My US/IOA Dining Reviews with Pictures

[tndisneyfan]

When I start planning my US/IOA vacation, I never can find many reviews or pictures of food. So this trip I took some pictures and am writing reviews to try to help others in their vacation planning. I don't have many because we only did Universal Orlando for two days.

I will be reviewing The Kitchen at Hard Rock Hotel for Breakfast, Nascar Grille, Cafe 4, and Margaritaville. I have pictures for everything but The Kitchen.

The Eaters: Me, DH, and DS(12)

On with the reviews!!!!

 

[tndisneyfan]

The Kitchen at HRH

Breakfast Buffet

Like I said, no pictures. We weren't planning on eating here this morning so we weren't ready. Overall I was disappointed with this meal. We ate the breakfast buffet last year and loved it, this year not so much. Most of the food tasted like it had been sitting a while. The french toast and belgian waffles were tough and chewy. They eggs had an odd whang to them, almost a sulphury taste. The biscuits were OK but the gravy was just wrong. I'm a southern gal, and this didn't look like any gravy I'd ever seen. The grits were good, didn't seem to be instant. I didn't try any of the fruit buy DH said it didn't taste ripe. There is an omelete station where they will fix you an omelete, but we didn't have them fix us one. The eggs may have been better if we would've got them there.

We were expecting a lot because we enjoyed it so much last year. I don't know if they were just having a bad day, or if they've gone downhill that much over a year.

Overall Rating-

 

[tndisneyfan]

Nascar Grille

Combo-Shrimp and 1/2 Rack Ribs

The side were originally supposed to be mashed sweet taters and something else, the server let me switch out both. As you can see I got fries and brocoli, I can't remember if the cole slaw came with it or if that is the slaw of DH's plate. The ribs and shrimp were good. The shrimp didn't have a lot of flavor but were OK. The fries were fresh and the brocoli was very good. I like the flavor of the slaw but I prefer a finer cut slaw. This had bigger, coarser chunks.

Pork BBQ Sandwich

This was pork BBq on a roll with fries and coleslaw. DH said it was good, I didn't try it. He liked the roll the bbq was on. I don't know if you can see it in this picture, but behind the sandwich is some pink things. Those are pickled onions. DH didn't care for them but I liked them alot. They tasted like they had been soaking in pickled egg juice.

10 oz Sirloin w/ Double Fries

I can't remember what sides was supposed to come with this, but our server let DS get a double order of fries. The steak was OK but a little on the dry side. The fries were hot and fresh.

1/2 Skewer of Shrimp

I got this for DS because he wanted the Beer Butter Shrimp Dinner he had last year but it's no longer on the menu. The shrimp was OK but as I said before, sort of bland, it needed some kind of seasoning.

Overall Comments- We ate a little early but I swear this place was deserted. I bet you there wasn't 10 customers in the whole place. Makes me wonder how long they are going to be in business. Overall the food was good, but we were disappointed that the item we came for (Beer Butter Shrimp) was off the menu. If I would've known this, we probably wouldn't have ate there.

Rating- out of 5. Not bad not great.

 

[jakuch]

Thanks for the reviews. We are going next week and can't wait.

Karen

 

[macraven]

i loved the kitchen last year for the breakfast buffet. i ate there 5 times on last years trip.
i'm scared now on what to expect there.

i wonder if the chef changed.

i went right when it opened each morning. everything was fresh what i had.

 

[tndisneyfan]

i loved the kitchen last year for the breakfast buffet. i ate there 5 times on last years trip.
i'm scared now on what to expect there.

i wonder if the chef changed.

i went right when it opened each morning. everything was fresh what i had.

Hopefully they were just having a bad day. Like you, we really enjoyed it last year and had been looking forward to eating there again this year. We went about 8:30 or so, so it wasn't like we were getting the last of the food. It should have been fairly fresh. If I decide to to Universal next year, I will give them another chance.

