Sideshow

Awesome place. Great drinks! Great staff! Where everyone is family. Don’t forget to ask for Kyle.

I had a little time to burn after my plane ride in before I could check into my Air BNB, so I found this place here on Unilocal and decided I absolutely must go here. Sideshow stuff — I love it.
Got in at a decent lunch hour and it wasn’t too crazy yet. I had a few drinks and checked out all the fun artwork they had around the spot — very rad. AND apparently mostly done by a local female artist, which is also very cool to see and know.
Drinks were good and promptly checked on, I didn’t order anything crazy so I can’t say much for specialty or anything. As for price, I was pretty shocked at how reasonable they were for being in a downtown location. I literally thought I got underpriced or she had forgotten something but it was correct and for that I am happy as well as my pocket.
I ordered the Poke Poke Tuna Tacos — and they were AMAZING. Very different from most «fish» tacos I’ve had. It is a raw Tuna, so keep that in mind, but if you like that kind of thing you’ll really like them.
My server/​bartender was also awesome. Her name was Sharon — super friendly and helpful and was on top of her game. If you read this, thanks again!
I’ll definitely suggest this place to my friends visiting the area. Very nice spot in a good location.

What an absolute waste of time and such a disappointment waiting in line for about 15 minutes to get in and I was denied the entrance just because I was wearing a tank top without a logo or design on it. This is the first time something like that has happened to me and I think its beyond strange and also very rude and disrespectful. Absolutely not a great image for my friends who are visiting from over seas, I don’t think thats how one should treat paying costumers that are entering your business.

Sharon was our server and she was great! We came in at a weird time just for a bite to eat. I got the fish tacos and my friend got some sort of bean bowl. Both were great. Really cool décor. Defiantly want to come back at night some time.

Didn’t like the music, fun décor, slow service, strong drinks

Loved this bar!!! We bar hopped up and down Orange Ave and this place was my favorite stop of the night. Cool vibe. Great drinks. Super friendly bar staff and the DJ was bad ass.
The twisted décor is unique and the wall art messes with your head. The only thing missing are disfigured dancers in cages or actual freaks and stilt walkers.

This place looks like it should be called Shitshow and not Sideshow. Somehow, it seemed very calm at 10pm on a Saturday night, but it just has the vibe of being a wild and crazy bar. Bar staff wasn’t great or this place would be 4* as its visually popping with all of the circus themed stuff on the walls. I didn’t try it, but they had a spin-​the-​wheel drink special for $ 5. Fun to watch.

Didn’t know what to expect going in but theming was really well executed and the bartenders were personable and excellent. Total unexpected gem!

Taco Tuesday — Part 2
Two words — Never again.
After my super pleasant experience at Cantina and the need for extra table space, we found ourselves at Sideshow. One would assume that the service and food would be just as great… not so much.
Sideshow was just as busy as Cantina yet it took our server (I believe her name was Morgan C. — according to our ticket) a good 10 minutes to even acknowledge our group. Once at our table she quickly ran through the menu options for the new comers and took our orders. I ordered another margarita with a sugar rim along with chips and salsa.
About 10 minutes into order prep our server came back asking us to repeat our orders because she forgot them/​who got what. We politely repeated everything for her so we could receive our drinks. About 15 minutes into our drink order (all margaritas) Morgan came back with salt and sugar rims on the wrong drinks and then accidentally gave us an extra margarita because she didn’t remember who she was supposed to give it to. It was busy so we totally understood how she could be overwhelmed. Food orders came next, and mine was less than impressive. My chips were a tad on the stale side and the salsa was no more than chopped tomato’s and the accompanying juice. Pretty nasty and flavorless. Members of my table ordered tacos and said they were «ok».
Regardless of the slow service, everyone at my table was jovial and engaged in conversation. At one point my friend next to me wanted another taco, when we got Morgan’s attention and asked her if we could put an order in, she practically smiled and rolled her eyes at us. I’ve never had someone do that to me before so it really caught me off guard. Shortly after that, the end of the table wanted to put in a drink order and in the middle of taking the drink order our server threw her hands in the air and walked away. Things became really awkward after that and we all decided to leave. Our server’s behavior ruined our whole night. A couple members of our group went to get their checks from the manager when it seemed like our server did not plan to come back to our table. It appears she accused our table of yelling at her… she must have confused us with another table because that certainly did not take place.
Nonetheless, this experience was enough for me to not return to Sideshow. I would be willing to give their food a second chance considering I only order chips and salsa but after the treatment we received from our server I’ll pass. Sorry Sideshow.

