Buffalo Wings and Rings

  • Food Quality: 8/10
  • Food Quantity: 7/10
  • Cleanliness: 7/10
  • Atmosphere: 7/10
  • Service: 8/10
  • Price: $6-$10

Buffalo Wings and Rings serves exactly what their name says the do. They offer burgers and sandwiches, but you don’t have to look any further than their namesake to find some great food. Their wings come in a ton of flavors, and each flavor can be as mild or as spicy as you want it. This is a great way to do things because most places offer you a variety of flavors, but tell you how hot each one is. Buffalo Wings and Rings lets you fully customize your order. Their wings are also soaked in sauce, or “wet”, as most wing places refer to them. This is usually something you have to pay extra for, but not here. Their onion rings are alright. I don’t particularly care for their style of batter, but they come with a great dipping sauce.

The place isn’t very crowded for lunch, so it won’t be too loud. You’ll be able to find a seat without a problem, and you’ll have great service. It’s on the outskirts of Orlando, but a great place to eat if you are in the area, and worth the drive at least once to give them a try.

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Mix Frozen Yogurt

I was recently invited down to Mix Frozen Yogurt to sample their delicious snack and dessert offerings. They serve up 16 flavors on frozen yogurt, some being the common ones such as chocolate, vanilla, and plain yogurt, along with some other delicious flavors like red velvet cake and mango tango. They also offer dozens of toppings, including fresh fruit, candies and other confections, a few dry cereals, and best of all popping boba, which are little juice filled balls that pop when eaten. Mix Frozen Yogurt seems to focus more on the healthy aspect, offering more fresh fruit than other froyo shops I have visited.

The great thing about Mix Frozen Yogurt, and most froyo shops, is that you pay by the ounce, 39 cents at Mix. I love this because I can get as much or as little as I want to eat. I can put the exact amount of toppings I want on my frozen yogurt. I’m not charged more for premium toppings or anything like that.

Mix is in a great location, tucked away in the shopping plaza on the southwest corner of Colonial and Alafaya. It’s close enough to the shopping area at Waterford Lakes to go there if you are in the area, but far enough away that there isn’t too much foot traffic. While the owners may disagree with me, I think it’s a good thing. The place is not too crowded, keeping it clean and comfortable. The place is mostly self serve, but the staff is friendly and courteous, and will answer any questions you may have about some of their more unusual offerings.

I appreciate the staff inviting me into their shop. It really is a great place to get a snack. You can sit around and relax, or get some work done with their open WiFi.

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Empire Szechuan

  • Food Quality: 7/10
  • Food Quantity: 10/10
  • Cleanliness: 8/10
  • Atmosphere: 8/10
  • Service: 7/10
  • Price: $5-$10

Empire Szechuan is a nice quiet little Chinese restaurant just north of the heart of downtown Orlando. It is not very busy so the service is good and the food is made fresh.  The prices are reasonable. The only thing I didn’t really like about the place was the fact that they don’t have fountain sodas.

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NYPD Pizza

  • Food Quality: 7/10
  • Food Quantity: 9/10
  • Cleanliness: 7/10
  • Atmosphere: 7/10
  • Service: 7/10
  • Price: $3 – $8

The great thing about NYPD Pizza is their lunch specials. Monday through Friday from 11am to 4pm, NYPD Pizza offers a different specialty slice for only $1. And, if you eat lunch there 7 times in a calendar month you get a free 14 inch pizza. I did this both to earn the free pizza and to try their different specialty slices. At the end of the month I was pretty sick of their pizza. The pizza is good but not so good that I would eat there several times in a month. I wouldn’t even want to eat at my favorite pizza place that often. The pizza is good, and some of the specialty pizzas, like the barbecue chicken pizza or Hawaiian pizza are really good.

I think their loyalty program hurts them more than it helps. Sure, it got me in the door 7 times in one month, but I have only been back once in the past few months because I’m sick of their pizza. If they really want to have a loyalty program, they should just do the usual free lunch every 10th visit.

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