REVIEW: Aurora Market at Universal Helios Grand Hotel at Epic Universe

Universal Helios Grand Hotel officially opened EARLY on April 16th, and along with it are many new restaurants in Universal Orlando.

The new quick-service at this hotel is called Aurora Market, and we’re seeing if it’s truly worth a stop, or if you should skip it and grab items elsewhere instead.

Helios Grand has four new eating locations, from full sit-down restaurants to a poolside bar to some quick bites. All the restaurants are in perfect theme with Helios Grand, which has “beautiful details of celestial patterns and constellations adorn the hotel with a casual, elegant Mediterranean-inspired feel throughout.”

Helios Grand is one of the new hotels, along with Stella Nova and Terra Luna, which are sister hotels with a stronger space theme. Helios Grand is located right on Epic Universe property, where guests of the hotel can use their own entrance to enter Epic at Celestial Park.

Let’s try out Aurora Market!

Background

Aurora Market is a grab-and-go area featuring a coffee bar that serves croissants, cakes, paninis, wraps, salads, gelato, and more.

It serves everything from breakfast to dessert, and it looks like a great option for grabbing a bite before heading out to Epic Universe.

Atmosphere

This is a smaller area than we expected, and it’s truly more of a grab-and-go rather than a quick-service restaurant. There were a few salads, wraps, protein boxes, and a few drink options, but we were overall disappointed by the lack of options here.

There was a larger selection of sugar-free candies, chips, sodas, canned beers, and more, but when it came to actual meal items, it fell flat. If you’re looking for a snack, this is an alright place to come to, but for meals, elsewhere is better, just due to the lack of selections available.

Food

Our first treat here was the Affogato for $7. This is a scoop of gelato with espresso poured over the top. We decided to try the Cookie Butter Gelato here instead of a traditional vanilla (which is also available), and our first note was that the cup was way too big for the dish. Traditionally, the gelato is supposed to be floating in the espresso so you can eat them both together, but this container was too big, so we ended up eating the gelato and then drinking the espresso out of the cup.

The espresso wasn’t the best we’ve ever had, but it was still good, and the cookie butter gelato was incredible! It was rich, as you’d expect, with a bit of a crunch from the cookies inside, and the buttery, creamy flavor worked well with the bitterness of the espresso. We think this is a great option, but it’ll be even better if the container size is fixed!

We also grabbed a Small Gelato for $5.50, which came with two scoops. We decided to get the Vegan flavor option as well as a scoop of Birthday Cake. The Vegan scoop was still rich and delicious, but it wasn’t as creamy as regular gelato since it’s made with oat milk. It didn’t affect the flavor, though, which was a very strong dark chocolate. The Birthday Cake was especially creamy, especially when compared to the Vegan option, and it had a stronger yellow box cake mix flavor.

There are a dozen flavors to choose from here, and what really stood out to us was how AMAZING the price was for the amount of gelato you get! Just a heads up though — we’ve seen long lines form out of this shop when Epic Universe closes for the day and people want something sweet to end the day, and there’s no seating inside. There is seating out in the lobby area, but just keep in mind it may be harder to find a spot to enjoy it, especially when it’s busier.