Recommendations for "must do" restaurants at Universal/Citywalk?

[toddinboston]

my family is doing a pre-Thanksgiving week trip to Universal/Citywalk area (staying offsite)...what are the must do restaurants to consider for lunch or dinner?? No food preferences or allergies to consider...

 

[Kivara]

You are going to get a lot of different opinions on this thread. Fair warning

Can you tell us a little more about your group? Size? Ages? Big Harry Potter fans? Foodies? Prefer fancy foods or cheap eats?

My faves are:
CityWalk:
Cowfish (yummy burgers and sushi...casual atmosphere)
NBC (burgers are excellent...sports themed)
Hard Rock (I'll assume you know about that)
Vivo's (Italian, fresh made pasta, kind of industrial Italian themed)

Studios:
Finnegans (never had a bad meal there, sit down, Irish pub theme)

Royal Pacific Hotel:
Jake's (had a delish flat bread there...kinda open and not much theming, but relaxing)

I could name MANY more that we enjoy, but those are my faves!

 

[DisneyWishes14]

We really enjoyed Mythos in IOA, Mamma Della's at Portofino Bay and Cowfish in CityWalk. If choosing Mythos or Mamma Della's, I recommend making reservations.

 

[Parker Clan]

Our fave by far is Mama Dellas. Best Italian I've had.. we eat there twice a trip lol
Also we enjoyed Emerils Tchoup Chop at Loews Royal Pacific. Hard Rock is pretty good too! We've done that a couple times as well.

 

[MrWonderful]

Cowfish for the win- yummy

 

[glocon]

Have to do Mythos every trip.
Also 3B and Leaky Cauldron cause I love Harry.
Would love to try Toothsome Emporium too.
And Thunder Falls Terrace is a favorite counter service of ours.
Jake's at RPH is tasty and fun to look around- great theme and decor!

 

[Disxuni]

My personal favorite is Hard Rock Cafe. The food is great, but also the atmosphere, but I'm a huge music fan so all that fascinates me. The wings are the best, because they're grilled and crispy, gives it a more smokey flavor and the sauce is amazing! Anything you get there is good though from my experience. Also, if you're really into the place, you can do a free VIP tour. You get to see a lot of amazing things that the restaurant goers do not get to see and hear some great stories!

 

[zebsterama]

For lunch - without question - Mythos is awesome ... I would argue close to California Grill/Disney signature quality, minus the price. IMHO considering the quality of food and the atmosphere - Mythos is the best park restaurant out there. At City Walk - CowFish is a must for our family ...

 

[MikeNamez]

If your looking for good food:
Emrils
Cowfish
Antojitos
NBC

If your looking for more theme than quality of food:
Krusty Burger
Toothsome
Mythos
Hard Rock

 

[dmaxphil]

The wife and I have tried several places in our 2 trips and all meals were good, not spectacular, but good.

If I had to rank our favorites so far I'd go...

Jakes - we had calamari, short ribs and and crab cake sandwich. Calamari and short ribs were excellent. Crab cake was above average.. Theme and setting was really nice. This place was dead, felt sorry for the waitstaff. It was really close to the room, if I had to walk from Citywalk to eat here I wouldn't rank it this high.
Mama Dellas - Spaghetti and service was good
Cowfish - Burgers looked impressive - Had the Big Squeal. Sushi was good and fresh. Firecracker roll had a unique smokey flavor that we both liked. Fried pickles were great. Good service.
NBC - Surprisingly good and very fast - wasn't expecting much. very budget friendly.
Antojitos - Food was just decent. Chimichanga and taco salad. We live near Houston, so maybe we are spoiled by better mexican/texmex food. Margaritas were good.
Toothsome - slowest service I've experienced at a restaurant (that I can remember). Took 2 hours for entree and shakes. Food was odd and we both like chocolate. Shakes were great - keylime and cheesecake.
Bula Bar at RPR - Nachos were big and good. Caught the bartender on a bad day maybe - not happy or helpful.
Margaritaville - I forget what all we had - it was all edible

 

[kohlby]

It depends what you like. We don't eat beef or fish so we haven't tried Cowfish. Cowfish usually gets very high reviews though so it's one I'd suggest to you even though I've never eaten there. There were other options but not enough to seek it out.

We've tried:

Toothsome's - Tried twice. Drinks and dessert both very good both times. Entrees were just okay one time and were amazing the other time. Service was ridiculously fast the first time actually. Service was a little slow the next time but nothing outside of what one would expect.

Antojitos - Food was pretty good. I had heard it was amazing so I was surprised that it was just pretty good. Still glad we tried it.

NBC Grill - Food was very good but atmosphere is pretty generic. It's a very safe choice.

Margaritaville - This was my favorite. I was expecting just okay but both my entree and my husband's were amazing. The atmosphere was really fun too.

