tarheelmjfan
Proud Redhead
- Joined
- May 10, 2001
- Messages
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I'll be dividing my review into 3 threads, & posting them on the pertinent boards. I will preface by saying that we are foodies, & dining is our number 1 priority on vacation. We don't regard food as merely sustenance. This means that we may be more critical than most. I wish I would have taken a few notes. The details provided are from memory, which can be a problem for me. 
Dining will be my DH, DS(14), & I. Our DS has been ordering off the adult menu, since he was 2. He's very much a foodie, as well.
Emeril's @ CW:
We had dinner here on our 3rd evening at UO. This is one restaurant that we almost always visit. We had an 8:30 reservation. Admittedly, I can't seem to be on time for anything, & tonight was no exception. We were about 5 minutes late, & had around a 15 min. wait. The place was packed & they were turning people away. We were seated next to the kitchen doors. After freezing @ Mama Della's & Tchoup Chop, I've never been so happy about a table assignment.
The service was attentive, as usual. The atmosphere was very nice. IMHO, nothing's worse than going to a fine dining establishment & needing ear plugs to make it through the meal. The kids we saw were all well behaved.
What we ate:
We began by ordering iced tea, while we looked over the wine list. We decided on a Robert Weil Riesling, which we enjoyed. A waiter comes by your table offering an assortment of bread. We all chose something different. I chose a muffin, which was great & IMO the best of the choices. We then moved on to appetizers. My DH & I shared the Smoked Wild & Exotic Mushrooms. This was fabulous. I could have been more than happy making a meal out of it. It was the best appetizer we had all week. My DH doesn't really like mushrooms, but I talked him into sharing anyway. He's a bit of a pushover.
I was surprised, when he raved about it too. Our DS ordered the Seafood & Andouille Gumbo. He said it was good, but he'd had better gumbo elsewhere. It's now time for our entrees. DS & I both ordered the Hickory Smoked Duck. We love Emeril's duck & order it every visit. It didn't disappoint! The flavors all blended perfectly together. The sides complimented but didn't overpower the duck, which is how it should be. My DH ordered the Double-Cut Pork Chop. This was his 1st time ordering this dish & he was a bit disappointed. It wasn't bad, but he's had much better dishes there. The sides were great, but the pork tasted very similar to Hormel. 
It's now "show time"!!! Yes, this means dessert is on the way. I placed an order for the Grand Marnier Souffle, when I ordered my entree. My DH ordered the Vanilla Bean Creme Brulee w/ Berry Sauce, & our DS ordered Bread Pudding. I should add that it's irrevelant which dessert my DH & I actually order, because we always share them. IMHO, this Souffle isn't quite as good as the Chocolate Souffle they removed in favor of this one, but it's still very good. I just had to try a bite of the bread pudding also, & it was as great as the other 2. Noone left a bit on their plate. 
In case anyone else likes to split desserts with their honey, the souffle & creme brulee really complimented each other perfectly. If you only order one to share, we thought the creme brulee was a little better than the souffle. With dessert, I had a glass of Chenin Blanc Ice wine, & my DH had a glass of port. The Ice wine was even better than Inniskillen. I would give the meal as a whole a B+.
Pat O'Brien's:
This was the day we rented a cabana. My DH stopped by Pat O's on our way out of IOA to get dinner to go. It was kind of early for us to eat dinner, so my DH & I shared a cheeseburger. Our DS is always starving, & got his own cheeseburger. We think Pat O's makes the best burgers on Universal property. These were just as good as usual. He also got a couple orders of Beignets. They were okay, but they aren't Cafe du Monde beignets. The burgers get a B. The beignets get a C-.
Hard Rock Cafe:
This was the lunch our DS was most looking forward to. Not because of the food, but he was excited that we had made arrangements to take the Backstage Tour. My DH & I both ordered a Bacon Cheeseburger. Our DS ordered Fajitas. Out of curiousity, we ordered the Sweet Potato Straws to share. Boy, were we glad we did. The burgers were as bad as Pat O's were good. We ordered them medium well & they closely resembled a charcoal briquet on a bun. They were inedible. Good thing for the sweet potato straws. They were good, & what we had for lunch. Our DS didn't eat much of his fajitas either. I don't know, if he didn't like the dish or if he was too excited about the Backstage Tour to eat. On a side note, he absolutely loved the tour. It was the highlight of his trip, & worth the horrible food. Tip: If you order a burger here, get it medium or even medium rare. This meal gets an F, but the tour redeemed it.
