We arrived in Fort Lauderdale prior to the Royal Caribbean Cruise! It’s very common for many people to stay one night here before heading out to the port in the early morning!

It was our first red-eye flight and we discovered it is probably not for us. We barely got any sleep and were super exhausted when we arrived. Which contributed to us not really wanting to explore around as much by the time we arrived.

We hailed a cab and asked them to drop us off at E Las Olas Bvld. It was somewhat close to our accommodation and it had tonnes of restaurants to choose from. I can’t quite remember which restaurant I had set my sights on from prior research… but we eventually settled for a place called Gran Forno Pronto.

The service was friendly, and because we still had our luggage with us they found a spot just outside for us to sit with our belongings.

Here’s a look at the menu if you wanted to see what they have! Just click on it to enlarge.

We were all thinking we probably should’ve tried the pizza here because it seemed like it was their specialty, but we really weren’t up for it, especially in the morning.

This is the lasagna alla bolognese dish. As you can see, they were generous with the meat! The tomato sauce tasted fresh and a bit tangy.

I got the sausage and peppers wood-baked sandwich. It was yummy, but I have to admit it was hard to eat and I ended up dismantling it into smaller pieces to eat. The sausages are really packed with flavour and a bit of spice. The peppers were sweet to compliment that spice!

We were finally able to check into our airbnb, and after a few territorial agreements (;p), lying around and absorbing as much A/C as possible–We decided to set on a mini adventure to see what was around us.

Along our mini-adventure, all by foot, we found a Macdonald!! I was craving the filet-o-filet so badly. (There’s just something about the ones made in the states that make it so yummy!)

Okay back to the more important matters, we decided to find real food before it got darker. Thanks to Brenton for being able to search up something and found some place that had good ratings nearby.

If you are really big on atmosphere and an overall look of a restaurant you wouldn’t really be impressed with this place. But we’re more about the food and would definitely consider this place as a hidden gem!

There’s some nice variety in selection in the menus! The service is super friendly, a very homely feeling.

I got a green apple soda to refresh myself. The green apple flavour is subtle, but if you were looking for something really carbonated (it makes me feel better for some reason) then I’d suggest this.

To start us off, they gave us free appetizers. Chips and Salsa!

This is the moment we were waiting for. TACOS. I think we ordered the Al Pastor (marinated pork) and Asada (steak). The service paid a lot of attention to us, because right before we started eating they asked if we wanted gloves too!

Nancy ordered the Al Pastor and I would hands down recommend it. So juicy and flavourful. As for the steak, it was good too, but a bit tougher and drier to my liking. And not as big of a fan of the tortillas. It was bit too soggy and tough.

I think Brenton was super hungry and got the chicken burrito 🙂 . It came with a side of beans and rice.

When it arrived we could tell that the burrito was going to be super filling haha.

I decided to try a tamale as it looked cute (yes, I am one of those people who fall victim to cute things and emotional marketing). We all agreed on that this is probably not something we’d order again. The meat was dry and we didn’t find it to have much flavour. That and we were probably so full on carbs that having more masa harina (corn flour)- based dishes was more than we could handle.

There you have it! The last meal before we set off early in the morning, with our kind airbnb host downstairs that helped us call a cab.

Arriving at Port Everglades!

 

-Love Mish