REVIEW: There Really Is Something For Everyone at Universal's New Hotel Restaurant

We just got back from a fantastic trip to Universal Kids Resort, which officially opens in Frisco, Texas, on July 1st.

We got to walk around the whole park, experience all the attractions the park has to offer (prepare to get soaked, there are water rides and splash pads EVERYWHERE), as well as the dining options you can check out around the resort. One of the most popular dining offerings is Curiosity Café, located inside the Universal Kids Resort hotel, and you don’t need to be staying at the hotel to stop by for a bite. We tried breakfast, lunch, AND dinner here to bring you our full review before the park officially opens!

Curiosity Café, like the entirety of the resort, is geared towards kids, which means that it’s bright and colorful with loads of different seating options available. You can sit at the tables, complete with multi-colored chairs, check out the comfortable booths…

…or even go further into the restaurant to sit in the more blue and purple room, also complete with tables with numerous different kinds of chairs, as well as a long booth row against the back wall.

You’ll also find Coca-Cola refill stations inside the restaurant which also have special flavors unique to the park! You’ll find Minute Maid Triceratops Twist, Sprite Curious Cooler, Minute Maid Poppin’ Punch, Fanta Easy Peasy Orange Squeezy, and HiC Pineapple Passion.

You’ll also find a small wall with quick grab-and-go options like water bottles, juice, soda, and more.

Breakfast

To begin, we’ll start off with breakfast, which was personally our favorite meal here! The Classic Breakfast will cost you $10.99 and comes with eggs, bacon, potatoes, and toast. While this wasn’t anything to write home about, it’s a safe bet with everything tasted exactly how it should. It’s great for those who want a bit of everything at breakfast, and want to start off the day well-fueled.

Now the Curiosity Café Sandwich for $9.99, on the other hand, this may be our favorite thing on the whole menu! It’s made with egg, pepper jack cheese, bacon, crispy onions, and arugula on an oat-topped wheat bun, and it all tasted wonderful together. It elevated it from just a normal breakfast sandwich, and the potatoes that came with it were good as well, though nothing groundbreaking. It may not be the best for pickier eaters, but if you want something a bit more unique, this is IT!

From the kids menu, we grabbed the UKR Mini Waffles for $5.99, which are crispy waffles served with maple syrup, berries, and whipped cream. While they’re a bit flimsy, we love that they have the logo on the front, and they still taste like your classic waffle. They’ll be a big hit with kids, as well as adults who just want something small and familiar.

While breakfast was pretty solid, then it was time to move onto the Lunch and Dinner menu, which is where things got a little interesting!

Lunch and Dinner

We decided to start things off with one of the items on the kids menu — the Kids Chicken Tenders for $8.99, which came with a side of BBQ sauce or ranch. The kids menu items also come with applesauce, apple slices, carrot sticks, or yogurt upon request. These were good, though they were really thin. That won’t be an issue for many kiddos, as their appetites are usually smaller, but for adults looking for something cheaper, this may only just be enough to fill you up. We also thought it was interesting that the breading on the chicken tenders was so thin, because it practically disintegrated in our mouths. We didn’t dislike them, but we do think they may not be exactly what you’re expecting!

The Popping Pepperoni Pizza is available for $10.99 on the regular menu, which is an airy pizza crust with tomato sauce, mozzarella, and popping pepperoni. This reminded us of school pizza, and that’s not a diss, just a very specific style of pizza. It was doughy, as if it hadn’t fully been baked through, and we know lots of people will love that, while an equal amount will despise it. The flavor itself was good, though reminded us of classic puffy pizza from most theme parks. Again, nothing out of this world, but if you’re craving a slice that may make you pretty nostalgic, this is the way to go.

If you’re wanting something carb-heavy after (or before) a busy park day, the Fettuccine Carbonara will cost you $12.99 and is made with penne pasta, grilled chicken, tomato cream sauce, and mozzarella cheese. This was another solid option, though we do wish there had been a bit more sauce. We enjoyed the portion size, as well, and this was the dish we knew for a fact we’d eat every last bit of!

We also grabbed the The Curious Bacon Jam Burger for $14.99, which is a 7 oz. Angus beef burger, American cheese, bacon jam, mayo ketchup, lettuce, tomato, and pickles on a brioche bun. Now, this is certainly elevated from your regular theme park burger thanks to the bits of bacon and the bacon jam, which really was delicious and added some sweetness. It may not be a crowd pleaser, as many picky eaters may not be a fan, but the flavors were all spot on for us. Our biggest complaint, however, was that our burger was pinker than we would have liked. We weren’t asked how we wanted our burger cooked, so there wasn’t an option for anything different, but we’re hoping this is something that will be worked out before opening!

Finally, we also grabbed the Ahi Tuna Salad for $14.99, which is seared tuna with Napa cabbage, kale, carrot, cucumber, radish, snow peas, scallions, red onions, honey sriracha, sweet potatoes, wasabi peas, crunchy chow mein noodles, miso glaze, and furikake seasoning. Yes, there are a lot of flavors going on there, but it was fresh, vibrant, and bright, so it was a winner in our book. It’s also a more unique offering, one you don’t often find at theme park restaurants like this, so that gets it another bonus point. We do feel like the tuna itself didn’t have a lot of flavor and we would have liked a bit more of a sear on it, but combined with the other flavors of the salad, it worked.

There’s also a bar located inside the cafe, which is great for adults who maybe want a special drink. We grabbed the Timeout for Tiki, which is made with dark rum, pineapple juice, orange juice, and grenadine. This was a fun, tropical tiki drink that wasn’t too strong, which we appreciated. It’s important to note that you can’t bring these glasses out to the pool, so you’ll need to transfer your drink to a plastic cup if you’re looking to move with it.

We can’t wait to continue bringing along on our adventures as we share everything we did at Universal Kids Resort, so be sure to stay tuned to AllEars!