If I could give zero stars I would! The point of "dining in the dark" is to enhance your taste…read morebuds... why enhance your tastebuds if there is no flavor in the food????? It was cold and just not good. Especially for the amount of money. Let me save you the trip. Don't go.

Fabulous, fabulous, fabulous benefit! This was so much more than just a dinner benefitting a great…read morecause- The dinner itself helped highlight the plight of those without sight, and formed a perfect metaphor for society's 'blindness' to hunger in our cities. Lighthouse Central Florida and Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida came together to put on the dinner, which was at the SH of CFL headquarters. We were first led into an enormous food storage facility for a cocktail hour with a musician singing softly and passed hors d'oeuvre. The anticipation was building with everyone nervously chatting about how some people get anxious and claustrophobic in the dark. But as soon as the Orlando SWAT fellas entered the room and started posing for pictures and mingling all of the nerves left the room and were replaced by giddy ladies (myself included) and laughter. Finally, it was time to line up in our table groups to conga-line into the dark dining room. Alas, I was not lucky enough to be second in the conga-line behind our SWAT gentleman... The room was pitch black- like so black that I couldn't tell the difference between having my eyes open and closed. Eventually, my eyes adjusted a bit and I could see a dim glow of something identifying where the center of our table was. As the dishes came out I realized that utensils were futile. That's right- the SWAT guys, with their night vision, got a great view of me shoveling mashed potatoes into my face with my fingers. And you know what? I was A-OK with that! We were all in the same boat at our table and it led to some great conversations and some new friends! The woman next to me let me know that she is pretty shy and this gave her the confidence to talk to strangers and make friends. In the end, the dinner really highlighted how different life would be without our sense of vision, and it did it in an amazing experiential way. I was a total mess without my vision and I really appreciated it when the lights were turned on at the end. Lighthouse has found a really powerful tool in their awareness arsenal. I would highly recommend this event to others and am now very interested in seeing how I can help both of these fabulous orgs - so, mission accomplished!

Every major city has a "ChinaTown". This is the West sides'…read moreanswer to "little Nom". There are plenty of spots in the shopping center to eat and explore. I usually go to the boba spot here, and one of the restaurants. I miss Sapporo ramen, but they were replaced by a nice Dim Sum spot. I also want to eventually check out Tofu House and Walala Noodles. When I was in college, I would make coming here a whole day trip! Plenty to do! There's an Asian grocery store in the plaza too!

Out standing service. Every one very friendly. I do plan.on making appointment for a massage. My…read moreprimary style is Lena.

5 stars because Orlando Soup is a great way help different community projects in Orlando. For a…read moredonation of $10 you receive bread, salad and a bowl of soup. How it works, you listen to 4 different presentations about things happening in and around the Orlando area and how hey will use the funds for their projects if the win the final vote. That evening we had the pleasure of listening to 4 great projects: - Game changer: helping kids break out of their shells through gaming and educational curriculum - the dinner party project:bringing people from Orlando from different backgrounds around the dinner table for great conversations - source codeb46 foundation: building children self confidence through software coding and story telling - explore theater and dance company: allowing community members to participate in the creative production process. The presentations were not very long giving us the audience a chance to ask questions on what they will do with the donation. It was very moving to see how every presenter was passionate about their project. After listening to the presentation we cast a vote on the project we think can benefit from the donation. Basically, a percentage of your $10.00 will go to the project that gets the most votes. This was an overall very inspiring evening and would urge people of Orlando to attend Orlando Soup so they can find out what is going on in our community.

This is what community is about and why I adore Orlando so much…read more Ask yourself: What project could you do with $500-800 to make your community better? That is what these presenters answer while you sit back and decide where your donation for the evening should go! How cool? That's right. For a donation of $10, attendees receive soup, salad and bread and then choose where most of their donation goes! So this is not a profit maker for Orlando SOUP, the profits go to feeding everyone during the event and then to the ideas! Even the planning team for the event is donating their time. How cool? What a beautiful concept. I am so happy I got to attend an Orlando SOUP night last evening. It was the 3rd installment of the fabulous series that is based off the successful Detroit SOUP: a micro-granting dinner celebrating and supporting creative community improvement projects for the city. Before dinner is served, attendees will listen to four short community project proposals covering a range of topics such as art, urban agriculture, social justice, social entrepreneurship, education, technology, and more. What is a city improvement project? We last night it consisted of: - Buy Local Orlando: Food Edition - guide that promotes local farmers, local markets, etc. I like the idea of having a highly concentrated guide but in reality, I use Yelp for this - but love the idea and that people want to push local love. - Portable urban food forest (P.U.F.F.) - to assist with the fast traffic along Corrine Dr. in Audubon Park, it's proven that visual distractions automatically make people drive slower. The idea was to fill the back of a trailer bed with a green sanctuary, compost bin, bird feeder, etc. Then, park it in a spot that would be visually appealing and a smart spot to help with a blind spot when exiting one of the shopping centers. ACE Day (achieve a college education day) - To help assist with getting 500 5th graders a chance to tour UCF as their field trip for an interactive day of fun with students, faculty, and campus life. Currently, the higher education trips are non-existent and they go to the local prison during their "field trip" to see where they shouldn't end up. So sad. Ride around the town: Fixit Orlando - With the new bike share program, this group would like to add a self-repair bike station at lake eola. It was so cool to see how everyone presented as they only had 4 minutes and were not allowed to use technology. Some had passionate stories, some had amazing creative visuals. Really inspiring overall. During dinner, attendees cast a vote for their favorite project and, at the end of the night, the project that receives the most votes is funded by a % from each attendees' donation. Winners will appear at future SOUP dinners to report their project's progress. I did appreciate hearing updates from the two previous Orlando SOUP winners. So happy to see so much positive, local, movements happening. Props to everyone who organizes this, presents their ideas, and attends. Such a fabulous cause! Props.

