Best Food Options when Staying at HRH

[Happyjen27]

Hi all,

I'm 2 weeks away from my big trip, and I'm struggling with narrowing down dining options!!

The niche I'm trying to fill is when we're all really tired from the parks all day and hungry and need to eat NOW, but we want something reasonably nutritious and delicious. When we stay at Disney it's usually the Contempo Cafe that fills the bill for us. Are there any type of quick and healthy type places in or near the HRH?

Secondly, on the nights we have the energy and inclination to sit down and enjoy a meal, what would you recommend within walking distance of HRH? How far a walk is Citywalk?

Right now the only true reservation we have is at Ruth's Chris's Steakhouse, so we've got the delicious dining covered, I'm looking for something one step below in price and swanky-ness.

thanks in advance!!!

 

[damo]

There is a food sticky on the main Universal page as well as some food polls that should help you.

 

[Happyjen27]

Yes, thank you. I read through the sticky yesterday, the most recent 6 pages, is was very gratifying to hear about all the delicious things, for example, I might try the chicken and waffles that people were waxing poetic about. I was hoping for a little more info specific to the Hard Rock Hotel. I clicked a few menus and got some 404s, and the polls on that thread date back to 2012. We all know that restaurants can change dramatically in 4 years. Which means something that got high percentages 3 years ago might not be all that great in 2 weeks, you know?

So, any first hand insight to guests from the resorts would be so appreciated. I feel a bit lost looking for food at Universal. I know that my belly will get full somehow, but, I want it filled with yummy deliciousness, not just meh food, you know?

 

[macraven]

Are you staying onsite?

 

[Happyjen27]

Yes, at the HRH.

 

[macraven]

the Palm is decent and has a good menu.
it's not cheap though but it is no problem to wear street/park clothes to it.

i haven't read of any recent reviews for the place in the past year.
maybe there is some on yelp or other sites you could check for this place.


look at www.citywalk.com for their current menus

Jakes at rpr is a middle of the road type of eatery.
dinners, apps, sandwiches, etc.
they are open late and located on the first floor of the hotel.

you could water taxi there from the park and water taxi back when you are done to city walk.
transfer from the rpr boat to the hrh boat to return to your hotel.

i used to enjoy some of the dinners at hrh's Kitchen restaurant, but haven't eaten at it in the past 2 years.

 

[Happyjen27]

Thank you so much for that!! Navigating Universal's website and DIS tells me there is no true Quick serve type place that would have a hot sandwich/flatbread/salad type food within the HRH. Am I correct in this?

Follow up question, has anyone ever had food delivered from a local place to the HRH? There seem to be tons of eateries around, was just wondering if HRH is conducive to that, and if so, if anyone has recommendations. I've been reading trip reports like mad for weeks, but still haven't seen anyone order in.

 

[damo]

Thank you so much for that!! Navigating Universal's website and DIS tells me there is no true Quick serve type place that would have a hot sandwich/flatbread/salad type food within the HRH. Am I correct in this?

Follow up question, has anyone ever had food delivered from a local place to the HRH? There seem to be tons of eateries around, was just wondering if HRH is conducive to that, and if so, if anyone has recommendations. I've been reading trip reports like mad for weeks, but still haven't seen anyone order in.

HRH has Emack and Bolios.

https://touringplans.com/universal-...e/menus/emack-bolios-marketplace-all-day-menu

There are so many places to eat at Universal, there really isn't a need to order from outside. You can easily walk over to Portofino which has Sal's Market Deli with lots of yummy quickserve pizza/salads/sandwiches.

 

[Happyjen27]

Thank you!! I love the look of Sal's! And if we're really tired, we can hit up Emack and Bolio's for a pizza. I, for one, can't get enough pizza to be honest!

Thank you all for helping me!

 

[damo]

Thank you!! I love the look of Sal's! And if we're really tired, we can hit up Emack and Bolio's for a pizza. I, for one, can't get enough pizza to be honest!

Thank you all for helping me!

Remember that Citywalk is only a 5 minute walk from the HRH as is Portofino. Red Oven Pizza is excellent too.

