Bar Helios — Restaurant in Oak Ridge

Be warned: management's attitude is abysmal.

Before our visit, we spent some time scouring the online menu and reading reviews. One item caught our eye: the taramasalata included with the "Spreads & Mezze" dish.

Menus in person described the dish as "Marinated Mediterranean olives, taramasalata, za'atar labneh, hummus, grilled pita" for $23. We ordered it along with several other dishes and a round of cocktails.

No one asked about allergies. Luckily we don't have any but what followed could have been a problem for anyone who does.

When we ordered the dish, the server made no mention of changes. When it was dropped off by a food runner, they did not explain the dips.

We noticed the dips looked different than the photos online. On first bite, it was clear that one was hummus and another was labneh. Two people tried the third dip and said it barely tasted like seafood; when I tried it, I was sure it was baba ghanoush.

We did eat part of the dish before the server came by again, trying to figure out what it was. When he came back, we asked for clarification; he confirmed it was baba ghanoush. We expressed our disappointment - the taramasalata was the main reason we'd ordered the dish. He told us that we weren't the first to complain about this exact thing.

Our server was apologetic and offered to get his manager. Of the 4 members of our party, 3 of us have worked in hospitality management, so we just wanted to make sure they knew about the issues.

Fernando was ice-cold and condescending as soon as he came to our table. Even if we were all in Universal t-shirts (as were most groups around us), it was easy to glance at our table and see that we'd ordered $200+ of food and drink, so his immediate hostility was shocking.

When we explained the issue and that we'd ordered the dish because we were excited about the taramasalata, Fernando's excuses varied: the menu has been updated, except for the copies on our table (which he grabbed out of our hands and kept); it isn't seafood, it's roe; it isn't roe, it's paste; you ate part of it, you should have sent it back if it wasn't what you wanted (even if we had no way of knowing that).

He acted like we were rude for bringing our concerns up in the first place. After running out of ways to blame us, he went to leave without so much as an "I'm sorry", so we asked if there was anything he could do. His response was that he didn't have the ability to make adjustments to checks, and then he left, leaving us far more frustrated than we'd been before.

The next time our server came by, he asked if we were ready for the check. Our baffled faces confused him; when he asked what was wrong, we told him it was fine and asked for the check, resolving to just bring our concerns to hotel management so someone might be able to benefit from the feedback.

He had no idea what happened with Fernando; he went inside and we could see him trying to figure it out. Fernando himself never came back, but he did take $10 off our bill, which our server informed us of. It felt like an insult at that point - I would rather speak to a manager who listens and apologizes sincerely than get compensation (not to mention his lie about not being able to do anything).

We later spoke to a front desk manager who heard our concerns, apologized, and even helped cover breakfast the next day, going above and beyond; that exemplary service is what we expect at Lowes/Universal, not being berated like children when pointing out a menu error and allergen concerns. (Ironically, when talking to the front desk manager, we mentioned the taramasalata, and he said "oh, that's the one with the fish roe!" before deflating when we said it was the item that was cut, which had us all finally cracking a smile.)

Bar Helios has some kinks to work out. If you're going to go, ask your server for details on the menu items, and if you have any allergies, advocate for yourself. I hope that they can get all of the issues resolved, because the venue is beautiful and I'd love to go back, as long as I never have to speak with...

Overhyped, pretentious feeling bar, that resembles a watered down Las Vegas resort bar than a resort bar in a "luxury" resort/hotel.

Where do I start with this place, genuinely I understand that this location just opened (reservations are difficult to get but that's only because they are running at MAYBE half capacity) but my inital experience was just plain horrible.

Before I start on the price, I have no problem with spending money on high end food. I've done plenty of michelin starred restaurants and have no problem spending money on food and drinks when it's justified, but the prices are nowhere near justified here. My group and I tried just about everything on this menu and unless you are someone who has nothing but chain restaurants to choose from back home, all of this food except for maybe a dish or two left so much more to be desired.

