Where to eat at Universal Orlando including menus

[jeni1072]

For Mid-October, which sit-down dining would require a reservation given all the craziness of this year? Maybe Cowfish? After planning WDW portion, UO seems like a breeze....

I'm going second week of November and just about all the dinner time reservations I was looking at were gone Unless you want to eat at 3pm or 9pm lol

 

[patster734]

I'm going second week of November and just about all the dinner time reservations I was looking at were gone Unless you want to eat at 3pm or 9pm lol

What is your party size? I checked a couple of restaurants for that second week (Nov 8 - 12), and was seeing normal times available. I was only searching for a party of two. Was there a specific restaurant? Toothsome’s will run out of available reservations quickly, but the other restaurants are usually available if they’re open that day of the week.

 

[nouvellefleur]

I'm going second week of November and just about all the dinner time reservations I was looking at were gone Unless you want to eat at 3pm or 9pm lol

That's odd - what exactly are you looking for? I'm going that week as well and was scoping out potentially making another reservation and saw several available options.

 

[twincruisers]

I would agree that Toothsome was the only one that had some times booked. If you are not seeing availability, I’d recommend calling the restaurant to book.

 

[Skywalker3]

we did finally manage to get a Toothsome's reservation, day of, but had to keep refreshing and checking often. This was last week, Columbus day week., so a very busy time. Husband really enjoyed the steak sandwich, I liked the tuna melt fine, daughter enjoyed flatbread, son got burger (he ordered it medium, and it was pretty red inside.)
We never got a convenient Cowfish time, so didn't go there, but wanted to. .
Bigfire had a lot of availability Monday night, but I'm wondering if they overbooked. We had to wait awhile after checking w podium, then the podium area just seemed disorganized, and then, we followed the hostess around the restaurant, 2 times, while she seemed to be looking for a table. we just stood there in the middle of the restaurant while she talked to someone, and then finally directed us to a table. I think there was just a communication issue. Food was fine. Bison burgers and hamburgers.
That was the same night that the Voodoo Donuts mobile ordering was all messed up. We ordered before we left the restaurant, and walked over. There was a Very long line for mobile order pickup, and the team member was having everyone w a mobile order get in that line, no matter if the status still showed in progress. What they were doing, was they completely stopped preparing mobile orders unless you were there in line. You eventually got up to the counter, and they filled it there, after you showed them the mobile order info. So we never got the progress bar to show ready. Delicious donuts! got the assorted dozen, and added mango tango.
Husband enjoyed Bend the bao. Took a long time to prep the order, but he enjoyed the brisket, pork, and crabcakes, esp the pork.
Yeah, we picked up BK one night too. I know it seems crazy to just have a fast food place there, but sometimes it comes in handy if you need a quick grab, and not doing TS
I enjoyed my corned beef sandwich from NBC Cafe, and son enjoyed the turkey. I did change out the cheese for him. the potato salad was a bit different, strong flavor.
Who hash is YUMMY. I am a sucker for tots or fries w stuff on them.
Pizza fries, also very good. I think hype was worth it.
First time enjoying a hogs head brew at the Hogs head. First time I tried to go, stood in very long line 15 mins, w no movement (Sunday night, Columbus day weekend,) Butter beer cart lines were insane too. Went back Tues night, w very little wait. good brew, and also got frozen butter beer there. Found a seat inside too.
Husband and kids enjoyed THunder Falls terrace, rotisserie chicken/pork, rice, turkey leg were all good. Very good alternative to just burgers/fries

 

[jdrum3]

Just got back and for reference, we have done a meetup and visited UO/IOA 6x now. We have experienced lots of meals in park and Red Brick, Margaritaville, and Cowfish in CityWalk. This trip we tried BigFire and Toothsome's outside the park and crepes in the park. We made reservations about a month out and our tables were ready at exactly the time of each reservation, so it was very nice for both restaurants in CW.
Big Fire was flavorful, but just okay. I had the NY Strip, wife had salmon, daughter had a burger, and my son had the pork tenderloin. The salmon was fantastic, the NY Strip was just not a good cut, the burger was ordered medium, but came out pretty rare, and my son ate so fast no one got to try it I really enjoyed the roasted vegetables, but they just weren't cooked consistently with the "smashed potatoes" being individual golden potatoes that were squished and they were pretty dry. I would order the salmon every time.
Sal's at Portofino has great brick oven pizza, I liked it better than Red Oven
The crepes in NY at UO were amazing. Line was pretty short, so we ordered 4 savory and 2 sweet to share. They were all delicious, so if you like crepes and you want a different type of theme park food, it is worth the wait. We will eat there again.
Fireeaters Grill in Lost Continent at IOA. We had Gyros and Chicken Stingers. It was just meh
Green Eggs and Ham at Seuss in IOA pretty good, exactly what you would think (buffalo and pizza)
Next, we ate at Toothsome's and honestly I didn't expect much because reviews seem to be all over the place. It exceeded our expectations. You can order brunch all day, good mixed drinks, the salad I had was extremely fresh and flavorful, wife had quiche, daughter tried butternut squash soup, she loved it, son had flatbread. He is 18 and a food vacuum, so it wouldn't matter, but he liked it. We then ate desserts including crazy sundaes and milkshakes, they were all delicious. We will definitely go back.

