Dinner Near Convention Center Orlando

You Deserve Better Than Convention Food

You have spent all day on the convention floor. You have eaten a cold sandwich from a catering tray, shaken a hundred hands, and walked more miles than you care to count. The last thing you want is another mediocre hotel restaurant dinner. Ciao Italia Ristorante is a few minutes from the Orange County Convention Center, and it is the kind of meal that makes the whole trip worth it.

The Navarra family has been serving authentic Italian food on Westwood Blvd since 1991. Handmade pasta, fresh seafood, real Italian sauces made from scratch. This is not convention food. This is a proper dinner at a restaurant that has earned over 3,000 reviews and nine awards over three decades. Convention attendees have been finding their way here for years, and most of them come back every time they are in town.

Why Convention Attendees Choose Ciao Italia

The reasons are simple and they come up in reviews over and over again. The food is genuinely excellent. The atmosphere is relaxed and comfortable after a long day. The parking is free. And the location is close enough that you do not waste your entire evening getting there and back.

Unlike the chain restaurants clustered along International Drive, Ciao Italia is a family-owned place where the owners are in the building every night. The menu is not designed by a corporate committee. It is built around recipes the Navarra family brought with them and refined over 35 years. When your server recommends the veal marsala or the linguine alle vongole, it is because they have eaten it themselves, not because a manager told them to upsell it.

Group Dining Made Simple

Conventions mean group dinners. Whether it is four colleagues or forty clients, Ciao Italia makes it easy. Our private dining room seats up to 60 guests and comes with dedicated service staff, a customizable menu, and the option for beer and wine packages. For larger events, we can do a full restaurant buyout for up to 110 people.

Our group menus let everyone order from a curated selection without the chaos of 30 people trying to decide from a full menu. You pick the courses, we handle the rest. It is the kind of seamless dining experience that makes you look like you planned the whole thing months in advance, even if you called us yesterday.

Free Parking and an Easy Drive

Getting here from the Convention Center takes minutes. No tolls, no highway, no complicated directions. When you arrive, our parking lot is right there, and it is free. After a week of paying for hotel parking, rideshares, and convention center garages, free parking at a great restaurant feels like a luxury.

Open Every Night, All Convention Season

We are open seven nights a week, 5:00 PM to 10:00 PM, and we never close during major convention weeks. Whether you are here for a medical conference, a tech expo, a food show, or any of the dozens of events the OCCC hosts throughout the year, we are ready for you. Reservations are recommended during convention weeks, especially for groups. Call (407) 354-0770 or book online at our reservations page.