“Okay, this is a cocktail,” I observed.
There were two plastic stirrers inside. There’s also a little bit of crystal-clear standard machine ice, but it doesn’t seem like enough.
But that’s just because the drinks looked like triples.
Note: I wasn’t mad about it.
There’s nothing to be angry about at Linda’s La Cantina. The location is pretty perfect.
There was nothing wrong with the $7 Linda’s House Red I ordered. It seemed like a natural fit for this historic family-owned steakhouse, serving Orlando since 1947. Plenty of pouring too. Chilled Chianti was not my favorite jam.
So when a man walked past my table among the silver-haired early risers and millennials in WWE shirts to get their Dudebro before Smackdown, the drink in his hand caught my eye.
Yes, I remembered. Linda’s has a bar.
I stood up and looked inside the old, slightly sunken room. The room reminded me of the bar at my father’s old place on Long Island. In fact, Linda’s table has the exact same checked plastic tablecloth. This place feels so much like home.
The bar booths in the back were full as far as the eye could see. Same as the one in the main dining room. A man at the bar was wearing a tank top and enjoying a drink. At the steak house. This is Linda’s. This is comfort.
And this Negroni binge will only make it worse.
The same goes for waiter Geronimo. Friendly, perfect in deciding whether to check in on the way there or back, and candid with menu advice.
Before writing this article, I was unable to get in touch with anyone from Linda’s team despite several days of valiant attempts.
But that doesn’t mean anything. Because I connected with a lot of people on my recent visit, and all of these interactions were perfect.
No spoilers for most of you, but for my friend and podcast partner Anthony “Biggie” Bencomo, despite having been supporting locals in this beautiful city for 30 years, he had never been to Linda’s La Cantina before, and it was a great first experience.
I was surprised when he said this to me. It was the same thing he did for my lack of experience tenderizing chicken. And since it was the eve of his 49th birthday, I decided this was a situation that needed to be remedied.
Best Steakhouse: 2025 Orlando Sentinel Foodie Awards
“I have to be there at 4 o’clock,” I told him.
“Wait, are you serious?”
yes.
If Linda’s doesn’t have a reservation (you can make one by texting 321-347-0290), you can wait. And you probably will too. Especially on Fridays. Unless you get there before the door opens.
Biggie, who arrived before me around 3:45pm, now believes me.
“When I got out of the car at 4 o’clock, there was already a line!” he says.
I soon arrived and joined him at the table, looking out into the open room. It was 4:11 p.m. The space is already about half full. By 4:31, a double stirrer sip of a hearty cocktail, it was full, except for a few large tables with balloons, clearly reserved for the celebration.
The cadence of service at Linda’s is as much a secret to success as the steak. And in a place where aggressive turning the tables could hurt people like Geronimo even more, that’s admirable. We never felt rushed. However, we wanted to order more than we actually did.
I saw people around us order shrimp platters (cocktail, fries, sautéed, spicy, etc.) and they were being put on the back burner. A perfectly crispy black-eyed sea bream ($10, half fillet) helped stir the question, “What would happen if I ordered seafood here?” itch.
It’s also a solid case for taking your surf-over-turf friends on your next iron fix.
“Oh, if I were a pescatarian, I would definitely be happy with this for my main,” Biggie said.
But there’s no way I wouldn’t have a steak at Linda’s.
For me, it’s the 16-ounce boneless ribeye ($44). For Biggie, it was T-bone. Available in Special (1 pound, $38), Medium (1.5 pounds, $46), and Large (2 pounds, $54). A brief digression with Geronimo set him on the path to becoming an intermediate player.
One of the laurels of Linda’s, aside from the fact that the average price for a 16-ounce ribeye at the city’s three popular non-hotel steakhouses is $74, is that this appetizer here comes with a salad and a side.
“What’s a basic salad like at a place like Linda’s?” Biggie wondered aloud. “It’s probably because of the homemade dressing. It tastes just right.”
That’s true. He got Thousand Island (which was called Russian on my dad’s salad bar in the 70’s and 80’s). I went with the vinaigrette. The croutons, baked from what I had gathered, were the complimentary day-old bread you enjoy on arrival, and were excellent. I sampled but showed restraint and enjoyed the slow pace of the dinner.
There’s no stacking of plates here, as is common elsewhere, where apps and power are connected too close together, or worse, at almost the same time. Here you can enjoy your meal in a home-like atmosphere. You can enjoy drinks, apps, and main dishes. Each has its own chapter.
“The steak was phenomenal!” Biggie said, drawing me back to the main event.
Rested and ready to eat, both were beautifully charred, simply seasoned and perfectly pink. I poked around at them, thinking of homemade desserts, but I could only eat about half of both.
The crust on the key lime pie ($6.25) was great, but the warm five-layer chocolate cake ($7.95) was the star, light as air under the heaviness of a beautiful dark chocolate ganache.
Biggie dragged the pie into the rich chocolate and was overjoyed.
“This fudge would be great with this pie!” he said, amusingly telling some of the staff members at the host stand on his way out.
One night here he felt like a regular. One night here they treated him like that.
“I don’t expect a place like that to be very sophisticated or have a completely new aesthetic,” he told me later. “I expect a comfortable steakhouse that’s going to be there forever, and everyone there is like, ‘Yeah.’ This is what we do. ”
Want to lend a hand? Find me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram @amydroo or the OSFoodie Instagram account @orlando.foodie. Email: amthompson@orlandosentinel.com. For even more foodie fun, join our Let’s Eat, Orlando Facebook group.
If you go
Linda’s La Cantina: 4721 E. Colonial Drive in Orlando, lindaslacantina.com; Reservations by text only: 321-347-0290 (name, date, number of people).
