The 11 Best Restaurants in Mount Dora, Florida

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Mount Dora is known as the City of Festivals, but it has so many unique food venues it could be the city of food. It’s a favorite for antique shoppers and lovers of old Florida. It’s also home to Florida’s most historic hotel, Lakeside Inn, built in 1883.

Lakeside is the oldest continuously operating hotel in Florida. This last of the grand Victorian era hotels remaining in Central Florida once played host to many celebrities, including President Calvin Coolidge and First Lady Grace Coolidge, who spent a month there in the winter of 1930. The hotel is home to four unique dining experiences. 

11 Best Restaurants in Mount Dora, Florida

The Beauclaire Restaurant

100 North Alexander St. Mount Dora, FL 32757

The Beauclaire Restaurant, in the main hotel building, is a study of Victorian elegance. The room is spacious, with windows all along the front looking out onto the garden. I enjoyed a traditional breakfast of two eggs, bacon, grits, and a biscuit. Its most upscale dish is Filet and Lobster, featuring an eight-ounce grilled filet paired with a butter poached lobster tail.

It’s served with fingerling potatoes and roasted baby carrots topped with a creamy parmesan sauce. In keeping with its Victoria feel, the servers are dressed for the part. Men wear dress pants, white shirt and a tie. Ladies have a black vest and apron that simulates a long black skirt. It’s open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

The Verandah 

100 North Alexander St. Mount Dora, FL 32757

You’re in Florida where the weather is usually warm and sunny, so you may want to be outdoors. The Verandah is perfect for a casual and relaxing experience. The menu is the same as the Beauclaire so you don’t miss out on delicious food. The view is even better. You are looking out across the spacious lawn at Lake Dora.

Tremain’s Tavern

100 North Alexander St. Mount Dora, FL 32757

Tremain’s Tavern is the spot for an afternoon cocktail or some bar food, like burgers, wings, or a salad. Tremain’s is designed to look like a gentlemen’s club in the Victorian Era. It has lots of dark wood and etched glass with a well-equipped bar. There is live entertainment every night.

The Lakeside Pool Bar

100 North Alexander St. Mount Dora, FL 32757

The Lakeside Pool Bar is perfect for a cocktail when you are lounging by the large pool just yards away from Lake Dora. It’s only open on weekends with pleasant weather.

Jeremiah’s

500 N Highland St Mount Dora, FL 32757

Besides the hotel’s options, there are many other distinctive restaurants in Mount Dora. Jeremiah’s Restaurant & Bar of Mt. Dora has been family owned and operated since 1984. It’s lit with Tiffany style hanging lamps and sports everything from airplanes and cars to boats and scooters hanging from its exposed beam ceiling. 

They are open for lunch and dinner Tuesday through Saturday. You have an immense range of choices here. There’s steak and seafood. You can go Mexican with their quesadillas or fajitas. You can take a trip to Key West with their Chicken Key West or the Orient with Fried wontons.

I had a hard time deciding on the Down Home choices between the Chicken and Dumplings, shredded chicken in a well-seasoned sauce with piping hot dumplings and a fresh buttermilk biscuit or the Baked Chicken Pot Pie. I went with the Chicken and dumplings and a side of a baked potato.

Jeremiah’s is located midway between the historic downtown and Renninger’s Flea and Antique Market. It’s just a few blocks from the lighthouse, which is Florida’s only registered inland aid to navigation lighthouse.

1921 Mount Dora

142 East 4th Avenue Mount Dora, FL 32757

1921 is one of the most unusual restaurants in Mount Dora. Owned by the Modernist Art Museum, rotating art hangs in what was once the town doctor’s home in 1921. The restaurant had maintained the feel of the luxurious home and combined it with rotating modern art and mainly locally sourced dishes.

Chris Edwards is the Executive Chef. He came to 1921 in 2020, bringing his experience from such well-respected restaurants as Restaurant Eugene, and Holeman and Finch Public House in Atlanta, and Cafe Boulud in Palm Beach. His dishes are a work of art in appearance as well as taste. 

If you want a glass of wine with your meal, you have great choices. Their over-450 wine choices are maintained by Adam Crane, a Certified Sommelier through the Court of Master Sommeliers.

I ordered the Artisan Cheese board with Hearth Toasted Sourdough bread. The cheeses were from Boxcarr Handmade Cheese in Cedar Grove, NC, Green Dirt Farm in Weston, MO, and Kenny’s Farmhouse in Austin, KY along with pickled veggies, and fantastic candied pecans. 

I entered through a white brick archway into a brick-paved courtyard with a realistic statue of their mascot dog. Inside, the white exposed beam ceilings, hardwood floors and many colorful paintings on the wall retain the charm of this 1921 home.

I felt it must have an interesting history and asked my server, Isabelle, if it had a resident ghost.

She told me she had never actually seen anything, but one time another worker answered when they heard someone speak and when they turned and looked into the restaurant, no one was there. 

Pisces Rising 

239 W 4th Avenue Mount Dora, FL 32757

Pisces Rising is another restaurant built around a historic 1919 home with a view of Lake Dora and it’s one of the coolest restaurants in Mount Dora. Ann and Ron Winters moved from Key West and founded Pisces Rising restaurant in 2003.

