Restaurant in Winter Park, United States
Greek dining with Michelin recognition on Park Ave.
AVA MediterrAegean is Winter Park's most-validated fine-dining Greek restaurant, holding a 2025 Michelin Plate and a 4.8 Google rating across nearly 10,000 reviews. The wine list — 230 selections, 1,540 bottles, with real depth in Greek varietals — is the standout reason to book. Plan at least two to three weeks ahead for dinner; weekday lunch is your best alternative if you need flexibility.
If you are deciding between AVA MediterrAegean and Winter Park's other $$$$ options, the choice comes down to what you want from the evening. Soseki and Ômo by Jônt both operate in the same price tier, but AVA is the restaurant you book when Greek and Mediterranean cooking is the point — not a footnote. With a 4.8 rating across 9,391 Google reviews and a 2025 Michelin Plate recognition, this is the most-validated fine-dining Greek restaurant in the Orlando metro. Book it for a special occasion, a serious wine dinner, or a return visit to go deeper into a list that runs 230 selections and 1,540 bottles.
AVA MediterrAegean sits on South Park Avenue in Winter Park, which is the right address for a restaurant at this price point — the street has the foot traffic, the energy, and the retail context that support a long, unhurried dinner. The atmosphere runs warm and convivial rather than hushed and formal. Expect a room that registers as a proper occasion without demanding reverence from you. The noise level is closer to animated than to quiet, which means conversation stays lively but you will want to lean in during a busy service. If you are returning for a second visit and found the energy too much last time, request a table toward the edges of the room rather than the center.
Owners Marine Giron-Galy and Gregory Galy have built something worth understanding before you arrive. The kitchen produces Greek and broader Mediterranean cooking at a price point , two courses typically lands above $66 per person before beverages , that sits firmly in fine-dining territory for Central Florida. The 2025 Michelin Plate is a meaningful signal: Michelin issues Plates to restaurants that inspectors judge to be serving food of a consistent, high standard, one tier below a Bib Gourmand or star. For Winter Park specifically, where Michelin recognition is not widely distributed, it matters. It tells you the kitchen is operating at a level that holds up to scrutiny.
The wine program is where AVA separates itself most clearly from its Winter Park peers. Sommelier Mateo Noriega oversees a list built around California, France, Italy, and , critically , Greece. Greek wine remains genuinely difficult to find at depth in American restaurants, and a list that treats it as a primary strength rather than a novelty column is worth booking for that alone. The list runs 230 selections and 1,540 bottles, with wine pricing at the $$$ tier, meaning you will find bottles above $100 comfortably alongside more accessible options. Corkage is $50 if you want to bring something specific. For a serious wine dinner built around Assyrtiko, Xinomavro, or Agiorgitiko poured by someone who knows the category, AVA is the right room. Compare that to The Wine Room on Park Avenue, which is a retail-driven wine bar format rather than a destination dining experience. AVA is the more ambitious option if the food matters as much as the glass.
On a return visit, the wine list is where to spend your research time. If you worked through the obvious French and Italian sections on your first visit, ask Noriega or the floor team to direct you toward the Greek selections. That is where the list earns its reputation. For the food, a two-course approach , rather than ordering broadly , tends to give the kitchen room to show what it does at its leading. AVA serves lunch and dinner, which makes it more flexible than the tasting-menu-only formats at Soseki or Ômo by Jônt. A lunch booking is also a practical answer to the booking difficulty at dinner.
Booking this restaurant at dinner requires planning. Demand is high enough , 9,391 reviews with a 4.8 average is a volume signal, not just a quality one , that walk-in availability at dinner is not something to rely on. Plan to book at minimum two to three weeks ahead for a standard dinner reservation, and further out for a weekend table or a party larger than four. If your schedule is flexible, a weekday lunch is the most accessible entry point and gives you a quieter room than weekend dinner service. For context on comparable booking difficulty in the fine-dining tier nationally, restaurants like Le Bernardin in New York City or The French Laundry in Napa require months of lead time , AVA is not in that tier of scarcity, but it is not a same-week booking either.
