Universal Orlando Dining Archives

The Best Things in Epic Universe

June 10, 2026 By Lindsay Leave a Comment

Today, I want to wrap up my series on the best of Universal Orlando Resort with a look at the Best Things in Epic Universe!

The Best Things in Epic Universe

At the beginning of 2026, I started a series looking at the best things at Universal Orlando with The Best Things in Universal Studios Florida. A few months later, I shared The Best Things in Islands of Adventure. Today, I want to wrap up this series with a look at the newest theme park at Universal Orlando Resort – Epic Universe!

The Best Land

I was most hyped for the Harry Potter Ministry of Magic land heading into my visit to Epic Universe. However, How to Train Your Dragon – Isle of Berk really impressed me. I loved everything about this land! It feels so immersive. Plus, there’s dragons! Also, I really enjoyed the food here. While it did feel like the hottest land at Epic, it was my favorite.

The Best Meal

My favorite meal at Epic Universe was at Cafe L’Air De La Sirene. For starters, it feels like a nice little restaurant in Paris. The ambiance is on point. Then, the food was really good. I enjoyed the Quiche Lorraine with Frozen Butterbeer for a drink! Plus, it meant that I didn’t have to wait in line for Butterbeer! I’d like to return to try a sandwich next time or breakfast! Also, I loved the Bieraubeurre/Butterbeer Crepe!

I want to give a shoutout to the tasty BBQ I had at The Oak & Star Tavern! I enjoyed the beautiful stained glass window tree and the general vibes of this restaurant. I also appreciated the variety of sauces available.

The Best Snack Location

I had an amazing chocolate/brownie cake pop from How to Treat Your Dragon in Isle of Berk. It was an unassuming little treat on a stick that I grabbed on my way back to the room for a break. However, it was rich and delicious! I can’t tell if they still have it on the menu or not, but I highly recommend it for a little sweet treat! You can see photos of it towards the end of the Instagram Carousel below.

The Best Ride

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to ride the popular Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry when I visited. However, it looks amazing! I was impressed with Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment though. I enjoyed the attention to detail here and the monsters, of course!

The Best Show

While I really enjoyed both shows available in the park, I think Le Cirque Arcanus was my favorite. I just enjoyed seeing the different magical creatures being brought to life. However, I also liked The Untrainable Dragon show. I just have more of a connection with the Harry Potter world. I recommend watching both.

The Best Stuff at Epic Universe

While I’ve only spent two days at Epic Universe prior to its official opening, I really enjoyed my time there. So, what are your favorite things in this park?

The Best Things in Islands of Adventure

April 22, 2026 By Lindsay Leave a Comment

Today, I am continuing my best of series with the best things in Islands of Adventure at Universal Orlando Resort!

The Best Things in Islands of Adventure

Earlier this year, I posted The Best Things in Universal Studios Florida. Today, I want to cover the park located directly beside USF – Islands of Adventure! It opened in May 1999 as the second park at the resort. This park aims to encourage park goers to explore the 8 (currently) themed lands or islands. To be completely honest, I have spent loads more time in the OG park – USF next door. So, I struggled a little bit with this post. However, I promise to try to spend more time in this park the next time I visit UO. Without further ado, here are my favorite things in Universal’s Islands of Adventure!

Grinchmas

I want to start this post by highlighting the thing I think about most often from this park – Grinchmas! There’s a whole Suess Landing in this park. However, at the holidays, The Whos overtake it with decor. Plus, you can meet the Grinch from the 2000 movie! You can even have Breakfast with The Grinch! There’s also typically a stage show based off of the movie. It’s just a great time that any Grinch fan should be able to experience at least once!

Best Quick Service Restaurants

The restaurant I’ve eaten at most often in this park is the Three Broomsticks in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Hogsmeade! I think my very first breakfast at UO was here. I think fondly of that trip with my mom. I had grown up reading the books (and then watching the movies). So, it was full circle to eat at the restaurant with my mom. It’s a must do for any HP fan.

I also like Croissant Moon Bakery for a grab and go option. Plus, they often have some good seasonal treats!

Best Ride

I know this will be controversial. However, I’m not a big roller coaster fan. Also, I’ve yet to ride Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure. I’ve tried a couple of times, but the line has always been long and it broke down sometimes. I’ve enjoyed Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey several times though. It’s great for any HP fan.

If you need a cool break in the middle of the day – check out The Cat in the Hat ride for some fun. Haha!

Best Shows

I would encourage everyone to see the Hogwarts Always nighttime show, or whichever version may be going on when you visit. The holiday version is shown in the blog post image above. A projection show is always a great way to end the day. Also, shoutout to the Frog Choir! It’s fun! Plus, there’s a special holiday version of it too!

