Maxine’s on Shine

Food is delicious. Service was friendly and accommodating. Atmosphere is delightful with a fun duo performing live music. We did the bite30 menu and split it between the four of us so everyone could try every dish. Great decision. We all agreed we would return to try out the Sunday brunch!

Great service and yummy food. Great value! Cute location.

Anytime I am in Orlando I try to go to Maxine’s. Stay away from the chains and tourist traps and try Maxine’s. It is a cute and eclectic restaurant set in a neighborhood with live music, great food and and outdoor dining. The menu changes often and never disappoints. The service is wonderful.

This place should be a stop on everyone’s dining schedule. If you like an intimate vibe and hands on owners that make you feel more at home than at a business… then this is it. Service was A+
I recommend the Pork & Lobster Ravioli. Also, the wine list is top notch.

Went for brunch. Food was good; chicken and waffles and the cheese plate. Good selection of beers and wine. Live music Sunday morning was enjoyable. The space is small but comfortable. Staff was very friendly, even though we were not regulars– which you could tell there were many there

My Wife, a few friends and I had the opportunity to attend their special wine and food pairing nights a few weeks ago. Everything we absolutely top notch! The wine selections were great, but the food was just fantastic! The owners, Maxine and Kirt, introduced themselves to each table and came by our table multiple times throughout the night to converse with us. It was not the typical manager checking up on the table, it was truly them wanting to connect with their customers. That is something you just do not get at many places these days. We will certainly be back to Maxine’s for great food, good people, and awesome times!

Cuuuuute place!!! Came here for Sunday brunch. Had the bloody mary… mmmmm. Delicious! And, ordered the Beef Hash, which my server said was his favorite. Not your typical beef hash. It was delicious! There was also live music and Maxine came over to say hi.

Very good food, a little pricy. The décor is nice, shows art from different artists and some are for sale. Drink prices are decent, we would say better than most for this type of place. A little small, so for people that have a hard time in small crowded places this might not be the place for you. It eventually cleared up a little. We went for Sunday brunch. The owner walked around, she didn’t come to see us but it was nice to see that she was around.

This is a neat place. The husband and wife owners are very sweet, and the place has a cool, funky vibe. The food is straight forward, and good. Not cutting edge or amazing, but good. They often have live music and clearly are supporters of the arts. Check it out!

Maxine’s is a magical restaurant in the residential area of downtown Orlando that feels like the fun home of an artsy, super cool, ultra-​hip friend.
Maxine’s atmosphere and its passionate, fun, inventive owners are really what makes it special. They always have live music, and every Thursday they have a set menu with suggested wines for a $ 25. That’s too good of a deal to pass up, so when a Thursday rolled around that just happened to be «date night» themed, I called right away to put in a reservation. The wine was delicious and enhanced every tasty tapas-​style dish, the «MC» for the night was energetic and passionate, and it felt like we were really a part of a community, even though we were enjoying the solitude of a date night.
All of the workers at Maxine’s looked like they were having a blast – it seemed like a place that would be a lot of fun to work. The owners were so kind, and came over to talk to each table, and seemed genuinely interested in making sure everyone had a good time. Between the food, the drinks, the people, and the atmosphere, Maxine’s is one of those restaurants that’s easy to settle into and have a good time.

Such a cute little neighborhood spot owned by a lovely and friendly lady. My husband got the lobster ravioli and I got the cioppino. Both were delicious and I would order those again. I now have a spot to get cioppino when I can’t get to San Fran. The portions were pretty decent and the prices correlated with the ingredients. Service has always been great and our experiences there have always been fun and positive.

Positives: Mostly great food, great ambiance, great patio, live music.
Negatives: One douchey bartender, I had questionable tasting shrimp here once, dirty cups (Bloody Mary mix residue)
Still come back and bring new folks to this spot because pros def outweigh cons

First recommendation is to MAKE A RESERVATION. This place gets packed as soon as it opens! Second recommendation, if you love Bloody Mary’s for brunch, you must try a Warnin’ in da Mornin’. It was perfect. If you don’t like Bloody Mary’s, they also have flavored mimosas (pineapple, pomegranate, etc) The food is prepared fresh, so keep that in mind when ordering. There will be a bit of a wait.

