Emeril's Orlando

Most Beautiful Restaurant, in the world.
Emeril's Orlando
While my oldest son, was waiting in line to ride the Incredible Hulk Coaster at Universal's Islands of Adventure.
My youngest son and I wanted to go visit Emeril's Orlando at the City Walk at Universal's Studio.
I wanted to try, one of chef Emeril Lagasse famous desserts from his menu.
Since us both didn't have a reservation to eat at a table.
We order the chocolate Lava cake and cotton candy fizz to go.
When my son and I first walked, into Emeril's Orlando to place our order.
I was in awe to see, this beautiful two-story restaurant inside of a theme park.

My boyfriend and I decided to come here on a Friday night on a whim. When we walked in at 8pm the restaurant was packed, the host asked if we had a reservation, we didn't, so she took our names, and told us to "check back an hour and she'll see what she could do". It didn't sound very promising, but we really wanted to try this restaurant so we decided to have a drink elsewhere and return.

An hour later we came back and were quickly seated by another host. Our server came over quickly, David, and everything was smooth sailing after that. David was exceptional. He walked us through the menu, what appetizers and entrees were his favorite, and he didn't disappoint. I haven't had such great beginning to end seamless service in a long time.

As far as the food, my boyfriend and I started with the appetizer, Smoked Exotic and Wild Mushrooms. It was everything!!! After that, my boyfriend had the Mahi Mahi entree, which he adored, and I had the Ramen, which was one of the featured items. When my ramen first came out it was luke warm in temperature. David took notice, and grabbed it, a few moments later he returned with a scorching delicious ramen.

After our appetizer and dinner, I sneakily told David that is was my boyfriend's birthday when I ordered the cheesecake. Shortly after, David came out with the Fried Cheesecake Strawberry Champagne Sorbet dessert with a candle in it, and everything was perfect yet again. My boyfriend and I aren't really into desserts, because we aren't into sweets, but this dessert was exceptional. We practically finished it. I would honestly go back just to have this dessert again, which says a lot.

All in all, I would definitely return if I travel back to Orlando. The food was delicious, the service was excellent, and the bread, oh my the bread.... YUM.

Food was solid but the server we got that day was one of the worst I've had in my lifetime. Getting priority seating through staying at the Loews Portofino Bay property I still was required to wait 5-10 minutes, but not bad considering it was January 30th, prob one of the busiest times of year.

All surrounding tables were greeted hospitably, we weren't at all. Guy barely showed up but to take the orders and when he did, he patronized members in my party in regards to their lack of menu knowledge. Luckily for them I was there and had to verbally slap down this pompous waiter.

I left a 0 dollar tip and explained to the manager who began to ask what they could do and I said, not hire pompous pricks as servers, I wasn't looking for a free lunch. The waiter approached me as we were leaving and things got physical. Hopefully this guy is fired by now. If not and the guy with a scar across his right cheek is your waiter, change sections. He had a huge gash after our little rumble in the jungle.

Like I said the food was really good, shrimp and grits were good and everyone else enjoyed their dishes as well. The cornbread was a appetizer favorite.

Food- exceptional. Pork Belly with steamed buns, Korean fried chicken, seafood scampi and banana cream pie and key lime pie! Best food we ate in Orlando and truly was delicious.

Ambiance- HUGE over commercialized loud space lacking class, warmth, or intimacy.

Service: Waiter had never heard of a Vinho Verde and told us about his gaming lifestyle. 'Nough said.

I came here with a fun group, we sat in the back patio covered area. They bring you bread-hard as a brick to start...no bueno, had I thrown it at the window like I was tempted to do I would have broke it. The cast iron corn bread we ordered made up for it YUM! Appetizers-we shared the bar-b-que shrimp, and the short ribs...oh so tasty! Our Chinese friend said the ribs reminded him of Asian ribs...he loved them! Main entree I had the shrimp and grits a must try, mouth watering, so full of flavor! I can't remember what the rest of my group had...perhaps you can identify by looking at the picture. I'm Creole and a BIG fan of Emeril so this was definitely a treat for me, the shrimp and grits reminded me of my family's cooking back in Louisiana.

Note: This location is inside of the Universal City walk so Valet parking is around $45.

This review is for happy hour only. We left Universal & came here to relax. They have happy hour at the bar daily from 3-6pm. There were some appetizer options too but We just had drinks.

The bar was a good size & service was attentive. Well drinks were $6 & beers were under $4

Pizza is terrible. Crust is think, doughy, and greasy with no flavor.

Wifes slad with roasted chicken was good. I would shy away from pizza. Ate at several other locations and were excellent. This location is more like fast casual. There are better locations for food with less cost

I had one of the best ahi tuna ceviche I've ever had here. It was during HH so we got a little bit of a discount. My guy got guacamole and it was so delicious as well. I can even say the best I've had. I decided on wine and I got Chardonnay which I normally don't like but it was tasty.

The waitress was chatting up with us a lot too. All very friendly and professional!

11/20 - We had reservations for 5:30pm but, unfortunately we were unable to make the reservation so we had to cancel. We did however end up just walking in and sitting at the bar. They were pretty busy on a Friday night. We were able to get 1 seat at the bar which was fine. To our surprise they had a Happy Hour menu until 6:30 p.m.

Five dollar ($5) glasses of white and red wine. We ordered the Cabernet from California 2012, and it was delicious. They also had some smaller plates on happy hour. We ordered the NEW ORLEANS BARBECUE SHRIMP, Florida white shrimp, petite rosemary biscuit. It only came with 3 medium size shrimp. The sauce was a bit spicy but really good. The biscuit was a little dry. We also ordered the EMERIL'S SALAD, farm grown lettuces, sun dried tomatoes, brioche croutons, pepper jack cheese, extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar ($9). It was plenty salad, my favorite was the sun dried tomatoes, they were fresh and the croutons just melted in your mouth.

I wish we would of had a proper dinner here but will definitely be back. The Happy Hour at their Bar was worth it. Great service as well.

Emerils is my fav when hitting Orlando. Must say the whole Citywalk parking is a nightmare. It
Is free after 6pm but if you dont plan ahead then their reservations are 6 or 8p. I called ahead because Valet offers a discount of $7/hr before 6pm for participating restaurants and was told they didnt participate only to be told by waiter they did. Also i love their ribeye and called every night in town to see if they had to be told they didnt again by front desk. We decided to come anyway and waiter told us its word of mouth to order. I think front desk needs to get their act together with info. Our waiter was excellent i love that they work in teams - ribeye was awesome, choc souffle was awesome. Food is pricy but worth it.