Birthday Dinner for a First Timer

jbish

DIS Veteran
Joined
Sep 11, 2013
Disney vets going to Universal for the first time as a family this Thursday. DH’s birthday is Sunday. Where would you recommend we go for a nice (not super fancy) dinner?

We are staying at Portofino. We will hit all of Harry Potter world in full as that is really why we are going. My two DS’s love HP so I know we will get our fill.

DH loves Mexican food - how Antojitos? Saw that as a recommendation somewhere. Cowfish also seems like it would be up his alley. Any thoughts on these? Other recommendations?

Thanks!
 
We went to Antojitos for my birthday on our trip last year. Was a nice place to celebrate, good food, and the mariachi band sang me happy birthday which was pretty memorable.
 


Antojitos gets good reviews.......their house made guacamole is supposed to be amazing......so if he likes Mexican it’s an easy choice on site.

Rocco’s Tacos is around 10 minutes by car away on Sand Lake, but it gets amazingly busy. One of our friends works there at night and is at times overwhelmed how busy it has become. We popped in for a drink and it is loud! We won’t rush back.

Cowfish we love!!

They have gorgeous and unique burgers......they do offer sushi, we found it to be not as good as Orchids in RP but decent.......burgers are the way to go at Cowfish......if you like spicy the Jalapeño Popper Show Stopper is the one to go for.....amazing. We go often and never had a disappointing meal there yet. Burgers are good.........
 
I want to try Antonitos! Mama Dellas at Portifino was so good. The atmosphere, service, and food were lovely.
 
Antojitos gets good reviews.......their house made guacamole is supposed to be amazing......so if he likes Mexican it’s an easy choice on site.

Rocco’s Tacos is around 10 minutes by car away on Sand Lake, but it gets amazingly busy. One of our friends works there at night and is at times overwhelmed how busy it has become. We popped in for a drink and it is loud! We won’t rush back.

Cowfish we love!!

They have gorgeous and unique burgers......they do offer sushi, we found it to be not as good as Orchids in RP but decent.......burgers are the way to go at Cowfish......if you like spicy the Jalapeño Popper Show Stopper is the one to go for.....amazing. We go often and never had a disappointing meal there yet. Burgers are good.........

Agree with everything here about Cowfish and Orchids!
 


Thumbs up on Antojitos. We went years ago (when it first opened) and didn’t really like it. So we avoided it for years. My kids wore me down on our last trip (they love Mexican restaurants) so we tried it again. Really enjoyed it. The band was fun, service was great, chips and salsa were really good and the meal was great. And pretty reasonable in price. Only about 20% higher than a comparable meal at home.

While our family prefers Universal now over Disney these days, keep in mind that Universal pales in comparison when it comes to event dining. So, don’t expect anything more than the good family friendly restaurants that most people have at home. Lots of really good places, but no place is a can’t miss.
 
Thumbs up on Antojitos. We went years ago (when it first opened) and didn’t really like it. So we avoided it for years. My kids wore me down on our last trip (they love Mexican restaurants) so we tried it again. Really enjoyed it. The band was fun, service was great, chips and salsa were really good and the meal was great. And pretty reasonable in price. Only about 20% higher than a comparable meal at home.

While our family prefers Universal now over Disney these days, keep in mind that Universal pales in comparison when it comes to event dining. So, don’t expect anything more than the good family friendly restaurants that most people have at home. Lots of really good places, but no place is a can’t miss.
Thanks for the input! Particularly the last bit. This works out well for DH - he does NOT want the attention on his birthday. But he'll enjoy the heck out of some tacos and margaritas! Glad it's an overwhelming choice on my little poll. :)
 

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