Daytona area restaurant recommendations

Some recommendations for places to eat in Daytona Beach and the surrounding area


Sushi - Daytona, Port Orange, and New Symrna all have a plethora of sushi choices.

1) Ronin ::Best quality fish in the area. It is really good sushi, sake, tasty appetizers and women. Kinda a "meat market" at night. 

2) Chi-Iing :: my next choice for quality Sushi. Its a large divided 3 part restaurant that has a Sushi/Japanese theme section, a Chinese section, and a cook on the table teppeki section. They also have Thai menu. I dont usually like these teppanyaki places but this is a unique "neighborhood" case and the prices are very reasonable.

3) Takara :: Brand new large Japanese place at the new megalo-mall "The pavilion". They are still..slowly...learning how to run a large popular restaurant. 11$ for 3 seven peice rolls with whatever I want in them is a great lunch deal. Fish is good but they need to work on their rice. If you go often enough you get a VIP discount card which gives 10% off your bill. 

Ronin
111 W Internatl Speedway Blvd
Daytona Beach, FL 32114-4321
(386) 252-6320
www.roninsushiandbar.com

Chi-Ling
4085 South Ridgewood Avenue
Port Orange, FL 32127-4502
(386) 788-8858

Takara Japanese steakhouse
Pavillion at port orange 5501 s williamson blvd
Port Orange, FL 32128
(386) 756-6668

Thai - Others have said it - Daytona doesnt have great Asian options (other than sushi). 

1) Thai Erawan up in Ormond by the beach is prob the best actual Thai restaurant. They make great soups and rotate their menu every month or so. And they have a great lunch deal that comes with soup and a spring roll. Strangely there Phad Thai is sub par and oily.

2) Siam Spice is a place downtown to eat if you have a court date or some other reason to find yourself on the west side of the river. Nothing there blows my mind food wise but its a quality sit down Thai at reasonable prices and they have a good sake/wine selection. There is also Zen Bistro in the little house right next door which is a little more "mom and pop".

3) Chi-Lings and Leanh's both have extensive, quality Thai menus. All of these places are about equality in quality which is too say better than a take out Thai place but not really stand out unique like I'm use to from the West Coast.    

Thai Erawan
Ormond Beach
219 E. Granada Blvd.
Ormond Beach, FL 32176
(386) 677-0999
www.thaierawanrestaurant.com

Siam Spice
01 Bay Street, Daytona Beach, FL‎
(386) 252-8792

Zen Bistro
112 Bay Street   Daytona Beach,  FL 32114   
Tel. 386 - 248 - 0453

Leanh's Chinese Restaurant
1780 S Nova Road
South Daytona, FL 32119
(386) 756-3578
http://www.leanhs.com/

Dim Sum  :: There is no authentic Chinese place on the Daytona coast. Chi-Lings and Leanh's both have quality, sit down, "Americanized" Chinese food. However If you are looking for Dim sum, and you are willing to drive into Orlando, there is a bright shining star. Mings Bistro is your best bet unless you want to drive to new york or Miami. Its small and basic and almost always line out of the door busy during lunch hours. The spicy beef tripe is truly unique and they've got your hanging ducks and whatnot for people who go for that. 

Ming's bistro
1212 Woodward St
Orlando, FL 32803-4173
(407) 898-9672

Pizza :: The best pizza around Daytona is Pagano's Pizzeria. Paganos is a NY style sit down pizzeria with a full Italian menu and a drive up take out window. Cant beat 4$ for 2 huge slices and a pepsi. The people who work there are all really nice..I dont know if it is but it feels "family" run. And yes the pizza is the best north of Bizzaro's. Their crust is perfect and topping option are practically unlimited.

Pagano's Pizzeria
945 South Ridgewood Avenue
South Daytona, FL 32119-2238
(386) 767-3635

Burgers :: There is a little fast food chain called the Daily Grind in central florida that has some really great offerings. I've actually never had their hamburger - but the rib eye steak burger is really good as is their chicken burger. Its hard to get a good fresh chicken burger round these parts but you wont regret it. You can taste the quality of the ingredients, which is good cause you end up paying for them if you know what I mean. When it comes to the 'Grinds onions, no cost is too much. I'm not sure where they get these onions but they are moist and juicy and make excellent burger toppings or the best onion rings I have ever tasted.

The Daily Grind
1665 Dunlawton Ave
Port Orange, Fl 32127
http://www.dailygrindburgers.com/