blu on the avenue

went in for date night dinner with my wife. host was nice, waiter was also nice.
seating arrangement was horrible. we sat in the middle of the restaurant between bar and host stand, awkward seating with tilted arrange high top tables.
confusing menu, it says sushi menu but its a sushi roll menu. not a big deal.
we ordered, half baked rolls, too spicy, i couldnt eat. and I am an asian, you do not make rolls that spicy, ive been to almost dozens of sushi restaurants all over U.S. you put hint of spice, not drench it to burn your tongue, this is not buffalo wings! and i can handle heat most of time. gave to my wife to try (shes an american) and she couldnt eat it. and sushi and rolls need to be made usually in open settings where they can be seen made for numbers of reasons (including safety reasons) they failed at that.
wife ordered kale salad, tough to chew and i realized it wasnt even organic.
i know organic kales are only fraction more than conventionally grown kales right now because its spring time and its in full season now. why wouldnt you use organic kale if you are serving them raw? and they were really tough, which indicates kale had some ages on them. do they wash the pesticide drenched kale thorough? i dont know. and beets in salad. were also not mentioned they were organic, organic beets are also only few cents more per pound than conventionally grown kale. you want to serve and have organic vodka but you dont invest your time and effort to bring healthier option for your food, the most important thing a restaurant should consider. thats rack of care and consideration on restaurants management.
i am a business owner, so i understand.
i have been to many restaurants in orlando but this is my first time writing reviews on Unilocal
because the place has potential to be much better and it was a huge let down.
i felt that i had to write here for people to see before going there.
if you are going there to have 1 or 2 drinks in loud crowd, sure its alright.
food? i dont think so. sushi menu? i think you def need to stay away.
warm raw fish wont taste good in your mouth.

First impression is pretty bad. The hostess that was sitting us acted like she doesn’t want to be there. We told her that our table is out of balance and we will sit at the tablet next to it and she rolled her eyes, snap the silverware off the table and stomped away.
The ahi tuna sandwich was bland. The seaweed suppose to compliment the ahi tuna but it felt like its old and bland; didn’t have any seaweed flavor at all. However, the lobster Mac and cheese was great. It was hot and melted in your mouth. The pistachio gelato was so rich! The cream brûlée is alright. Our server was good. But in general I wouldn’t come back because that first impression was horrible and nothing was good enough really saved it

This was unfortunately a let down. We came here to celebrate my friends birthday with a dinner. The reservation was secure and ready upon arrival and we had an awesome server named Chase. He was super attentive but overall everything took a long time. The service was not at all a complaint for me though. My problem was with the food. Since there was about 12 of us our table ordered A variety of food. I had the Wahoo Rachel, my husband had the Chicken Panini, my best friend, had the Grouper and her husband had the steak with crab and mashed potatoes. We easily spent over $ 100 without ordering drinks. The food was just not good. My husbands chicken taste like rubber, although my friend and I were ok with the fish sandwiches our potato wedges were cold and raw. The bad part about that is we only had 4 each, I don’t understand how u mess up literally 8 potato wedges. Then my friends husbands steak was ok after he doctored it with butter, salt, pepper, and some other random sauces. The only decent part about the food was the sushi which oddly they delivered the soy sauce and chopsticks way before the food arrived and then our food finally came and once we were almost done the sushi came. I thought that was a bit odd. The water was also lukewarm, even wen poured from the pitchers given, that part was awful.
Overall the restaurant looks cool and the service was great but the food was horrible and overpriced. It is highly unlikely that we will ever revisit.

Nice bar and cool atmosphere. Good place for a fine cocktail and quality meal. Enjoyed blackened grouper sandwhich (better than most), some toasted Brussel sprouts and a sazarac.

Ordered from GH. Might be the first time having real Asian food … Everything tastes healthy… Chicken salad wrap and clam chowder… ordered salad seems they just cut the Roman and placed it in there maybe that is normal? The brownie was also good…

Again – I’d give three and a half stars if I could. I’ve been to Blu a couple of times in the last week. I confess that I’m not a huge fan of the minimalist, high ceiling look that is so popular with Park Ave restaurants these days. Perhaps because it’s been a bit chilly, it seems a bit loud and lacks coziness. For appetizers both the crab rangoon flatbread and the salmon chips were good – I found the salmon chips a bit more interesting. The plain old house salad is simply but really delicious. A half cost half of what Boca’s salad cost and was twice as good. The swordfish was perfectly cooked. My lobster grilled cheese was good, not great, and not really hot. It came with acceptable homemade fries. Had the oreo brownie for dessert. Again, good, not great. So – my scoop? It’s pricey so eat healthy and neither the oreo brownie nor the lobster grilled cheese is worth the calorie splurge. Get the swordfish and salad and you will leave happy.

«I would go here again,» said my mother. High praise, considering the source. Creative yet accessible offerings will make you glad you stopped at blu, rather than wondering whether one of the many nearby alternatives would have been better. Go for it.

