Retro Station Italian Restaurant, Orlando, Florida

On entering Retro Station, we were greeted with a smile at the stop sign by Renata who showed us to our table and made us feel welcome.

I really liked the style of Retro Station, it made a refreshing change from the samey chain restaurants that we are so used to visiting in Orlando. We were surrounded by retro decoration (hence the name) and Greece was playing on the TV, giving me a chance to introduce one of my the best films from my childhood to my youngest.

Overlooked by Betty Boop we looked at the menus that Renata had given us. I really liked the menus too, they were designed like a flyer, also in retro style. Having visited Orlando frequently, we couldn’t work out why we had never eaten here before.

Renata brought us our drinks and took our order, her pretty apron and smiley chatty personality going so well with the style of the restaurant.

For starters we had the homemade soup of the day, bruschetta and cheesy garlic bread between us. The food at Retro Station is home cooked and if the starters were anything to go by, we were in for a treat! The portions were large and great for sharing. The soup of the day was gorgeous, the gooey garlic bread perfect and the bruschetta was one of the nicest I’ve tried. I could tell we would be visiting this restaurant again!

On the way in I had seen a sign about Retro Stations award winning pizzas so I knew what I was choosing for my main. Renata helpfully showed us cardboard cutouts for the sizes and as their small is actually pretty huge we ordered two small pizzas – one margareta (mozzarella, tomato and fresh basil) and one Bloody Mary (mozzarella, fresh tomato and black olives). We also ordered a kids spaghetti with meat sauce, a chicken breast burger and chicken alfredo pasta.

The pizzas were amazing! They tasted as good as they looked. Made from scratch at the restaurant, you could tell why they had won awards.

The chicken alfredo pasta was delicious and the children’s meal was really big and really good!

The chicken breast burger was lovely with grilled chicken breast, or as my daughter put it, proper chicken, and fresh salad.

For desserts we had chocolate cake, cheesecake and handcrafted popsicles! I was pretty excited to try the popsicles because it sounded so un-English! They were really good, made with fresh fruit and condensed milk or nutella and a refreshing way to end a big meal. The cakes were gorgeous too, I especially liked the cheesecake.

We loved our meal at Retro Station. It was refreshingly different to other restaurants in orlando and great to go somewhere that cares about their food and customers. Completely satisfied, full up and feeling like we had a new friend in Renata we left, armed with boxes of leftovers for the next day. With Renata’s charm matching the charm of the Retro restaurant, this is a place we had not been to before, but it is one we will definitely return to next time we are in Orlando….and the next! We were guests of Retro Station for this meal but all opinions are most definitely our own.

Taking an autistic child to Retro Station?

Retro station is spacious, calm, and quiet.

Staff have the time of day for you, they are understanding and helpful.

The restaurant has a real family feel to it and is very accepting of children.

Retro Station do a lot of work with the local community including families with autistic children. Even before our visit, Renata was emailing me with events going on for autistic children whilst we were in Orlando.

Retro Station is located in Kissimmee Orlando, opposite the entrance to Kissimmee Old Town. You can book in advance but they also take walk in customers and take out is available if you want to sample the home cooked food without venturing out!

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