Where to Eat in St. Cloud Right Now
A dozen-table Italian room, a steakhouse in a 1909 building, brunch inside a 1927 hotel, barbecue on 13th Street and seafood on the marina: the researched map of St. Cloud's tables.
3 minute read
St. Cloud does not eat like a suburb. Twenty minutes south of Lake Nona and a world away from the US-192 chain corridor, this old lake town feeds itself the way it has for decades: family-run rooms on brick downtown streets, barbecue out on 13th Street, and a seafood house sitting right on the marina it overlooks. Our rankings have not scored St. Cloud yet — the work is still moving through Osceola County — so consider this the researched field guide instead: the tables locals actually book, in the order we would eat through them.
Downtown: three blocks, most of the answer
Start on New York Avenue, the spine of the historic downtown. Chimento’s Spaghetti House, at 1110 New York Ave, is the family-owned Italian room — about a dozen tables, the owners on site most days, and pizza and pasta that draw drivers from well outside Osceola County. A block away at 918 New York Ave, Phyre Saloon and Steakhouse works out of a building that has stood since 1909, serving steaks — the tomahawk is the table-turning order — with live music and a saloon’s sense of theater. In the 1927 Hunter Arms Hotel at 1023 New York Ave, Loading… Gastrobrunch does the most inventive cooking in town: chicken and waffle tacos, Cinni-bun French toast, and a brunch menu that runs all day before dinner service takes over.
One street over, Pennsylvania Avenue answers with Island Cloud Grill at 1122 Pennsylvania Ave, an island-vibe room with tacos, a Philly cheesesteak and live music on weekend nights. Between the two avenues, 10th Street Produce & Deli is the downtown grocer that grew out of a roadside stand — hundreds of items, sandwiches and salads made to order, local honey and boiled peanuts — and it supplies fresh ingredients to several of the restaurants around it. The open-air courtyard at Breeze ties the blocks together, serving food from neighboring kitchens under the sky.
On the water
The one lakefront table is also one of the best: Crabby’s on the Lakefront, at 1104 Lakeshore Blvd inside the Lakefront Park Marina, has served seafood on East Lake Toho for two decades — crab boils, grouper, stuffed shrimp, a pet-friendly deck, weekend live music and the sunset slot every local knows about. It anchors our full Lakefront Park guide, and it is the dinner to plan a St. Cloud evening around.
13th Street: smoke and sugar
Head south to 13th Street for the town’s other food corridor. Fat Boy’s Bar-B-Q, at 2912 13th St, has been family-run since 1982 and bills itself as the only restaurant in Osceola County cooking on an open wood-burning pit — ribs, sliced pork, and a breakfast serious enough to get its own section below. Further out at 4247 13th St, Jimmy Bear’s BBQ smokes brisket and St. Louis ribs and builds playful plates like the Baby Bear, a dinner-for-two spread of pork, brisket, chicken and ribs. Between them, Fortuna Bakery & Coffee at 1300 13th St handles the sweet side: a Colombian bakery case of empanadas, pan de bono, buñuelos and milhoja, with coffee to match.
How to choose
Downtown date night: Phyre for the steakhouse drama, or Loading… if you want the kitchen taking swings. Family dinner: Chimento’s, where our full profile explains the loyalty, or Fat Boy’s for barbecue by the plate and the pound. Out-of-towners who think Orlando food begins and ends at the theme parks: Crabby’s at sunset, then a walk down the lakefront path. Morning people should read our breakfast and coffee guide — St. Cloud starts earlier than you think. And wherever you land, place it on the Orlando Top Spots Map: the drive south is shorter than the one to the attractions, and the town at the end of it is doing its own cooking.
Photo: The historic St. Cloud Hotel at 10th Street and New York Avenue, in the heart of the downtown dining blocks. Photo: Ebyabe, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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