How important are reservations at restaurants?

[disny_luvr]

My family is not big on taking vacation time to sit down and eat in a restaurant. That said, we do usually make two or three dining reservations during our Disney trips, so it’s not like we never eat in one. We looked over the menus and are thinking of maybe eating at the Mexican place at City Walk. Should we make a reservation or should we be able to just walk up and get a table? This would be for late June. Also, are there any other restaurants you’d recommend?

 

[hhoope01]

Will you want to eat at traditional times? If so, in June especially on the weekends, I'd say there is a good chance there will be a wait for getting a table at the more popular restaurants. I've had to wait for a table at Antojitos before and if City Walk is really crowded, that wait could be a while. But you wouldn't have to make reservations 6 months out just as the reservation window opens. You could probably do it a couple of weeks before and be fine (possibly even a few days before hand would be good enough.)

As for recommendations, we always like to have one meal at Mythos (inside the Islands of Adventure park.) The food is good and it has a great ambiance. If you go when the weather is nice (including temperature), an outside table has some great views (though be careful not to be directly in the sun if your going in June.) Another unique restaurant is the Toothsome Chocolate Emporium which has a Steampunk vibe to it. The food there can be a bit polarizing as some like the menu options where others don't as it tends to be a bit different than the traditional burger and fries. But most people do like their desserts and the kids might like the character interactions.

If you have Harry Potter fans, it is probably worth having at least one meal at either of the 2 HP restaurants (Three Broomsticks or Leaky Cauldron). I personally think the Leaky Cauldron has a more "immersive" feel to it, but either would be worth trying at least once.

 

[disny_luvr]

Will you want to eat at traditional times? If so, in June especially on the weekends, I'd say there is a good chance there will be a wait for getting a table at the more popular restaurants. I've had to wait for a table at Antojitos before and if City Walk is really crowded, that wait could be a while. But you wouldn't have to make reservations 6 months out just as the reservation window opens. You could probably do it a couple of weeks before and be fine (possibly even a few days before hand would be good enough.)

As for recommendations, we always like to have one meal at Mythos (inside the Islands of Adventure park.) The food is good and it has a great ambiance. If you go when the weather is nice (including temperature), an outside table has some great views (though be careful not to be directly in the sun if your going in June.) Another unique restaurant is the Toothsome Chocolate Emporium which has a Steampunk vibe to it. The food there can be a bit polarizing as some like the menu options where others don't as it tends to be a bit different than the traditional burger and fries. But most people do like their desserts and the kids might like the character interactions.

If you have Harry Potter fans, it is probably worth having at least one meal at either of the 2 HP restaurants (Three Broomsticks or Leaky Cauldron). I personally think the Leaky Cauldron has a more "immersive" feel to it, but either would be worth trying at least once.

Thank you! This is very helpful. We usually just eat when we are hungry; however those times tend to be more traditional meal times so maybe a reservation is a good idea. Is making a reservation something I do via the app or phone call?

I’ve looked into Toothsome and it gets a lot of mixed reviews. We were thinking of grabbing a dessert there as it seems everyone loves those!

Yes, we definitely want to eat at one of the Harry Potter restaurants! Am I correct in that they serve the same food?

 

[hhoope01]

To make restaurant reservations: https://www.universalorlando.com/web/en/us/plan-your-visit/dining-experiences/reservations

The HP restaurant menus do have overlaps, but there are differences.

For Leaky Cauldron: https://www.universalorlando.com/web/en/us/things-to-do/dining/leaky-cauldron
For Three Broomsticks: https://www.universalorlando.com/web/en/us/things-to-do/dining/three-broomsticks

 

[CAPSLOCK]

I would make a reservation for shortly after park close, so you aren't wasting park time & that's when the restaurants are busiest. Then if you aren't feeling it that day, you can cancel - no fees, no credit card put in to hold the reservation, no hassle.

Or, stop in for lunch, as an A/C / crowd break. Less likely to have a wait then, and let's you recharge to finish the day strong.

For the HP restaurants, there are no reservations but they are busiest at lunch. I would suggest eating at off lunch times or going for dinner there (they may close a bit before the park does).

 

[barb969]

In January we tried Finnegan’s twice. It is now one of my favorites. My other favorite is Lombards.
We always make reservations.

 

[lisam70]

For June I would definitely make reservations maybe a month prior.
Toothsome is hit or miss with food and I think their milkshakes are overly sweet. If you want to try their desserts they have a walk up counter for that so you don’t have to have a sit down meal there. You could do a lighter CS dinner then go have dessert there.
I also recommend Finnegans in US and Vivo in citywalk.
Cowfish is also popular they have very good burgers.