Had the salmon appetizer pursuant to Arielz suggest. Luved it! Hot tea wif Honduran rum. Yes!

We came on a Monday evening at 7pm so the crowd was very light. The selection was mostly geared toward seafood fare, which is fitting. Good sushi. I had the dancing eel and my husband had the red dragon. Both good and fresh. The house salad and Caesar were fresh, but a little to much vinegar in the dressing for my liking. Their blu crab Rangoon flatbread was good in flavor, but don’t expect lumps of crab. This is blue crab so it’s small with light flavor. Our waiter was helpful and friendly, as was the hostess. Nothing overly special, but a good place to grab a bite.

I wanted a light meal for dinner and heard that Winter Park was worth seeing. It turned out to be a great choice. I had a lovely seafood dish and a salad and a very tasty beer while watching the parade of foot traffic pass by in a light, warm rain. Pricey but not outrageous, and nicely presented.
Negatives: the host (ess) was rarely to be seen. My excellent waitress (a world-​class one, impeccably trained) seated me, and I saw her intercept others who were wondering where the host was. Most of the other servers seemed too busy to raise their heads to look around. And the high-​top table where I sat grew less comfortable as I ate. Plus, I had to hear just about every word of a work-​related gripe-​fest at a table next to me, but that can happen anywhere.
I’d go back, and bring a friend.

I was initially reluctant to try this restaurant when it opened, as I anticipated another overpriced so-​so Park Ave restaurant. However, this has turned out to be my favorite of the American restaurants in the area.
The scene is typical Winter Park — half fancy/​half casual, lots of older singles on the prowl — but the food is actually above average for the genre. The sushi is pretty good and they have good sushi happy hour specials ($ 6 rolls — about 7 – 8 rolls offered). My absolute favorite sandwich anywhere is the lobster grilled cheese… SO good! (It is, however, a $ 17 grilled cheese sandwich… I know… but lots of lobster!)
Overall, I would not go out of my way to go here, BUT when I find myself wandering up and down Park Ave saying, «where should we go?» (which is somewhat often), this is at the top of my list!

Went to Blu for the second time yesterday after house hunting, which is exhausting.
Ordered the salmon chips which are fantastic, and I should have got two orders of them.
The salmon chips are worth drive all by themselves, yes they are that good.
Just say they are my first favorite thing I have discovered since relocating September 2014. And I will be going back to Blu very soon!

Oyster happy hour? How can I resist? M-​F 4 – 7 10 $ for a dozen on the half shell. Bloody Marys were also on HH at around 5 $. Didn’t order any other food afterwards :(
When we walked in around 5pm, it was pretty empty. We stood awkwardly by the empty hostess stand not knowing if we should seat ourselves or what for a while. Finally saw the bartender (it was empty before then) and asked him if we should and someone also came out from the back to greet us all at the same time (what they were doing before? Who knows).
The bar itself is cozy with a waterfall behind the bar which definitely added to the class.
My fiancé is terrified of raw oysters (I guess most doctors are? I try to shush him every time he tries to talk about bacteria and amoebas and whatever else can be in them) so I ordered a dozen and he just settled on a drink.
The oysters took a while to come out and they were definitely fresh, but had shell fragments in the oyster :(also the foot (that muscular thing that attaches the oyster to its shell was cut on half, halfway separated on a third and the rest looked like Noone had attempted them :(. They were hard to eat, but not unbearable. I hope that it was just an inexperienced shucker out back and that it’s not always the case. At least they weren’t pre-​shucked?
Also, halfway through our «snack», a really rowdy group came in and knocked into us at the bar a few times (it was quiet before this group) which didn’t help. They were screaming about something or another in the small area -.-
We decided not to order dinner after that… I might be back for oyster happy hour when I am craving it since I’m right down the street, but definitely not a date night place for us!

Great option for park ave. Above average seefood options. I recently swordfish sandwich which was great. The park ave ambiance is always a plus, especially when the weather is good outside.

After eating dinner we were walking around Winter Park and the wife wanted to stop for a glass of wine. We Sat one of the tables outside. It took about 15 minutes to get service but only after on of the regular patrons showed up and sat down at the table by us.
Finally we were offered menus but the server seemed annoyed my wife just wanted a glass of wine. His response indicated he thought I was joking about being allergic to alcohol. Sorry but I don’t find my allergy a laughing matter.
I heard great things about the sushi from the regular patrons that sat down by us but I sure hope the snooty attitude is not there by the next server or no matter how good the food is, I won’t go back a third time. Being judged by a server really grates on my nerves.