This is one of my favorite bars in downtown Orlando. The decorations are pretty cool and original for a bar. I also think their music selection is normally pretty fun, a mix of old school hip-​hop with some new is the best. I’ve never got to experience «spin the wheel» myself but I heard it’s pretty fun and crazy. I also know this is a FSU bar on game days so be prepared for that whether you are a fan or not.

Food was decent. Nothing special here.
Ordered a burger and it was missing toppings. Considering my table was the only people there.
Doesn’t seem like anyone can get a food order wrong
So that sucked. And also waiting 30 mins for plates. Either
Very slow service with no customers makes it worst
The place is nicely put w the decorations and all.

Best bar decoration wise. Super different than what I have seen before with a crazy circus theme. I’m surprised they don’t have circus acts. Who knows? Maybe they do on some days. There’s a huge long bar here and tons of tables. You can eat, drink, and be merry all here.
Sundays they have a brunch! Their cracker jack and chocolate covered pretzel shot sounds good. I want to do that. Check out their drink menu! It looks like Wall St. Cantina and Side Show share the same menu. I could be wrong. Just ask!
Visiting Sidestep at Wall St. Will make u feel complete simply by of the atmosphere!

Other than the creepy carnival feel, it’s a standard downtown bar without a whole lot extra to offer.
When they first opened up, I got a look at their menu and was actually pretty intrigued — it looked to be an order of magnitude more interesting than you’d expect from the typical nearby drunk factories. They weren’t serving shitty limp fries to liquor-​soaked college kids. I don’t know if that menu still exists, or if they’ve merged their menu with Wall Street Cantina, or if maybe I just hallucinated the whole thing from the get-​go. But I’d come back to check out the menu.
As far as drinks are concerned, it’s pretty interchangeable with any of the other area bars.

I rarely come here for drinks at night because the music is usually way too loud and I have not had good experiences at the bar when they are busy. The bartenders seemed to blatantly ignore us one night us so we normally skip this place and go to Waitikis instead.
The real reason for this review is their Sunday brunch. $ 15 for buffet and $ 30 for buffet and bottomless mimosas, bloody marys and sangria. We have been twice and it’s never really crowded, so it’s one of the few places you can grab brunch downtown without waiting or getting a reservation.
The buffet is pretty good but the selection is small. The chicken and waffle skewers are awesome, as are the oreo churros n cream. They also have an omelet station, and the omelets are delicious. For $ 15, the buffet is a pretty good deal.
However, my huge complaint with their Sunday brunch is the bottomless alcohol factor. The bottomless mimosas do NOT include real champagne. Their mimosas are made with Verdi, which is coyingly sweet and basically impossible to get drunk from. The sangria was possibly the worst I have ever had. It was so dark it resembled rum n coke, and tasted like 80% brandy. Three of us ordered sangria and none of us took more than a couple sips. The bloody marys are disgustingly salty and also impossible to drink. If you are going to charge an extra $ 15 for bottomless alcohol, you need to do it right. At least give us real champagne, even if it’s the $ 5 per bottle stuff!
If you want a cheap bottomless mimosa deal, go to Chicos or Whiskey Dicks where they give you actual bottles of champagne, not Verdi.
Kasa’s buffet and bottomless mimosa/​sangria deal is the same price as Sideshow and wayyyy better. Kasa’s buffet has like 4x more options with seriously delicious, high-​quality food, good sangria and real mimosas.
I would suggest serving real champagne, nixing the sangria or just serving bottled sangria, and bumping the price down a bit. There is just no way Sideshow can compete with Kasa’s Sunday brunch deal when the prices are the same but the quality is not.

The Durango Rolls are fantastic.
This place is HUGE and not at all weird. The décor is cool sideshow stuff but it’s not strange inside.
I’m eating my burger now and no complaints.
But those Durango Rolls. I’ll dream about those bitches

Do not come here for lunch during the week. The service during lunch hours is crappy, referring to the one we just received. I invited my colleague to Sideshow/​Wall St. for lunch.
We are seated by the hostess then greeted by the waitress. We order our food, i ordered a fish and chips and my friend ordered Steak tacos without Cheese. 21 minutes later, the food finally arrived, my fish n chips looked good and the steak tacos were very cheesy. We requested a no cheese dish, yet cheese was all over the taco. They offered to make again and we respected that. When you have an hour lunch break, 42 minutes to make food isn’t enough time to enjoy lunch.
I didn’t request for the manager on duty but i got her name. The waitress at that point could care less than providing a good service. I really wanted to try the funnel fries, but i didn’t get the chance to, due to the lack of interest. I still come here for Sunday Funday for the atmosphere and Décor, i just would not bother coming for lunch.
Spend a few more dollars and go to POURHOUSE for better quality food and service, or you can go to Gringos Locos for best tacos. I will never recommend Wall St/​Sideshow for lunch, i was extremely disappointed with the experience.

