From our trip last week (9/8-9/13):
Emeril's and California Grill were our two "expensive" meals during the trip.
Emeril's at Citywalk at Universal Orlando was the more expensive of the two, but we ordered off the specials menu which put both our entrees at $40+. DBF felt Emeril's was worth the price, I'm not really sure.
We started out with the barbecued shrimp appetizer. It is unbelievable, but you're also paying $12 for five medium-sized shrimp. Putting aside the cost, it was fabulous.
We both had a soup course: DBF had the special, cream of mushroom soup, which I tasted and found to be very, very good. (This soup bore absolutely no relation to your standard Campbell's Cream Of Mushroom, so don't think down those lines...)
I had the chicken gumbo and was underwhelmed... a smallish bowl of semi watery gumbo with a bit of rice in it, not especially spicy. I'm not exactly a gumbo expert but I've had it at several places (including the House Of Blues seafood gumbo), and I think I was the least impressed with Emeril's. Ah, well.
Entrees: This is where Emeril's really had a chance to shine...
DBF got the filet special, and has raved about it ever since. The waiter mentioned that the chef recommended this dish to be cooked at least medium or medium well, which I thought was odd for a filet, but happens to be the way DBF likes his beef... Well, even cooked to medium well, this filet was amazingly tender and flavorful. It was served with black-eyed peas in a tasso (smoked ham) flavored sauce, with fresh spinach. I know it sounds a little odd, but it worked and DBF really loved it.
I had the snapper special - crispy snapper filet served over a bed of fresh fettucine with a spicy cream sauce, lump crabmeat, tomatoes, scallions, and some fresh greens (endive maybe?). It was excellent. I believe the pasta must have been made fresh (something I don't believe I've had before). Again, the prices were a little shocking but the dish was excellent.
We did not have dessert at Emeril's because we were already in sticker shock.
The atmosphere at Emeril's Orlando is a bit stuffy... Extremely fussy wait staff (you get a team of three), but some people like that, I suppose. We had made reservations well in advance, and even though we visited Orlando during an incredibly slow week and went on a Monday night, we heard walk-ups being turned away with a two hour wait time... When I say the atmosphere was a bit stuffy, we were not rushed at all, for the record.
On to California Grill:
Unfortunately, I think the only thing CG has over Emeril's is that the wait staff (while still friendly and efficient) was not so constantly in-your-face and rearranging things on the table.
The food was all right, but Emeril's definitely prevails. I guess a big attraction of CG is the view and the fireworks, but we didn't care about the fireworks and MK had closed early that night anyway...
For starters, I had the hearts of romaine salad (this is basically just a caesar salad with a nice, creamy dressing, as I realized when I got it.) It was all right, nothing amazing. DBF had the ham/melon appetizer and liked it a lot.
For entrees, I had the filet with the tamarind barbecue sauce.
I don't get it, I really don't understand why people rave about this dish. The sauce is really, *really* sweet, and doesn't (in my opinion) meld very well with a piece of medium rare filet. And it gets all over the potatoes too, so basically all you can taste is this cloyingly sweet, thick brown sauce. It reminded me of the sauce they put on everything at mall food court chinese joints. Yuck.
DBF had the pork tenderloin, and liked it well enough. I tasted it, and again, thought it was just "all right", not something I would go out of my way to eat again.
The desserts were also disappointing, especially considering they were the most expensive desserts of our entire trip. I had wanted to try the banana bread pudding, but it was off the menu and they had a vahlrona chocolate lava cake instead. The waiter mentioned that the chocolate center would have a "slight" orange taste, but in reality the orange taste overwhelmed everything else, including the chocolate taste... And it was a small round piece of cake, with one tiny scoop of ice cream. Now, I usually can't *finish* the huge desserts popular at places like HOB and HRC and Cheesecake Factory, but it was just odd paying $9 for a dessert and seeing these little tiny portions.
DBF had the strawberry shortcake-type dessert, which he didn't care for too much (also very small). It had a small, hard shortbread-type biscuit for the "shortcake" part... I guess that's possibly more authentic, but he didn't find it very enjoyable.
Overall, if you're going for an expensive haute cuisine meal, maybe for a special occasion, and don't care about the fireworks (or the cost), I would have to recommend the fifteen minute drive up to Emeril's over CG by a pretty wide margin. Plus, CityWalk is free to walk around and look at and you could even hop a boat to the resorts (Hard Rock Hotel, Portofino Bay or Royal Pacific) if you felt like walking around and sightseeing after dinner.
