The most recent Yelp Elite event that I attended was at Brio Tuscan Grille in Winter Park, FL. I have to admit that I haven’t been to Brio in probably 10 years. I went for lunch once when I worked nearby and got VERY sick. I have no idea if it was the food or something else altogether, but I swore off the restaurant after that. I just wasn’t willing to risk it. But when a Yelp Elite at Brio popped up on the calendar I decided to give them a second chance and boy am I happy I did! My friend Karen wasn’t working so I immediately added her as my +1 for the event. Anytime I have the chance to drag her somewhere new in Orlando I do.
During our event we tried items from their Bar Brioso menu. These items are available Monday – Friday from 3:30 – 6:30 pm in the bar area. Both the food and drinks on the Bar Brioso menu are between $4 and $6 each. There are 9 food options and 11 drink options. We were lucky enough to be able to try them all and I will admit that I enjoyed pretty much everything I had.
For the food, we were able to try the following:
Appetizers: BRIO Burger, Crispy Cheese Ravioli, Black Pepper Shrimp & Eggplant, and Roasted Garlic & Spinach Artichoke Dip
Salads: BRIO Chopped Salad, Field Greens Salad
Entrees: Artichoke Crusted Beef Medallions, Crab and Shrimp Cakes, PastaBRIO, Mixed Vegetables, and Crispy Potatoes
Desserts: Chocolate Caramel Cake, Seasonal Cheese Cake, and Tiramisu
My favorite thing on the menu was the Brio Burger. Its only $5 and its a full sized burger (they just cut it into 4 pieces). It was seasoned really well and just all around tasty. I also enjoyed the crispy cheese ravioli. Cheese ravioli is already great, but when you fry it up and make it something you can eat with your hands its even better!
My favorite dessert was the Chocolate Caramel Cake. The desserts were served in small individual glasses which gave us the opportunity to try all three. I love dessert so this worked out really well for me. I was able to try them all without feeling like I was gonna die afterwards.
The “open bar” associated with this event was pretty darn amazing. I tried three (well 2 and a half) drinks – the Black Raspberry Cosmo, the Mango Mojito, and the Sangria Rosa. The Mango Mojito was hands down my favorite drink of the night. It was sweet, without being too sweet and the combination of mango and mint was killer. I easily could have spent the whole night drinking these without a problem.
Our event was out on the patio and we were treated to live music and an AMAZING waitstaff. The only downside was that one of our first “summer thunderstorms” rolled through about an hour into the event. With 40-50 mph winds it made things a little messy for awhile. Thankfully it brought down the temperature dramatically and made for a cool rest of the evening.
I had a great time with my friends, enjoyed the food & drinks, and will definitely be back again soon! Thanks to Yelp! and Brio for a great evening.
Thank you, again, for taking me as your +1! I had such a great time, but now it’s my turn to work on my write up.