Hard Rock - Just so-so.

We are going to try the Bob Marley Place sometime in the next two weeks. I'm looking forward to some of their unique options.


For counter service, we like 3 Broomsticks. Though Thunder Falls has some of the "same" food, the quality at Thunder Falls has always been far, far worse for us - to the point where we won't each at Thunder Falls anymore. In City Walk quick service, we like the pizza place. We also liked the pizza place at Portofino.

 

[MrsDuck]

We LOVE Cowfish at City Walk.

Mythos is fantastic!

 

[macraven]

Since I go to UO twice a year and have a lengthy stay, I have to take breaks from some of the eateries in the parks , hotels and city walk

Only do nba grille and margaritaville once a year as I get burned out from the same menus and crowds they have

Ever since took away the blueberry pork chop only hit the place to spend time at with friends
Some of the menu I really like and the other half of they menu wish it would change

Not found of vivo as much others are



Have found hrc and bubba Gump
Have improved in the past two years


Surprises I enjoyed obriens and Marley menu last year

The wok experience on specific nights at island dining has been great for me
Very surprised about that

Standbys in the park still bit each visit
Blondes and Boulanger still a hit for me for a basic decent lunch

 

[schumigirl]

Citywalk, our must do places are Cowfish and NBC.

Used to be Margaritaville, but for us, it has steadily decreased in quality over recent years.......HRH is decent, but so loud. That could be an age thing of course........

Parks, we enjoy Mythos and Confisco Grill both table service but cheap and cheerful. Not expensive at all. Thunder Falls has always been excellent for counter service in IOA. Fire Eaters grill has a hot and spicy chicken stinger that is decent.

In Studios we like Louie's for pizza, Beverly Hills Boulangerie and Simpsons food court. We aren't fans of either Potter restaurants.

Hotels are excellent for food and well worth a little boat ride to try them. Anyone can eat in the hotel restaurants.

Sal's at PBH has the best onsite pizza.

The Palm at HRH is our favourite onsite restaurant. Maybe more for a special occasion.

RPR has several excellent options for us. Jake's is sometimes overlooked but food is excellent. Bula Bar has some lovely nachos and cocktails, nachos is large!

Islands for wok experience or regular menu is always top notch and Tchoup Chop is decent in a lovely setting.

Orchids Lounge in the evenings has some of the best sushi I have ever eaten. You can also order regular food too, it comes from Jake's so may take slightly longer.

Loads of options........

 

[toddinboston]

thanks to all for the great recs...much appreciated...

 

[Raeven]

USO
I haven't tried any of the TS here, and the QS I had wasn't very good, but I've heard the Springfield and Harry Potter areas have the best QS. Try Floreans for ice cream too it's really good!

IOA
We've had both good and bad meals at Mythos, but it's a pretty cool looking place and we've had more good than bad meals so that might be one to try.

Citywalk
Margaritaville
Toothsome
Breadbox-This is a QS, but the sandwiches are pretty good.

I've also heard Vivo and Anjoitos are good, but we haven't had a chance to go there yet.

Hotels
The Kitchen at the Hard Rock-We had a wonderful dinner at The Kitchen on our last trip, and it was a great alternative when Citywalk was crowded.
Strongwater Tavern at Sapphire Falls-I've heard the food here was really good, we didn't get to eat here when we went, but the main restaurant wasn't that great.

We've been to all the hotels but Royal Pacific, but I've heard Jake's and the breakfast at Islands there is good and we'll be trying it out soon.

 

[tony67]

Emeril's - they have some amazing deals at lunch time and the food is really top notch.
Cowfish - fun and interesting theme\menu - the adult shakes are great
Toothsome - very good - but dont get something like a burger - you really have to go with something you wont get anywhere else. the chocolate stout is very tasty

 

[perditax]

We had very good experiences at Toothsome in February.

 

[cschaaf]

For lunch

IOA: We usually eat at Mythos one per trip. We tried Doc Sugrue's Kebab House on our last trip. It was pretty good.
USO: Fast Food Blvd is about the only lunch place we've gone to more than once in USO.

CityWalk: Overall, we'd much rather eat in CityWalk. We love Red Oven Pizza and go there a few times per trip. IMO, there is no better deal for the money on-property. Breadbox and Cowfish are also good choices.

Dinner:
CityWalk: Red Oven again. Went to Vivo once and really enjoyed that. We'll probably go back on our next trip in December.

Didn't care for Margaritaville. Went there on a work trip about 6 years ago because a co-worker wanted to go. I'm not a Jimmy Buffet fan at all so the ambiance was lost on me. Food was just okay.

We've been to both HP restaurants for breakfast. My wife likes it, but I'm not a big fan. I found it just to be okay and very expensive for breakfast.