The Chef’s Pantry

Great food! Although I wish they had more options, they still do a great job. I love the atmosphere there and the waiters are very friendly. I’ve been here almost every time I’ve stopped by in Mount Dora. It is definitely worth a try!

We visited this place mid afternoon and the food was delicious. The wait staff were friendly and welcoming. They have a variety of foods on their menu and lots of options in beer and wine. Will definitely go back!

This review requires to be written in two parts. Food and Service. We have been to The Chefs Pantry before and enjoyed the food and atmosphere, and friends asked forms suggestion, so, we returned.
The Food: once the order was completed the food was good. Not great, but good. I would give the food a three star rating. If only it were that easy. There were four of us, two of us had the Oriental Chicken Salad, one of us had the «regular» burger with fries and the other had a Cuban sandwich.
The burger was done well, good flavor, juicy and large enough to satisfy a healthy adult appetite. The Cuban was also done well and was tender and good. Which leads me to my second part, Service.
One of us had a glass of wine, which came out with a very nice pour. Someone ordered a draft beer, which had lost its head by the time it got to the table and should have been topped off. A diet soda was delivered fine and I ordered an unsweet tea with Equal. When the drinks where delivered I asked, again, for Equal and was assured by our waitress that she would be «right back» with the sugar. Everyone else enjoyed their drinks while awaiting our food, while I waited for sugar. And waited. I couldn’t even find, or see, our waitress. Eventually she showed up to see if we were doing ok, and yet again, pointing to my now watery ice tea, I asked for sugar. She looked embarrassed and brought back a fresh tea and sugar.
While the restaurant was not that busy, I tried to understand, perhaps she was new at this wait staff stuff. While she didn’t seem overwhelmed she didn’t respond with sufficient attention.
When our meals came out from the kitchen, Neither salad came out with chicken. The two of us searched through our salads, thinking it was already mixed in. Unfortunately, my hat wasn’t the case.
Our waitress was nowhere to be seen, so, I went in search of the manager. She was busy taking an order from another table so I asked the bartender to give her a message that our salads were delivered sans protein and we would like to see her.
10 minutes later still no manager, so, I went in search of her yet again. I found her carrying a tray of food, and when I spoke to her, she flippantly said she had our chicken on the tray, was bringing it to us, and asked what table were we at?
As she served the protein, the waitress was still nowhere to be found. The manager didn’t apologize but did say they have standards and said she would give us a discounted check for the inconvenience.
As I said above, the salads were good. When we finally asked for our checks, they were delivered at full price, no discounts noted. Now, we were not asking for any special treatment, but, if after being treated in such a way, miscues from the kitchen, no real interaction with the manager then, I think a % off, or perhaps a round of drinks on the house, would have gone a long way to good will. None of that was offered, but some promised.
I took the checks and handed them to the manager, once I found her, informing her that here was no discount applied. She took the checks and finally said «I apologize, I will take care of these» turned and went into the kitchen.
All we were looking for was a nice meal, with adequate wait staff involvement. What we got was ok food, with little to no involvement. It’s a shame really because it’s a nice place. Sadly, we won’t be returning. There are other, better, choices locally, and I think they would appreciate our business

Stopped in to have a few drinks the atmosphere was pleasant the bartender Bride was amazing and very helpful. Will definitely be back!

Wonderful breakfast with excellent service. Great find when on a weekend trip in Mount Dora!

Great, friendly service. They weren’t busy but I couldn’t figure out why. I got the Spiked Grapefruit drink which was awesome and refreshing, I highly recommend it and it’s a large serving. I ate the Blackened Reuben, which was dolphin and tasted good. My mom had the Red Rum Burger and loved it. This was our first place to eat after checking in to the Lakeside Inn across the street. Recommended.

I was here very early for dinner so it’s would be expected that the service was attentive and food arrive super fast.
The food quality was good. I asked for and received hot, crispy fries which some restaurants can unbelievably mess up.
The spicy chicken sandwich was good quality meat and preparation. I ordered it without the gorgonzola and horseradish since spicy breading sounded sufficient. The server offered non-​spicy ranch when I told them to leave off the horseradish which was super nice.
My main observation here is that they seem over-​sauced. The sandwich was tasty and fresh even though I ordered it without two entire sauces. One of the salads lists 2 different dressings on the menu.

Great food! Flat out, one of the best burgers I’ve had in years! Service was a little slow, but worth the wait.
Started with Fried Green Tomatoes that were out of this world! My wife had the shrimp and grits and they were really good. Not as good as hers, but good enough to lick the plate either way.
Now, about that burger… I had «The Gorg». First, it was cooked Med… Exactly as I ordered it!!! If you’re a burger fan, you know how hard that is to get. Secondly, the meat was delicious. It could have been eaten alone, no toppings, no sauces, just meat! Whatever they’re doing, it’s right! But when you add the Gorgonzola, bacon, onion straws and beautifully soft bun… I’m stuffed and my mouth is watering just writing the review!
Overall, great place to eat and we will definitely be back!

The Gorg burger and Caribbean jerk tossed chicken tenders were BEYOND delicious! A highly recommended lunch spot. Looking forward to having breakfast here as well. If you are looking for a great lunch, this is the right choice. Janice provided excellent service.

Excellent service and oh so yummy fresh food. The bacon dressing is uh-​mazing. I had the pasta primavera and was blown away by how perfectly cooked my veggies were. I’m super picky so the 5 stars are well deserved!!!

I had had breakfast at the Chesf’s Pantry and it was great, so I thought I would try dinner, I was not disapointed. I had the Shrimp Scampi and it was fantastic !
It was also one of the nicest presentation I’ve ever seen in a seafood pasta dish, I wish I had taken a picture of it, mabe next time. The last time I had a shrimp pasta dish was at Outba

The hostess & waitstaff were friendly. The bar manager w/​the low voice is cool & delivers quality drinks & service. We got there and our waiter was down on his hands & knees strapping in the booster seat for our daughter. They were giving 100%. The Arnold Palmer drink was top notch. The side salad was great. The clam chowder was really good too. However, the «Killer Coconut Shrimp» had too much mandarin teriyaki sauce. I uploaded a picture of it & I think you’ll agree from the photo. It was saturated w/​so much sauce that you could not taste any coconut. Maybe put the sauce on the side?

Came in for breakfast and really enjoyed my experience. I got a build your own omelet with hashbrowns and toast and my boyfriend got strawberry french toast. My meal had a lot of flavor, but had a lot of excess grease on it. My boyfriend’s french toast was amazing — the cream cheese filling didn’t taste artificial like it does at other places.
The food was fresh and we had a really nice server.

We stopped in here and were so impressed with the quality of the food and the service. I had the Out of Towner burger and it was truly wonderful. Josh was our waiter and he was great. Definitely recommend this place.

This place is awesome! Highly recommend it! We had wonderful customer service! The GM is so nice! They also have a paleo menu. Quality food