Emeril's Restaurant Orlando

Located at Universal’s CityWalk, Emeril’s eatery overlooks the park’s lagoon and all of the action. The building has 30" ceilings, hardwood floors, stone walls, and iron staircase that lends the feel of an industrial warehouse loft. We were seated promptly with a view of the open kitchen and chef’s food bar. The restaurant’s second floor offers two private party rooms with a huge wine gallery.

The atmosphere and food did not dissapoint – however the food came way too fast…they obviously wanted to turn the table and made for an uncomfortable dining experience. We were enjoying cocktails and in a few minutes our starters came followed by main entree. Less than an hour later were we out the door. Would not come back again for that very reason.

Please Note – I wrote this review earlier this year when we were on vacation at Universal Studios in Orlando. it was my first Emeril’s experience, and a poorly chosen one at that.

Like everyone else in the western hemisphere, I am familiar with Emeril Lagasse through the vast network of his empire; tv shows, cookbooks, etc., however, I have yet to dine at any of his establishments, and that’s where I discovered the two biggest mistakes I made: #1. Choosing a “high-end” restaurant at a theme park, and #B. Not having gone to Emeril’s in NOLA in the late 90’s when I should have. Basically, this experience was like seeing Van Halen on their current tour instead of back in their heyday when they were at the peak of their powers.
OK, enough setup. Wanting to experience a range of Emeril’s culinary offerings, I decided to make my dinner from the starters menu, which I’ve done before when I’m not hungry enough for a full entree. I started with the Korean quail which was the best thing I had all night and would order it again with no hesitation. I followed that with the gumbo (traditional) and Bibb wedge salad for my main course. I’ve had gumbo at alot of places in NOLA that were light years ahead of what I had at Emeril’s and the wedge salad was practically vampire-proof there was so much garlic in the dressing. Let. Down.
My wife ordered the shrimp fettuccine with black truffle butter, again, reeking of garlic and reeking of overpricedness. For the $33 list price, the inclusion of some lobster and the exclusion of 57% of the garlic would’ve gone a long way in improving the value of the dish. I use the word value here very cautiously, as I am well aware that Emeril’s is not a “value” restaurant. . . at least not the original Emeril’s.
The plan was simple. Since, according to our sever, entree portions were generous, my twelve year old daughter would share the pasta with my wife. That quickly fell apart mostly due to her limited but slowly expanding palette. To remedy that situation, our server was able to put a rush on the petit filet mignon with mashed potatoes from the kid’s menu and get it to the table before we had finished our dinner. That level of service on a very busy night was most appreciated. In fact, as it turned out, my daughter had the best dinner of all. Great service is critical to a positive dining experience anywhere, (OK, not Golden Corral.) and our service was exceptional.
The supposedly legendary banana cream pie (probably better when Emeril used to make it himself) was the perfect below average dessert to put the finishing touch on a below average meal and as I bid adieu to Messrs. Franklin and Grant, I left Emeril’s both unsatisfied and without two of my best friends.
The world of the overexposed, overextended celebrity chef phenomenon that has plagued the world of fine dining and has been so brilliantly written about by Michael Ruhlmann is alive and well at Emeril’s Orlando. To be fair, I will give Emeril’s another try, but only if I can do so at his flagship and not at another outpost.

We dined at Emeril’s on Tuesday, June 2 for my nephew’s high school graduation. Had a wonderful table for 9, the wait staff were knowledgeable and pleasant and the food was good.

There are, however, no restrictions on cell phone useage. After spending $500 for lunch I certainly wish that there was some type of guideline that the wait staff could have used to have the couple behind us stop using the walkie-talkie type of phone through our entire meal. It was most distracting and really but a cloud over the whole experience.

The smoked mushrooms in the tasso sauce are the primary reason we go out of our way to dine here. A good choice for an entree is the double cut pork chop over the sweet potatoes. We have dined here so many times through the years and have never been dissapointed. I agree with the other post by Hillery and I concur that the lobster chessecake (not a desert) is very very good. I only have one minor complaint with the place and that is that, the wait staff hangs over your table (they should just pull up a chair and sit with you) and that they fill up your drink, EVERY time you take a sip. Other than that, the food is outrageouos and the wait staff is very friendly and accomidating.

So overated, not worth the time, don’t even bother. The gumbo isn’t all that and the real South does it soooo much better, the entrees were ok but not worth the price, and the dessert…..OMG don’t even get me started. It was simply on the bad side of nasty. The bread pudding was just bad bad bad. For a high end restaurant, it seemed like all the waiters were high school kids? Well mannered of course, but still all the kids serving the grown ups food just looked out of place at a high end eatery.

Emeril is the best! Love his recipe books too! :)

The most amazing gastronomic experiance of my life. The lobster cheesecake is a must try.