We always talk about where to eat on Walt Disney World property, so now let’s talk about eating off property.

During Thanksgiving my family decided to not hit the parks but instead find a nice restaurant off property (partly because of crowds, partly because we booked it fairly last-minute and couldn’t find any open reservations).  I am a researcher.  I will check website after website, scouring menus and reviews.  Yelp, Trip Advisor, and Chowhound are my best friends when I am researching.  I came across some reviews for Cooper’s Hawk Winery and so I checked the menu.  One of the first things I noticed was a cheese plate and wine flights.  I was sold!

While this restaurant is a chain, it doesn’t feel like it and the food definitely doesn’t taste like it!  When you enter the restaurant, you are greeted with a wine bar and gift shop.  It’s the perfect area to have a glass of wine while you wait on your table.

The menu is full of lots of choices, everything from flatbreads to egg rolls to braised short ribs.  As a mother of 4 kids, I wanted to go somewhere that my kids weren’t limited to chicken nuggets and grilled cheese.  While the kids’ menu here does include those items, it also includes filet, salmon, and even pot stickers!

We started our meal with the cheese tasting and wine flights.  The cheese came with a  list of the cheeses and which wine to drink with each.  There was a perfect pairing for all of them!

My husband had the Mexican Drunken Shrimp. I enjoyed them; he thought they were nothing special.

My daughter had the tortilla soup.  It was fantastic!  I would even go so far as to say, it was probably one of the best tortilla soups I’ve ever had!

My mother-in-law and I decided to get 2 entrées and share them.  We ended up with the Short Rib Risotto and the Trio of Medallions.  Both were fantastic but the Short Rib Risotto was my favorite!  It was so tender and full of flavor.  I highly recommend this dish!  (Excuse my lack of pictures for the Medallions and my picture of the half-eaten Risotto.  I was so excited about the food that I forgot the initial picture!)

My son and other daughter had the kid’s cheese pizza (after wanting to offer my kids more, they still went for the basics!).  They both said it was delicious and I loved the fact that it came with fruit so I didn’t feel like my kids were eating completely unhealthy.

We were so full after all this food but I had to squeeze down some dessert.  I had the Crème Brulee.  It was good, but nothing spectacular.  The kids’ meals come with a chocolate covered strawberry for dessert.

If you are looking for somewhere off property to try, I highly recommend Cooper’s Hawk Winery.  It’s a great spot whether you are going there for a romantic dinner or bringing the whole family!  Cooper’s Hawk Winery is located at 8005 International Drive, Orlando FL 32819 (10 miles from Walt Disney World Resort, 2 miles from Universal Studios Orlando, and 4 miles from SeaWorld Orlando).