When you get back I would interested in reading about your experience.

I have just two more reviews to do, Cafe 4 and Margaritaville. I'll do them later this evening.

 

[amystevekai&bump]

I think it might have been a bad day - we were there 3 weeks ago and we are still saying its the best breakfast/meal of the vacation!!! We LOVED the Kitchen!!!

 

[amystevekai&bump]

ooh - but must add - not overly impressed with Bubba Gumps - we should have opted for Margarittaville we think!!

 

[macraven]

ooh - but must add - not overly impressed with Bubba Gumps - we should have opted for Margarittaville we think!!

i agree.
the bubba gumps in chicago is just like the one at city walk.
margarittaville rules........

 

[tndisneyfan]

Cafe 4

Whole Pepperoni Pizza

I thought this pizza was the best I had our whole vacation (2 nights at US, 9 nights at WDW). The bottom crust was thin, but not a thin'n'crispy, but the outer crust was dense and chewy. One slice of this pizza was $3.95 (I think), the whole pizza, 6 slices, was $16.99 (I think). There were three of us so getting two slices each worked out great. The slices were large but I don't think one slice would be enough for the average adult.

Overall Comments- I thought the pizza was great but the line to get the pizza was horrendous. I probably stood in line close to thirty minutes. There are two seperate lines but when we got there only one was operating. They eventually opened up the other line but there was such a crowd they were still backed up. I will try to give them the benefit of doubt, there were a bunch of what looked like middle schoolers on a field trip and I'm sure instead of going other places they all wanted pizza. There also wasn't enough seating. I like the food though and will go back again.

Rating-

 

[tndisneyfan]

Margaritaville

Bahama Mama

DH ordered this but I took a sip. It was really good. Nice fruity taste but still had a lot of alcohol in it.

Peel n'Eat Shrimp Appetizer

I ordered this hoping DS would help me eat it, but he still refuses to eat cold shrimp . So I had to sacrifice myself and finish it off. The shrimp were large and good quality, they'd been cooked in some kind of seasoning that was good. As you can see from the picture it's served on a bed of ice with some lemon wedge and cocktail sauce, the cocktail sauce was tasty also. I think there were 12 shrimp in the appetizer, I didn't count. If you try to count notice on the bottom plate there are two shells of shrimp that sacrificed theirselves to the cause. Good appetizer, interesting plating.

BBQ Rib w/Pacific Sauce

DH's food. He like the ribs, the sauce was sort of a terryaki (gee that doesn't look spelled right ) type sauce that had a little bit of heat, he said it was different but good. The ribs weren't fall off the bone but they were good ribs. The fries didn't have any salt on them so they were bland.

Crab Cake Sandwich w/Onion Rings

This was just OK. The crab cake had a good amount of lump crab, but it was very fishy tasting. The roumelad sauce that came with it was bland, the roumelade sauces I've had with similar sandwiches were always hot and spicy, this was just bland. I would've rather had some mayo to put on it. The onion rings were awful, there is just no other word, they were greasy and soggy.

Shrimp and Sirloin

The shrimp was good but the sirloin was tough and dry. I tasted it and to me it tasted like bad quality meat. It also came with a Hawaiian butter on it that gave it a whang that we didn't care for.

Overall Comments- I was a little surprised at how mediocre this meal was. The atmosphere is nice but the food was so-so at best. Service was good.

Rating Just so-so

 

[tndisneyfan]

Ok that finishes off my reviews except for one thing.

The Churro

Yes, DS and I fell in love with the Churro while at US. We got this at several different places, but this one we got our last night at CityWalk.

If anyone has any question or comments about my reviews please feel free to ask.

 

[iluvpluto27]

Thanks for the reviews. You don't see many of the Universal restaurants so that was really useful.

Thanks

 

[LeslieR]

Thanks for taking the time to do the reviews. I wish you had time to review all the resturants at UO! We love to eat in different places on vacation--it's one of our favorite parts.