Orlando Universal Epic Universe Foodie Guide 🍔

We got a two-day pass plus one day of Express access, giving us plenty of time to explore all the parks. Our food reviews are based on my wife’s and my personal tastes, and we’re looking at them from a tourist meal perspective. Overall, the food here is a significant upgrade from the older Universal parks. I’ll go through the parks in the order of Mario, Dragon Tamer, Horror, and Harry Potter. Mario’s most famous spot is definitely Toadstool Cafe. We heard it has long lines in Osaka, but we walked right in at 10:30 a.m. (By 11 a.m., it was already packed). We ordered the mushroom soup, Bowser’s Fireball Challenge, and a ? Box Tiramisu. (Every 20 minutes, Bowser’s airship flies by with special animations and the lights dim.) 🍄 The mushroom soup is pretty standard—some people love it, some don’t. If you want a good photo, ask the server to keep the lid on when they bring the soup, or they’ll just give you the bowl and take the mushroom cap away. The tiramisu is similar—decorated with little cookies around it. It’s not bad, but it’s more for the photo than the taste. 🍰 Bowser’s Fireball Challenge (a Bowser-shaped bread with a croissant-like texture and a big meatball covered in cheese) was pretty good. We took the Bowser flag home. The meatball was nice—lots of meat, not just starch, and the sauce was tasty. 🍖 Next up was Yoshi’s Snack Island, where we tried the Red Shell (and there’s also a Green Shell that’s vegan) sandwich. This was the only snack I came back to buy again. The bread is thick, but the filling is a delicious pasta sauce with meat. Surprisingly yummy! 🍅 In the Donkey Kong area, we had the Banana-Pineapple Ice Cream with Waffles and Pineapple Soda. You can choose whether to get a mug or not. If you get the mug, it’s just placed over a plastic cup, so it stays clean. But the ice cream melts super fast, and the waffles get soggy quickly, so eat it fast! 🍌🍍 At the Dragon Tamer area, we didn’t eat in the restaurant (which has a Viking throne for photos), but we got a Mac & Cheese sandwich from Hooligan’s Grog & Gruel outside. (I’m not a fan of this bread-with-bread thing, and the meat sauce was a bit lacking.) The chicken had a spicy flavor, but the pork didn’t. Across from the main restaurant, there’s a dessert shop where we got this Black Sheep treat (chocolate-covered marshmallow). It was super sweet—definitely more for the photo than the taste. 🐑 In the Horror area, we visited Das Stakehaus. The atmosphere was great, and even if you’re not eating, you can sit and get a drink. It’s vampire-themed, with all black cutlery (vampires can’t use silverware), and the lights dim periodically (when we went in, the staff were even muttering about “fresh meatballs”). The food we ordered was pretty average. I couldn’t handle the black sauce—it made me feel really queasy. 🧛‍♂️ #UniversalEpic #OrlandoUniversalEpic #EpicUniverse #OrlandoUniversal #OrlandoFood