What to eat at Universal Orlando Resort

Aug 18, 2022
6 min read

Updated: Mar 18, 2023

With so many options to eat at Universal Orlando Resort, what do I recommend?

Breakfast

They say it's the most important meal of the day so let's start there!

Citywalk

My favorite breakfasts at Citywalk are at the Toothsome Chocolate Emporium and Savory Feast Kitchen.

My top choices are:

The Banana and Nutella French Toast. This French toast will CHANGE your life! It is challah bread, banana mascarpone filling, Nutella, bruleed banana, and Lyonnaise potatoes for $12.95. It is rich but a nice treat!

My other favorite is definitely the berries and cream waffle. It is a waffle with fresh seasonal berries, whipped topping, powdered sugar, lemon curd, and fresh micro mint for $10.95. I like this so much that I order it for dinner sometimes.

Vegetable Pasta (very vegan pasta).

Mary had this on our most recent trip. This dish is great for nearly all dietary requirements! It is gluten sensitive and vegetarian!

Zucchini and eggplant noodles with a Portobello mushroom steak, carrots, sweety drop peppers, heirloom tomatoes, and a roasted Romesco sauce for $15.95.

Universal Studios

Today Cafe

Although they got rid of my favorite bagel toast, even the plain bagel with sweet cream butter and coffee is good.
And although I do not eat ham, egg, and cheese sandwiches; everyone in my family orders that as their go-to. It is on ciabatta and comes with fresh fruit for $9.49

Islands of Adventure

My favorite breakfast at Islands of Adventure is at the Croissant Moon Café.

They have an On-The-Go Continental Breakfast for $9.99 that includes a fruit cup, a danish or muffin, and a breakfast drink!

Moving on to snacks!

My go-to snacks include

Churros, popcorn with my refillable bucket available at select snack kiosks in both Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure.
Strawberry peanut butter ice cream at Fluorian Fortescue's in Diagon Alley in Universal Studios.

Lunchtime!

CityWalk

My favorite lunch at CityWalk is a pricey one, however, it is usually my first stop when getting into Orlando!

The Combo at NBC Grill and Brew is a ton of food and definitely sharable if you wanted!

It includes a half rack of Midwest ribs, BBQ pulled pork, beef brisket, coleslaw, grilled corn, and cornbread for $27.95. But hey we are on vacation here!

A great second choice is the French Dip Sandwich for $15.95.
While here I also like to get the Sweet Endings Flight for $12.50 which includes Breckenridge Vanilla Porter, Angry Orchard, Young's Double Chocolate Stout, and my favorite the Lindeman's Raspberry Framboise.

My second choice at CityWalk would be at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville.

My wife and I will split the Crispy Coconut Shrimp entrée for $23.95.

This comes with coconut shrimp, horseradish orange marmalade, slaw, and fries.

It is a good thing we share it because this entrée has a whopping 1550 calories!

The whole family can enjoy the virgin pina colada here for $4.99.

Universal Studios

My favorite lunch spot at Universal Studios would definitely have to be Finnegan's.

My top choices here are:

Finnegan's Chicken- This is grilled chicken topped with peppercorn butter, garlic mashed potatoes, and root cellar vegetables for $18.95. Makes me feel like a made a healthy choice.
My other favorite is the Bangers and Mash for $16.95.

It is country pork and beef sausage with gravy, garlic mashed potatoes, and root cellar vegetables.

My wife, however, cannot recommend the Shephard's Pie enough!

It is seasoned ground beef and mushrooms with a potato and cheese crust served with root cellar vegetables for $18.95.

You also get Irish soda bread and apple butter while dining here and the drinks are STRONG!

If you are looking for something a little bit faster, I would recommend the Jumbo pepperoni slice at Louie's for $11.99 made with housemade dough.

Note to Universal if you ever read this, if you bring back the penne shrimp pasta and french dip at Lombards Landing it will be at the top of the list for studios. Sadly everything we would always order has been removed from the menu so it is no longer on my list.

Islands Of Adventure

My favorite table service restaurant for lunch is at Mythos.

Here my current favorite is the Brick Oven Roasted Half Chicken for $24.

It is a Ras El Hanout spiced half chicken, dijon fingerling potatoes, garlic sugar snap peas, and natural jus.

Next would be the bacon cheeseburger for $19. It is a half pound burger and is served with fries. Not much to say but it is better than a quick service burger, you get the free bread, and a server.
I haven't heard one person say a bad thing about the Fork, Knife, and Spoon Grilled Cheese.

It is a three-cheese grilled cheese sandwich served in Tuscan tomato soup with crispy pork belly and garnished with house-made chips for $18.

My new favorite quick service restaurant at Islands of Adventure is Thunder Falls Terrace in the Jurassic Park area.

Here my favorite dish is the Chicken and Roasted Pernil Combo for $20.49.

It is rotisserie chicken and roasted pork pernil with served with roasted corn and potatoes. Because this is a combo it also comes with a milkshake! Available as the regular entrée without the shake for $16.99.

I feel I have to mention Three Broomsticks for the atmosphere alone.

Here my choice is the Chicken and Ribs Platter for $17.99 served with corn and potatoes.

I do love those potatoes.

This is also my favorite location to get Pumpkin Juice. If you've never had it please try it, it is delicious!

Moving on to Dinner!

For the first time on the list we are heading to one of the Universal Hotels!

Mama Della's Ristorante is in my opinion hands down the best dinner at Universal Orlando Resort and is located at Lowe's Portofino Bay accessible via one of the boats in CityWalk!

Reservations are HIGHLY recommended for this restaurant.

If you are looking for a romantic dinner this is THE place to go!

They have singers come to each table throughout the service and sing a song of your choice in Italian!

Also for my fellow bread lovers out there, Mama Della's provides a bountiful bread basket with three types of bread!

My favorite appetizer here is the Gamberi scampi for $17. The shrimp are huge and the sauce is delicious! Be sure to dip the crostini in the sauce. We got that advice from Mama herself!

Moving onto the entrees.

I always get the Bristecca.

It is filet mignon with truffle mashed potatoes, wild mushroom, brocollini, braised cippolini onion, baby carrots, and black pepper candied bacon for $45. I cannot recommend it enough!

My wife Mary always gets the chicken parm for $28.

CityWalk

I have two favorites for dinner at CityWalk.

The first is the Toothsome Chocolate Emporium and Savory Feast Kitchen.

When here for dinner the chocolate almond bread with salted caramel butter for $4.95 is a MUST!!
My next choice for an appetizer although we don't get it often because the portions here are huge would be the Totchos. These are tater tots with spicy green chili, crispy pork belly, and andouille sausage queso for $10.95.

My favorites here for dinner would be burgers.

My current favorite is the May Contain Bacon Burger for $18.95.

It's a half-pound house-made beef patty with thick-cut bacon, grilled pork belly, bibb lettuce, jack cheese, and pineapple chutney on a pretzel bun.

I also highly recommend the Too Chocolate Stout, it is great!

As for the desserts, well you can't go wrong!

If the line for Toothsome is too long or you are craving some Italian food and couldn't get into Mama Della's, my next recommendation is Vivo Italian Kitchen!

Here the pasta is made fresh daily and I highly recommend asking for a table with a kitchen view! It is so cool to be able to see the chefs making the food.