I had been here for happy hour a few months ago, sitting at the bar inside and decided to give it a shot for dinner. Made a reservation through open table for three. Two adults and a child. I had called ahead of time to see if they offered a children’s menu (which they totally do!) and the woman on the phone (didn’t catch her name) was very nice, outspoken, and clear.
When we arrived, we were greeted at the door by a hostess. When she pulled up our reservation she noticed that in the notes I had requested a table in the back or in a corner (due to having the young child with us) and, as requested, we were seated in the back.
Shortly after seating and getting settled in we were greeted by our server (didn’t catch her name, and come to think of it, I’m not sure she even told us to begin with). In any event, she started off attentive. We placed out drink orders and ordered the smoked fish dip appetizer. It was absolutely amazing! For dinner we ordered the triple tail roll and the spicy tuna roll. Both were very good! Towards the end of our meal, however, our server seemed to have disappeared into the back. It took forever to get our check and the table cleared.
Overall the food and ambience was excellent! I would definitely recommend it to anyone and will definitely be back, but maybe leave the kids at home!

Came here with a bunch of friends on New Years Eve for dinner. Surprisingly compared to other restaurants on Park Ave., it wasn’t crowded. After eating the food, I think I know why.
We started on two rolls as our appetizer: Triple Tail, and the Blu Roll. The Triple Tail consisted of raw tuna, yellowtail, and salmon with scallion, masago and ponzu sauce. The Blu Roll consisted of beef tenderloin, cucumber, shrimp tempura, eel sauce, sesame seeds, and siracha. These rolls were huge, yet it wasn’t rolled tightly as the rice was loose/​breaking apart. Normally I wouldn’t order sushi at restaurants like these, but compared to my overall meal… these rolls were delicious. So happy we got them since if we didn’t, I would probably be starving.
What went downhill was my dinner entrée. I got the Ahi Tuna Burger and it was a disappointment :(. The size of the sandwich was the size of my palm (which isn’t big). Other than the size, the ahi tuna was super dry as if it was cooked well done (our server said medium is the standard). There was not enough of the seaweed salad on the roll too. I barely finished the sandwich as it was really inedible, but thank god for the fries that where included! The Blu fries were amazeballs.
As for the drinks, avoid the popular blueberry sangria. Why? It tasted like straight up blueberry juice and there were no fruit pieces like what all typical sangrias have. But the cucumber basil and blu cosmo were amazing and refreshing!
I guess going here is a hit or miss. According to their reviews, the brunch here is good. But if you were going here for dinner and you have no other options to go, just stick with the rolls. With the price I paid for the whole meal, I rather spend my money on at different restaurant on park ave.

We came with a group of friends on New Years Eve for dinner. The restaurant was not that busy so service was nice and attentive.
My fiancée and I ordered a couple of rolls as starters. Nothing spectacular so I don’t even remember which ones we ordered. I do remember the rice being a bit odd, I think it was a bit too hard.
I went with the lobster risotto as my main plate and it was alright. Took awhile for everyones food to come out. The risotto was a bit too thick and could have been more creamy. The lobster was alright as well, a bit on the rubbery side but was not all that bad.
The girls all seemed to enjoy their cocktails.

4 stars for a fabulous brunch on the avenue that kept me eating wayyyy beyond when I should have stopped!
We were a large group and had reserved a table for brunch on Saturday. I had never been inside Blu before and was so surprised! The atmosphere was so open, fresh, clean, and almost Miami-​like. Really beautiful interior and a departure from the warm, farm-​y feel of the other spots in the area.
I was excited by the variety if mimosa flavors and started with a peach mango mimosa. It was really a delight and I will admit I had a few more!
I went on to order the omelette Florentine with a side of hash browns. The omelette looked great but I’ll admit I was a bit disappointed that the grilled tomatoes that were in the description were not cooked into the omelette– and instead was just one slice as a garnish. I love grilled tomatoes and think it could have added a sweet tartness to the dish. Otherwise, it was still very good.
The hash browns were not your typical frozen variety. They were crispy and light! Mmmm!
Luckily, the group was all open to sharing and so I also split the blueberry pancakes. These were soooooooo good! Thick, juicy blueberries in most bites! Holy cow, my mouth is watering just thinking about them!
I also got to try the stuffed French toast with orange cream cheese and an orange maple syrup. This was a favorite in many of the review I had read and it lived up to it! I would absolutely recommend this dish as the fear I had that it’d be sickly sweet and over stuffed was way off! They are delicate with their stuffing and it pays off.
Finally, the Blu Omelette was a WINNER! Bleu cheese (I’m not usually a fan) with beef tips and tons of flavor makes for a home run. It was just the right combinations that had us blue cheese haters rethinking our prejudices!
Then came the desserts!
The Pumpkin bread pudding– herbal and really tasty.
Crème brûlée– the hands-​down winner in the desserts category. I was so full and I ate the whole thing. I’m not even ashamed.

Stopped by here one night for a drink and an appetizer. It’s a great space right off if park ave. I love being able to sit out by the side walk to people watch.
Ordered the beef carpaccio, which was good, but needed some sort of acid. I’m thinking if capers were added it would of been better!
If you are looking for a late night bite, they do offer a sushi menu that might fancy your taste buds.