Best Restaurant on International Drive in Orlando

The Best Restaurant Is Not Actually on I-Drive

Here is the truth about International Drive: it has a lot of restaurants, and most of them are designed for volume, not quality. Chain restaurants with laminated menus, tourist traps with inflated prices, and hotel restaurants that exist because they are convenient. The best restaurant near International Drive in Orlando is five minutes off the strip, on a quiet street called Westwood Boulevard.

Ciao Italia Ristorante has been there since 1991. The Navarra family opened it with recipes from southern Italy and the intention of running a real neighborhood restaurant. Over 35 years later, that is exactly what it still is. The pasta is handmade. The seafood is fresh. The bread comes warm. The tiramisu is house-made. And the 3,000+ guest reviews and 9 awards speak for themselves.

The Menu

The kitchen at Ciao Italia works from family recipes that the Navarras brought with them from Italy. The Risotto alla Pescatora is loaded with fresh seafood in a light tomato broth. The Pappardelle with Wild Boar is slow-simmered and deeply flavorful. The Vitello Piccata comes with capers and artichokes. The Salmone alla Griglia is simple and perfectly cooked. Every pasta is made by hand. Every sauce is built from scratch.

The wine list is thoughtfully curated with Italian selections at every price point. The service is attentive but not hovering. The atmosphere is warm, refined, and completely different from the noise and chaos of the I-Drive restaurant scene.

Why People Keep Coming Back

Many of Ciao Italia's guests are repeat visitors. Tourists who discovered it on a trip and now make it a tradition. Convention attendees who return every year. Locals who have been coming for decades. The consistency is what sets it apart. After 35 years, the Navarra family still runs the kitchen and the dining room the same way they did on day one.

Located at 6149 Westwood Boulevard, Orlando, FL 32821. Free self-parking. Open seven days a week from 5 PM to 10 PM. Reservations recommended. Call (407) 354-0770.

About Dining Near I-Drive

International Drive is the heart of Orlando's tourist corridor. Stretching over 11 miles through the center of the city, I-Drive is home to theme parks, attractions, outlet malls, and hundreds of restaurants. Millions of visitors walk this strip every year looking for somewhere to eat after a long day.

The problem with dining on International Drive is that most of the restaurants are chains. The same menus you can find in any airport or shopping mall. The food is predictable, the service is rushed, and the experience is forgettable. Visitors deserve better than that.

Ciao Italia Ristorante sits just off International Drive on Westwood Boulevard, where the Navarra family has been cooking authentic Italian food since 1991. The pasta is handmade daily. The sauces are made from scratch. The bread is baked fresh every evening. It is a fundamentally different dining experience than anything on the main strip.

Whether you are staying at one of the I-Drive hotels, visiting SeaWorld or Aquatica, or spending the day at the outlets, Ciao Italia is 2 minutes from the action. Free parking, walk-ins welcome, and open every night from 5 to 10 PM.

How to Get to Ciao Italia from I-Drive

From International Drive, take Westwood Boulevard south. Ciao Italia is at 6149 Westwood Blvd, on the right side, with a free parking lot directly in front. It is 2 minutes from I-Drive and on the same road as SeaWorld's main entrance.

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