I was very excited to try Maxine’s for the first time but was pretty disappointed by the service we received. We had made a reservation for 2:15 and were seated right on time which was great. It took about ten minutes for our server to arrive and take our order. Then it took nearly an hour for our food to come! Our server didn’t check on us at all. The food was great but not worth the wait. I don’t think we will be coming back soon.

Fantastic Brunch!!!
We were a group of four. The restaurant was super crowded on a Sunday. Definitely recommend reservations. Parking is sparse as well.
Food– we started with the cheese platter which was a good value and very tasty.
I had the fried green tomato benedict with a side of veggies and potatoes. It was DELICIOUS. The veggies were green beans and carrots sauteed to perfection. The fried green tomatoes were crispy and soft in the center. The egg was cooked perfectly. Best benedict I’ve had in a long time.
A few other dishes ordered by friends: the lumberjack omelette which was raved about, the burger also very enjoyed, and the shrimp and polenta.
Atmosphere– very loud, hipstery, live music, loud announcements by staff to welcome everyone to brunch (how nice is that though?!)
I can’t wait to go back.

Myself and 8 of my friends spent NYE here at Maxine’s and it was even better an experience than I anticipated! I made reservations about 2 weeks ahead and they were gracious enough to put us in a fun little eclectic private room with not one but two servers! We had the best of both worlds as far as ambiance… We easily talk amongst our party & still hear the live band through the opening. Couldn’t have asked for a better place! Maxine introduced herself and was funny & sweet making sure everyone in the place received hats or feather crowns and noise makers.
They offered a prix fix menu for $ 55 which included 4 courses but you could also order a la carte. I went with the prix fix… if you wanted the surf & turf it was totally worth it for $ 10 more. I had the shrimp cocktail which were fresh and tasty, a delicious pear salad. The filet &
Lobster tail, cooked to perfection. And the encore of Crème brûlée. We ordered a few bottles of wine as well as some by the glass. My only complaint was the brûlée … The Caramelized sugar was burnt and bitter and the custard was liquidy. I can certainly overlook that with how busy they were and the rest of the meal was good.
Our service was excellent the entire night. The only thing I will mention is they offered a wine pairing with the prix fix which one of my friends took advantage of… A few times she had to ask for her wine. The servers apologized and brought right away.
We counted down with complimentary champagne & had a blast — overall excellent NYE!

The boyfriend and I came here for Sunday brunch this am. Without GPS and word of mouth I never would’ve known about this place, but both my friends and his friends had told us the place was good, but it seems very tucked away on what appears to be a mostly residential area.
The place is super cute and I wish it was not cold and rainy so that we could’ve sat out on the patio. The patio dining looked really lovely. The inside is small and very hipster. It reminds me of a more scaled down version of Tu Tu Tango with all of the art on the walls. There was live music starting at 11. I was glad we got there at 10 so we could talk, but then we stayed till 11:30 so we could enjoy some of the music too.
We had both perused the menu before going, so we kind of knew what we wanted. Unfortunately, I don’t do bubbles so rather than a mimosa I started with Sangria. It was very good and the serving was large. It remind me a bit of hot mulled wine, but cold.
We ordered the wine lovers cheese board to start. We chose 2 cheeses, the full cream brie and the herb crusted chèvre. It was served with salami, grapes, apples, crackers, olive oil drizzled bread that was super flavorful and to die for yummy, and the most amazing almonds. We both loved the brie, but felt the chèvre was a little underwhelming. It wasn’t bad in any way, but it wasn’t special either.
He ordered the brisket burger. It was served with cheddar, bacon, a sunny side up egg and bacon jam. I thought the bacon jam was really unique. I don’t think he was such a fan. He scraped most of it off. He loved the burger though and the fries were well seasoned.
I ordered the chicken n waffles. The portion was large. ½ of a large Belgian waffle, 2 large pieces of chicken breast, and what had to be at least 3+ eggs. These eggs were outstanding. It is rare that you find special scrambled eggs, but these were. They had been salted, peppered, and seasoned while they were being scrambled. I normally put hot sauce on my eggs to give them some flavor. These did not need them. The waffles were good and the chicken was juicy with a delicious crust. The chicken and waffles were topped with sausage gravy. I’ve never had gravy on my waffle before, but it worked. The gravy was good, but there were large chunks of onion and maybe red pepper in the gravy that I certainly could’ve done without. If I went back I would ask for the gravy on the side for 2 reasons. 1. I could better avoid the offending onions. 2. The portion was so large I had to bring much of it home and I’m not sure how the extra food is going to hold up when I reheat it under the gravy. The chicken and/​or waffles might not be as good tomorrow as it was today after sitting under all that.
Overall, I really liked the place and I would definitely come back.

