Norman's Orlando — Restaurant in Dr. Phillips

9/7/2024 Started off great. We had 8pm reservations inside, but after arriving and seeing the terrace we decided to dine outdoors. Initially our server (John) was very attentive and helped with our wine selection. A runner brought us bread and a welcome ginger/carrot purée, both were delicious. It quickly went downhill from there. After a short time my wife discovered her butt was wet, I stood to help her and realized my butt was soaked as well. Seems the seat cushions were all wet, but not noticeable until you spend a few minutes compressing them. Our waiter noticed us both standing and came over as we were removing the cushions from our chairs. He stated that he was surprised that they were “still”wet as he believed they had gotten wet several days before. He also stated we were the 3rd party with wet bottoms that evening. He then proceeded to remove cushion from some of the empty chairs around us (at our suggestion). We thought that after the first wet complaint and definitely the second you wouldn’t continue to seat guests on wet cushions, but they did. I also had a black napkin that when I opened it to place on my lap noticed what appeared to be white/grey paint on it. I replaced it with one from the empty table next to us. Our waiter cleaned up our appetizer/bread and settings and quickly came back with steak knives. At that time John took my wife’s dinner fork to replace it with a clean one, he said he’d be right back (a phrase he used many times, but didn’t back up), our entrees arrived and there were no signs of John or her fork, so again we robbed from the empty table behind me. Our dinner (my wife had the filet, I the pork chop) was good, not great for the price. We didn’t see John for about 15 minutes after finishing our meals despite there being 4 empty glasses (2 water, 2 wine) in front of us (they had been empty for quite some time) if asked we would likely have had a second glass of wine but we weren’t. I could keep going but you probably get the gist, surprisingly very poor service. Not that John was unpleasant in any way, he was very pleasant and polite - just not present and the terrace was not very busy. Apparently the restaurant policy is to add a 20% tip to all bills, which may explain the subpar service (your getting 20% whether you deserve it or not). We had also observed a tall older gentleman (manager?) seemingly checking in on a couple of tables near us, but didn’t take a minute to engage us. If he had, we may have had a different experience. There are a lot of other high end restaurants in Orlando to choose from, we probably...

We were so excited to try Norman’s after reading all of the great reviews but were beyond disappointed in the food and ambience of the outdoor patio. We sat at the bar outside on a Thursday night. The outside area was virtually empty. There are no tables or high tops outside, just the bar and lots of couches. Our bartender was friendly and attentive. One of their signature cocktails is a pecan old fashioned, which two of us ordered. It was served with too much mixer in my opinion, which overwhelmed the bourbon.

Our group ordered the stuffed shrimp, crab beignets and pork tacos as appetizers. We chose these based on the suggestions from our bartender as well as well as the many reviews. The tacos were tastybalthough very petite. The beignets were boring and the shrimp was very disappointing. It tasted like a large, very plain fried shrimp on a creamy spicy sauce. Our party ordered the snapper, painted fish and scallops for our entrees. I recently read a Scott Joseph review that specifically mentioned the painted fish and couldn’t wait to try it. It was so bland. Zero seasoning, didn’t even taste like there was any salt used. No flavor at all. The presentation was perfect, as it was the most perfectly prepared piece of grouper set atop a sauce with what I would guess was mango purée. Our friend had the snapper and said the same about his dish, totally bland and no flavor. My husband had the scallops and they were very good..Although the description mentioned tortellini, it did not appear to be on the plate. I tried a bite and they were perfectly done and was the only dish the entire evening that had any flavor.

The road noise was really loud the evening we were there. It seems they are turning up the music outside super loud to try to drown out the noise, which makes having a conversation difficult. We were there from 5:30-8:00 pm and although they probably have a club vibe since they are open til 1 am, it was way too loud. Although Norman’s can’t control it, be aware that there are cars gunning it throughout the evening on Sand Lake Rd. This happened numerous times.

We don’t anticipate returning here based upon our experience. On a positive note, the inside of the restaurant looked beautiful and...

This is my third time at Normans since they have re-opened. When they were Originally at the Ritz they quickly became my favorite Restraunt. I’m happy to say that they still are and IMO the best restaurant in Orlando besides ômo.

I celebrated my birthday with their Spanish tasting menu including the wine tasting to accompany it for the full experience. Becca, who attended our table and the chef were very accommodating towards my allergies and Matthew the Sommolier while pouring our wines provided a great experience explaining the philosophy of the parings. The service was extremely smooth and even with a slight delay to make sure our Seafood Paella came out perfect they gave us an extra pour of wine during the wait, which we were very grateful for!

They made my night incredibly special and Matthew has served me twice now, he is very professional while being easy to talk to. Also, Becca guided our tasting menu service and I can easily say the same as they both made a phenomenal team during our service, could not be more thankful!

Overall it was a Top-tier service, the food and parings were absolutely a great experience and tells you chefs from Daniel Boulud to Norman’s show while Michelin stars are a mark of achievement some chefs care more about the customer and what they want… and making sacrifices on the wine list or rotating food menu for a higher score and the star isn’t always worth what a chef wants and that is to feed the guest and them leave feeling a full experience of enjoyment. The Michelin guide only tells you so much… Normans was ranked 1 wine glass in Wine Specators newly issued yearly restraunt awards issue and has not currently received a Michelin Star, yet. The Wine Spectator issue listed Normans Among others like Capital grill, Seasons 52, and Fogo de Chão and to me this is non-sense, so experience and know your restaurants they will always tell you more...