Jake's American Bar Review at Loews Royal Pacific

Jake’s American Bar review 

I love the Royal Pacific Hotel at Universal Orlando Resort. It has some of the best theming of any hotel in Orlando, and you get express passes included in your stay. During my teenage trips, my parents took me to Universal and every once in a while, they would splurge for the Royal Pacific. I remember I thought it was the best hotel I had ever seen as we were used to All-Star Sports and offsite hotels, never deluxe. Once we stayed there, my parents were hooked, my father especially. Not having to drive in Orlando traffic or wait in lines? He would want to splurge on more vacations. We never ate at any of the restaurants there. Royal had quite a few back in the day with Emeril’s and others that were taken over by convention space today. There are two restaurants below the lobby with one being called Jake’s American Bar. We always talked about one day eating there and finally, with my adult money, I took the leap. 

I didn’t look up any reviews beforehand, and as I am searching through them now, I am understanding that I possibly should have looked. The latest was a one-star review, some five stars and usually hovered around two to three stars. 

Yesterday I made the reservation, and we went. It was dinner time, at about 6:00 and the place was a ghost town. It’s a low-crowd month for theme parks, but it was extremely telling for there to be one other table. They sat us down right next to them. This will be an important detail later. 

Our server brought us water immediately upon greeting us which I love in a theme park area restaurant. Also, because I drink a ton during a typical dinner. This was the last water our server brought the entire service. My sister-in-law was pregnant while eating here, and she finished her glass first, and then we all did. My brother got a beer instead, so his water was given to his pregnant wife. No refills. Two tables in the restaurant and no pitcher of water was seen. Unfortunately, I don’t usually ask for more water, I just hope they can see that it needs more, I have seen some pretty rough stuff when food handlers think their guests are annoying. I typically keep my mouth shut. 

For dinner, I got the Short Rib burger for $22. I love a good burger and it was one of the cheapest things on the menu. It was extremely well done when I asked for medium. Resulting in it being very chewy and not much flavor. The fries were fried not much better as they were hard as a rock. It was still edible, just not worth $22. 

My girlfriend got the flatbread pizza for $18, and she finished it pretty quickly. She said she was hungry, not a reflection of how good it was. Once again, the crust was overcooked and hard as a rock. 

The real winner of the night was the brisket. It has its own section on the menu which my brother and his wife got a $60 item for two. It came with brisket, Mac and cheese, sweet potato fries, coleslaw, cornbread, creamed corn, and fresh fruit. The only good thing on the platter was the fresh fruit. The cornbread was once again hard and dry. The brisket was almost inedible with how dry it was. Consistency was more like beef jerky than brisket. At this point, I noticed a woman beside us continuing to look over at our table. I thought we said the wrong name too loud, or something else but she kept looking over at us. After looking over several times she got up and walked over to our table and asked about the brisket. She also said that it was almost inedible. So, the server came over to their table, still no water, and the lady spoke up and dragged our table into it. I don’t think I have ever complained about food or service in a restaurant to a server. 

The server listened to the brisket complaints and said he would get the manager. When he returned there was no manager, but he told our two tables that the chef would make the brisket fresh for us and that it was taken off our bill, still no water with him. With a brisket, you can’t really “make a fresh one” It looked like it was just sliced thinner and heated up. It was actually hot this time but still not good. The manager never came by the server never brought water, and then after he took the bill to the table next to us, he disappeared. 

I can understand, I don’t know how many problems that table gave him, I’m sure being in the line of fire is no fun. But we had to wait probably 20 minutes before the server appeared again. At about the same time the other table got up and left. 

It was a rough experience overall. Maybe it was an off night, but poor service and poor food have me thinking that this is common. Any restaurant on Universal property seems to have similar problems but this one was the worst. Service wise especially. Two tables in the restaurant and not one water refill is a bit ridiculous. I would say avoid this place as best as possible until they can address some issues. Which is a shame because it is inside a beautiful hotel. My biggest advice would be aimed at Universal and Loews to invest in food budgets. That restaurant was empty, and it doesn’t have to be that way. Maybe if the food was really good, the Facebook groups and true fans would go out of their way to visit here on their trips to Universal. It could become the most hyped-up restaurant on Universal property, which, sadly, is not a high bar to hit.