Power Up Cafe — Restaurant in West Hollywood

During our recent trip to Universal Studios Hollywood on July 18, 2025, we decided to check out Power Up Cafe, the charming Super Mario-themed spot that’s been getting quite a bit of buzz. The decor is absolutely delightful, with vibrant colors and fun Mario motifs that really set the mood for a whimsical dining experience.

We ordered the 1-Up Mushroom Calzone, which is a cute mushroom-shaped calzone filled with spinach, green pepper, mushrooms, mozzarella cheese, and basil pesto. I have to say, the service was impressively fast! We received our food almost immediately, which is always a plus when you’re in a theme park and eager to get back to the fun.

However, while the presentation was spot on and the theme was undeniably fun, the calzone itself was a bit of a letdown. It was decent but didn’t quite live up to the excitement of its appearance. For $13.99, I expected a bit more in terms of flavor and uniqueness. It felt like something you could easily find at a regular cafe, rather than a special treat in a theme park.

Overall, Power Up Cafe is a fun stop for the atmosphere and quick service, especially if you’re a Super Mario fan. Just don’t go in expecting gourmet food. It’s a great place to grab a bite and snap some photos, but I’d recommend keeping your expectations in check when it comes to the taste. Happy...

The red mushroom calzone comes with your typical meat and cheese and tastes like any other cheap frozen meat pizza. Nothing special.

The green mushroom calzone is much better. The pesto gives it a nice flavor and you can't even tell it's vegetarian.

The sodas are expensive at $13 each. The green apple flavor was nice and refreshing on a hot day, but really you could order any regular old soda and it would be fine too. There's lots of edible glitter in there though so if you're not a fan of that, avoid the drinks.

Pretzel was very standard. Grab a different pretzel at any other cart for much cheaper. The dipping sauces it came with were okay. The spicy queso was good, but the white queso was all cold....which is kind of disappointing for how expensive this pretzel was. You're really just paying for a flower shape.

There is no seating at this Cafe. You'll have to walk to another area to search...

Small little cafe with no tables inside. Wanted to try out their fizzy drinks so we quickly placed an order at the counter. Waited for about 25 minutes and saw numerous people get their orders even though they made their orders after us. Turns out they skipped our order when I asked and had to wait an extra 5 minutes for them to get started on our order. Would probably do a mobile order next time if we go here again since many people just walked in to pickup their orders instead of waiting like us. The drink tasted like how you'd expect - Sprite with...