Latin Quarter

Pretty solid place! We ran in here to escape the heat after being donw with Islands of Adventure in Universal Studios. We had a good 2 hours to kill and weren't really that hungry but wanted to chill somewhere and rest our feet. Latin Quarter was amazing and for such a place, we really found a gem. The decor of the palce was nice, but what took my breath away was the stage that had fake stars up, if you have a date, this seems like a great place to go.

Now since we weren't really hungry, I just got chicken quesadillas which were good and came with guacamole and sour cream (you didn't have to order that separately). Got a drink (forgot which one but it was excellent) and food came out quick. Our server was polite and understood that we just wanted to rest and then needed to go when it was time to head back to the shuttle bus. Oh! They bring out bread while you wait which was DELI! If I'm back in the area for vacation anytime soon this is a great place to go!

What is the first thing when you mentioned Orlando?? THEME PARKS??? Right?? Went to disney and universal for a week and we did not have a perfect meal... I think this is the only perfect meal my family and I had in Orlando...

I got attracted to Latin Quarter since it's an award winning restaurant.. first start off with an appetizer... Guacamole... The chef will push a cart to you.. and asked you what to mixed in the Guacamole... the chips they gave were not crunchy at all... My family never had guacamole before and my brother loves it... My brother ordered a soup... I forgot what he ordered.. but it's good... :)

I ordered the salmon salad... the sauce was really special.. it tasted like mango sauce and a little different... I love how they grilled the salmon... it's perfect... the greens are fresh.. my parents shared a portion of seafood.... They separated it for us... The waiter is really friendly to us.. the only thing is.. we have to wait for quite some time for our food... well.. i hate waiting...

My dad feel really sick the next day.. but I think is not related to the restaurant... anyway.. maybe it's an award winning restaurant... I expected more.. the guacamole is good but I had a better one in NYC.. ;)

Like a few of the other Yelpers have said, I wasn't anticipating going to Latin Quarter the first time I went here. We were actually looking to go check out a club in City Walk, but there was a private party going on, so the clubs we wanted to go to were blocked off. However, we probably had more fun at Latin Quarter than we would have at a club. We walked right into the restaurant and sat at the bar to order drinks. One of the first things you notice in Latin Quarter is the theme park-esque atmosphere of the restaurant--with bright colors and a deep blue sky and stars adorning the ceiling. We decided to go along with that and order some over-the-top drinks as well. I ordered a pina colada. And all I can really say about that is that it was the BEST pina colada I have ever had and probably ever will have in my entire life. It tasted like a freakin' milkshake. Although we weren't really there to eat dinner, we all wanted snacks so we decided to go ahead and order some guacamole and chips. Well, next thing we know a chef comes out from the kitchen with this huge mixing bowl on a wheeled tray and starts pouring in olive oil. scooping out fresh avocados, and adding tomatoes, onions, and a ton of other fresh veggies to make the guac right there in front of us! We weren't really expecting a show, so we were in awe. And we were even more shocked when we tried it--amazing! Crazy what a difference fresh ingredients can make when it comes to guacamole and/or salsa.

All I can say is that I definitely want to go back to get another pina colada and guac. And possibly even to try the restaurant's entres as well. Latin Quarter is definitely a hidden gem in Universal CityWalk that everyone needs to discover.

*note: Only reason I am giving 4 stars for now is because I have not actually eaten in the restaurant before, only at the bar.

I should preface this review by telling you that I have never eaten here and have only visited this place at night when it magically transforms into a lounge/club for people to shake their money makers to Latin music.

Okay so, I always end up in this place when I visit Florida. Because I'm Latina and love my salsa/merengue/bachata, it's close to where I stay, and Thursday nights are ladies nights and not only do you get in for free, you get free drinks (not very good ones though) until midnight.

If you visit this place exclusively for the lounge night transformation, it's very obvious that this place is a restaurant. Although they have a HUGE bar you'll notice upon entering, there are still remnants of restaurants tables and chairs at the far sides of the place. However, there's still space to rock out on the main floor but everyone who remains there seems to not want to dance to look at people dancing on the elevated platform. Weird. So anyone who wants to dance-- head to the small elevated platform! Ha.

Drinks are alright here... NOT the free drinks- the free drinks on Ladies nights are absolutely disgusting but by the looks of it most women don't care. I do.... so I did get a premium liquor or rather a very nice gentleman bought me one... it was still quite terrible. BLAH.

I come here for the music. Do cardio for a few hours and leave. It's an A-OK place for me.

Its a really nice place, great decor, attentive and knowledgable staff and awesome music. The menu offers choices from many differnt Latin countries and I'd try that before their pre-fixed menu on the dinner and a movie deal.

We've done the dinner and a movie deal; $21.99 and you get a ticket to the AMC and a free dinner, drink, tax and gratuity included and you order off a fixed menu. The dishes on these menus wont have you coming back...they're not bad just ok.  But they have great bartenders and if you drink enough you wont even notice.

After hours it becomes a club with great music and good for all ages...I've seen a few grandparents cutting a rug once or twice :)

I'd go to drink and dance.

The maitre d' did warn us that seating inside tended to get louder as the night went on. He wasn't kidding.

This place turns into a Latin club at the stroke of 10 pm; complete with strobe lights, fast-paced merengue music and gropey tourists getting their groove on. My friends and I watched in fascination while eating our meal, tucked away in the corner.

The food here is really good - the portions are pretty large and the flavors are across the Latin American spectrum, i.e. something for everyone. Drinks are interesting, but weak. Now, I am not a lush (despite the number of bars I've reviewed), but I know when alcohol is missing in my frozen specialty drink. We had to send ours back to get a buzz of some sort going. Although I suspect it might have just been a sugar high.

