Louie’s Ristorante

Original post - 11/10/2019 - I did it again, I didn’t save the actual review…le sigh…but, as this is one of my favorite places to dine at Universal, this should be a piece of cake to write a little something for.

Let me start off by saying, I eat at Louie’s 99% of the time I visit Universal. It is my favorite restaurant in the parks because the food is absolutely delicious. Louie’s is hands down the best pizza I have had in a theme park ever…and I have eaten a lot of pizza!

The only times I don’t eat here are:
A.) I don’t visit the Universal Studios side – which is rare.
B.) I’m with friends/family who don’t get to visit and they want to eat somewhere else.
C.) See options A & B

I thought having a pre-Covid review up would be helpful, but I think giving everyone an idea of what to expect if you make a trip in the now.

Let me give you a little information before jumping into the Covid stuff…

Louie’s is a quick-service restaurant located in the streets of New York at Universal Studios and opens daily at 11:30 am, closing time varies with park hours.
They are designed after The Godfather’s very own…you may just run into Michael Corleone himself - well, probably not, but that would be kinda cool, right?

As you can see they have a variety of offerings including pizza (by the slice starting at $9.99 for cheese or full pies starting at $34.99), sandwiches, pasta, soups, salads, and desserts. You can also grab a combo meal that includes an entree and a salad for a few bucks more.

Beverage choices are Coca-Cola products - Freestyle machine, beer, wine, and even Icees.

I really appreciate how serious they are taking the social distancing here!

They are part of the mobile ordering restaurants. You must download the Universal Orlando app in order to use this feature.
I recommend downloading before you get to the parks or when you know you’re ready to eat.

One of the cool features about this is, you can actually order BEFORE you get to the restaurant:
- Just go into the menu
- Add your items (They have pizza fries as a special menu item specifically for APs)
- Hit checkout, pay for your order, and head to the restaurant.

When you are seated, go back into the app, hit that green “Prepare my Order” button and you’re all set. The team members will bring your items out to you.

I will say, I had a little bit of a rough time receiving my order. One thing I noticed was that when I pressed “Prepare my order” upon being seated, it didn’t ask for the order confirmation number nor table number in which I was sitting. I also noticed that the team members were walking up to tables asking “Did you have (insert items here),” so it would be easy to get lost in the shuffle if someone orders the same things as you. It took 4 visits to the table for my confirmation number and one trip to ask my name.

There were other tables having the same issue, but that’s really the only down side I saw. I did mention this to a manager - in a kind manner - so hopefully the kinks will get worked out.

Once I got my pizza, it was delicious - as always! Piping hot and perfectly baked! I don’t know how they do it, but they really have a way with getting the flavor profile to blend so very well with each other! It was and is always Heavenly.
Make sure you get a side of the garlic butter dipping sauce if available! If you can’t tell, I totally recommend!

I also recommend the alfredo, the chicken caesar, and the gelato for dessert!

It’s no surprise that Universal really knocks it out of the park with their theming…it’s always been one of my favorite things they do.

I give Louie’s a 7.5/8 slices - which I don’t have half slices in the lovely images my daughter created for me, so we’ll just use our imagination.