My Most Anticipated Asian Restaurants Opening in Orlando in 2026

I have hyped up Sorekara quite a bit, ranking it as my favorite Michelin starred restaurant in Orlando, and I am always interested to see what the Tung Brothers and Chef William Shen are working on next. They are taking over the now closed Colibri restaurant in Baldwin Park and transforming it into a Spanish and Japanese influenced a la carte concept focused on shareable dishes. They are also planning to have an on-site culinary lab to test new recipes and focus on sustainable cooking, so hopefully that also means rotating menu items that willing test subjects (guests) can try out and give feedback. This restaurant will be open towards the end of the year so it is a long ways off.

The boom of Japanese cuisine is still going strong in Orlando. This restaurant is slated to open in May and is spreading the sushi love to an area that is lacking some good options. Sushi Q will bring a relatively affordable omakase concept to Orlando. So far the cheapest omakase options are around $150 before tax and tip from Sushi Izuki, but with the opening of Sushi Q in the near future there could be a potential new value GOAT that will be an absolute game changer. Sushi Q is pricing their nigiri omakase around the $40 to $75 range with a more extensive five course kappo-style menu being offered around $120 to $140. There will also be a selection of a la carte sushi as well as Japanese alcohol, so this place is really going to do it all. If it is executed well this could be an industry disruptor for the local sushi scene.

This sushi bento takeout concept is just on the horizon and scheduled to open in April, overtaking the now closed RoyalTea. Hayashi Taro will focus on Japanese fish flown directly from Japan and is another addition to the Mills area dining scene by Lewis Lin who currently operates Juju and Susuru.

As someone with a toddler, I do most of my dining out in takeout containers so I am super hyped that a sushi restaurant will be focusing on the takeout sector of dining and doing it to a high level of quality. The to-go boxes will range in price from $35 to $45 which is totally fair considering the fish has to jump out of the water and fly more than halfway around the world. There will also be a dine-in omakase option at the 8-seat counter which will take walk-ins only, so that is another great addition. As much as I love sushi, sometimes I don’t want to have to plan for my cravings with a reservation booked a week ahead. I want spontaneous satisfaction.

Chef Lewis Lin is having a busy year because he is also planning on opening a quick-service omakase restaurant called Neko-San. It will be a one hour nigiri focused meal starting at $65 and just like Hayashi Taro the fish will be sourced directly from Japan.

I am all for the cheaper omakase options starting to pop up in Orlando. Places like NYC have a lot of affordable omakase options but I always thought they could only survive because of the number of people in the big city and strong supply lines which kept food transportation cheap so restaurants could afford to charge less. Either way I am all for high quality sushi where I don’t have to fork out three digits to get a good meal.

The only chef busier than Lewis Lin is Chef William Shen who will be working on another project inside Mills Market called UniMart. It will be a local rendition of the Japanese 7-Eleven, Lawson, and FamilyMart experience that every tourist tries at least once after touchdown at Haneda or Narita airport.

Going to Japan is now the American millennial and Gen Z equivalent of the Hajj so this will be a great fit for the people that want a boutique Japanese convenience store experience with the egg salad sandwiches, fried chicken, and bento boxes. I love the novelty of Japanese convenience stores too even though I find it overrated by now. At the end of the day it’s basically Japan’s equivalent of the Trader Joe’s frozen aisle. It is good for what it is but I would rather eat a hot meal prepared to order if I am eating out anyways.

Adding to his existing portfolio of Boku Sushi, Oza Izakaya, and Mikado Sushi restaurants, Tim Liu is planning another ambitious project in the foodie battleground of the Mills district. Oza Kai will have a 10 seat omakase counter and a casual dining room of 120 seats complete with tatami rooms and an outdoor lounge.

This restaurant is looking to earn the business of anyone craving Japanese cuisine. A huge space that can handle large groups with a menu of sushi and other Japanese classics will definitely be a hit if it’s executed well. Mills already has many of these elements scattered around like great sushi at Edoboy and Okonomi and quality casual Japanese fare at Tori Tori, but Oza Kai is going to have it all under one roof. It may not be the same circle in the Venn diagram of customers but there’s definitely a lot of overlap. Anticipated to open late 2026.

Breaking away from the Japanese concepts, another one I have my eyes on is Pomelo by former Top Chef winner Hung Huynh. It will be a full Southeast Asian restaurant affair in the Mills district. The details are still coming together but so far the menu will include skewers, seafood towers, caviar, and chicken nuggets. It will be a cocktail-focused restaurant with every cooking method imaginable from live fire grilling to planchas, combi ovens, and a wok station.

This seems like a very ambitious concept and I hope it is executed well. A menu that has too many items and juggles multiple cooking methods is a difficult task to pull off, but I expect great things from a former Per Se and Guy Savoy alum.

A fast casual dumpling operation is expected to open next to Tiger Sugar in Mills called Little Sister Dumpling. As a lover of dumplings I am glad a restaurant is wholly dedicated to respecting the versatility of this dough filled treat with classics and modern twists. Not much news is available on this spot just yet or who is even opening it, but I will be keeping an eye on it.

Eric Jiang, the owner of Sushi Izuki, is expanding beyond sushi and his first new concept is Jiang’s Kitchen which will focus on dumplings in the downtown area. Hopefully this will expand beyond the scope of the soup dumplings that seem to be on every single Chinese restaurant menu lately. As much as I love them, I feel like Chinese cuisine has too much variety to rely on just this Shanghainese staple.

Eric Jiang’s second concept is Fan Hwa, a Chinese dessert and bao shop in the Mills district. I think Chinese desserts are underrated when compared to Japanese or Korean desserts, so I am glad to see it get some love. Hopefully it is executed well unlike Meet Fresh which seems to be a ghost town after its initial line out the door opening success.

I love Japanese and Korean barbecue. They’re pretty similar and Korean BBQ borrows a lot from the yakiniku tradition, but Orlando’s Asian barbecue scene is weak. All the tabletop barbecue places like the AYCE combo joints of hotpot and Korean BBQ may be great value but they all taste like Great Value. Same marinades, same mediocre cuts of meat. It’s fine for large groups that just want to get full and not do dishes.

Finally Chubby Cattle, a chain of wagyu focused barbecue, is coming to Orlando and will easily be the best quality Asian barbecue place in the entire city and probably the most expensive. This has been “coming soon” on their website forever but it’s anticipated to open this year, so hopefully this doesn’t become another H-Mart case where it stalled for half a decade.

Simple name for a Thai inspired restaurant that’s focusing on the authentic noodles of Thailand like khao soi and boat noodles. It’s about time we got more variety in the Thai scene in Orlando and making boat noodles their signature dish is a bold statement. Traditionally thickened with blood, this dish may not be the easiest to slurp down for those more familiar with lo mein, but if it’s done well it’s nothing more than a savory bowl of goodness.