra family believes everyone at the table should eat well. Not chicken fingers and fries. Real Italian food sized for smaller appetites.

Location That Works for Everyone

Ciao Italia sits on Westwood Blvd, 3 minutes from SeaWorld, Aquatica, International Drive, and the Orange County Convention Center. If you are anywhere in the I-Drive area, you are close. If you are staying at one of the dozens of hotels in the corridor, this might be the best restaurant within a 10-minute drive of your door.

Free self-parking. Open seven days a week, 5 PM to 10 PM. Walk-ins welcome. And if you want to stay in, the full menu is available on Uber Eats and DoorDash.

Not a Chain. Not a Tourist Trap.

Orlando has plenty of Olive Gardens and Carrabba's. Those restaurants serve a purpose. But when you are looking for the best food near you, not just the closest food, you want a place where the owner is in the building, the kitchen is making things from scratch, and the servers actually care whether you enjoy your meal. That is Ciao Italia. It has been that way since 1991, and it is not going to change.