Orlando has bid farewell to some impressive culinary feats so far in 2026. We’ve lost a longtime sexy neighborhood dessert bar, a frozen tropical drink paradise, a storied French bistro and a long list of spots that fell to downtown Orlando’s family-forward makeover.
We’re always hungry for the city’s brand-new flavors, but we can’t help but miss what’s behind us. Here are 16 of the most beloved restaurants and bars we’ve said goodbye to this year.
1420 Alden Road, Orlando
Ivanhoe Village wine bar Arden closed a year after opening just across from the neighborhood’s City Food Hall. Credit: Google Maps
533 W. New England Ave., Winter Park
After 28 years of serving Hannibal Square, French bistro Chez Vincent closed its doors. Owners Vincent and Teri Gagliano, who also run Hannibal’s Lounge, dove into retirement and sold both businesses, which are now The Reverie. Credit: Image via Google Maps
1106 E. Colonial Drive, Orlando
The venerable Vietnamese restaurant served its final bowl of soup at the very tail end of 2025. Siblings Vu Nguyen and Mai Huynh hung up their aprons after nearly 40 years of serving the Mills 50 community. The restaurant saw Mills 50 flourish into a culinary, cultural and historical hub for food lovers, a rise spawned by Vietnamese refugees who turned the neighborhood into the destination it is today. In fact, Hung Kim, widely considered to be Orlando’s first Vietnamese restaurant, occupied the Little Saigon space in 1983 before Nguyen and Huynh moved in a few years later in 1987. Credit: courtesy image
Various locations
In headlines that truly shook the frozen tropical drink-loving community, massive chain Bahama Breeze announced it would be sunsetting numerous locations. And Orlando was not immune. Owner Darden Restaurants said many outposts are slated to be converted into other brands in Darden’s portfolio. Credit: Bahama Breeze/Facebook
999 N. State Road 434, Altamonte Springs | 3310 Daniels Road, Winter Garden
This Texas-based taqueria chain best known for its house-made tortillas and intriguing filling combinations closed its locations in Altamonte Springs and Winter Garden. Credit: Torchy's Tacos/Facebook
741 W. Church St., Orlando
Orlando’s queer café-meets-nightspot Heatwave closed after just about half a year in business. Heatwave opened in August 2025 in the former home of the LGBTQ+ bar Stonewall, which abruptly closed at the end of 2021. The multi-story venue was designed as a hybrid concept combining café culture with nightlife and performance. The space included the Green Room, which served coffee during the day before transforming into a bar at night, an upstairs lounge called Views, and an outdoor terrace designed for social gatherings. Credit: Heatwave/Instagram
39 W. Pine St., Orlando
Orlando welcomed yet another ghost to the graveyard of shuttered downtown nightlife hotspots this year when Cocktails & Screams announced its closure after seven years. The popular horror-themed bar, which had its own speakeasy, opened at 39 W. Pine St. in 2019 as the area’s only completely Halloween-themed nightspot. Credit: Cocktails & Screams/Facebook
1471 Lee Road, Winter Park
After a multi-year ramp-up to opening, Pig Floyd’s on Lee Road in Winter Park closed in March after only six months. It’s survived by its Mills 50 location, and the Lee Road space will now become another location of Zaza Cuban Comfort Food. Credit: Google Maps
800 E. Altamonte Drive, Altamonte Springs
Las Lomas Mexican Grill in Altamonte Springs closed this year after serving the area Mexican eats and drinks.
Credit: Las Lomas Mexican Grill/Facebook
151 E. Welbourne Ave., Winter Park
Cocina 214, the Tex-Mex restaurant with a Dallas area code in its name, hung it up after 15 years of serving Winter Park. Credit: Cocina 214/Facebook
190 S. Ronald Reagan Blvd., Longwood
After an intriguing menu reveal and only about two months in business, Holy City Zoo BBQ closed down in early June. Credit: Google Maps
1905 N. Orange Ave., Orlando
The award-winning adults-only dessert restaurant that lived in Ivanhoe Village for more than 10 years closed its doors earlier this summer. It was locals’ go-to spot for decadent cocktails, date-night ambience and phallic sweet treats. Credit: Better Than Sex/Facebook
4205 Curry Ford Road, Orlando
After opening back in 2022, Bad As’s Burgers’ Curry Ford outpost shut its doors this spring. However, owner John Collazo has merged its menu into the Milk District’s still-standing Bad As’s Sandwiches menu. Credit: Bad As's Burgers
68 E. Pine St., Orlando
Orlando bar The Attic announced in May it would close its doors for good after 16 years in the space, adding to a long string of nightlife venue closures downtown in recent months. The decision to close came after rising costs in order to operate the club with a “lack of meaningful support or solutions from local leadership and city officials,” The Attic team wrote in a social media announcement on May 26.
68 E. Pine St., Orlando
The Treehouse 18-and-up bar closed alongside The Attic after just over a decade in the space downtown.
131 N. Orange Ave., Orlando
This downtown Orlando brewhouse had long dished out cold drinks, hot eats and a comfortable space to watch local and larger sports games. The taproom shut its doors in May, a closure which some local news outlets speculate was tied to larger financial troubles that are plaguing much of the nightlife (and otherwise) businesses downtown as the city aims to deemphasize alcohol sales and prioritize a family-friendly atmosphere. Credit: Google Maps
