What are the "do not miss" restaurants at Universal?

[RRZJ]

We are Disney people so know all of those restaurants, but are venturing into unknown territory. What are the best do not miss restaurants at Universal - both theme parks. Also, are there any must get reservations ahead of time? Finally, are there any restaurants in the park that let you in for breakfast even before the early opening you get for staying on site?

Thanks!

 

[kbmartin]

Great question... I'd love to hear answers, too!

My DH and I are going soon, and currently our plan is to have lunch at the Three Broomsticks (we thought it was pretty good last time we went) and dinner at Cowfish (which we have not tried). Has anyone been Cowfish? If so, what did you think? I am not a sushi fan, but DH is. I'll probably stick to a burger. Our plans are totally changeable, though!

I'd love to know about early entry breakfasts, too.......

 

[pcstang]

My 10 year old son had the sushi and loved it. It was his first time eating sushi. I had a burger and it was also delicious or lush as some would say
Definitely give cowfish a try.

 

[Brenda Kim]

I have eaten at Three Broomsticks for breakfast a few times and I love the English Breakfast there. There is no early morning, get you into the parks before they open dining at Universal that I know of. Some in park good restaurants are:

Universal Studios: Lombards Seafood Grill, and you can make reservations for dinner. Finnegan's Bar and Grill I like the Irish Cobb salad with the scotch egg on it. Also in Diagon Alley the Leaky Cauldron, while I did not like my bangers and mash, (I've had better) my brother loved the Guinness Stew. We ate at the Simpsons area I had to try the Krusty burger and I was very disappointed. My brother liked his though.

IOA: Mythos it the big one here, I have eaten here numerous times over the years and while the quality seems to have gone down a bit, the food was still pretty good for inside a theme park. And the aforementioned Three Broomsticks.

CITYWALK: I haven't eaten at any of the new restaurants yet, but Antojitos is now our FAVE PLACE. Cowfish may take that spot this next visit. As a matter of choice we now tend to eat at Citywalk instead of inside the parks if possible because the food is soooo much better there.

NOTE ON RESERVATIONS: Most of the table service restaurants within the parks take reservations, although I have never made any and have never had to wait more than 10 minutes for table, but I don't go at peak times. We usually vacation in October and May. That is one thing I like about Universal is not having to plan all of my dining before hand and can just eat where ever I want when ever I feel hungry.

 

[kbelle8995]

I will put in my vote for the Leaky Caldron. Just a lovely restuarant especially if you a Harry Potter fan. The food is good. The banger sandwich delicious.

I will also put in the Cowfish is wonderful. On the resort side, I've never had a bad experience at Jake's over at RPR.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

For food quality (and service) Finnegan's at Universal and Confisco Grille at IOA are our two favourites. Both excellent meals that we look forward to repeating again on our next trip. Prices were excellent too, very comparable in many respects to some of the counter service options.

We also really enjoyed our Margaritavile meal.

 

[Robo56]

In IOA Three broomsticks. If you have 4 people in group. The family feast is awesome. Mytho's for sure (get ressies for this) can be busy at times, Confisco Grill. On city walk we tried Antijitos I had big expectations for this restraurant and it was terrible. The air conditioning was not working and the food was very disappointing. The only thing half way decent there was the chips and salsa and that was after we sent the first bowl of chips they gave us back because they were all crushed and useless. The food and portions were far off the mark for the price you pay and if that wasn't bad enough my daughter in law found hair in her rice. Don't waste your money.

 

[gatordoc]

Definitely Cowfish, as others have mentioned. And don't forget about the hotels - The Kitchen at the Hard Rock is fun and has very good food and drinks. And Bice at Portofino is some of the best Italian food in Orlando.

 

[VacaPlanner2012]

I just love Margaritaville! I did book the earliest character breakfast at UO one day (not peak time). We were staying at HRH and were lucky enough to be the first guests through to make our ressie, so it was very much like the DIS walk to the castle for early Cinderella breakfast. In fact, it was a little creepy being the ONLY people walking down the street to La Bamba. Gates opened like 3-4 minutes after, just enough of a head start to feel alone.