Mythos:
We made a 6:30 reservation, because we were going to US after dinner to watch Universal 360. We arrived about 15 minutes early & were told it would be a 15 min. wait. Another party was told the same. No problem. This usually means the place is packed, which is a good sign. After the short wait, we were escorted into the restaurant. Imagine our surprise when we get into the restaurant & see that only 1/2 of the tables are full. The lower level seating was full. We were the 1st table seated in the upper level & noone was dining outside.
What we ate:
We placed our drink orders fairly quickly. We were then given bread & butter, which was okay. I like the bread better than my DH did. For appetizers my DH & I shared the Mozarella & Tomato Flatbread. It was very good. Our DS ordered the Tortilla Soup. He enjoyed it, but wasn't blown away by it. For entrees, my DH & I then ordered the salmon. This is no longer served on a cedar plank & wasn't as good as we'd remembered. It was okay, but not great like it used to be. Our DS had a chicken dish that was good, but I don't remember many details. I wish I could tell you about the wonderful desserts we tried, but there would be no yummy, sweet creations for us this meal.
The service we had here was really bad. None of us were offered a drink refill. That wasn't the worst part though. As you can probably tell, we like having dessert with dinner. We were totally shocked, when our server cleared our entree plates, then returned with the check. She didn't even offer dessert.
We saw other servers on the lower level carrying around a dessert tray, but noone came near us with it. Our server laid the check down & said, "I'll take the check, as soon as you're ready." She didn't bother asking, if we needed anything else. She walked by to pick up the check, then returned to place it back on our table & didn't say a word. We're not ones to speak up, so we just let it go. Dessert that night ended up being fudge that we picked up at the candy shop in US on our way back to our hotel after watching Universal 360. All was well. 
We would give the overall experience a C- at best.
Summary:
We'll definitely be returning to Emeril's & Pat O's. We will no longer waste a dinner at Mythos. We will dine there again, but it will be for lunch. I'm glad our DS has taken the Backstage Tour @ HRC. We won't be going there again.
Sorry, this was so long. I hope it wasn't too boring.
Edited to move meals eaten at HRH to correct board.
Dining will be my DH, DS(14), & I. Our DS has been ordering off the adult menu, since he was 2. He's very much a foodie, as well.
Emeril's @ CW:
We had dinner here on our 3rd evening at UO. This is one restaurant that we almost always visit. We had an 8:30 reservation. Admittedly, I can't seem to be on time for anything, & tonight was no exception. We were about 5 minutes late, & had around a 15 min. wait. The place was packed & they were turning people away. We were seated next to the kitchen doors. After freezing @ Mama Della's & Tchoup Chop, I've never been so happy about a table assignment.
The service was attentive, as usual. The atmosphere was very nice. IMHO, nothing's worse than going to a fine dining establishment & needing ear plugs to make it through the meal. The kids we saw were all well behaved. What we ate:
We began by ordering iced tea, while we looked over the wine list. We decided on a Robert Weil Riesling, which we enjoyed. A waiter comes by your table offering an assortment of bread. We all chose something different. I chose a muffin, which was great & IMO the best of the choices. We then moved on to appetizers. My DH & I shared the Smoked Wild & Exotic Mushrooms. This was fabulous. I could have been more than happy making a meal out of it. It was the best appetizer we had all week. My DH doesn't really like mushrooms, but I talked him into sharing anyway. He's a bit of a pushover.