 

[cschaaf]

Just returned from a short trip. We ate:

• Lunch at Confisco. My wife got the chicken wrap and she liked it. I got the baked chicken sandwich. I expected it to be hot, but it wasn't. it was a LOT of bread and not a lot of chicken, but overall had good flavor. Probably not something I'd order again.
• Dinner at Red Oven. We love it. Pizza is very good. We split a pizza and it's enough for us, and at ~$15, it's the best deal in the parks.
• Breakfast: Voodoo Donuts that we picked up the night before
• Lunch: Gyros at Fireeater's Grill. They were okay, far from the best I've ever had and also far from the worst.
• Dinner at Antojitos. Was pretty good. My wife got a tamale appetizer and added sides of rice and refried beans. She liked what she had. I got the Enchilada Verde and it was fine. The verde sauce didn't have much flavor, but the tinga chicken inside was good
  
  I'd go back, but would get something different. There are other restaurants I'd chose instead.
• Breakfast: Voodoo Donuts picked up on the first night

We didn't have anything 'bad', but we've had better trips food-wise.

 

[lisam70]

Dining report from our trip:
-Toothsome: Chocolate almond bread is so good its almost worth going just for that. Ribeye sandwich was just ok. Short ribs and filet were good. Had trouble with the NY strip ordered it medium rare came out medium well, sent it back and took awhile for a new one which was very rare-as in blue. Waitress was very nice but at this point everyone else was done eating so this just got wasted but they did take it off the bill.
-Cowfish: Fried pickles very very good. Marks roll and Dougs filet roll also tasty as were the burgers (Wagyu and the short rib ones). And the best service we had the whole trip.
-Mythos: Everything was delicious. Spanakopita dip, chicken couscous bowl, scallops, lamp and grouper. My only complaint was it tool a long time for the food to come out, waitress was lovely though.
-Today cafe: pretty good but food was slow to come out. Their baked goods were yummy and fresh (croissant and pop tart like pastry) salmon and lox bagel, apple grilled cheese and italian sandwich also tasty and fresh.
-Thunder Falls: ate here twice and tried pretty much everything on the menu and there wasn't anything we didn't like! For counter service it's very good and fresh.
-Crepe stand: strawberry and lemon blueberry soooo good but a bit hard to eat (lemon curd all over my face lol)
-Corn dog and Churro in US: bad, like really bad and very dry, luckily the crepe stand is close by!
-Burger digs: also bad, no one liked their burger
-Voo doo donuts: I don't really get the hype. I am not really a donut lover but I do love sweets and everyone else wanted to try so we mobile ordered (never got the notification that it was ready so we went and checked after half hour then had to go back because they forgot one) and while they weren't bad no one thought they were overly fantastic either.
-Cabana bay food court: surprisingly good. Pizza is a great late night snack and we would have the leftovers for breakfast. portions were pretty large.
So many places I still want to try. Had a reservation at Mama Della's that we had to cancel because we were having too much fun in the parks but I swear I'm getting there next time !!

 

[Claki]

Pizza fries, also very good. I think hype was worth it.

Are these just an HHN thing? It looks like in past years they were available at Louie's?

 

[Skywalker3]

Are these just an HHN thing? It looks like in past years they were available at Louie's?

THey are at Louie's, and they should be on the regular menu now, not just during HHN hours, although not sure they're available year round?
I meant to try them during the day, and get other HHN snacks, but just ended up having them during HHN, but I for sure saw them on the menu during that day.

 

[wdwrule]

To add to that, I see you can mobile order them as well.

