Dovecote Orlando

 

If you are looking for a nice meal in Orlando, Dovecote has got to be on your list. In the Bank of America building downtown, it’s a gorgeous place and the food can be ridiculously good.

I say “can” be, not to slight the restaurant, but because that’s just the truth of the matter. I’ve had amazing meals at Dovecote, and I’ve had some ho-hum experiences too. It’s never bad, but I can’t claim that it’s always wonderful. The lack of consistency is the biggest downfall of the place. For the first year it was open, I had consistently amazing food, but hit and miss service. I chalked that up to its newness, to getting the kinks out of staffing and flow, and the food was just too good to not come back.

But then something shifted. Service worked out its kinks and the food became the wild card. I’d order a perfect lovely meal, but one dish would be crazy salty, or a piece of veal would be surprisingly tough.

Take dinner tonight. The grand marnier shuffle pictured at the top – perfection. Seriously delicious for a technically difficult dish. Or take the  eggplant dip below. Sooo good. Rich, creamy, with lovely charred bread, I was in heaven.

 

But then comes the curveballs. Every other dish during dinner had problems. Both my steak and my husbands fries were overly salty. Some of the appetizers had beautiful flavors, but weird textures, or pieces that weren’t easily bite sized. Little things, not deal breakers, just things that took an amazing meal and made it shine a little less brightly.

 

 

 

 

Other major points to note: the wine list is lovely and the cocktails are always on point. Both of those are pretty big deals in my book, so I’ll continue to come back, hoping for the time when Dovecote gets all the pieces to fit just right and it takes its place at the top of the Orlando food scene.