Pisces Rising

Stopped in for appetizer only. Best calamari we ever had and we are super picky. It was done to perfection the flavors were heavenly. Paired with their awesome sangria. Plus they are dog friendly. Will be making a special trip back to try out the full menu. Well done people

As others have warned, although it is a beautiful restaurant and setting, the food was inconsistent within our party of four: Appetizers of crab fritters & lobster bisque (soup of the day) were good, not great, and entrée of chicken roulade was fabulous, but the other three entrees were average at best; my risotto sounded wonderful in the description and when the waitress asked if I would like to «add some protein» to it, I acquiesced for the scallops (what she neglected to inform me was that adding four scallops was going cost as much as the risotto entrée itself, i. e, $ 20 for the risotto and $ 20 for 4 scallops (!!) making my entrée a $ 40 dish — I could have ordered the crusted black grouper for less), when the $ 40 prize arrived I was disappointed that the risotto was a large glop of sticky, gooey arborio rice in a bowl with some added squash chunks, very heavy and the texture of a ball of oatmeal — the scallops were done well, sitting on top of the ball, but I didn’t want to finish the risotto; the other ‘entrée’ of spinach salad was uninspired with the spinach being gritty, not having been washed well, and the stems left on, right «out of the bag» (from Costco?); the paella was OK, but not great. Finally, the poached pear dessert was abominable, served hard as a brick, obviously not a ripe pear and not poached. When we complained to the waitress, she said «they come pre-​poached (!), but I’ll mention it to the kitchen». We heard not another word from her or the kitchen, and were still charged full-​price for it!
As if additional disappointment was needed, the band decided not to play on this Saturday night, apparently because it had rained during the day, but it was a beautiful dry night???

We came to Pisces Rising anticipating a delicious corned beef and cabbage meal. We were so disappointed that the corn beef meal came out without any cabbage! We asked for the manager, and he was very apologetic, stating that a large catering party consumed all of the cabbage! However, he comped the meal, and we forgave the mistake! The corned Beef and vegetables were absolutely delicious, as was the blackened shrimp with mushroom risotto! The service is great and we will definitely be back! We loved our server, Heather and the manager, Sean!

Really great view/​location. We sat outdoors. Mediocre food. A bit pricey. Server not very attentive. Don’t order the apple crisp… more like cold stewed apples. Not worthy of a return visit in my opinion.

Here with a group of women from Oregon visiting 2 friends from Florida and we were luck that they suggested eating here. Andrew our waiter took wonderful care of us & answered all our questions about menu ideas. The bartender mixed up a variety of drinks even if we asked for a liquor & a suggestion of a type of drink. Thanks for a great evening!

Beautiful restaurant. Great outside bar. But food always seems to be average at best. Having been here numerous times, usually just for drinks and appetizers but sometimes we will have a full meal rather than ask our group to move to a different restaurant. I have very seldom had food here that was outstandingly good.
But that being said, it is a great place to meet friends and simply socialize in Mount Dora. It is very popular with the locals.

Not a fan. Our server was very much focused on something other than his job. Bar was out of Tito’s vodka (really???) and food was expensive. Would I go back? Probably not but if you are a flirty senior citizen — you’ll fit right in.

Awesome place to sit on the lake have a drink. wonderful food, wonderful atmosphere, good music good bartender. however the ladies room is disgusting. smells like a men’s urinal. told the manager one day. same smell the next day. Too bad.

First timers at Rising and we weren’t disappointed. I had the Paella which was filled with plenty of shrimp, fish, clams and mussels. My wife had the shrimp and grits, again very delicious. The view as the sun set over the lake was gorgeous and the service was relaxed and we weren’t rushed. We left with full bellies and a smile!

Lovely location, and there is tons of outdoor seating to take advantage of the sunset. I’ve been a continual customer for several years now, and my complaints are about the general decline of the property through time. The outdoor deck is weathered and the boards are uneven. The venue books live music, but the dance floor is becoming dangerous. The Charcuterie used to be wonderful, but the last time I ordered, it was so skimpy, with average ingredients, that I won’t order again. It feels like the place is making money, but corners are being cut. That’s too bad, because it has been more, and certainly could be again.
Inside, the venue is beautiful, and the food is artful but not always great. It’s an okay option for an upscale meal.

What a disappointment! My husband and I decided to catch a light meal at the bar. We ordered the Charcuterie under appetizers. It described artisan cheese, meats, pâté and grilled bread. What came was a HUGE casserole dish that astounded us and others at the bar who asked «what is that?»
Instead of an elegant cheese and meat platter we had cheddar cheese chuncks perfect for toddlers to munch, no pâté and sweet bread and cheese suitable for dessert! I can only imagine there is no true chef in the kitchen.
We tried not to judge harshly so we ordered the lobster bisque. It was presented beautifully but was visually mealy and tasted bland. It had the right color but that was it!
I have enjoyed a few lunches on the lovely patio so I wanted my husband to enjoy it too. Instead we left frustrated and knowing we would never be back.

The staff are lovely as is the food and service.
This Restaurant does so much for the community of Mt Dora. Great atmosphere, romantic waterview dinning, music and good cheer at the friendly bar run by Mike the best bartender in mt dora. Highly recommend.

I have visited twice. First time we walked out after not getting a reserved table that was reserved a week in advance. Plus no one even came to take our drink order. This was after waiting 30 minutes in an empty restaurant. Second visit was a birthday party. Food was meh and my wife and I both were on the toilet all night after eating here. Overpriced and questionable quality.

