Soco Thornton Park - Marelly's

By far and away one of Orlando 's hidden gems in the Thornton Park/Downtown Orlando food scene! Owned, and operated by one of the area 's most creative, and skillful Chefs, Greg Richie elevates Southern Cuisine to what can only be classified as James Beard levels ! The service is wonderful, the specials unique, and Sunday Brunch may rank as Orlando 's Best! If you are looking for one of the best food experiences in Central Florida this is your place!

Stopped by here for brunch with some friends and was a little disappointed... The service is amazing and I liked the atmosphere. Very cozy and inviting! However the food itself didn't hit with any of us really : The menu is interesting and has lots of variety, but all of our dishes were severely undersalted. The biscuits and gravy had no salt except for in the sausage, and my eggs Benedict had a lovely textured hollandaise but lacked flavor. Everything had such a great base just needed some seasoning! Overall we did enjoy our visit just were a little disappointed in the flavors for the price point.

Pros: Absolutely beautiful space in a beautiful part of downtown Orlando. Really a luxurious feeling setting. They had a biscuit platter, with delicious biscuits and many spreads to choose from. This is my favorite brunch thing. Food was delicious. Their apps are very sharable, so get plenty for the table. Cons: The service was pretty good, but the kitchen did the thing where they sent out an entrée without the main protein on it, as it was finishing cooking. Tips: Get the biscuits and the spreads! One of the best parts of the meals for me. I would skip the Soco-Style Chicken and Dumplings . It just doesn 't work.

I came here with some friends for a nice brunch one Saturday morning recently. We had our reservations, got seated, and got to work. Beautiful space right down the street from the beautiful Lake Eola. Service was impeccable. Server was a little odd, but I like odd ones. Overall, we were very well taken care of. We started off with a biscuit platter with some biscuits, three spreads, some butter. It was great! Warm, tender, flakey biscuits. Each spread was a huge pop of fruit flavor and the butter was room temperature, as it should be, and was very buttery. Then came the Soco-Style Chicken and Dumplings (Chicken Breast, Lobster Dumplings, Local Mushrooms, Edamame, Soy Butter). Very interesting dish. The dumplings were very delicious with the succulent lobster within, the umami from the mushrooms was good, too. Solid, but a lot of softness. I would have liked to see something even a little crunchy. Thenn came the Southern Style Eggs Benedict (English Muffin, Fried Green Tomato, Benton 's Country Ham, Creole Hollandaise). Another solid dish. Crisp and well-cooked tomato. I wanted a little more oomf from that Creole hollandaise, but I know they have to appeal to the mass audience. Finally was the Chicken -N- French Toast (Maple Sorghum Butter, Almond Granola, Pink Peppercorn Whipped Cream). Every component of this dish was done and out to me, except the chicken. They were still cooking it while I was watching my whipped cream melt on my French toast. Lol. Overall, this place was pretty good. A few missteps here and there, but if you book brunch here, you will have a good time!

We stopped in for a Saturday brunch at this cute restaurant. Although this is a little more upscale, the environment was still chill. The drinks were amazing and each item on the menu had an interesting southern twist. The food came out faster than expected so you may need to hold off on ordering if you're still enjoying some mimosas. We really enjoyed our food and felt the service was good too.