To paraphrase Ricky from Trailer Park Boys: WestArt District used to be so f*ckin cool and now it's…read morebig time fucked up! Maybe I'd think this was better if I hadn't experienced the glory of WestArt in 2017 and didn't know it's now a shadow of it's former self. Maybe I'd give it more than 2 stars if they even allowed me onto their property to take photos on an overcast Saturday afternoon in February when half a dozen people were hanging out by somebody's car and nothing much at all seemed to be going on. I knew this place was too good to last. It was this total laissez-faire anti-elitist explosion of positive energy last time I was down in the City Beautiful. WestArt 2017 had highly detailed murals, abstracted conversation pieces, stencils, cartoon graffiti characters, wild style graffiti, more basic 2 or 3 color tags, hollows, throwies, Folk art, child-produced flowers and stuff. A wide variety of styles and skill levels was present. No wall was left plain and boring. A thousand wildflowers bloomed. Walls were painted and repainted and re-repainted. Even the ground was gradually getting painted up. The afternoon I was there the place was a beehive of activity. A couple of women barbequed chicken and were selling it for cheap. 2019 WestArt looks to have less than a dozen murals. (Hard to tell since I was quickly shooed out of the parking lot by a guy who, to his credit, clearly felt sheepish about the owner's directive.) Many walls are plain white, bearing only some spraypainted labels that read "no tagging". (Ironic, since this anti-graffiti graffiti technically counts as a tag itself.) Any graffiti-looking work is gone, apart from 2 well known character pieces. Rap letters have been hunted to extinction here. All the work looks to be technically proficient and alive with bright colors. And a mural of MLK is, well, pretty much immune from criticism. But there's just too much empty space these days. And it's damn sure in no way inviting like it used to be. I can't imagine people teaching kids how to paint here now. I've stayed in touch with the guy who used to run the place, so I had already gotten a heads up and didn't expect to just roll up and paint like before. But I thought I'd at least be able to walk around and take photos. I'm told most of this is due to the city. I imagine the old WestArt was too feral looking to certain people, and too much of an encouragement to go produce similiar looking work elsewhere around town. It's deeply disappointing but sadly understandable. I just hope this never happens at Recycle Here! and the Lincoln Street Art Park back home in Detroit.

Awesome art area about the size of a block with several warehouse type buildings all painted up…read more There's a fence around the entire thing so I don't know it's closed up or how to get in. I did see a gate you could probably push open that was unlocked but didn't want to chance it plus it was raining. Cool to drive by and look at though.

This is a neat and happy mural located on the outside of Infusion tea in Orlando. Orlando has many…read moremurals all around town and this is a pleasant and colorful one. The mural gets plently of traffic in front of it so keep that in mind when trying to view it.

What used to be an industrial area just northwest of downtown Orlando is having a revitalization…read moreand is bringing new residents and the infrastructure of shopping, dining, parks and entertainment with it. Orlando, Florida certainly has changed. It has even changed since I moved down here back in 2001. Some changes are, at least in my opinion, for the better and some changes, again, in my opinion, are not better. But it is what it is. Change is inevitable and I think that this up and coming neighborhood is off to a great start.

The statue of Dr. Sun Yat-sen is located in the Westside Crossing shopping plaza. Dr. Sun Yat-sen…read morewas a revolutionary leader and political leader who was born in 1866 and died in 1925. He was the first provincial president of the Republic of China. It is a somewhat strange statue to find in Orlando, Florida, but I appreciate learning about this person.

Tucked away in Lorna Doone Park and in the shadow of Camping World Stadium here in Orlando, Florida…read moreis a statue that signifies an important moment in the history of Civil Rights here in the South. The statue is of two twelve year old boys, one wearing the uniform of the Pensacola, Florida Jaycees and the other wearing the uniform of the Orlando, Florida Kiwanis. These two teams, the coaches, players and their families made history on August 9, 1955 when they stepped together onto the playing field, black and white, and stepped beyond the segregated patterns of the time not only in Forida, but throughout the South and broke a long-held barrier. The majority of those people, if not all of those people at that historic game are gone now, but that is remembered and reverberated as part of a movement that changed the world forever.

Fairview Shores is a quiet neighborhood in the College Park section of Orlando, Florida. Be homes…read moreare older and for the most part a bit smaller. However, the neighborhood is convenient to a lot of the main highways, as well as offering a lot of shopping and dining options. If you are looking for a neighborhood around the College Park or Winter Park area, this is an affordable option and again, it is a quiet and respectable neighborhood.

Clear Lake neighborhood is located just off of West Gore streets and is an older neighborhood, but…read moreit does seem relatively well kept. It is in close proximity to the Citrus Bowl and is also not far from the downtown Orlando area.