If you have read anything I have ever written about my time in theme parks, then you probably know that one of my favorite things about them is food. If you want to know what to eat at Disneyland, I'm your guy. While most people think of hamburgers and chicken strips when they think of theme park food, I couldn’t tell you the last time I had any of that. I look for more creative items. If I get a churro or popcorn, I want it with a flavor I’ve never had before, and when it’s time for dinner, I want something even more special.
I love to sit down to a good meal any place, but in a theme park, I expect my dinner with at least a little bit of a show. Theme park restaurants often come with their own intricate theming to make you feel like you’re dining somewhere else. They may even have characters serving you, and that can be truly magical.
Universal Orlando has plenty of great food, but Islands of Adventure is home to Mythos, a restaurant that has been called the Best Theme Park Restaurant in the World for several years. Until recently, I had never had a chance to dine there, but on my last excursion to preview Universal Studios Florida’s DreamWorks Land, I had an evening free, so I made a reservation for a party of one to answer this question, once and for all.
To be clear, I’ll be judging Mythos in a few different categories, but I’m only judging it against other restaurants that are located inside theme parks. I’m not comparing it to restaurants found at resort hotels or in shopping and dining complexes attached to the resorts.
Mythos Location Is Great, But It’s All Alone
Mythos can be found in the Lost Continent area of Islands of Adventure. Its name is somewhat apropos right now, as the one attraction that anchored the location, a massive guided tour experience called Posedon’s Fury, is closed. As such, there isn’t really much reason to even go to this particular land today unless you’re going to Mythos.
Its location is great. The rockwork that covers the land also covers Mythos, making it almost blend into the Lost Continent. Of course, there’s the massive golden sign and the banner proclaiming its status as the “best theme park restaurant,” so you’re not going to miss it.
In this particular category, however, I do think other theme park restaurants do it at least as well, if not better. Mythos is on par with someplace like Tiffins at Disney’s Animal Kingdom: well matched to its surroundings, but still clearly a modern restaurant. At someplace like the Carthay Circle restaurant at Disney California Adventure, which looks like the actual Carthay Circle movie theater in the early days of Hollywood, at the end of Buena Vista Street, you feel like you could be attending the World Premiere of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs when you arrive.
Mythos Theming Is Rock Solid, Literally
Walking into Mythos is when things really get good. Most nice theme park restaurants just look like nice restaurants inside, but Mythos is more. The rock island aesthetic carries over inside the restaurant, so everything looks like you’re inside a cave. You have to move through a fairly small passageway to get from the waiting room into the restaurant proper.
The dining room is large, still looking like a massive cave, complete with pillars of rock going from floor to ceiling in various places. There’s a wide view on the far side, and Mythos is right on the water which the rest of the park surrounds. A table by the water is, of course, preferable, but there are only a few of those, and every seat as far as I could tell had a clear view of the water.
I can only think of a couple of theme park restaurants that compete with Mythos as far as its interior design. Epcot's Space 220 has a whole performance that goes into the idea that you're dining far above the Earth, and the restaurant itself has some great design to reinforce this including windows of the "space" outside.
Another is the Blue Bayou restaurant at Disneyland. The fact that it is located inside of the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction goes a long way, nobody else does that. There you can also get a table right on the water, but while Mythos gives you a view of a theme park, Blue Bayou gives you a view that at least feels like you're somewhere else.
Being inside an attraction also makes the Blue Bayou perpetually dark, as there are no windows to the outside. This helps the restaurant set its mood just perfectly regardless of the time of day. I had an early dinner on a summer night at Mythos, which means the sun was still out and the restaurant looked more like a restaurant. I can guess in the evening the effect is even better, so the time of day you eat matters more at Mythos to get the best effect.
Mythos Has A Creative And Inspiring Menu
If there was something that truly shocked me in my meal at Mythos, it was the food. I wasn’t ready for how good it was. The food was delicious, but it was also interesting. I don’t remember another theme park restaurant that offered me charred octopus, and it was fantastic. Everything I had was good but the menu had so many things I wanted to try. The Greek inspiration here creates a menu that is unlike anything else.
The best meal I’ve ever eaten inside a theme park was at Monsieur Paul’s at Epcot. It’s located in the France Pavilion and is not so much themed as an upscale French restaurant as it simply is an upscale French restaurant. It’s amazing, but it’s also a “you get what you pay for" sort of place. Mythos isn’t the cheapest meal you’ll eat, but it’s cheap by comparison and the food is still incredible.
Verdict: Is Mythos The Best Theme Park Restaurant?
Up front, it needs to be said for the record that I haven’t eaten at every theme park restaurant in the world. I have no idea how many theme park restaurants the people who named Mythos the best have eaten at, but I doubt they have eaten at all of them either.
Having said that, is Mythos the best theme park restaurant I have eaten at? That too requires some clarification. I’ve broken things down into three different criteria, and in each case, I have pointed out that Mythos may not be the best in any of them. If there was one single restaurant that did all these things better, it would obviously be the best restaurant, but there isn’t.
Monsieur Paul’s has the best food I've had, but it is otherwise just a French restaurant that could be located anywhere in the world. The Blue Bayou is built inside a theme park attraction, but its menu is lackluster. There simply is no one restaurant that does it all better than anybody else, but Mythos comes closest.
Mythos is the total package. As such, I guess I would have to agree that it is, at least for now, the best theme park restaurant in the world. Maybe Universal can beat even themselves when Epic Universe opens in 2025.