They brought their love of south Florida seafood with them, but they have several steak or chicken choices too.

Menu choices are hard here. A friend had told me she loved the Fresh Catch. That day’s choice was grouper with lemon beurre blanc sauce served over Himalayan red rice. That did sound appetizing, as did the Peel and Eat Shrimp, but I picked Shrimp and Grits. My server, Ellis, assured me it was his favorite as well. 

Along with having hard choices on the menu, you need to decide to dine inside the restored home with a large open view kitchen or on the deck with its views of Lake Dora. It was a beautiful evening, so I opted for the deck. 

Fifth Avenue Streatery

846 E 5th Ave Mt Dora, FL 32757

If you’re looking for a cross between a fine dining establishment and a food truck, look no farther than Fifth Avenue Streetery, one of the best restaurants in Mount Dora. It’s a few blocks outside the downtown area next to the Village Antique Mall. Tim Habjan and his wife, Deborah McGann, opened the Streatery in July 2019. 

Both had a restaurant background. Tim had managed several independent restaurants and a Ruby Tuesday. He was working in a restaurant in The Villages when he met Deborah, who also had experience as a manager, cook, server, and bartender.

They wanted to open a restaurant in Mount Dora but found rents too high until they found a closed-down gas station for sale. With the small building to serve as a kitchen and the covered former gas lanes to seat guests outside, they knew it was right for them.

They equipped it with outdoor tables with umbrellas and metal chairs set in the covered area, and fans and outside heaters.

They serve mainly Southern Style dishes all made-from-scratch dishes. Daily lunch and dinner menus of tacos, hot dogs, burgers, salads, and seafood mix with vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free items. On Sundays, they serve breakfast.

It is a favorite spot for locals as well as visitors, especially dog owners. There was a cute black French bulldog a few tables away and a gorgeous full-size poodle and lab next to me.

I loved watching them enjoy their bowls of water the server brought them. I had the Shrimp Basket with a large fresh salad. The shrimp were huge and well coated with a flavorful breading. The fries were homemade and so plentiful I couldn’t finish them all.

Still, there was one item on the menu that I had to try for dessert: the Bananas Foster Crepe. It was fantastic!

Three generous scoops of vanilla ice cream encased in a thin crepe and drizzled with banana foster sauce and slices of warm banana. I almost finished all of it. My server, Leslie, confined that she had shared one with a friend and it was all they could do to finish. 

Cody’s on 4th St.

111 East 4th Avenue Mount Dora, Florida 32757

Go where the locals go if you want a home-style experience. Cody loves to create innovative dishes to feed her friends. No wonder it’s one of the best restaurants in Mount Dora.

Once you step inside, you are a friend. When I went for breakfast, I noticed everyone else seemed to know one another and the staff greeted most by name. 

It’s a cozy café style small restaurant in the heart of Mount Dora’s historic downtown. Cody Spitzi, the owner, has always had a love of cooking and loves to experiment with exciting new dishes. Pretty much everything is homemade.

She won me over with my delicious French Toast Casserole.

It is like a warm New Orleans style bread pudding crossed with French toast and drizzled with maple syrup and served with a fresh fruit cup.

Combined with a steaming cup of Twinning’s English Breakfast tes, it was the perfect breakfast. If you want to get creative, Cody’s offers a build-your-own egg sandwich where you choose bread, meats, and cheeses for your own masterpiece. They also serve lunch.

Maw’s Mountain Moonshine

352 Alexander Street Mount Dora, FL 32757

If you are craving a touch of Appalachian Mountain moonshine, you’ll find it here in Mount Dora. John and Jhosette Adkins and Victoria and Ricky Diniz, who own Maw’s Mountain Moonshine, live in Mount Dora now but their family roots are proud moonshiners from the Appalachian Mountains. 

Maw’s is named for a family grandmother and housed in a former Sears catalog home that looks like it was transported from a hollow in the mountains. You can enjoy unique cocktails, moonshine tastings, and live music on the patio.

Their moonshine flavors are from old family recipes and include Strawberry Jam, Key Lime Pie, Blueberry Muffin, and Sweet Tea. You can enjoy a cocktail or moonshine tasting and hear live music on the patio in the heart of the historic district. No wonder it’s one of the best restaurants in Mount Dora.

Piglet’s Pantry 

400 N Donnelly Street  Mount Dora, FL  32757

If you brought a four-legged family member along, stop in at Piglet’s Pantry for doggie treats. Piglet’s has a dog lover’s history and it’s one of the best restaurants in Mount Dora.

Carla and Edson Pereira first adopted greyhound was Piglet who was just two years old and already finished a racing career. She was a picky eater, so they developed what has today become their trademark doggie treats, Muddy Paws. You’ll find kitty treats and toys for both dogs and cats there.

Best Restaurants In Mount Dora: Conclusion

If you visit during a festival, which is pretty often, as there are over 30 a year, there are lots of street venders selling all sorts of yummies. That is the only time you may experience traffic or parking problems. I visited during the February Art Festival which is their largest festival. All the downtown area was closed to traffic. I was staying at the Lakeside Inn, which had plenty of parking for guests, but I walked on my downtown explorations.

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