The Village Tavern, near the Mall at Millenia

The Village Tavern, new to the Orlando area received it's first location near the Mall at Millenia off of Conroy Rd. Future Orlando locations in 2009 include Maitland and Oviedo.

Hubby and I enjoyed an early dinner this past Saturday after catching a matinee of Spamalot at the Bob Carr. (Side note, the musical was great and had a lot for Monty Python fans!) We booked our reservation online through www.opentable.com, when we arrived the restaurant had plenty of seating but it was 5:15PM. The closer it got to the dinner hour, the more crowded it got. If you want a specific time, I'd shoot for the open table reservation just to cover your bases.

We started with the Steamed Mussel appetizer, which was recom- mended by our server as "the best seafood appetizer on the menu." She made a great recommendation and described the dish well. The broth was flavored with wine, garlic, shallot, herbs, tomatoes and green peppers. The mussels were nice sized, very tender and flavored nicely with the broth. The mussels are served with 4 pieces of toasted garlic/cheese bread. Hubby snagged one before I could get the 1st picture, I couldn't blame him the aroma of the bread and the mussels was very appetizing. The generous 1 LB portion was only $9.95. We were heathens and sopped up the wonderful broth with the bread; we'll be back for these wonderful mussels!

We hadn't eaten lunch so we each ordered the village tavern salad ($4.75 with entrees), mine without bacon. The salad was delivered while we were eating our mussels, next time I'd ask for the salads to be delivered after the apps. The spinach salad was slightly sweet with a poppy seed dressing, craisins, sugared walnuts and blue cheese. I made the mistake of not ordering the dressing on the side, the salad was drenched and really needed the salty of the bacon to cut through the sweet of the dressing and the craisins. It was a salad that my Hubby and I easily could have split, very nice sized but a lot to get through if you ordered a hearty appetizer...which we did. Live and learn! The salad comes with a nice apple spice muffin, which was too much sweet with our mussels and wine, but was very nicely flavored and moist. Try ordering the dressing on the side if you opt for the Tavern Salad.

Hubby ordered the Onion- Mushroom Burger with fries. ($8.95) Burger was served cooked to order with a very nice portion of grilled onions and mushrooms, which is hiding under the Cheddar cheese. Hubby said it was an outstanding burger, very flavorful and not dry. Fries were great, fresh with good flavor, crunch and served nice and warm.






I opted for the Grouper Hemming- way ($21.95)
which is a broiled piece of grouper served with a White wine sauce with lemon, tomatoes and capers over Angel Hair Pasta. The large piece of fresh tasting Grouper was tender and flaky, the light sauce was appropriately lemony but not overdone. I would go about 1/2 on the capers the next go around as they overpowered the delicate fish and sauce a bit.

Hubby and I ordered with our eyes and couldn't finish our entrees. We boxed up 1/2 of the burger and the Grouper with pasta. Everything reheated wonderfully for lunch on Sunday.

We ordered the King Estate Pinot Grigio from Oregon, $18 for the 1/2 bottle carafe. The wine was very fresh and acidic, not too fruity and little oak. It paired very nicely with everything we ordered, even Hubbies burger. I think I would go with the Pine Ridge Chenin/Viogner the next go around. The Pine Ridge offers a bit more finesse and is not as sharp, would be a nicer pairing with the Steamed Mussels.

There is 1/2 off wines by the glass on the bar and patio on Wednesday night. We might have to enjoy some mussels and wine very soon!

Cheers!