Nascar Cafe - Vroom Vroom...Speed Away As Fast As You Can!
Written: Dec 10 '02 (Updated Jan 21 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: friendly staff, general atmosphere, food portions, free drink refills
Cons: undercooked food, slow service, pricey meals
The Bottom Line: A restaurant with slow service and undercooked food, yet it has friendly staff and has a nice atmosphere.
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| jetbluefan1's Full Review: NASCAR Cafe |
On December 6th, 2002, I was in the Orlando area visiting Universal Studios. Right after we were done with visiting Islands of Adventure, we decided we would go out to eat and then head over to Universal Studios. We had an argument about where to eat. Nascar Cafe? Well...what about Hard Rock Cafe? Of course, the vote went to Nascar Cafe since Hard Rock Cafe had a line out the door.
Feel free to visit my Universal Studios review at http://www.epinions.com/content_83223809668
Previous Experiences
We had eaten at Nascar Cafe a few years ago and we were very impressed with service and the food. We also were fine with the prices, atmosphere, and staff. Unfortunately, there have been many changes - many of which I had not known about. This includes a change in prices, service, and the menu selection.
General Atmosphere
Nascar Cafe has a theme of Nascar such as the cars that race in a raceway. There are two entrances. One is in the middle of the bottom floor, and the other is on the side of the bottom level. The entrance on the side of the bottom floor has a fake but up-to-size Nascar automobile. Inside the bottom level are t-shirts, mugs, key chains, pins, sweatshirts, caps and visors. There is also a virtual reality ride in the corner. The virtual reality ride is when you sit in a big metal box that is enclosed with about ten other people in it. There is a screen in front and on the screen there is the racing stadium. You are the driver of the car racing against the other racing cars. Since this is virtual reality, the box moves side to side due to the movements of the car.
The second level is accessed by stairs and an elevator. There are autographed Nascar shirts by real Nascar drivers. Some are framed, and others are in a glass box surrounded with model sports cars. There are also televisions all around the second level. There are small televisions, and three large screen tv’s. All these tv’s play the Nascar channels.
Adult Menu
The adults’ menu has appetizers which are also known as the Start-up. Salads are the Beginning Lap. The main courses are the Race. Desserts are the Finishing Lap, and beverages are the Fuel-stop.
Appetizers include potato skins, mozzarella sticks, chili, and buffalo tenders. Salads include Caesar and Tossed. The main courses include burgers, spaghetti, chicken strips, potatoes, chicken sandwiches, and chicken tenders. Most main course meals are meat, but there are some vegetarian selections. For dessert there was cake and cookies. Beverages are sodas, juices, tea, coffee, and beer.
Prices for appetizers are from the three to six dollar range. Salads are two to six dollars. Main courses are from seven dollars to fourteen dollars. Desserts are two to five dollars a piece. Sodas are $1.19 and coffee is $3 give or take a few cents.
Kids Menu
There isn’t an actual menu for the kids because one of the staff members forgot to put the meals on the actual menu. It is a piece of paper that has mazes, crossword puzzles, and non-colored pictures to color in. The waiters and waitresses provide the children with crayons.
Our waiter listed the items on the kids’ menu verbally. There was pizza, hamburgers, cheeseburgers, fries, and hot dogs. Beverages came in a small plastic cup with a color changing straw. Meals ranged from $3.29 to $3.69 and beverages are 99 cents.
My Meal Experience
I ordered Coke for $1.19 which included free refills. The Coke came in a large glass which gives you a lot of Coke for free refills! For the main course meal, I ordered the spaghetti. It was angel hair pasta with home-made sauce. The sauce was a type of tomato sauce but it had a bit of a different taste; almost a little bland. The dish came with toasted garlic bread and a small piece of lettuce for a touch of high quality and a nice decor. The taste was nothing special and the garlic bread was cold. There was a large amount of pasta and sauce though.
Service
Our waiter was friendly and had a good sense of humor. He was good with the kids and took down all the right orders. One thing that I did not like about him was that he did not turn in our meal order until almost ten minutes after we ordered our meal. He had only two or three other tables to serve so I couldn’t see the reason for him stalling to put in our order. As a matter of fact, a table that came after us received their meals first. We ended up waiting for over ten minutes for our drinks, and over 40 minutes for our meals. I would like to have tipped low, but the tip was added on to the bill automatically.
Overall Presentation
Nascar Cafe is not a particularly bad restaurant, but it is definitely not good. The food was average and the prices for the meals were overpriced. Drinks were a good deal, however. The atmosphere was very nice since it had a good theme and it was expressed in a good fashion. The staff was friendly, but service was by far the slowest. Believe me, I do not like to wait over 20 minutes waiting for my meal; especially when you pay over what the meal is worth.
Nascar Cafe - Vroom Vroom...Speed Away As Fast As You Can!
Recommended:
No
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