Planning out our last day was
tough; not because we didn’t know what to schedule but because we knew the end
was near. But rest assure we didn’t waste the day moping around! We headed back
to Harry Potterville really early to ride the rides one…okay five..last times
before I went around to explore and take pics of practically everything in
order to waste time. We were growing super anxious as we waited for Mythos to
open at 11am. With a reputation as the “#1 Best Theme Park Restaurant in the
World”, Mythos had a lot to prove; especially to these two self proclaimed food
critics. Prior research of the restaurant had shown that they had a vegan Pad
Thai and that is exactly what I was looking forward to.
I’ve always had a knack for
mythology…that’s why I took Latin as my foreign language! I love the stories,
the gods and most of all, I adore the Greek culture and style. That is why the
first thing I automatically noticed and fell in love with about Mythos was the
restaurant’s décor. It was as if the restaurant was carved out of cave.
Mythological characters elusively decorated the walls and railings while the
lamps, tables and chairs displayed signs of royalty and wealth. This place
clearly belonged to Zeus.
I continued to admire the beauty
of the restaurant as we sat and waited to be served. It took a while for our
waiter to arrive as it seemed the pre-morning meeting was still taking place in
front of the kitchen even though the doors had already opened. Once he arrived,
we went ahead and ordered our drinks and our meal. I told him I was gluten-free
and vegan (I was making an effort to prevent further inflammation as my gut was
feeling as if it was hanging over the edge towards death…too much edible fun
this week) and proceeded to request the pad thai and a refreshing side salad as
an appetizer. The waiter immediately impressed us with his knowledge on the
foods that were both gluten-free and vegan as he listed off the dressings that
I could have.
I mindlessly chose the soy vinaigrette, forgetting soy sauce usually
contains gluten, which the waiter caught on to and told me he would check on to make
sure it was gluten-free. Impressive! Of course, it wasn’t GF so citrus
vinaigrette it was. He even kindly told me that the bread he brought out was
also not gluten-free. I was more appreciative of this then I was annoyed. It
showed that the restaurant took special diets into great consideration and had
a concern for those diets that may be due to a severe allergy. Very few
restaurants do this, but for those who do, they are recognized and praised for
their efforts and a positive impression is automatically left on those
customers who appreciate such efforts. In other words, they automatically
create reoccurring customers. As I said before, sometimes the service matters
more than the food.
The salad was just as I expected:
light and refreshing, tangy and sweet. The Pad Thai, which came in quite a
hefty size, was good. It wasn’t as “great” as I would have expected from a
restaurant rewarded the best theme park restaurant in the world (maybe they
were scoring more on look and theme?) but it was still good. The sauce was
lighter than your typical peanut sauce in both flavor and consistency. The rice
noodles were well cooked and the veggies slightly cooked, yet still fresh and
crisp. Oh and it was quite spicy! Overall, it was a tasty and fulfilling dish
and a nice change from what I had been eating all week. Unfortunately, though,
the dish wasn’t anything unique or different and therefore, left no strong
impression or desire for me to HAVE to come back. But the service alone, was
outstanding, and for that, I would dine here again.
After lunch we headed back to the
hotel and took advantage of the Cabana Bar…Orange Mojito? :)
The day we had arrived to the
Hard Rock, we thoroughly explored the hotel from top to bottom and the one
thing Tim noticed was a steakhouse (of course!) called The Palm with some
pretty pricey, dry aged steaks. He looked at me with a twinkle in his eyes and
all I could say was yes. After all, he had been a trooper this entire trip, making
sure every place we went to had something for me to eat. I thought, HARD about
when to go when I realized our last day would be perfect. My meal here was
going to be light, a salad, and aye okay with me seeing I would be having
noodles for lunch. So we made reservations.
The restaurant was very classy
and upscale, with the walls decorated with caricatures of famous and not so
famous people. Our waiter was cheery (you could tell he loved his job) and very
accommodating. I ordered my salad with sautéed mushrooms on top and Tim, of
course, a miniature piece of meat. Knowing it was our last meal, we enjoyed the
moment, sipping on wine and already reminiscing about our favorite times at
Disney and Universal. The moment was bittersweet and not to be forgotten. Our
food arrived, fresh and hot. We savored every last bite, even if mine was
lettuce and mushroom, and ended our night on a great note…with raspberry sorbet
and crushed oreos from the ice cream shop downstairs :)
The next day we headed home. When
we arrived at the airport I was shocked and excited to find some pretty vegan
friendly eats available for purchase…hummus, tabouli, vegetarian wraps, etc. I
grabbed an energizing acai smoothie which served its purpose well and headed
home.
I missed it all and suffered anxiety for about a week until I was finally
able to cope and really get back to reality. But I know this won’t be the last
trip. So instead of goodbye, it’s see you later! Until next time…
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