The Ravenous Pig — Restaurant in Winter Park

Server was very nice and answered a ton of our questions. However, if the menu was a little bit more descriptive, we wouldn't have had so many questions. There's a lot of terminology and unique food items that don't really tell you what's in the meal or the type of item that you might get. One example was one of the chicken dishes. It doesn't say whether or not it's a bone deny item if it's boneless if it's a chicken breast. If it's a quarter chicken, there was no explanation. That being said, at least we had good information from the waitress. The unfortunately a flight of beer was spilled on our table so that wasn't so great but things happen. We did order several appetizers, all of which were good though I was a little bit surprised that there wasn't something else that came on the table or with the meal. Such as there is no small amount of bread that comes on the table and there's no salads that come with the meal. I ordered a New York strip steak meal and it comes with fries. Now that's kind of a unique option, but they were some of the best fries I've ever had and it was a huge amount of fries. Though I probably would have taken half of that to have a side vegetable or a very small salad that came with it. Considering it was more than $30. The muscle dish had a lot of muscles in it. The shrimp tacos looked really good which somebody else at our table ordered. The one slightly disappointing meal was that the salmon that was ordered was very small. The place does get quite busy. So reservations are highly suggested. The one thing about ambiance is the place can get a little bit noisy. And if you have a table by the window, you're pretty much looking at a lot of car traffic whizzing by. I also did notice for a place that's on more of the mid upper end of price ranges for meals that the way people dress was not as appropriate as I would consider. Most people had the regular mid-range type of casual clothing and that seem to be the norm but seeing some people come in with athletic shorts like they just got off the ball field with what looked like soccer shoes and knee. High sports socks just looked a little bit out of place but that's just my opinion. I figure if I'm going to spend a minimum of 30 to $40 for one meal plus appetizers and drinks etc. And it's going to end up costing you more than $100 for a couple that people would dress like they're going to a nice restaurant. But I might be old school. Other than that, the options were unique and there were some pretty awesome flavors. We were offered a choice to see what a dessert menu would be, but I was actually surprised it wasn't already on the menu so you can kind of figure out what you might like for the evening. All in all we would go again but since it's an hour for us to get there, it's not some place we're going to frequent often but so glad we went.

One other tip is that Google shows that they open at 4:00 p.m. for the dinner hour and that's kind of true. You can go to the pub bar section, but dinner service in the main dining room doesn't start until 5:00. We got there just a couple minutes before 5:00 and had to wait just a few minutes...

So I continue my journey to explore Orlando in search of their best restaurants. I have been aiming at different cuisines or dishes lately, but I went a little different this time. I went to the Ravenous Pig. The Pig recently got voted as one of the best "Splurge Restaurants" in Orlando, and I was in a situation where I needed to splurge. So here I went.

The atmosphere is absolutely beautiful. Upscale comfort. My server was super professional and super friendly. I got seated in a nice, semi-secluded party room with a good view of the bar area, which was poppin' on a Saturday night.

I ordered two apps. I couldn't resist.

I got the Charcuterie & Cheese Platter (chef's seasonal selection (4) house cured meats, (5) artisan cheeses) to start off with. Meats and cheeses are meats and cheese, but the sides really make a board. This one came with a honey mustard seed glop, a pile of lightly crushed almonds, and an olive tapenade. Solid, but I always like to see some honey comb, too. And there were five strips of charred sourdough that went beautifully with everything, and they offer free refills on the bread. Remember that.

I also got the Mushroom & Gruyere Beignets (Tarragon aioli, romesco). These were Ridiculous! Not a beignet. I wish they wouldn't call them that, but these fritters were the best bite of food I had all night. Perfectly crisp on the outside with the most ooey gooey center of mushroom flavor you could possibly imagine. The creamy aioli and the liiittle spice hint of the romesco are perfect accompaniments. Wow. Seriously, get this.

An entree I tried was the Redfish (Parsnip purée, apple, pecan, squid-ink dumplings). The redfish was cooked very well moist and flakey, the parsnip puree had a hint of sweetness, and the pecan gave the whole thing a desperately needed crunch. Don't let the idea of squid-ink deter you. It didn't taste... inky. It was fine. A very nice dish.

The entree I had the majority of was was their special of the night, not on their regular menu, a 16 oz. prime rib slab with their Roasted Marble Potatoes (Roasted garlic, brown butter, dill). I had it cooked medium rare, duh, and it was suuuper tender. a good crust around the edges, and with really nicely rendered fat. This was definitely the best sounding meat on their menu.

And the potatoes were probably some of the best roasted whole potatoes I've ever had. They were whole, but not undercooked, a rarity. And SLATHERED in butter. So if that sounds good to you, definitely get into these.

And finally, dessert. I had something called The Chocolate Bombe. It was fascinating. A chocolate dome with cream and peaches inside, alongside a canelle of the most amazing pistachio ice cream you'll ever have in your life. I asked my server if they sell it by the pint, but she said no.

Overall, this was a splurge, but I have absolutely no regrets. If you wanna go somewhere nice, come here. You'll get an excellent variety of options and a good portion size, too. This was truly a five...

Went for an anniversary dinner at 530. We always have some kind of Snafu on or dinners but decided to try again. Arrived 10 mins early for our reservation and the hostess was very flustered and told us we would have to wait, as I looked over the dozen empty tables in the restaurant. She asked if we would like to sit In the bar. I said no we will sit on the bench and wait while we look at all these empty tables. I have never been penalized for being a little early unless the restaurant was packed. Not this case. Five minutes later we were seated. Luckily things smoothed out after that. The decor is chic industrial. Our water was brought in a chilled blank bottle and left on the table so we could pour ourselves except the waitress would come by periodically and reach over and refill our glasses. The bottles are obviously just refilled and refrigerated and we could pour more if we wanted so it was a little odd she kept coming by and topping off our glasses. My husband had a red wine that was just OK. We got 3 very large corn fritters for our appetizer. They were tasty for corn fritters, not greasy and came in a baby cast iron pan with a little sauce in the bottom. My husband had the burger with truffle fries. As per other reviews the fries were exceedingly salty. Gritty to the touch. He didnt eat them all they were that salty. I ordered the rabbit pasta which was very peppery but good, made with ground rabbit in a cream sauce with small local mushrooms. Everything is ala carte so your side is ordered separately. I had the roasted broccolini which was charred and extremely salty. Not a huge fan of charred food because there is a fine line between charred and just burnt. The desserts were the best part. We ordered the apple crisp with rum raisin ice cream and since it was our anniversary we received a lovely plate decorated in chocolate with a chocolate cake served with drizzle and a homemade whipped cream. I loved them both the crisp was flavorful and full of apples but I discovered I dont like rum raisin ice cream, but my husband loved it. The cake was delicate and chocolatey and light. All in all it was a good meal for 80 dollars. Service was great. When we mentioned the saltiness she said the brocollini had an olive dressing that is salty so perhaps it didnt need the heavy shake of salt. She did not seem surprised though on the complaint. We enjoyed our experience. I deducted a star for the odd hostess experience and the extremely salty side dishes. I would recommend it to try, the food was good but not exceptional and it is pricey. A very hipster industrial chic. Everything is locally sourced and made in house says the waitress with their own charcuterie meats and...