I stress again that this was in early December, not peak time at all, but really cool. Same trip, we did the Grinchmas breakfast at IofA. Fun, very fun, but not the same "early" experience.

 

[RMulieri]

Mythos
Cowfish
and we LOVE Mama Dellas at Portofino Bay resort( not cheap but really good food).Bice is also phenomenal but a bit more expensive

 

[DISNEYNV]

Mythos in IOA (EXCELLENT FOOD)! Three Broom Sticks (loved it, but had a long wait)! Finnegans (decent food for sit down!) And Emerils (this was not that pricey for lunch and we had the place basically to ourselves) at Royal Pacific resort all great! I was not a fan of Cowfish. I had high expectations for it, but we were not impressed with the food quality, prices, or the service. My kids did like the origami style kids menus though I heard that Viola (sp?) Italian place on City Walk is good. Cant go wrong with Margaritaville either!!!

 

[Bluer101]

One word.

MYTHOS!!!

 

[schumigirl]

Jakes and The Islands at RPR, Sal's at PBH and The Palm at HRH.

U.S.........Lombards and Louie's pizza. Ben & Jerrys for ice cream. Simpsons food court is good for most things.

IOA........Confisco Grill is often overlooked but is lovely. Mythos and Thunder Falls Terrace are the other two not to be missed.

Citywalk........looking forward to trying Cowfish this year. We used to eat at Margaritaville every year at least twice, but they have cut back their menu a lot. Just wasn't as good last time. May just go for a cocktail at night this year. NBA is always consistently good....get there before it closes. Not a fan of Italian food (except pizza) so won't be trying the new place Vivo.

Never made a reservation in all our visits.

 

[Lee Matthews]

Good thread. Im accustomed to Disney's restaurants but at universal I'm just used to burgers and fries but want to have some better meals when i visit next year.

 

[Doofenshmirtz]

Someone mentioned a long wait for 3 broomsticks. But isn't it a counter serve? What would make for the long wait?

 

[johde]

Someone mentioned a long wait for 3 broomsticks. But isn't it a counter serve? What would make for the long wait?

3 Broomsticks, Leaky Cauldron, and Simpson's can all get backed up during peak times. 3 Broomsticks and Leaky Cauldron especially have the Be Our Guest(lunch) problem prior to needing a reservation for counter service. They are just extremely popular. They are all well themed. 3 Broomsticks is a little worse line wise because many people consider the other counter service location in IOA mediocre. All 3 places have a different setup.

Leaky Cauldron is like a non fancy BOG - You order, get a candles stick to place on your table and the food comes to you.
3 Broomsticks has order stations in one location then you're sent to a second location to pickup the food.

Simpsons fast food Blvd. is setup similar to Sunshine Seasons with different stations each type of food (burgers, pizza, Chicken etc). Then everyone pays at a central location after picking out their food.

 

[bsiev1977]

3 Broomsticks, Gringotts, and Simpson's can all get backed up during peak times. 3 Broomsticks and Gringotts especially have the Be Our Guest(lunch) problem prior to needing a reservation for counter service. They are just extremely popular. They are all well themed. 3 Broomsticks is a little worse line wise because many people consider the other counter service location in IOA mediocre. All 3 places have a different setup.

Gringotts is like a non fancy BOG - You order, get a candles stick to place on your table and the food comes to you.
3 Broomsticks has order stations in one location then you're sent to a second location to pickup the food.

Simpsons fast food Blvd. is setup similar to Sunshine Seasons with different stations each type of food (burgers, pizza, Chicken etc). Then everyone pays at a central location after picking out their food.

When you say Gringotts, do you mean Leaky Cauldron?

 

[Doofenshmirtz]

So do we need a reservations for 3 broomsticks or leaky cauldron? How far in advance do you need to make reservations?

 

[johde]

When you say Gringotts, do you mean Leaky Cauldron?

Yes, Leaky Cauldron I'll fix my post

 

[Doofenshmirtz]

I am confused.... We don't need reservations for counter service do we?