All in all an interesting dining experience, and when in Rome...

As part of the dinner and a movie deal, I was here the Wednesday night of my trip. They have select entrees that are part of the deal.

One was a Tilapia with a coconut mango sauce with rice and green peas, which my friend had. Another was the arroz con pollo (chicken and rice) which came with green peas and a few pieces of yellow plantains.

When we were seated the waiter asked about beverages. We were going to be satisfied with water but was told soft drinks are included in the deal so I had a coke and my friend had the iced tea (unsweetened).

The food came out in five minutes which means it was obviously pre-prepared. But it came out piping hot.

The chicken was a 1/2 roasted chicken which had good seasoning. I gave my friend the drumstick. he felt that this skin should have been crispy which i disagreed with. It was a very generous portion of not only chicken but a huge portion of rice and peas.

The tilapia according to my friend tasted fishy (as in not fresh). He liked the sauce but after a few bites of the fish called the waiter over and asked about the fish. The waiter was kind enough to replace his entree with either roast pork loin with mashed potatoes and black beans or the dish I had. My friend opted for the pork. The fish had tasted fine to me but I don't eat as much tilapia as my friend does. he was satisfied with the pork loin entree.

During our meal we were given a basket of rolls. They were fresh, hot and delicious with the butter.

We left the place to head to our movie. We gave the waiter a good tip since the quality of the food is not the server's fault and my friend did manage to get a replacement.

Our kids didn't like it, so we happily ate their meals.

We are from the Southwest and after 10 days in Florida were craving some good Latin food. The Latin Quarter did not disappoint, in fact, every dish placed at our table contained the tastiest food we could have hoped for. We ate at the cafe downstairs as opposed to the Brazilian Steakhouse, upstairs.

My wife got the ceviche, an overflowing goblet of citrusy goodness. The fried plantain served along side was an unexpected delight. We asked for chips and salsa and could have happily done shooters of the uber-flavorful stuff.

My son ordered the Coconut Shrimp, but turned up his nose at the mango salsa served on the plate. His loss was my gain. They were fresh, hot and everything shrimp should be. I ordered the Strip steak, my wife ordered fajitas and my daughter chose pasta Alfredo of all things!

We rolled out eyes at ordering Italian food in a Latin restaurant, but you know what? It was dang good! Again, my daughter turned up her nose at the rich, perfect bowl of creamy pasta. The shrimp were a bit fishy, so we dunked my wife's fajita chicken in the sauce and made endless happy noises and we ate my daughter's meal as well.

Sadly, I had to give my son half of my delicious strip steak. It's spicy unctuousness  was utterly wasted on his ketchup-loving palate. It was served on a bed of hominy which I'm sure was prepared with ninja-level skill, but I just don't like little chickpea type thingies, no matter how well they are prepared.

We ate at 5:00 PM before the music started. I can imagine that would get a bit obnoxious as the tables surround a stage. But if you want a really good meal (or two), go early, grab a mojito and eat something to make your adult taste buds happy, no matter how much your kids whine... that's what the mojito is for!

I was born and raised in Puerto Rico, so I know what is good and authentic when it comes to Latin food. My friend and I decided to dine at this restaurant because were craving some authentic Latin food. For an appetizer we ordered "Tostones con Pollo" which is fried plantains topped with pulled chicken, cheese, tomatoes and red onions. It was AMAZING! I had never had tostones like that and I am totally going to recreate it at home.

Our dinner courses were another story. I ordered "Stuffed Breast of Chicken" which is bone-in chicken breast stuffed and roasted with sweet plantains, bacon and garlic. It was served with yellow rice and a red wine sauce topped with a mango salsa. The chicken was ok (I've had better stuffed chicken before), but the rice was very disappointing. It felt like if they bought yellow rice in a box and didn't add any flavor to it. My friend ordered the "Churrasco Skirt Steak" which was grilled marinated skirt steak served with chimichurri sauce over fried chickpeas and chorizo sausage. She ordered it medium well and she said that it tasted like a well-done hamburger meat, which is not good enough for a $20 entree.

My recommendation is to go here for frozen drinks (the pina colada was delicious) and for some appetizers. If you want dinner, go somewhere else.

We tried the dinner and a movie gig at Universal City Walk...it's $21.99 and you get a ticket to the AMC and a free dinner, drink, tax and gratuity at many of the restaurants.  You essentially have to order off a fixed menu of several dishes from the restaurants, but it worked well for us tonight.

It's a pretty restaurant, very thematic.  The menu looks great with something for everyone.  I tried the fajitas and my husband got the cuban.  The cuban was good, not as good as the one from Padrino's, but good.  My chicken fajitas were delicioso.  I don't know what they do to their chicken, but it's juicy and flavorful.  Crispy char on the outside and succulent on the inside. The black beans were fresh and sabroso, but the yellow rice tasted like it came from a box.

We also ordered (aside from our free meal) the tableside guacamole.  I'd never had green olives in my guac, but it was nice.  Gave it a little something else.  The Guy did our guac and he was charming and a nice reprieve from our actual server.

I would have given the Latin Quarter 4 stars, but our server had zero personality.  Actually, he kind of acted like an ass.  Like he couldn't be bothered with us.  Not sure if it's because we were using the vouchers and they lowball his tip...or what.  But, he treated a large table next to us the same way...and they also had the vouchers.  What he didn't know is that we would have tipped him extra if he acted like he gave a damn.  Definitely try this place out...but if you get a tall bald guy named Michael as your server, ask for a new one.