Bananas: A Modern American Diner

I recently stopped in to Bananas diner in the Mills 50 (East Colonial) area of Orlando and was thrilled with the place!

They are billed as, Bananas: A Modern American Diner, a name which most definitely fits given the traditional diner feel of red and black decor on everything from the ceiling tiles to the  booths and tables,  mixed with the modern element of red vinyl quilted kitchen doors and a curtain lined stage complete with a live dj mixing techno tunes.

When I walked in, the feel was very warm and inviting and my eye immediately caught a large dessert case on my right, bursting with a selection of cheesecakes, moist red velvet cake, gooey german chocolate cake and a variety of other mouth watering delights!

My friend and I were greeted cheerily and seated immediately at an end booth.  All of the other booths were filled, but the restaurant still had plenty of table seating  and hightop bar seating available.

We were given menus and had a hard time choosing a beverage, given the variety of choices.  Handspun Milkshakes with names like Death by Chocolate, Peanut Butter Jelly Time and Strawberry Fields Forever were hard to stay away from as we also considered their selection of Naked Juices,  Coke products, Red Bull and finally settled on a mango iced tea.

The food items were even more eclectic and included Funky Monkey Fried Goat Cheese, rolled in crusted almonds and served with sun dried tomato jam and french bread, Country Fried Steak, the Inside Out Burger which  on this day was called the Pizza Inside Out Burger and included mozzarella and pepperoni stuffed inside of the burger instead of on top.  With 16 other burgers to choose from as well a full breakfast menu,  that is available at all hours, we again found ourselves gawking.

I ordered the Funky Monkey Burger with a side of onion rings and could only finish half of the burger as the portions were huge. The burger was outstanding and the beer batter on the onion rings was so thick and full of flavor they were almost like eating hush puppies.

As a final surprise, along with our check our server brought us the complementary banana flavored cotton candy which was delicious!

I'm not sure what I liked the most, the food, the entertaining atmosphere or the prospect that after a night out, there is somewhere other than a Denny's to go to.

Bananas is open from 9 am until midnight Mon-Thurs and 24 hours on Fridays and Saturdays so if you happen to be craving onion rings or a breakfast pizza at 2 am stop by for some good eats, music and fun!

For more information go to www.bananasdiner.com