The good: The spreads & mezze was excellent, it had a really sweet yet savory mix and the pita bread it was served with was nice. The waiter did bring extra bread, I don't recall if we were charged extra for it, but it's definitely required to truly enjoy this dish because the default provided pita is not enough. The same can be said about the farmer's cheese, it was a tasty, yet light spread with fruit and cheese and paired nicely with the provided bread. Both were still pricey for what was provided, but I at least felt that it was somewhat justified.

The bad: Crunchy crab cake. I understand why they call it crunchy crab cake, because the exterior breading did not taste fresh, it tasted like it had been sitting out and was dry just like the crab inside. The little gold tinted caviar on top was the nail on the coffin for the dish, for me at least. The lemon prosecco sauce did nothing flavor wise either, should have kept it simple with a nice remoulade sauce.

The 2 little wagyu sliders for $26 made me laugh, like these were some obnoxiously small sliders and you get no side either for the price, they were fine, nothing special. The charred octopus (calamari) was chewy and the batter lacked flavor, you're literally better off going to a Miller's Ale House and getting the calamari there. The same can be said for the fried halloumi, it's just a block of fried cheese and it was just greasy, the breading once again lacked flavor and I didn't taste the spiced honey. The confit pork belly, as someone who absolutely loves pork belly was honestly the most disappointing thing, I really don't know what to compare it to other than small chunks of burnt rubber for $22.

Drinks were fine, probably the only thing that was justified from a price perspective, nothing tasted watered down or off.

The ambience of the place is all over the place, once again I'm not really sure what thematics they are going for here. You have the stars and other astrology references on the dome, but then you have house music blasting to the point where I have to talk loudly to talk to the person next to me. They completley missed the opportunity to have lights in the dome, but instead they just have some generic light fixture poking from the bar. I guess you're really just paying for the view, you have the beautiful view of Epic Universe on one side and then parking lots and kirkman rd on the other.

The service wasn't bad, but everything took so long, it was just so inconsistent. I asked for my check and probably waited 30-45 minutes before I got a check that was ready for me to sign, mainly because the waiter had to ensure we ordered enough to get parking validated for our parties vehicles, which is so stupid, I understand why, but not even Disney does this and Universal is most definitely not at the Disney level. I was told to hold onto my reciept but wasn't told that I need to go to the valet to get parking validation, this should be done at the restaurant level itself and if not at least communicated.

TLDR: If you love overhyped, overpriced food, with decent drinks and obnoxiously loud and unfitting house music then this place is...

Overpriced, disappointing food with careless service and a lack of attention to detail.

My wife and I came here to celebrate our 10 year anniversary. Online showed no reservations available, but after calling the concierge we were offered several options. So far so good, but the actual experience didn’t match the hype.

We were sat at the very end of the outdoor seating. While the restaurant advertises an overhead view of the theme park, our table was completely blocked by a giant green bar running across the glass panel. We asked if we could sit towards the middle at the empty two top tables, however was told no by our server. The tables remained unoccupied during our almost two hour long visit.

The food looked great and everything was plated beautifully, but the taste and value were another story. The oysters were twelve for $72 and tasted old. The single crab cake, about the size of a golf ball, was $32 and stale. The artisan bread and cheese spread was actually very good, probably the highlight of the meal, but the ratio of bread to spread made no sense. When we were offered more bread (we did not ask!) we later realized we had been charged $4 for four half slices of toast. We also ordered the calamari. The first order was excellent, crisp and flavorful, but we liked it so much we ordered it again and the second round came out soggy and lifeless. On top of that it took nearly thirty minutes to arrive.

To make matters worse, my wife cut her lip on the chipped glass her cocktail was served in. When we brought it up, the manager came over, asked if we wanted the medical team sent up, and then walked away without addressing the fact that broken glassware was being used in service.

Service overall was slow and inconsistent, which just added to the frustration. What should have been a special evening turned into a disappointing one. Unless you care more about Instagram pictures than the actual food and experience, there are far better ways to...