It could be years before (or even if) I ever make it back to Universal Orlando, but since I’m unemployed right now I have nothing better to do than sit here and daydream about my next trip.
The Bob Marley Tribute Restaurant at Universal’s City Walk looks promising. I’ve never had Jamaican cuisine, and I love reggae, so why not? The restaurant appears to be getting generally good reviews on Tripadvisor. The ones I’ve read so far seem to indicate that the food is “not too spicy.”
The problem is that my definition of “spicy” is going to be vastly different from that of the next guy. Not to put too fine a point on it, but Taco Bell Medium sauce is just about right at (or slightly over) my tolerance limit. So anything that’s been anywhere near a Scotch Bonnet pepper (a staple in jerk chicken, if not all Jamaican cuisine) is going to kill me. Seriously, if the CIA wanted to torture me, they could skip the waterboarding and just feed me authentic jerk chicken. I’d tell them everything.
So, knowing what you know about my spice tolerance, I ask: how is the food at the Bob Marley restaurant at Universal Orlando (or Wisconsin Dells, for that matter)?
I was recently at marley’s in WI Dells on a week day around 4 pm, long trip (and story) short, though we shared a yum bucket appetizer, the entrees that my date and I had were the rum shrimp and the coconut chicken, both served on rice. The yum bucket was a deep fried combination platter with deep fried cheese curds, deep fried mozzarella sticks, fresh cut french fries, and the not hot spicey, yet spiced “jammin” fries (fries about the size of shoe string potato chips, with a unique seasoning in the same ballpark as Arby’s curly fries, but imho, better). The rum shrimp was sauteed to perfection, and the Caribbean greens on the side were excellent but a litte spicy (a little less than taco bell medium spicy with no burn) . The coconut chicken was a tender, juicy, deep fried chicken breast with coconut shavings on top, with the sam side. Both meals were excellent, and we are both reggae fans so we enjoyed the music. The wait staff seemed genuine and friendly, not too overly friendly either. If we ever make it to The WI Dells we agree, we would eat there again.
Oh, and the bathrooms were very clean.
Edit: The wait staff was very knowledgeable of the menu.
WTF? Wasn’t Bob Marley vegetarian?