Finally had brunch here for the first time this past Sunday with some friends and it’s the cutest little spot.
I had the Brisket Burger with seasoned fries and had a couple mason jar mimosas that helped kick-​off my Sunday Funday with great friends!
Really personable staff and atmosphere was like I wasn’t in Orlando, more like Savannah-​esque :)
I’m moving 2 houses away in a house adjacent from Maxine’s and can’t wait to come back for Brunch!

I took my mom and cousin out to try Magical a Dining and we opted to try Maxine’s on Shine. The menu sounded great and I love supporting local business. I opt out of chain restaurants whenever I possibly can.
I loved the atmosphere there! It’s quaint, cozy, and comfortable. I enjoyed the fact that they had live music, but it was ridiculously loud in there. We couldn’t have a conversation between the three of us — I could talk with each other person since I was in the middle, but they couldn’t talk with each other because they were not right next to each other to scream in each other’s ears. We asked them if it was possible to turn the music down a bit, and they did, but it was still louder than most concerts. It gave me a pounding headache.
For food, we each had the mussels appetizer and it was perfect! Garlic, wine/​butter broth, cherry tomatoes, and spinach. There were crustini’s that were perfect — they didn’t get soggy right away. (Delish. ¹⁰⁄₁₀).
My mom and cousin both had the fresh fish, which was snapper with mango salsa. It looked delicious! My aunts piece of fish was about half the size of my moms, but it was a little thicker, so I’m sure it evened out. My mom said hers was overlooked and dry (I agree — I tried some of hers). It was flavorful and tasted good, but it had the consistency of eating tuna fish straight from the can. (Okay. 6.5÷10).
I had the lobster ravioli and it was good. The ravioli’s themselves were stuffed to the max and seemed to be homemade. In the sauce, which was kind of creamy, there were whole sea scallops and shrimp. Those were nice bonuses, I didn’t realize they’d be there! Also in the sauce was about an entire pound of sundried tomatoes. I’m not a fan of sundried tomatoes, and I knew they were in the dish, but normally I pick around them. No big deal. This, however, was overwhelming. I’m not kidding, it was an entire packed cup of them — way too much. (Overall it was good. ⁸⁄₁₀).
For dessert, both my cousin and mom had the pecan apple strudel with vanilla ice cream and I had the chocolate tarte/​cake with raspberry. Their’s didn’t look as good as other plates that had come out earlier in the evening — their ice cream was mostly melted by the time it made it to our table. The strudel tasted good though. (Good. ⁸⁄₁₀). Mine was delicious and a huge serving. The only thing I didn’t care for was whatever was crunchy in it. They didn’t mention nuts being in the cake, so it must’ve been seeds from the raspberry. I can’t/don’t eat nuts because of the texture (I know, I’m weird) so whatever I was crunching on was off-​putting. Other than that, the flavors were delicious! (⁹⁄₁₀)
Everyone who worked there was super nice and friendly, but the service was pretty slow. Now, I get it that is was Magical Dining Month and they were busy, but it took a very long time to get anything (water, between courses, flagging someone down to ask a question, the check). Everything took a while and the whole process was 3 hours. That’s a long time to sit somewhere…
I’m giving 3 stars because of the noise, because of the service, and because something I ate did not sit well at all (I was sick for several hours/​most of the night). I’d give 3.5 if I could, and normally I’d round up when on the fence, but this time I can’t based on this one experience.

Outside seating is where it’s at.
Funny, engaging servers, along with bacon that was never gotten but ordered.
The food itself was nice, nothing extraordinary. The draw for me is outside seating in a quaint neighborhood setting.
I love outside dining.