Universal Studios Hollywood Food

 I visited Universal Studios Hollywood twice in the past year. The initial visit was to see the park for the first time (alongside Disneyland). A few months later, my schedule and budget allowed me to go a second time to see Hollywood's version of Halloween Horror Nights. 

First food in the park was from a hot dog cart in the upper lot. I ordered the Californian. This was a Nathan's hot dog topped with guacamole, diced tomatoes, cilantro, and Takis. Very topping heavy. They were really generous with the guacamole and cilantro, which I won't argue with. 

When I returned a few months later, I walked by this same hot dog stand. All of the interesting hot dog toppings were replaced with basically one option: A 22" Chili Cheese Dog. Nowhere as exciting...

French Street Bistro:

I tried a brownie from the French Street Bistro. 

City Snack Shop:

I had this during Halloween Horror Nights. I had a Strawberry Spiral Croissant. This round croissant was partially stuffed with whipped cream, with some strawberries topping the cream. Pretty tasty.

Bagels & More in Hollywood, FL

I had breakfast at a restaurant called Bagels & More in Hollywood, FL. Interestingly, they were cash only. Which doesn't seem like a wise way to run a business when cash seems to be used less and less (especially during COVID), but they were filled with customers. I guess it's working for them.

I had an everything bagel with lox cream cheese. They were generous with the amount of cream cheese, which also happened to be filled with lots and lots of lox.

Boba Station Food Truck in Hollywood, FL

 

I was in south Florida not too long ago and found myself at the Food Truck Invasion event that happens every Monday at Young Circle in Hollywood. I had already eaten dinner for the evening at the nearby Mauro's Pizza, but I decided to find something for dessert from a food truck. That dessert soon morphed into a glass of boba tea from a truck called Boba Station. 

Boba Station had a nice selection of different types of iced teas, milk teas, and smoothies on the menu. All of the drinks included a choice of boba toppings.

I had a ginger green tea with mango popping boba balls. Out of all the boba tea that I've had in the past, Boba Station was the first to use actual tea. It seems everywhere else I tried uses powdered flavors that seem similar to Kool-Aid. I suppose that isn't a bad thing for all the exotic flavors, but using flavor powder doesn't seem very much like tea either. At the Boba Station truck, actual iced green tea was used in the drink. Real slices of fresh ginger were floating around in the cup giving the tea a nice spicy kick. The mango flavored boba was recommended by the person taking my order as a good flavor combination with the ginger. I have no complaints about my boba tea from this truck!

Mauro's Pizza in Hollywood, FL

I was recently in South Florida and stopped for food at Mauro's Pizza in Hollywood. Located downtown, Mauro's was a tiny pizza shop with a few tables outside of the restaurant. All of the tables were full when I walked in, which was a good sign that Mauro's had promising food.

Mauro's seemed to be run by very cranky people. The interior of the restaurant was covered in signs of what their rules are. Cash only. No debit or credit cards. No cash refund or exchange after placing order. No Parm cheese. Then there were the other signs. The ones that got meaner. Signs such as: Price subject to change instantly. What part of NO don't you understand. With all the stated rules, I would be very afraid to find out the employee's reactions if I accidentally broke one of the rules. I suppose asking for Parmesan cheese to top the pizza would be considered a horrible crime...

I ordered two cheese slices. For $2.75 each, the prices weren't bad and I can normally finish two slices with no problem. I wish I noticed the size of a slice on the way in though. The slices at Mauro's were humongous. Each slice was served on two full size paper plates, and the pizza took up pretty much all of the plates. They were equivalent in size, if not larger than the huge slices at Orlando's Lazy Moon. Only unlike Lazy Moon, the pizza here at Mauro's was actually very good! The crust was thin and crispy. The cheese was melted properly and was in good proportion to the tasty sauce. By the time I got through the first slice, I knew I'd have trouble finishing the second. After a bit of a battle, I did manage to get both of the slices down and thoroughly enjoyed them.

Mauro's pizza was really good and was a really good value with the size of the slices. If only the people working there took down all of their angry signs and seemed more friendly. I was actually talking to a few people who live nearby about where I ate afterward and they all agreed that they stopped getting pizza from Mauro's because they felt so unwelcome each time they went there. Regardless of good pizza, scaring away customers never is a good business plan...

Hollywood Sweets & Icy Treats in Hollywood, FL

While enjoying a recent day at Hollywood Beach, I got some dessert from Hollywood Sweets & Icy Treats. I ordered a gelati with layers of Florida orange Italian ice and vanilla ice cream. After being meticulously assembled, I was surprised how huge the cup of gelati turned out to be.

To sum up the experience: Italian ice + beach = Awesomeness!

Mamacita's Mexican Bar & Grill in Hollywood, FL

On a cold winter evening, I made my way to the boardwalk in Hollywood, FL to find dinner. After a short walk, the scary mannequin outside of Mamacita's Mexican Bar & Grill drew me in for some food.

Like most meals at Mexican restaurants, tortilla chips and salsa came first. The salsa had a nice kick to it...

I ordered the Torta al Pastor for my meal. Mexican tortas are something I was completely unaware of until a few months ago. Once I was conscious of tortas though, I've been coming across them everywhere and it was about time that I finally try one of these Mexican sandwiches. The Torta al Pastor was filled with spicy pork, sliced avocado, lettuce, tomato, and mayonnaise. Technically, it was the typical fillings found in a taco (except the mayonnaise) with a more substantial baked good holding everything together. I had nothing bad to say about the sandwich. It was cheap, filling, and delicious. The ocean view didn't hurt either.

Hollywood Studios and the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater

Disney gives you a free ticket to one of their parks on your birthday. It was recently someone's birthday, so I went along to Hollywood Studios (or MGM as many people still call the park). Eating happened at the Sci-Fi Dine-in Theater Restaurant in the park.

I ordered the Shrimp Pasta, which consisted of bow-tie pasta, shrimp, artichoke hearts, kalamata olives, Spinach, sun dried tomatoes, capers, and Feta. I liked the pasta a whole lot. Feta and olives always seem to go well in pasta. At $20, the pasta was a bit overpriced, but it's in a theme park so that's expected.


The restaurant is set up like a drive-in movie theater. There is a screen up front that shows old science fiction movie clips while everyone eats in tables shaped like cars. Our waiter kept on asking to borrow my camera, and he would then run off elsewhere in the restaurant and take these "postcard" quality pictures of the screen.




Besides from eating, we rode rides and watched shows such as the Great Movie Ride:

Star Tours:

Rock N Roller Coaster:


The new Lights, Motors, Action Stunt Show:

Muppet Vision 3D:

And one of my personal favorites, Tower of Terror:


The biggest surprise of the day was the newest ride at the park, Midway Mania. I really wasn't expecting much from this ride, based on the fact that it's a dark ride that consists entirely of watching movie screens and also because Disney's other shooting dark ride isn't very good. I wasn't expecting much, but this ride was very cool. I was ready to go back on for a second ride, but the park had closed for the night.