Emeril's and California Grill were our two "expensive" meals during the trip.
Emeril's at Citywalk at Universal Orlando was the more expensive of the two, but we ordered off the specials menu which put both our entrees at $40+. DBF felt Emeril's was worth the price, I'm not really sure.
We started out with the barbecued shrimp appetizer. It is unbelievable, but you're also paying $12 for five medium-sized shrimp. Putting aside the cost, it was fabulous.
We both had a soup course: DBF had the special, cream of mushroom soup, which I tasted and found to be very, very good. (This soup bore absolutely no relation to your standard Campbell's Cream Of Mushroom, so don't think down those lines...)
I had the chicken gumbo and was underwhelmed... a smallish bowl of semi watery gumbo with a bit of rice in it, not especially spicy. I'm not exactly a gumbo expert but I've had it at several places (including the House Of Blues seafood gumbo), and I think I was the least impressed with Emeril's. Ah, well.
Entrees: This is where Emeril's really had a chance to shine...
DBF got the filet special, and has raved about it ever since. The waiter mentioned that the chef recommended this dish to be cooked at least medium or medium well, which I thought was odd for a filet, but happens to be the way DBF likes his beef... Well, even cooked to medium well, this filet was amazingly tender and flavorful. It was served with black-eyed peas in a tasso (smoked ham) flavored sauce, with fresh spinach. I know it sounds a little odd, but it worked and DBF really loved it.
I had the snapper special - crispy snapper filet served over a bed of fresh fettucine with a spicy cream sauce, lump crabmeat, tomatoes, scallions, and some fresh greens (endive maybe?). It was excellent. I believe the pasta must have been made fresh (something I don't believe I've had before). Again, the prices were a little shocking but the dish was excellent.
We did not have dessert at Emeril's because we were already in sticker shock.
The atmosphere at Emeril's Orlando is a bit stuffy... Extremely fussy wait staff (you get a team of three), but some people like that, I suppose. We had made reservations well in advance, and even though we visited Orlando during an incredibly slow week and went on a Monday night, we heard walk-ups being turned away with a two hour wait time... When I say the atmosphere was a bit stuffy, we were not rushed at all, for the record.
On to California Grill:
Unfortunately, I think the only thing CG has over Emeril's is that the wait staff (while still friendly and efficient) was not so constantly in-your-face and rearranging things on the table.
The food was all right, but Emeril's definitely prevails. I guess a big attraction of CG is the view and the fireworks, but we didn't care about the fireworks and MK had closed early that night anyway...
For starters, I had the hearts of romaine salad (this is basically just a caesar salad with a nice, creamy dressing, as I realized when I got it.) It was all right, nothing amazing. DBF had the ham/melon appetizer and liked it a lot.
For entrees, I had the filet with the tamarind barbecue sauce.
I don't get it, I really don't understand why people rave about this dish. The sauce is really, *really* sweet, and doesn't (in my opinion) meld very well with a piece of medium rare filet. And it gets all over the potatoes too, so basically all you can taste is this cloyingly sweet, thick brown sauce. It reminded me of the sauce they put on everything at mall food court chinese joints. Yuck.
DBF had the pork tenderloin, and liked it well enough. I tasted it, and again, thought it was just "all right", not something I would go out of my way to eat again.
The desserts were also disappointing, especially considering they were the most expensive desserts of our entire trip. I had wanted to try the banana bread pudding, but it was off the menu and they had a vahlrona chocolate lava cake instead. The waiter mentioned that the chocolate center would have a "slight" orange taste, but in reality the orange taste overwhelmed everything else, including the chocolate taste... And it was a small round piece of cake, with one tiny scoop of ice cream. Now, I usually can't *finish* the huge desserts popular at places like HOB and HRC and Cheesecake Factory, but it was just odd paying $9 for a dessert and seeing these little tiny portions.
DBF had the strawberry shortcake-type dessert, which he didn't care for too much (also very small). It had a small, hard shortbread-type biscuit for the "shortcake" part... I guess that's possibly more authentic, but he didn't find it very enjoyable.
Overall, if you're going for an expensive haute cuisine meal, maybe for a special occasion, and don't care about the fireworks (or the cost), I would have to recommend the fifteen minute drive up to Emeril's over CG by a pretty wide margin. Plus, CityWalk is free to walk around and look at and you could even hop a boat to the resorts (Hard Rock Hotel, Portofino Bay or Royal Pacific) if you felt like walking around and sightseeing after dinner.
I think this is first disappointing review I have read... it is a shame as we devote much time to planning meals and want them to be perfect!
