Elegante Bistro & Lounge

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The guy who served us was a sweet talker, at the end all he promised was On the house we were charged for and plus some! weird place not Italian at all! Played random music from French to Italian to Spanish to ghetto fabulous rap! Will not recommend! The only thing they had was good were the olives!

My wife and daughter went to this restaurant and the got FOOD POISONING. My wife and daughter got shrimp… Please do not go to this restaurant. For the last 3 days my wife’s new residence is the bathroom and by the way so is my daughter. DO NOT USE THIS RESTAURANT. A person with a compromise health risk can really be put at risk. Beware…

Poor and slow service. Enjoyed the Greek platter appetizer, though the ingredients listed on the menu were not what was delivered. After being denied a vegetable kabob I just ordered a cheese pizza. The pizza was tasty however the toppings were concentrated in the center of the pizza, leaving a good 1.5 inch of dry and tasteless doughy crust.

The food was delicious, nice wine and cigar selections, attentive staff, trendy décor, hip DJ was great. I’m a local, I’ll be back!!!

After reading some of the previous reviews for this place, I am shocked by how positive they all sound.
My wife and I were in Orlando for a conference at the Rosen Center. After a day of Red Lobster and an aversion to Denny’s, we decided to give this place a try. This was one of our worst decisions in recent memory.
Our first clue should have been that the place was empty. A group of people had just exited the restaurant when we arrived, and for the 40 minutes or so that we were present, that dirty table was never cleaned.
The only man working greeted us at the door and referred to the restaurant as «elegant,» omitting the accented «e» at the end. I found this ironic because there was nothing elegant about the place, and was actually shocked by how haphazard and terrible the place looked.
Let me dwell on this for a moment. Some of my favorite restaurants — from tiny little Coney Islands in Detroit to obscure taco shops in Chicago — have crappy décor. Broken tile floors. Thrift store art. Cracked walls. You name it, I can deal with it. What I cannot abide, however, is the crap that these guys are trying to pull. The place was littered with sexually suggestive «artwork» that seemed as though it was pulled from an eighth graders’ sketch book. There was a large piece of red cloth stapled to the wall. This cloth had a massive hole ripped in it to accomodate the two flat screen tv’s that were hanging precariously above our heads. The walls were lined with booths that seemed as though they were ripped from another, nicer restaurant that had recently closed. These weren’t normal booths, mind you, but strangely shaped curvy booths that jutted awkwardly against the windows and out into the space of the room. One section of the wall was a half-​open door, blocked by one of these booths.
So, when a place is describing itself as «elegant,» my expectation is that they at least have a clue as to what they are doing. The bar, with all its dark colors and competent presentation of alcohol, certainly implied elegance. But elegance is not a quality that I would associate with big flat screen TVs and child-​like girly paintings. A big ass panel of red felt on the wall is not elegant, nor is a giant silly metal curtain in the middle of the room. And this was the first half of our problem: we had no idea what Elegante was trying to be. Their sign boasted burgers and steaks and pizza and kabob. A speaker outside blasted thumping music (at 1 in the afternoon?) and the TVs all over the place screamed «sports bar.» Elegante needs to choose one theme and stick with it.
When we entered, and were waiting for someone to say hello, I checked out the cooler showcasing some of their food. The first thing I spotted was a rotten, halved green pepper. Then I turned my attention to the old, gross looking food that was festering on saran wrapped plates. Why we decided to go through with a meal at this place I will never understand.
My wife ordered «just a single skewer of beef kabob and a side of fries.» I ordered the beef kabob wrap.
Somehow, my wife’s order became the beef kabob meal without fries, but rice and hummus instead. Getting our order wrong was annoying enough, but the food was spectacularly bad. My wrap was way too small to justify the price, and I am currently living in New York City, where everything is overpriced. The meat was sparse, tough, and flavorless beneath a thick coating of humus and vegetables.
After poking at her meal for a few moments, and eating the only safe things on her plate — the olives — my wife offered me her meal. Not satisfied with my sandwich, I took a cube of her beef. It was cold to the touch and had a strange greenish color. I squeezed it and water came out. I cut into it and the center was pinkish grey. I cut into another, and the center was more pink than the other, but still not promising. I took a small bite and the meat had that foul, putrid taste that beef gets when it’s been sitting out for a few days.
The employee came to our table, saw my wife’s plate still full and asked how the meal was. We were hindered by limited time, so we did not complain. She simply said it was OK. We are not sure whether or not he believed her, but an observant man would have seen a full plate and ascertained that something was indeed, very wrong. We paid thirty dollars for a meal that she didn’t eat, and made me very ill.
Never, ever dine here. Go to McDonalds instead.

I ordered the chicken kabob that is grilled then put in a pita. On the menu it said it was served with pita chips and hummus or tzatziki sauce. When I received my order, it was wrapped in a tortilla and served with french fries. When asked, one of the waitresses said «oh, the kitchen is always changing up the menu on us». Our waiter then brought us out 3 small pieces of pita with what I guessed was supposed to be tzatziki but it looked nothing like it and tasted like sour cream. My «wrap» was pretty tasty although I bit into a huge chunk of cartilage when I bit into the chicken. –_​– It was just weird altogether and I would not recommend or go back.

Solid two stars. The lamb kabob wasn’t particularly tender or well seasoned, contrary to the claims on the menu. I wondered if they had substituted beef for lamb. Also was a little annoyed that they made a side dish substitution without asking first. But the beer was fine…

En route from one side of FL to the other side. Needed to stop for lunch. Didn’t want fast food or a chain. Turns out either would have been better. I didn’t know pizza could be this bad. About 30% of the lettuce in my Greek salad was wilted and limp. The pita was burnt and the hummus was watery and had way too much garlic.

Just like the previous reviewer stated, it was attached to a supermarket. The lamb and filet kabobs was very good. The rice was undercooked (HTF do you do that). It was a nice change of place of dining in the middle of tourist city in Orlando. It is tucked away off I-​drive and have a nice bar area and tv screens for night time music and sports. Nice private establishment if you want something quick to eat and won’t break or hurt the wallet. I recommend the lamb – that’s for sure!
Grade: B–

I was a little skeptical walking in but I am overall glad I went in. This place is attached to a supermarket and from what I gathered, the bar area is a fairly new addition. It is not a full bar though. The only liquor they have is wine based (something about licensing). Aside from that, they have beer and wines. They gyro was pretty good and for $ 7 came with curly fries. I only gave it 3 stars because of lack of actual liquor and because I was overcharged (upon leaving I saw their sign for happy hour which was two for one drinks).
Update – downgraded to two stars. I went back there for lunch. I would not recommend coming here if there is a conference at Rosen centre. They were totally disorganized (I wad told to go to 3 different places to place my order) and totally understaffed (3 people total, including the supermarket coverage). After a 20 minute wait when seeing no gyro meat on the grill, I asked to cancel my order. At that time the waitress asked the cook and he stated he could not find any more gyro meat in the fridge. If I had not asked, I would have still been sitting there. I had to skip lunch as a result of not having enough time. This is likely the last time I will visit this place, which is a shame because I do enjoy gyros. Customer service leaves much room for improvement.