The Best Things in Universal’s Islands of Adventure

While not an exhaustive look at everything in the park, these are the things I recommend. What are your favorite things in Islands of Adventure?

The Best Things in Universal Studios Florida

January 28, 2026 By Lindsay Leave a Comment

Today, I want to highlight the best things in Universal Studios Florida at Universal Orlando Resort!

The Best Things in Universal Studios Florida

In 2025, I posted my favorite things in each of the four Walt Disney World theme parks. So, in 2026, I thought I would do the same thing with a look at each of the three theme parks at Universal Orlando Resort. I figured I’d start with the OG theme park at UO – Universal Studios Florida! Opened in 1990, it’s the park that started the resort! The park’s premise is bringing your favorite TV shows and movies to life! There’s currently 8 themed lands in the park with something for everyone!

Best Quick Service Restaurants

The place I find myself returning to the most in this park for a bite to eat is Today Cafe! The I Heart Vegan sandwich is a good way to get some more vegetables in my diet when I’m visiting. I also love that they have a rotation of seasonal desserts here. I sometimes think about the butternut squash tart and peanut caramel bar I got during the Halloween Horror Nights Daytime Tour back in 2023. It was a tasty meal that allowed me to eat in a hurry! Yummy!

I have also enjoyed the addition of the Illumination’s Minion Cafe to this park. Otto’s Pet Rock is tasty for peanut butter and jelly fans!

Best Full Service Restaurant

I’ve previously reviewed two of the full service restaurants in this park: Lombard’s Seafood Grille Review and Finnegan’s Bar and Grill at Universal Orlando Review. My mom and I weren’t overly impressed with Finnegan’s. However, it’s currently closed for refurbishment. So, I’m interested to see what it’s like afterwards. We enjoyed Lombard’s though. It had relaxing vibes and tasty key lime pie.

Best Ride

I think the title of best ride in any theme park can be controversial. Also, I’m not super into roller coasters, believe it or not. However, I grew up with Harry Potter and enjoy the highly themed area. So, I’m going to say the best ride in this park is Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts!

Seasonal Events

My absolute favorite thing about Universal Studios Florida is the seasonal events! It’s the location for Mardi Gras, Halloween Horror Nights, and the Holiday Parade! It’s hard to decide if HHN or Mardi Gras is my favorite though. Mardi Gras is included with park ticket, not scary just fun, and is carefree. HHN is separately ticketed, crowded, and high energy. Either way, these are fun events that no other theme park can rival yet.

The Best Things In Universal Studios Florida

Well, those are my favorite things in the original UO park. What are some of yours?

Mama Della’s Ristorante at Universal Orlando Review

April 16, 2024 By Lindsay Leave a Comment

In February, my mom and I stayed two nights at Universal Orlando’s Portofino Bay Hotel. While there, we had the pleasure of eating at Mama Della’s Ristorante for dinner once and breakfast twice. I will be posting a full review of the hotel soon, but I thought I would do a separate post on the food here.

Mama Della’s Ristorante

For those who don’t know, Mama Della’s Ristorante is one of several Italian restaurants found at Universal’s Portofino Bay Hotel. It currently serves breakfast (7 AM to 11 AM/12 PM) and dinner (5 PM to 10 PM) while being closed for lunch. It is a nice sit down restaurant. However, it’s a step below the uber fancy (and even pricier) Bice.

Over the course of our stay, I was able to eat here three times. So, I think I can give a good overall review of the place. First up is breakfast! Then, I will cover dinner!

Breakfast

We ate here both mornings of our stay at Portofino Bay Hotel. The first morning, we tried the buffet. We are a sucker for a good breakfast buffet. Priced at $30/adult, it wasn’t too much more expensive than ordering from the menu. They had a good assortment of items on the buffet. I tried two different fruit juices, but wasn’t a big fan of either one. I keep trying biscuits and gravy at UO but it never meets my expectations. The French toast and pancakes were fine. I always enjoy trying the different pastries on the breakfast buffets at the resorts. The highlight of this meal was the oatmeal with fun toppings! I had never seen candy and sprinkles as oatmeal toppings, so I had to try it. It was actually pretty good!

The second day we ordered from the menu. I selected the Italian French Toast and was not disappointed. The brioche bread was the perfect foundation for the Italian pastry cream, banana, and Nutella. It was definitely a sweet way to start my day! I probably needed a side of protein if this was supposed to power me through a park day though. It was good, but I couldn’t finish it.

Personally, I preferred the French toast to the buffet. If I go back, I will definitely choose it over the buffet. You can see photos of what all I sampled in the pictures in my Instagram post below.

