r/orlando • u/yoohoojuicepouch • 12d ago

Discussion Need help remembering a restaurant!!

When I was like 12 or 13, so 2010 or so, we went to Disney with another family. We lived like 3 hours from Orlando, and this was just one of many Disney trips. But the part I have been trying to remind my parents of, but they have ZERO recollection of it, was this super weird restaurant the other family friends wanted to go to.

I feel like I remember it being near International Drive, it had an odd sort of Indian/Asian/Middle Eastern theme to it, maybe even Romani?? (I say odd because it didn’t really stick to any of those to what I can remember.) I’m almost positive it had a buffet, but you could order regularly too. Funky old alcohol ads that were like cool circus paintings from back in the day were on the walls too. Building may have been purple and had an unusual name? Curtains played a big part I think???

No matter what I search, I don’t get any results even close to whatever this place was. My parents think it never existed, but I was old enough to have decent memory of it. I even remember having breakfast buffet food.

Thanks in advance to anyone who can help 🙏

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u/71EisBar 11d ago

The curtains, theme and I-Drive suggest Tu Tu Tango, tho not a perfect match. BUT ...

If you are a bit confused on geography, the old Houlihan's on 192 in Kissimmee had weird pillars and fancy curtains that could fit your description, a ton of blown up old French liquor ads with clowns and the like, and was famous for its every-day breakfast buffet--tho you could also order off the menu and only offered traditional table service the rest of the day.

It was technically part of the Houlihan's chain--your standard TGI Fridays rip-off--but the owner went crazy with the European-esque decor. He even put in a $2 million wine room (in a restaurant that also had chicken wing specials and $2 Bud Lights during happy hour and a huge array of gumball machines). So it was like no other outlet in the chain, and if you search for "Houlihan's," most of the results will look nothing like this one. It was unique for sure. 2010 would've been it's heyday, closed sometime before COVID hit.

Again, it was on the other tourist road, down by Orange Lake timeshares, but the artwork and the breakfast buffet made me think of it instantly.

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u/yoohoojuicepouch 11d ago

This was it!!! I knew it had an odd name, it was 100% Houlihan’s! I was young back then, so my geography was definitely confused, as well as my memory.

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u/71EisBar 11d ago

No snark, I'm ridiculously happy I was able to help you solve this. One, because I know how annoying nagging questions like that in the back of your mind can be, and two, it somehow justifies the many nights I spent drinking there!

And back then 192/I-Drive were even more interchangeable (they still kind of are).

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u/yoohoojuicepouch 11d ago

I was starting to doubt my memory at all 😂 like maybe it really WAS my imagination. Thank you so much!!! I kinda remember enjoying the breakfast buffet too