I was surprised, when he raved about it too. Our DS ordered the Seafood & Andouille Gumbo. He said it was good, but he'd had better gumbo elsewhere. It's now time for our entrees. DS & I both ordered the Hickory Smoked Duck. We love Emeril's duck & order it every visit. It didn't disappoint! The flavors all blended perfectly together. The sides complimented but didn't overpower the duck, which is how it should be. My DH ordered the Double-Cut Pork Chop. This was his 1st time ordering this dish & he was a bit disappointed. It wasn't bad, but he's had much better dishes there. The sides were great, but the pork tasted very similar to Hormel. It's now "show time"!!! Yes, this means dessert is on the way. I placed an order for the Grand Marnier Souffle, when I ordered my entree. My DH ordered the Vanilla Bean Creme Brulee w/ Berry Sauce, & our DS ordered Bread Pudding. I should add that it's irrevelant which dessert my DH & I actually order, because we always share them. IMHO, this Souffle isn't quite as good as the Chocolate Souffle they removed in favor of this one, but it's still very good. I just had to try a bite of the bread pudding also, & it was as great as the other 2. Noone left a bit on their plate. In case anyone else likes to split desserts with their honey, the souffle & creme brulee really complimented each other perfectly. If you only order one to share, we thought the creme brulee was a little better than the souffle. With dessert, I had a glass of Chenin Blanc Ice wine, & my DH had a glass of port. The Ice wine was even better than Inniskillen. I would give the meal as a whole a B+. Pat O'Brien's:
This was the day we rented a cabana. My DH stopped by Pat O's on our way out of IOA to get dinner to go. It was kind of early for us to eat dinner, so my DH & I shared a cheeseburger. Our DS is always starving, & got his own cheeseburger. We think Pat O's makes the best burgers on Universal property. These were just as good as usual. He also got a couple orders of Beignets. They were okay, but they aren't Cafe du Monde beignets. The burgers get a B. The beignets get a C-.
Hard Rock Cafe:
This was the lunch our DS was most looking forward to. Not because of the food, but he was excited that we had made arrangements to take the Backstage Tour. My DH & I both ordered a Bacon Cheeseburger. Our DS ordered Fajitas. Out of curiousity, we ordered the Sweet Potato Straws to share. Boy, were we glad we did. The burgers were as bad as Pat O's were good. We ordered them medium well & they closely resembled a charcoal briquet on a bun. They were inedible. Good thing for the sweet potato straws. They were good, & what we had for lunch. Our DS didn't eat much of his fajitas either. I don't know, if he didn't like the dish or if he was too excited about the Backstage Tour to eat. On a side note, he absolutely loved the tour. It was the highlight of his trip, & worth the horrible food. Tip: If you order a burger here, get it medium or even medium rare. This meal gets an F, but the tour redeemed it.
Mythos:
We made a 6:30 reservation, because we were going to US after dinner to watch Universal 360. We arrived about 15 minutes early & were told it would be a 15 min. wait. Another party was told the same. No problem. This usually means the place is packed, which is a good sign. After the short wait, we were escorted into the restaurant. Imagine our surprise when we get into the restaurant & see that only 1/2 of the tables are full. The lower level seating was full. We were the 1st table seated in the upper level & noone was dining outside.
What we ate:
We placed our drink orders fairly quickly. We were then given bread & butter, which was okay. I like the bread better than my DH did. For appetizers my DH & I shared the Mozarella & Tomato Flatbread. It was very good. Our DS ordered the Tortilla Soup. He enjoyed it, but wasn't blown away by it. For entrees, my DH & I then ordered the salmon. This is no longer served on a cedar plank & wasn't as good as we'd remembered. It was okay, but not great like it used to be. Our DS had a chicken dish that was good, but I don't remember many details. I wish I could tell you about the wonderful desserts we tried, but there would be no yummy, sweet creations for us this meal.
The service we had here was really bad. None of us were offered a drink refill. That wasn't the worst part though. As you can probably tell, we like having dessert with dinner. We were totally shocked, when our server cleared our entree plates, then returned with the check. She didn't even offer dessert.
We saw other servers on the lower level carrying around a dessert tray, but noone came near us with it. Our server laid the check down & said, "I'll take the check, as soon as you're ready." She didn't bother asking, if we needed anything else. She walked by to pick up the check, then returned to place it back on our table & didn't say a word. We're not ones to speak up, so we just let it go. Dessert that night ended up being fudge that we picked up at the candy shop in US on our way back to our hotel after watching Universal 360. All was well. We would give the overall experience a C- at best. Summary:
We'll definitely be returning to Emeril's & Pat O's. We will no longer waste a dinner at Mythos. We will dine there again, but it will be for lunch. I'm glad our DS has taken the Backstage Tour @ HRC. We won't be going there again.
Sorry, this was so long. I hope it wasn't too boring.
Edited to move meals eaten at HRH to correct board.
We do love Pat O's @ CW though.
I'm glad your DS liked the HRC tour. We will be dining there next week. My DD loves the Beatles and is very excited about taking the tour. I think this will be her highlight as well. I'm sorry to hear the food wasn't very good. I think the look on DD's face when she takes the tour will more than make up for the food.
