Where to Eat in SoDo Right Now
Two corridors feed SoDo — Michigan Street experiments, Orange Avenue endures. The ranked kitchens, the food-truck lawn and the brunch worth booking, in one honest roundup.
3 minute read
SoDo does not have a restaurant row so much as a restaurant argument — two corridors, Orange Avenue and Michigan Street, each insisting it feeds the neighborhood better. The honest answer is that they feed it differently. Michigan Street is the newer, denser, more experimental strip. Orange Avenue holds the institutions. What follows is where we would actually eat in SoDo right now, ranked places first, with every address pinned on the Orlando Top Spots Map.
The Michigan Street plaza: pizza and tacos, side by side
The single most efficient lunch in SoDo happens at 419 E. Michigan St., where two ranked kitchens share a plaza and, in SoDough Square’s case, a dining room with its neighbor. SoDough Square (No. 5 in our Best Pizza in Orlando rankings, Net Score 92.1) bakes Detroit-style pizza in blue steel pans sourced from Michigan: thick, airy, 24-hour-fermented dough, a house brick-cheese blend shredded in house, and the caramelized cheese crust — the frico — that defines the style. The Detroit Rob City, with whipped ricotta, sausage, pepperoni and hot honey, is the order regulars measure other pies against. Next door, Tin & Taco Sodo (No. 3 in our Best Mexican Restaurants in Orlando rankings, Net Score 87.9) builds craft tacos in cheese-crusted shells — the Brisket Bomb with craft beer queso and ancho chipotle sauce is the signature — and sells them in mix-and-match pairs and trios built for sampling. Our winner feature tells the Tin & Taco story; our SoDough Square profile goes deep on the pizza.
The food-truck lawn at the east end
Drive east on Michigan to 2207 E. Michigan St. and the choice problem solves itself by multiplying. À La Cart SoDo, which opened in May 2024 as the second location of the Milk District original, parks eight semi-permanent food trucks around a central lawn with patio tables and shade umbrellas. The lineup documented at opening spanned Filipino-Hawaiian plates from OverRice, 503 Latin Fusion, SmashDunk Brgr, Taitō Sushi, Barrio Español and German fare from Oldenburg Provisions — plus Nona Street Pizza (No. 6 for pizza citywide, Net Score 91.9), whose naturally fermented, from-scratch pies, including the Puerto Rican tripleta-inspired La Tripleta, would justify the trip alone. Because the trucks are semi-permanent rather than rotating strangers, quality is consistent in a way festival food rarely is. Details in our À La Cart SoDo profile.
The Orange Avenue institutions
On South Orange Avenue, SoDo eats like it has for decades. Cecil’s Texas Style Bar-B-Q, at 2800 S. Orange Ave., has run its cafeteria-style line since the early 1990s and holds the No. 3 spot in our Best BBQ in Orlando rankings (Net Score 86.5): brisket and smoked meats served without ceremony, at lunch-counter speed, in a retro room that has never chased a trend. Our Cecil’s profile explains why Texas transplants vouch for it. Farther east, technically on Fern Creek Avenue at 2631 S. Ferncreek Ave., Johnny’s Fillin’ Station is the neighborhood’s burger-and-bar-grill institution — a spot that began as a shaved lemon ice business more than 30 years ago in the same building, grew a sandwich menu, then a bar, then Johnny’s Other Side across the lot. The half-pound burgers and the famous patty melt are the draw; the game room, patio and kitchen that stays open late are why nobody leaves early.
Brunch and the sweet finish
Weekends belong to Delaney’s Tavern at 1315 S. Orange Ave., inside the Delaney Hotel at the district’s north edge. It ranks No. 2 in our Best Brunch Spots in Orlando rankings (Net Score 93.0) on the strength of a full-scale weekend brunch — an appetizer station with crab legs, a brisket carving station, candied bacon and tapas-style plates like chicken and waffles ordered alongside. It is the one meal in SoDo worth booking ahead for. For dessert, or for the box you bring to somebody else’s dinner, Sister Honey’s at 247 E. Michigan St. (No. 4 in our Best Bakeries in Orlando rankings, Net Score 91.5) closes the argument: hummingbird cake, coconut cake and championship-caliber pies from a baker who has been at it since 2012. We pair the two in our SoDo brunch guide.
The verdict
If you have one meal in SoDo, make it the Michigan Street plaza — pizza and tacos at ranked quality, twelve feet apart. If you have a weekend, give brunch to Delaney’s and an evening to Cecil’s followed by the brewery next door. And if you have a group that cannot agree, stop negotiating and go to the lawn at À La Cart. SoDo’s dining scene is not the city’s flashiest. It may be its most usable — which, for the people who live here, is the entire point.
Orlando Citizen by email
The weekly edition, in your inbox
One email, every Saturday: the week’s edition of Orlando Citizen — the week’s stories, rankings and winners, gathered in one place. Free, and you can unsubscribe at any time.
Related Stories
Editor’s Picks
Spotted an error? Tell us — corrections · How we rank