Hemisphere Restaurant — Restaurant in Orlando

Ahh, my final Magical Dining of the season. I'm so sad that it's coming to an end, but I am so happy that it happened. Out of the top six MDM menus that I sifted out, Hemisphere was the only $60 one of the bunch. So expectations were high.

Ambiance was insane. The restaurant itself is a giant room with a second story that is loft style, so all the upstairs diners can peek over and spy on the bar patrons down before. Beautiful artwork adorns the walls, and of course, the aspect that everyone talks about, the mega window overlooking all of the planes taking off at MCO. It was quite the view. The best view I've ever had at a restaurant, I'm sure.

As for the food, it was solidly five stars. Everything we had was amazing, and a pro-tip, if you are in the building between 5-6:30PM, there are $10 happy hours apps that aren't a full serving of their apps, but that's good anyway, because then you can try more things. We got an extracurricular app before the dining started. It was nice.

Apps

Tempura Vegetables (broccolini, sweet potato, cauliflower, green beans, kecap manis sauce). Very light and bubbly tempura breading on nice veggies with just enough bite to them. Not a heavy app at all, and that sauce adds a nice zing. It's so good, ask for a second little cup for sharing.

Crawfish Chowder (Hemisphere's specialty for over 30 years). Um, yes, this was the bite of the night. I do not understand how they got this kind of depth of flavor and seasoning into this thing. Very creamy and smooth, seasoned well, but probably not offensive to even the boring palates out there.

Mains

Niman Ranch Pork Chop (apple brained 16oz tomahawk chop, brussel sprout mustard, anasazi beans, shimeji mushrooms, pickled red onion, apricot glaze).

This was insane. Such a well cooked chop, juicy all the way throughout even though it was a thicc boy. The mustard seed heavy mustard added just enough acidity to cut through the rich fattiness of the chop and the beans. And the sweetness of the glaze, it was just so well built.

Whole Snapper (soy and herb marinated whole fish, coconut Jasmine rice, pickled vegetables, tamarind chili glaze).

This was good. Certainly a visual spectacle. Moist, juicy fish, fried well, not greasy. Do not be fooled, this is just rice, covered with coconut milk. It wasn't bad. Just make sure you mix it all up before eating all the milk and leaving just rice. And yes, there are many bones, so just be careful.

Desserts

The most effort was put towards dessert. Their pastry chef has a brilliant mind, whoever it is.

Honey Semifreddo (silky, frozen honey semifreddo, rich chocolate cremeux, golden honey tuile). I cannot believe the strong, perfect honey flavor that this semifreddo had. It paired very well with that rich chocolate, and there was even unadvertised cake chunks on the plate for some texture. Very fun and playful and delicious.

Peach Pastel de Nata (warm, flaky, Portuguese style custard tart with peach sorbet). This custard tart was perfect. Very flaky and with a very nice texture custard. There was more than just sorbet on the plate, too. There was meringue, a cream of some sort, and actual grilled peaches. Another very fun dish.

I never name names, but our server was the direct reason this place went from a five star to a four star experience. At the end of the meal, she obviously lied to us about coffee needing to be brewed, including throwing her coworker under the bus about the situation, and her attitude about making the lie seem less obvious really cemented the fact that she looked at our age, our dress, probably incorrectly guessed our salaries, and assumed any extra customer service wasn't going to directly add to whatever tip we were going to give her. So, that was a bummer. Lots of boomer types around us in nicer dress certainly got a lot more TLC from her. So, sorry Hemisphere, but maybe just do some extra training with your staff on treating everyone the same. I'm sorry, I'm never like this, but it was...

Quite an interesting experience, once we finally made it through the airport, and to the 4th floor to gain access to the 9th floor where the restaurant is... lol

We came for Valentine's day, and opted to do their 3 course special. First course was a choice between a mushroom bisque or summer salad. We both chose the bisque - tasted like dirt. It was super thick and the flavor was just terrible. Once we finally got our server's attention, she offered to swap it for their crawfish chowder. Pretty sure the crawfish had to be flown in from NOLA, because the replacement took FOREVER! However, when it did finally arrive, it was FANTASTIC!

2nd course was a filet with a citrus lobster salad. My goodness, the salad was TOP NOTCH, and the steak had amazing flavor, but was cooked extremely rare, almost blue, when we ask for medium rare. They took it back and threw it back on the grill, and came back with a super tough, well-done filet. I swear, filet is not THIS hard to make. Tbh, we don't even say anything about the 2nd steak... I was already tired of complaining, but our server noticed we weren't eating it and offered another. Fine, whatever. At this point I'm hungry and just ready to go. It was a solid 20 Minutes later when the manager finally brought us 2 perfectly cooked, medium rare filets. He apologized repeatedly, then asked if we'd like another drink. We were both over the night, but sure, we'll accept your apology AND your drink.

3rd course was creme Brule. Honestly, it's the best CB I've ever had. It came with fresh berries and some kind of fried fried sugar pastry? Idk, but it was great! No complaints. Lol

So we get our bill and our server apologizes for the night, and says they applied a $50 discount for the experience. It was actually $39.12. LMAO! AND, guess what else was on the bill? 2 more $20 signature margaritas that the manager offered us... 😂

Look, the food was AMAZING once they finally got it all right, but I don't think there's enough money in the world someone could pay me to...

Thank you Magical Dining!

What I did the magical dining experience here. It was well put together. I did the upgrade for my appetizer of grilled Octopus. Man... it was fancy plating for sure! The whole fish was my highlight! Though, how do I stay fancy with this... It was pretty good, I thoroughly enjoyed it! It was a big portion, could've been shared! The appetizer I got the peach pastel de nata which was a little bit disappointing for me. The egg tart wasn't as good as I imagined it would be. The sorbet was the only thing I enjoyed. I also got to try the hibiscus one which was definitely better than the peach egg tarts.

Environment Located at the airport and inside the Hyatt. It was a little maze to find this place for sure! There is plenty of parking that's for sure. Make sure to go towards terminal B parking lot and them to terminal Top which would be closer to the hotel and resturants (there are signs). Get the parking ticket cause they validate your parking if you dine in. Once entered the hotel lobby, take the elevator up to the restaurant. The interior is very nice, if you go when there is still sun out, you will see the planes at terminal be taxiing taking off. Very nice. There are booth seats and tables inside. Very nicely decorated and worth the evening date

Niceness of the staff Very nice and patient staff as I look over the magical dining menu! Also appreciated the intro to the menus, got me to upgrade my appetizer.

Dollar As part of the magical dining experience, this was $60. Which I thought was decent for what it was.

Yes/No It was quite the dollar but I would...