I came with a friend for SUNDAY BRUNCH BUFFET and mimosas. People think of this place as a bar FIRST for Friday and Saturday night clubbing. If you do not want to wait in line at the other breakfast places for brunch… get yourselves to downtown Orlando at Wall Street Plaza. UNKNOWN for Brunch, so there’s not many people. More food for you!!! So Yummy!!!
Add the Mimosas/​Sangria/​Bloody Mary’s and its a perfect brunch. Afterwards walk on over to Lake Eola and visit the Farmer’s Market.

I really wanted to love this place, I really did. The décor, as others have mentioned, is amazing, but what has killed the atmosphere for me every single time I’ve been there is the music. I understand everyone has different taste in music, and not all places play my kind of music, but they are so all over the place with the music selection it’s almost amusing to keep track of how confused people are whenever the music changes.
I’ve been here a couple of times for drinks on the weekend, and once for brunch. Drinks are average I’d say, I usually get a beer, and service is quite friendly. Brunch was quite a different experience though.
Sideshow offers a $ 15 brunch buffet, as well as a la carte items, and also the option to get bottomless mimosas/​sangria/​bloody marys for $ 15, otherwise the mimosas and bloody marys are $ 3 each and the sangria was $ 4 I think. Good deal right? This is why we decided to try it. I like the bottomless drinks option, I’m a fan of mimosas and they hit the spot by having 4 different flavors of juice available and not just orange. My friends mixed it up and ordered all 3 options of drinks, so yeah, for $ 15 it’s a good deal. The food though, it was just ok. I was hoping a bit more of a variety of brunch type food. It wasn’t bad, but I’ve had better around town.
I would still hit up Sideshow for drinks, or maybe a different type of meal, but not brunch, sorry. I heard a while ago they had live music, I think that would help also with the atmosphere, or at least they should be more consistent with the music selection, especially on a sunday morning when people even bring their kids out (some of the videos made other people uncomfortable).

This place is really like walking into a carnival. The décor is supersized and it feels like you’re walking into the big top tent. My Unilocal buddy, Cecille R., and I tried this place out for lunch. We took our server’s suggestion and ordered the onion rings with melted Gruyère cheese and it comes with onion soup to dip. Damn, those onion rings are pretty fantastic and loaded with cheese… did I mention I love cheese? The French onion soup dip was more like a French onion gravy and it was so good. I also ordered a burger and french fries and it was good. Nothing exceptional about the burger, but it was nicely cooked and it had a good flavor. When I compared the burger to the onion rings starter, I was kind of like «meh», then I wanted more onion rings. I did use the onion dip on my fries, that was pretty good.
I’m not sure what this place is like at night but I suspect the carnival atmosphere really amps up. A lot of the signs are interactive and there was a giant spinning wheel inside over the front door. There is a crank lever, it looks like a slot machine handle, at the bar. The plan is the bartenders will pull the crank lever and the spinning wheel above the door will display the drink specials.
This was a nice place to try for lunch and I hope they start to have more menu selections.

This place is SO off the wall but it seems to work. I had read about a new circus themed restaurant/​bar opening up so Elite Unilocaler Mia P. and I checked it out for lunch.
Located where One Eye’d Jacks and The Loaded Hog used to be, it’s a massive space decorated with circus memorabilia– huge cartoonish style photos on the wall around the restaurant and CLOWNS! There’s even a spinning roulette wheel above the front door that will be used as a fun party type game for the late night crowds! But you have to go to find out what it is. We even ventured around the restaurant and discovered fun mirrors next to the restrooms. How crazy would those be after a few drinks?
I was actually surprised by the menu. But in a good way. I was expecting uninspired fried circus faire. The menu seems to have some pretty grown up dishes that are not all all what you think of when you hear the word circus! Can you say steamed pork buns? Rosemary lamb ribs?
The French onion soup rings were super delicious. The rings had a wonderful light, crispy batter and the French onion soup reduction was the best accompaniment for dunking them under the surface. Save that onion soup for your fries if you get them. I also ordered the ballyhoo nachos with chicken and as soon as they came out, I wish I had asked someone to share. Sooo much food. The menu is varied so there is something for most people. I will say that the vegetarian selections are limited so that’s a Debbie downer! Just make sure to ask if they can substitute. If your server is anything like ours (unfort missing name) it won’t be a big deal!
If you’re not afraid of clowns and looking for the next new thing in Downtown Orlando, check this place out!