 

[HM]

We had a lovely meal at The Kitchen (at HRH) in their outside area one day for lunch.

 

[macraven]

there are pizza delivery places in town that will deliver to your hotel.
you have to meet them in the lobby as they can not come up to your room.

 

[Jujumama]

Our family ate at Vivo's twice and really enjoyed the food. Lots of homemade pasta and Italian fare. We stayed at the HRH and ate at the kitchen for lunch when we arrived and dinner. The food was good and portions were huge. We also had club level which for my family was very helpful since they all seem to go from sweet and passive to Hangry demons within minutes. HRH is about a 10 minute walk to Citywalk so you will have options within walking distance.

 

[ps17]

If you are staying at HRH, you may as well save yourself the trouble of driving and replace Ruth's Chris with the Palm. Also, to each his own but for us, we consider the Palm upscale on the order of a Ruth's Chris and out of respect for others, we don't recommend Park Clothes there - unless you are comfortable with wearing shorts and T shirts to an upscale steakhouse where you will spend well over $130 for just 2 people. The Kitchen works - good place to unwind. Also, walk over to Citywalk and try Cowfish (check out menu) Finally, if you want to trend casual, the food at the bar by the pool is pretty decent - definitely good for lunch - they have good fish tacos, barfoo , but you can hang out on the patio or under the gaslamp. I Drive is minutes away, but the traffic is horrendous but you have your variety. Not a place like contempo around but in our opinion, to catch that HRH "vibe", a trip to at least Kitcen, Palm, and then something else works.... (just like for us, when we stay at Contemporary resort, Cali Grill is in order as is Boma/Mara at AKL, Cape May at Beach Club... gOOD lUCK

 

[ps17]

A poster mentioned Club level and true that - if you don't mind appetizer type of food, club level can work - vegetables, hors ouvres (sp?), wings, pasta, - all comes with the price...

 

[lffam]

We ate at The Kitchen @HRH multiple times and it was great. Variety and very tasty, big and small meals. Citywalk is not far, less than 10min walk if I recall and there are lots of eating options there. We ate at Hard Rock Cafe and one other place I cant recall the name.

 

[lffam]

A poster mentioned Club level and true that - if you don't mind appetizer type of food, club level can work - vegetables, hors ouvres (sp?), wings, pasta, - all comes with the price...

here is a photo of the menu from the Hard Rock Hotel Club for one night we were there in Dec 2015.

Buffalo wings were also on the menu and they were very nice.

 

[hubbard53]

we just spent a long weekend at HRH... it was just me, wife, and 5 year old son. We walked to cityWalk each night for dinner; it is really, really close - plus they have the bike buggies to ride if you're extra tired.

We ate at:
Cowfish - hate to say it but this was overrated.
Margaritaville - food is OK but you're not there for the food, right?
Antojitos - liked it a lot.
Hard Rock Restaurant - OK, but again, it's more atmosphere than food.

We also had lunch at the poolside cafe which was also pretty good.

You definitely wont get bored or hungry while staying at HRH

 

[VacaPlanner2012]

When it comes to food, it is always a matter of taste. But, check out the restaurant by the pool for something quick, I thought the food was basic but very good. Also, CityWalk is really just outside the park, stop and eat at any number of places/styles before you head back to HRH. Also, room service is a little pricy, but will kick the late night hungers if needed.

I would really do a quick google map search of HRH, Universal, CityWalk so you can see how close it is. Quite frankly, you could walk to Citywalk before you decide what you want to eat.

 

[jenrose66]

we just spent a long weekend at HRH... it was just me, wife, and 5 year old son. We walked to cityWalk each night for dinner; it is really, really close - plus they have the bike buggies to ride if you're extra tired.

We ate at:
Cowfish - hate to say it but this was overrated.
Margaritaville - food is OK but you're not there for the food, right?
Antojitos - liked it a lot.
Hard Rock Restaurant - OK, but again, it's more atmosphere than food.

We also had lunch at the poolside cafe which was also pretty good.

You definitely wont get bored or hungry while staying at HRH

I totally agree with you regarding cowfish we ate there on 4/17 and it wasn't just over rated it was down right bad!