Construction projects, overpriced dishes and problems in the kitchen hold back the restaurant. table matters.

 Scott Joseph | Sentinel Restaurant Critic

Pearl Steakhouse is the most significant restaurant to open in downtown Orlando in about three years. Occupying a prominent position in the historic complex once known as Church Street Station, Pearl represents the return of a fine-dining venue to an area that once was the fourth-most-popular tourist destination in Florida but which has been all but deserted since the entertainment venue closed in 2001.

It's still a bit deserted, partly due to circumstances beyond the control of the restaurant's owners. The construction of a high-rise condominium on one side of the building housing Pearl and the ongoing reconfiguration of an on-ramp for Interstate 4 on the other side make traversing the area -- by car or on foot -- rather difficult. The parking lot underneath the interstate, never a welcoming spot, has been made more loathsome with chain-link fencing that requires one to walk farther down the darkened lot to get around it. There is valet parking down the street in front of Kres Chophouse ($10, or, as a valet attendant told one of my guests who drives a very nice car, $20 if you want it parked out front instead of in the scary SunTrust garage), but the night I used this service I was panhandled four times in the one-block walk back to retrieve my car, walking past the dusty patch that is the condo construction site.

You have to really want to go to Pearl Steakhouse to put up with just getting to and from it, and based on my three visits, I found nothing that would make me want to go back. Without the outside extenuating circumstances, Pearl might be an OK, average kind of place if it weren't so ridiculously overpriced.

A view of the main dining area inside recently-opened Pearl Steakhouse. The Church Street restaurant has been open for 5 weeks, and features a selection of fine foods and wines. (VINCE HOBBS, SPECIAL TO THE SENTINEL / September 6, 2006)

Originally posted at http://www.orlandosentinel.com/

Construction projects, overpriced dishes and problems in the kitchen hold back the restaurant. table matters.

 Scott Joseph | Sentinel Restaurant Critic

Pearl Steakhouse is the most significant restaurant to open in downtown Orlando in about three years. Occupying a prominent position in the historic complex once known as Church Street Station, Pearl represents the return of a fine-dining venue to an area that once was the fourth-most-popular tourist destination in Florida but which has been all but deserted since the entertainment venue closed in 2001.

It's still a bit deserted, partly due to circumstances beyond the control of the restaurant's owners. The construction of a high-rise condominium on one side of the building housing Pearl and the ongoing reconfiguration of an on-ramp for Interstate 4 on the other side make traversing the area -- by car or on foot -- rather difficult. The parking lot underneath the interstate, never a welcoming spot, has been made more loathsome with chain-link fencing that requires one to walk farther down the darkened lot to get around it. There is valet parking down the street in front of Kres Chophouse ($10, or, as a valet attendant told one of my guests who drives a very nice car, $20 if you want it parked out front instead of in the scary SunTrust garage), but the night I used this service I was panhandled four times in the one-block walk back to retrieve my car, walking past the dusty patch that is the condo construction site.

You have to really want to go to Pearl Steakhouse to put up with just getting to and from it, and based on my three visits, I found nothing that would make me want to go back. Without the outside extenuating circumstances, Pearl might be an OK, average kind of place if it weren't so ridiculously overpriced.

A view of the main dining area inside recently-opened Pearl Steakhouse. The Church Street restaurant has been open for 5 weeks, and features a selection of fine foods and wines. (VINCE HOBBS, SPECIAL TO THE SENTINEL / September 6, 2006)

Originally posted at http://www.orlandosentinel.com/