new blog: Universal Orlando Dining Tips and Recommendations

[LeahZ]

www.disunplugged.com/2012/04/09/universal-orlando-dining-tips-and-recommendations/

 

[damo]

Hmmm. Why didn't the blogger state that reservations for most of the restaurants can be made at www.opentable.com? That is a valuable piece of information.

I must say that I don't really agree with his food choices but that is quite a subjective topic.

Not sure where his info about the dress code came from. None of the restaurants require you to have a collared shirt or be wearing pants. As long as men's shirts have sleeves, they are fine.

 

[patster734]

Thanks for the link!

It was a good read. One piece of information that I felt he left out was that some Citywalk restaurants can take reservations at opentable.com. In my opinion, opentable is the easiest way of making a reservation if the restaurant is in their database. Of course, as I'm usually staying on property, I wing it and skip making reservations for dinner.

As for his ranking, they were ok, but I would have replaced The Kitchen with Finnegan's at USF, and Mamma Della's with The Latin Quarter. I'm a big fan of Margaritaville, Mythos, and Emeril's Tchoup Chop, so I agree with those three on his list. As for Pastamore making his Honorable Mention list, having tried it twice, their food tasted bland to me and is on my "skip it" list. I'd replace it with Jake's at RPR.

 

[damo]

Thanks for the link!

It was a good read. One piece of information that I felt he left out was that some Citywalk restaurants can take reservations at opentable.com. In my opinion, opentable is the easiest way of making a reservation if the restaurant is in their database. Of course, as I'm usually staying on property, I wing it and skip making reservations for dinner.

As for his ranking, they were ok, but I would have replaced The Kitchen with Finnegan's at USF, and Mamma Della's with The Latin Quarter. I'm a big fan of Margaritaville, Mythos, and Emeril's Tchoup Chop, so I agree with those three on his list. As for Pastamore making his Honorable Mention list, having tried it twice, their food tasted bland to me and is on my "skip it" list. I'd replace it with Jake's at RPR.

I agree, Pastamore has always been very bland. We never eat there anymore.

 

[patster734]

I agree, Pastamore has always been very bland. We never eat there anymore.

Once per trip, we will get a breakfast pizza from their Market Cafe to change it up from the hotels' breakfast buffets, USF's Boulangerie, and IOA's Croissant Moon Bakery. Although on our last trip, the Market Cafe took an exceptionally long time to prepare the breakfast pizzas, so we may skip that too on our next trip.

 

[andyman8]

Am I the only one who really enjoyed the IOA Character Breakfast. I thought the level of interaction was well above Disney's and the food wasn't THAT bad.

 

[ADP]

Hi gang...Thanks for the feedback. And you're right. Open Table is a great resoruce for making the reservations. I simply left it out. As they say, you can't say and recommend everything in a two page blog. And I totally agree about the restaurant choices being subjective, but I do think my choices are pretty good.

Just a note about the attire...The restaurant attire is more of a recommendation than a requirement. My wording may have been misleading. I probably should have said "dress code recommendations". I can go back in and reword it. Thanks for pointing that out Damo.

I really like the dining options at Universal. They have a very good mix of chain restaurants and themed restaurants. Our family is heading back to UO in June and can't wait to try out the updated Spiderman attraction and some of our favorite places to eat on property.

 

[ADP]

Am I the only one who really enjoyed the IOA Character Breakfast. I thought the level of interaction was well above Disney's and the food wasn't THAT bad.

The character interaction is some of the best I've ever experienced in a character breakfast. We've done this breakfast a few times and both times the food was off. That's not to say when we go back it will be bad. I'm guessing it will have probably improved. Timing is everything. Like any restaurant some days it can be great and others not so good. I always try and measure a restaurant by how consistantly good or bad it is.

 

[damo]

There have been a lot of great comments about the Spiderman breakfast here lately. I agree that people were not happy with it before. Perhaps they have listened and improved things.

I think it is a good idea to change the wording about attire. People really don't want to be bringing along a change of clothing to hit those nicer restaurants. In some cases, people might avoid those restaurants completely if they think they are under-dressed.

 

[macraven]

adp, try boulangerie sometime.
but don't blog about it as i don't want it to be crowded when i go there....

 

[JessicaR]

"Some of the higher-end restaurants at Universal have a dress code; like Emeril’s for instance. Make sure you know the dress code before visiting the restaurant. You wouldn’t want to get turned away because you were wearing nice shorts, but needed pants or a nice collared shirt with no sports jacket."

We have been frequenting Universal for years. Never been turned away for not having a collared shirt or sports jacket ANYWHERE.

Nice blog, I agree the attire statements need changing.

I wanted to add that although Emeril's is consistent and always an excellent dining experience I find the opposite with Tchoup Chop. There is a need to straighten that place out, Emeril style.

LOVE Mama Della's and easily tie it with Emeril's and Mythos.

Nice job!

 

[ADP]

I made the changes to the blog about dress code recommendations and also added a couple lines about the opentable.com suggestion. Thanks everyone for your input and insight. I'm sure someone will appreciate it.

 

[damo]

Thanks for making the changes! Those are two questions that we get asked a lot here.