 

[Claki]

THey are at Louie's, and they should be on the regular menu now, not just during HHN hours, although not sure they're available year round?
I meant to try them during the day, and get other HHN snacks, but just ended up having them during HHN, but I for sure saw them on the menu during that day.

Perfect! Adding them to the list of things I never knew were missing in my life!

 

[Candycane83]

Any recommendations for volcano bay?

 

[Tink3815]

For those who have visited recently, what restaurants hotels have live music right now. We will be there at Thanksgiving.

Thanks

 

[DuskKodesh]

Just returned from a five day trip! Overall a success. We ate six table service meals. Cowfish twice, Vivo, Toothesome, Margaritaville, and Mythos.

Cowfish was amazing. Husband got the best sushi roll he's ever had (Tropical Storm roll) and he also tried the Boss. I got the All American double bacon Cheeseburgeroshi, and the high class hillbilly. Cheeseburgeroshi was okay, couldn't taste the bacon really and the ketchup/mustard/sauce combo was a bit much but it was tasty. I would absolutely eat the high class hillbilly dish anytime! It was delicious! Bonus points I asked our server about juices and he custom made me a virgin drink! Mix of juices and a huge tower of a garnish! Left him a great tip!

Vivo was wonderful! Spouse got the monkfish, I had the short rib and both were wonderful. He was thrilled with the baby scallops in his dish! We also got the mushroom sauté appetizer which I would just eat with a spoon if given an opportunity! It was the best cream alfredo ever with tons of mushrooms.

Toothesome was... okay this was the low point of the trip. We waited an hour for our reservation. Apparently the system kept marking us as a no show even though we stood five feet from the podium. No one called for us and the third time I checked they finally decided just to seat us. By this time I was starving. Spouse got the flounder almandine. I got the chicken risotto.
I am not the kind to send back food, ever. Even in dire situations. I was raised poor, I eat what you put in front of me. I could NOT eat that risotto. It tasted only like minute rice in a full head of crushed garlic. It was overpowering and I love too much garlic in things. (My pork roast I make gets rubbed in at least twenty cloves minimum). I made the husband taste it and he gagged. His dish seemed to be battered not pan fried as described, and was swimming in butter and burnt black almonds. And I mean really swimming. He toughed through it angrily, I sent mine back after a full five minutes stressing about it. I was offered another dish, he suggested a flatbread which I accepted. Got the mushroom one, it was decently tasty. Fresh, good mushroom flavor, but at the end of the meal they charged me for the pricier entrée so we had to have the bill corrected. Took us three hours to get out of there from the time we arrived. Saw other plates of uneaten risotto on a table on the way out just abandoned with a few bites taken out so I'm guessing this wasn't just me. Never again.

Margaritaville was lovely! Great burger for me cooked to order, good grouper sandwich for the spouse, fresh hot fries. No complaints!

Mythos was my favorite. I had a virgin strawberry daquiri and the beef medallions, delicious! Spouse had the MP fish which was swordfish and was very tasty though he said the olive flavor in the risotto was a little strong. We had the hummus as a starter and were very pleased! Service was great!

Counter service we tried rice bowls at Thunder Falls which were great! The crepe stand made a wonderful crepe! Today café had the best pastries and the 4$ pastry I had there was a million times better than the Ginger newt and Pumpkin Pasty (barely a teaspoon of filling) we spent way more on in the WWOHP. Leaky cauldron breakfast was meh. Soggy food, cold scrambled eggs, way too expensive for what we got but dining on the patio was nice. Ice cream in Diagon alley wasn't bad but I've had better. Still worth a try, and a nice memory.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

For those who have visited recently, what restaurants hotels have live music right now.

Antojitos had a live singer on a Tuesday night, and Portofino Bay had the opera singer on a Thursday evening.

 

[PoohNFriends]

Is it me, or do some the online resort menus seem short? I was specifically looking at PBR & HRH restaurants. Have they always been this way? Or shortened after reopening / changes due to covid?
Thought it would be easier for my mom to come to resort for dinner, but CityWalk restaurants have larger menu options...

 

[lisam70]

Which would you choose Bice or Mama Della's for Anniversary dinner??

 

[CJK]

I haven't done Bice, but boy, do we ever love Mama Della's! The food is exceptional, as well as the roaming musicians. Very romantic!

 

[kmc8826]

Which would you choose Bice or Mama Della's for Anniversary dinner??

I think Bice is a lot nicer and fancier that Mama Della’s. It depends what atmosphere you prefer. I would look at menus and pictures of each restaurant. For me I would do Bice.