 

[jormom1030]

My family loved the feast at Three Broomsticks.

 

[disny_luvr]

To make restaurant reservations: https://www.universalorlando.com/web/en/us/plan-your-visit/dining-experiences/reservations

The HP restaurant menus do have overlaps, but there are differences.

For Leaky Cauldron: https://www.universalorlando.com/web/en/us/things-to-do/dining/leaky-cauldron
For Three Broomsticks: https://www.universalorlando.com/web/en/us/things-to-do/dining/three-broomsticks

Thank you!

 

[disny_luvr]

I would make a reservation for shortly after park close, so you aren't wasting park time & that's when the restaurants are busiest. Then if you aren't feeling it that day, you can cancel - no fees, no credit card put in to hold the reservation, no hassle.

Or, stop in for lunch, as an A/C / crowd break. Less likely to have a wait then, and let's you recharge to finish the day strong.

For the HP restaurants, there are no reservations but they are busiest at lunch. I would suggest eating at off lunch times or going for dinner there (they may close a bit before the park does).

Good suggestions! Thank you!

 

[disny_luvr]

In January we tried Finnegan’s twice. It is now one of my favorites. My other favorite is Lombards.
We always make reservations.

Are those at City Walk?

 

[disny_luvr]

For June I would definitely make reservations maybe a month prior.
Toothsome is hit or miss with food and I think their milkshakes are overly sweet. If you want to try their desserts they have a walk up counter for that so you don’t have to have a sit down meal there. You could do a lighter CS dinner then go have dessert there.
I also recommend Finnegans in US and Vivo in citywalk.
Cowfish is also popular they have very good burgers.

Thank you for the recommendations!

 

[disny_luvr]

My family loved the feast at Three Broomsticks.

I was looking at that earlier today. DH and I would like it, but probably not our boys.

 

[Amirah95]

Adding that it’s very important in the evenings and nights for sure.

 

[Amirah95]

Toothsome‘s on a HHN was a disaster. We had a ressie and it was not honored. We were seated 90 minutes later.

 

[cschaaf]

Kind of answering your quest with your same question- how important is it for you to eat at a particular restaurant?

Pre-Covid, I think we only had made one reservation and that was ‘day of’ at Vivo because our daughter chose that for her birthday.

Post-Covid, when we travelled as two, we probably did reservations for 75% of our dinners and only 2-3 days in advance.

Without reservations, we’d either plan Red Oven, which is one of our favorites, or try walk up at a few places until we found a wait we were willing to do. NBC Grille often had the short waits. With Toothsome, Vivo, Big Fire, and Cowfish often having the longest waits.

When we went as a party of 8 for Christmas, I made our reservations months in advance.

 

[lisam70]

I forgot to mention the restaurants at the hotels. All of them are pretty good but if you don’t want to make a reservation head over to PB and eat at Sals deli they have great pizza and sandwiches and a gelato shop next door. We love sitting outside just watching the boats and relaxing.

 

[disny_luvr]

Kind of answering your quest with your same question- how important is it for you to eat at a particular restaurant?

Pre-Covid, I think we only had made one reservation and that was ‘day of’ at Vivo because our daughter chose that for her birthday.

Post-Covid, when we travelled as two, we probably did reservations for 75% of our dinners and only 2-3 days in advance.

Without reservations, we’d either plan Red Oven, which is one of our favorites, or try walk up at a few places until we found a wait we were willing to do. NBC Grille often had the short waits. With Toothsome, Vivo, Big Fire, and Cowfish often having the longest waits.

When we went as a party of 8 for Christmas, I made our reservations months in advance.

There really isn’t any restaurant we have to or want to eat at. I was just thinking it would be nice to try one of them since it’s our first time at Universal.

Is Red Oven a pizza place? I looked at a pizza place at City Walk that I thought we’d like but I can’t remember the name of it.

 

[wdwrule]

There really isn’t any restaurant we have to or want to eat at. I was just thinking it would be nice to try one of them since it’s our first time at Universal.

Is Red Oven a pizza place? I looked at a pizza place at City Walk that I thought we’d like but I can’t remember the name of it.

Yes, Red Oven serves pizza. They have really good pizzas and salads. There are menus for restaurants on the app and on Universal’s website. We usually check out those menus before we try a new place.

Also, Red Oven is a counter service restaurant hence they do not have reservations. However, you can order at the counter or mobile order for either table delivery or pick up.

 

[jump00]

In January we tried Finnegan’s twice. It is now one of my favorites. My other favorite is Lombards.
We always make reservations.

Do you remember what food your party enjoyed? We are going to Universal for 10 days in August and might try it..
Brenda