Are here for the first time today. We had never been to Mount Dora and decided at the last minute to make a road trip.
I had used Unilocal to kinda «scope» out the local eateries before we got there to have a better idea what we wanted before arriving.
This was where we decided to try.
I really loved the way the retiring was setup with the choose to dine inside or out and it seemed a little more «upscale» than I anticipated.
The menu choices were minimal, but that was a good thing, in my opinion, and there was still a good variety of option nonetheless.
I chose the jambalaya. It was one of the best I think I’ve ever had. I was also not anticipating the portion size that I received. I’m a pretty big fella and I could hardly finish!
The wait staff were friendly and prompt with service.
The only bit of complaining I might have would be that we ordered the bread and olive oil appetizer and it only came with a small cup of olive oil and 4 little slices of bread. I would’ve liked that it was a little bit more and maybe had some dried herbs or something to mix with the oil.
I would definitely recommend this place if visiting the Mt Dora area.

We had our girlfriends dinner out here again this year. Food was delish. Our waitress was ok. Decent service but it felt like we were bothering her.

We came here to listen to the band Shake Down.
We have been here before with OK service however our waiter tonight was a real jerk and I am sorry that I did not do something then instead of now on Unilocal.
That being said, he was terrible no customer service at all, I had to go to the bar to get one of our group a beer.
We had three couples all separate checks but they still counted us as six even though we did not have a table but at one of their dining bars.
Thus we were charged a 18% gratuity for a party of six, not good.
We were also overcharged for wine the menu said $ 35 they charged us $ 45.
Again. It was my responsibility to say something at the time this happened Dec 18 to listen to the band.
We will go back but will really check our bill and make sure we ask for or Favorite waitress Frenchie.

The food was delicious (catch of the day + filet mignon), the service was wonderful and the ambience was great. We went as soon as their dinner rush was over so our wait wasn’t very long and we were able to get a table outside where we were able to enjoy the al fresco dining along with the rock n roll band that was a lot of fun!

Our last meal in Mt. Dora!
Matt, our server was very nice, attentive sevice and he gave us good suggestions.
For starters Coctail Cranberry, Spiced Rum, Grand Marnier, Bitters, Cranberry, Lemon.
Crab meat fritters, Cubano mix Egg Rolls. Arugula salad. Which one was better it’s hard to decide. I think I settle for the egg rolls.
Paradise Burgers and Fufu Shrimp were the entrees.
The burger is a mixture of ground prime beef and short ribs. Excellent! It is BIG. Could be shared.
The Fufu shrimp was an odd combo in paper. The blend of flavors surprinsingly well matched.
We were given a free mini keylime pie. Forgettable.
The bananas foster came in a deep bowl big enough to be shared as well.
There was a gentleman playing oldies.
A pleasant ambiance dinner experience.

I had no idea Mount Dora was this cozy and cute!
The patio bar is a great place to chill and get some drink because it has a gorgeous view of the Dora Canal. There is live music as well but it started raining on the night that we went.
The seafood dishes we ordered for dinner were great. The grouper and snapped were very fresh, had wonderful texture and perfect mild flavor.
The combination of fried onions, grapefruit, peaches, and white beans really brought out the flavor of my grouper and come on, who would think peaches and grapefruit would pair so wonderfully with grouper? If that’s a thing, I didn’t know about it!
Would love to go back again and enjoy some live music!

We’d waited a while to try Pisces Rising due to the mixed reviews. Last night we finally decided to give them a shot and seated ourselves on the back deck. The deck itself looked to be in need of renovation. It looked like they’d added some granite but the wooden beams, tables and chairs were very worn. The umbrellas were all cinched up and the view of the lake was obstructed by them as well as power lines and buildings. Still, you can see a small sliver of the lake and there was a nice breeze.
Service was above average. Our server admitted that she wasn’t too familiar with the menu as it had just changed days before. She did have a couple recommendations which we took into account. First, on a Sunday early evening there were no happy hour specials– too bad. We had some glasses of wine and chose a sampling of dishes to share. We started off the the spinach salad ($ 12) which came with goat cheese, berries and almonds. My first impression of it was that it looked like something I would make at home. Once we moved past the top layer of spinach we could see the bottom bits were soggy and wilted. Not wanting to be «that guy» but also not wanting a nasty $ 12 salad we sent it back. Not going well so far!
Next came the hot apps. We tried the calamari which was cooked well and served with a marinara dipping sauce. There wasn’t really anything special about it so I probably wouldn’t order it again. We also tried a tamale which had a good flavor but was very small. The pork was tender and had a good flavor but there wasn’t more than a couple of bites of the thing. The stand out of the meal was the entrée of pork and scallops. Although again the portion was modest the pork was cooked to perfection and could be cut like butter. The scallops were large and also seasoned and cooked perfectly. Over the dish was a peach sauce with slices of peaces with cinnamon– it was delicious! We could have eaten another one of these as their were only 3 scallops and 4 bits of pork.
Finally for dessert we ordered the crème brûlée (free thanks to the Unilocal check in offer) and bananas foster. Unfortunately they were not able to do the bananas foster table-​side on the back deck due to the wind. The crème brûlée was white chocolate and key lime flavored. It was very good with the warm crisp sugared crust atop cool smooth custard. The bananas foster was must less impressive, I wouldn’t order it again. It was basically four scoops of vanilla ice cream with too few slices of bananas and sauce. Bananas are cheap, give more with this dessert!
If it hadn’t been for the phenomenal pork and scallop entrée Pisces Rising would have barely earned a ³⁄₅ star. However, our server did a good job, although I think a manager should have come to speak to us about the salad. The apps were mediocre and I’d skip the bananas foster next time and try one of the other made-​in-​house desserts. The inside dining room appeared to be much more formal than the back deck. Out back you could get away with shorts, inside you’d better dress up a little more. Unfortunately they allow smoking on the deck which non-​smokers have to tolerate if you want to enjoy a nice evening outside. Overall a good, but pricey, experience.