Dinner

Given that we were planning to eat here on a Saturday night, I made a dining reservation just to ensure we were able to eat here during our stay. We already had dinner plans at Finnegan’s Bar and Grill for the Float Ride and Dine on Sunday. I was happy I had made the reservation as we didn’t have to wait long for our table.

The meal begins with a lovely bread basket. I really enjoyed trying the different breads. The accompanying butter and garlic was a nice touch. My mom chose the lasagna as her entree and seemed happy with it. It was a pretty good sized serving too. I got the chicken parmesan and was served a huge helping of chicken! I ate only about half of it, but it was really tasty. The pasta was just ok. The broccoli was basic. The real star was the chicken.

Towards the end of our meal, some performers started going around the restaurant. It was nice to hear live music while eating. I wish they had started earlier in our meal since we had to leave to watch the Mardi Gras parade. However, it was a nice touch. Overall, it was a nice meal.

Is Mama Della’s worth it?

I think you have to try Mama Della’s Ristorante at least once if you are staying at Portofino Bay Hotel. I think it does a nice job of immersing you into the Italian theme. The music at dinner was a great touch! If you are looking for something a little less fancy, there is a quick service restaurant that looks good too! Also, I highly recommend grabbing some gelato from the Gelateria for dessert!

So, have you ever eaten here? What did you think?

Finnegan’s Bar and Grill at Universal Orlando Review

February 14, 2024 By Lindsay Leave a Comment

On my most recent trip to Universal Orlando Resort, my mom and I once again booked the Mardi Gras Ride and Dine package. However, this time we decided to try Finnegan’s Bar and Grill for our dinner. So, here’s my review of that experience.

Finnegan’s Bar and Grill

Finnegan’s is an Irish-American pub located in the New York section of the Universal Studios Florida park. It features many Irish dishes as well as some classics like burgers. It’s one of the two sit-down restaurants in this park. The other being Lombard’s Seafood Grille, which we ate at last year for this package.

The restaurant often has live music. I know some people like to enjoy a drink at the bar while enjoying the band. For us though, it was too loud. My mom wears a hearing aid, so the loud music made it hard for us to talk and for her to converse with the waitress. It wasn’t impossible, just difficult. So, something to keep in mind if you have hearing issues.

The Food

Since we ate here as a part of the Ride and Dine package, we were both able to select an appetizer, entree, dessert, and beverage for our meal. My mom ordered a diet drink, which she enjoyed. I ordered a water.

For an appetizer, I chose the Guinness Warm 3 Cheese Dip served with soft pretzel sticks. It reminded me of the pretzel bites we used to sell when I worked at a movie theater. It was good, but not anything groundbreaking. My mom selected the Potato & Onion Webb. It was basically a big basket of fried onions and potatoes. It was a touch greasy but had a good flavor.

For the entree, I ordered the Bronzed Flounder. The fish was a little dry or well-done but tasted good. The vegetables were also fine. Again, not anything mind-blowing here. My mom chose the Irish Fish and Chips. Unfortunately, this was a greasy mess. The fish was mostly bread with very little actual fish. I attempted to tear a piece off to try and got a handful of grease! I was actually shocked by how greasy this fish was. So, maybe don’t order this dish if you don’t like grease.

As for the dessert, we both selected the Apple Caramel Bread Pudding. This was the highlight of the meal. It was warm with a scoop of ice cream! The bread pudding was a little dry, but that ice cream really helped it. It was a nice to way to end the meal.

Mardi Gras Ride and Dine

As I stated above, this meal was purchased for the Mardi Gras Ride and Dine experience. Last year, we were given our lanyard and information as soon as we entered the restaurant. This time we were told we didn’t need anything. However, we spotted other diners as we were leaving wearing lanyards for the experience. So, we asked the attendant who said we needed the lanyard for the event. He went in the back to look for our packet but couldn’t find it. We ended up waiting several minutes for someone to pull our stuff together. Then, we had to sprint across the park to make it in time for the parade line up.

This year, we were on the King and Queen float. Unfortunately, some big guy was beside me and crowded me out of my spot on the float. I spent most of the parade standing behind my mom and we took turns tossing beads. One thing we learned from last year: run directly to the photo pick up location at the front of the park for ride photos. We purchased a few nice pictures this year and I love that we have souvenirs this year.

Is Finnegan’s Bar and Grill worth it?

This is probably one of the harshest reviews I’ve ever posted. However, I strive to be honest here, so it is what it is. I wouldn’t eat here again. The food wasn’t great and certainly not worth the prices charged. My mom’s fish was one of the greasiest dishes I’ve ever encountered. My fish was ok. The dessert was pretty good, but I think you can find better desserts/snacks elsewhere. If we book the Ride and Dine experience again, it will be at another restaurant.