The menu at the new Nintendo-themed quick service restaurant at Universal Studios Hollywood pretty much checks off all the boxes you’re looking for in grab-and-go food and drinks at a theme park: Fun, cute, themed, Instagramable and fast.
But does the food taste good?
The stars of the show shined brightly while the supporting cast was pretty much what you’d expect during a media preview of the eatery before its grand opening next week.
The new Power Up Cafe on Universal’s Upper Lot officially opens on Thursday, Feb. 15 following a few weeks in soft-opening mode.
I tried everything on the menu at Power Up Cafe during a media preview on Thursday, Feb. 8 and found the calzones to be delicious, the pretzel and popcorn to be standard fare and most of the specialty drinks to be plenty of fun but too sweet for my taste.
Don’t go looking for this new Nintendo-themed food stand in Universal’s new Super Nintendo World themed land on the Lower Lot. Power Up Cafe is about as far away from the immersive Nintendo land as you can get. It’s on the Upper Lot near the park entrance next to the DreamWorks Theatre.
Power Up Cafe offers a dining alternative to the often-booked Toadstool Cafe in the tightly confined new land and injects more Nintendo into the park that has seen a big boost in attendance and visitor spending since Super Nintendo World opened in early 2023.
Power Up Cafe is basically a gussied up pizza stand with a novel twist on the grab-and-go slice of pizza. The new Nintendo cafe serves a pair of $13 calzones shaped like the green and red extra-life mushrooms from the Super Mario Bros. video games.
The Italian oven-baked turnovers are almost too adorable to eat — but once you take your first bite you’ll find it hard to stop. It’s like a culinary work of art you can hold in your hand — until you just have to start eating and stop admiring the craftsmanship.
The meaty red Super Mushroom is stuffed with pepperoni, sausage, mozzarella…
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