Service at AVA operates at a level that the price point requires. A room charging above $66 per person for food alone, with a wine list in the $$$ tier, needs a floor team that knows the product and can guide without performing. The Michelin Plate suggests the inspectors agreed. On a return visit, the test is whether the floor crew can move you intelligently through the Greek wine section rather than defaulting to the familiar French bottles. That is the interaction that earns the check. If the service feels transactional rather than knowledgeable on your second visit, that is the signal that the kitchen is outpacing the floor , still worth booking for the food and wine quality, but adjust your expectations accordingly.
For those comparing Greek fine dining further afield, OMA in London and Mavrommatis in Paris represent what Greek cooking looks like at a European fine-dining level. AVA is operating in a different market context, but the ambition of the wine list in particular puts it in genuine conversation with those rooms. For Winter Park and the broader Orlando area, there is no closer equivalent. See our full Winter Park restaurants guide for more options across all price tiers, or explore Winter Park bars, hotels, wineries, and experiences to build around your dinner.
AVA MediterrAegean is at 290 S Park Ave, Winter Park, FL 32789. The restaurant serves lunch and dinner, which gives you more scheduling flexibility than the dinner-only tasting menu formats nearby. For dinner, book two to three weeks ahead as a minimum; weekend tables and groups of four or more need more lead time than that. Weekday lunch is the most reliable option if your calendar is flexible. The address on South Park Avenue means parking and walkability are workable , Winter Park's central stretch handles foot traffic well. Dress expectations at a Michelin-recognised room in the $$$$ tier are smart casual at minimum; the room will read more polished than a casual Park Avenue bistro.
| Venue | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|
| AVA MediterrAegean | $$$$ | — |
| Soseki | $$$$ | — |
| Ômo by Jônt | $$$$ | — |
| Chuan Fu | $$ | — |
| Prato | $$ | — |
| The Wine Room on Park Avenue | — |
What to weigh when choosing between AVA MediterrAegean and alternatives.
At $$$$ per head with a Michelin Plate (2025) and a 230-label wine list that skews heavily toward Greek and French selections, AVA MediterrAegean delivers credentials that justify the spend if Greek-Mediterranean cooking is your format. The typical two-course meal lands above $66 before wine — factor in the $$$-tier wine list and a $50 corkage fee if you bring your own bottle. For the price, Prato on the same street costs less and covers similar Mediterranean territory, so the case for AVA rests on its Aegean focus and wine depth.
Bar seating availability is not confirmed in available venue data, so call ahead before planning a walk-in bar dinner. The restaurant's $$$$ pricing and Michelin Plate status suggest a formal dining setup where bar or counter seating may be limited — if flexibility matters, book a table to guarantee your spot.
AVA MediterrAegean serves lunch and dinner, which gives solo diners scheduling options that dinner-only spots don't. The Greek-Mediterranean format — typically composed dishes rather than a fixed omakase — works well for one person ordering at their own pace. At $$$$ pricing, a solo lunch is a lower-commitment way to assess whether the full dinner experience is worth returning for.
Yes — the Michelin Plate recognition (2025), a 1,540-bottle wine inventory managed by sommelier Mateo Noriega, and the South Park Avenue address all support a special-occasion booking. The $$$$ price point and Greek-Mediterranean cuisine make it a focused choice rather than a crowd-pleasing one, so it works best when the table already appreciates Aegean food. If you want a broader menu format for a group with mixed preferences, Prato or The Wine Room on Park Avenue offer more flexibility.
Prato is the most direct alternative on South Park Avenue — lower price point, Italian-leaning Mediterranean, and easier to book. The Wine Room on Park Avenue suits wine-first evenings where the food is secondary. Soseki and Ômo by Jônt operate at comparable or higher price points but in chef's-counter and omakase formats, so they suit different occasions entirely. Chuan Fu is the pick if you want a cuisine departure and a better price-to-quality ratio.
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