Breakfast in America

Published On: 04 May, 2025 04:42 PM

An American breakfast is something that many people want to experience when they visit the U.S. and we are no exception. For us, nothing beats having our early morning coffee and breakfast at home at the villa, out on the pool deck overlooking the trees and watching the sunrise and the birds and squirrels in the trees with our own peace and quiet.

However, there have been a number of times when we have treated ourselves to breakfast out and here are some of our favourite places to go.

Locally we have tried First Watch, the nearest of which is up at Champion’s Gate. It is always extremely popular so you have to wait for a table but the food is nice and they have some tables outside as well as indoors if you want to eat al fresco.  

Keke’s Breakfast Café recently opened a branch about 12 minutes drive from the villa up near Reunion and on the way to the I4, which is handy if you want breakfast out on the way to the parks. Again, very popular although it was quicker to get a table  here than at First Watch.  Both Keke's and First Watch are breakfast/brunch/lunch places and close at 2.30pm unlike many of the other restaurants which are open very long hours , some even 24 hours! 

There are many budget breakfast places in Orlando such as ihop, Golden Corral, Denny’s and Cracker Barrel all of which are large chains. Of these mentioned we have eaten at all apart from Cracker Barrel. They are what we would think of as relatively “cheap and cheerful” places to eat and they serve food all day. We have eaten at iHop (International House of Pancakes) many times over the years and always enjoy it. Denny’s too is a place where you can’t go far wrong and we are always happy to go there. We went to Golden Corrall once a few years ago. It is a buffet. It was ok but not somewhere we have ever gone back to.

If you are visiting the picturesque small towns of Winter Park or Mount Dora you will find some very nice independent restaurants which do an excellent breakfast. Our favourite in Winter Park is The Briar Patch.  The Briar Patch itself is very pricey but it has an excellent selection on the menu and you can sit outside which we always like. Winter Park is a very lovely and upmarket area and one which is well worth a visit (even better if you go by train from near the villa).

In Mount Dora Highland Street Café, which is on the outskirts of the town centre, is a really traditional American diner. Very popular with locals and we had the best French toast there that we have ever had. In our opinion, of all of the places that we have had breakfast in the Orlando area Highland Street Cafe is the best in terms of an authentic American diner/breakfast experience and best for value in terms of the quality of the food and service and what you get for your money. If you want a  different day out we would highly recommend a drive up to Mount Dora, starting with breakfast at Highland Street Cafe then head into the beautiful town centre followed by a lakeside walk. It is a fabulous place to visit. 

The small town of Celebration has a number of small cafes and restaurants for breakfast. However we have only ever gone to Fortuna Bakery and bought a take away coffee and cake and then walked down to the lake and enjoyed it there either sat on the steps or if we are lucky and there are any of the wooden rocking chairs available sat on one of those overlooking the water and enjoyed our "takeaway" breakfast there with the view. There is also a place that sells what looks like excellent bagels in Celebration but we haven't tried them ourselves yet.

There are many other restaurants and cafes in Orlando that serve breakfast and we would love to hear of any of your experiences eating at them but these are the ones that we know and have tried and tested and hope you get to try one or two out yourselves.