Mighty Mouthwatering

Some impressive food heroes team up lakeside to make the reinvented Waterfront a success.

Joseph Hayes

OVER THE PAST couple of years we’ve lost several historic landmarks of the Orlando culinary scene. Lido’s Italian, Park Plaza Gardens, Gargi’s Lakeside and Paco’s, legacies from the 1970s and ’80s, all shut their doors due to economic woes or just plain age. 

Julie’s Waterfront opened waaaaayyy back in 1988, serving oysters, sandwiches and seafood. Over the decades the casual lakeside eatery on the banks of Lake Jennie Jewel settled like a well-worn pair of slippers into the “funky” category. Even lifelong area residents have only a hazy recollection of passing by the place as they sped along Orange Avenue (blink and you will miss it), but we often used to stop there on our way back home from the airport for an acceptable fish sandwich, a bottle of beer and contemplation over tranquil waters.

Drop the eponymous name, spiff up the interior a bit, and raise the food level far above acceptable, and you have The Waterfront.