The food trucks at Universal Studios Florida have become expected options during seasonal events. The one located in the San Francisco area usually sells variations of mac n’ cheese.  Depending on the time of year, the queue for this food truck can reach an excessive length. For the holiday season at Universal Orlando, this food truck returned with a slightly modified menu. Recently, I passed by this truck when no queue existed. Since it was lunchtime, I decided this would be a good dining review choice. The newest version of mac n cheese offered here involved pork belly. The “Pork Belly Mac N’ Cheese” rests atop the menu board.

The Pork Belly Mac N’ Cheese costs $12.99.

This price point sits a dollar higher than the other two options. The Nashville Mac N’ Cheese and Golden Mac N’ Cheese cost $11.99. Those two options match previous offerings at this food truck. The Pork Belly Mac N’ Cheese presented some new flavors though. The menu description reads “white cheddar mac n’ cheese shells, sweet potato pork belly hash, (and) bourbon pecan sauce.” You must give Universal Orlando credit for a creative combination. Still, the idea of sweet potato with the usual mac n’ cheese intrigued me. However, this also scared my taste buds a little.

So how was this mac n’ cheese? My biggest complaint would be that the title of the item misleads. Yes, the sweet potato component figures prominently in the menu description but it is called “Pork Belly Mac N’ Cheese.” The pork belly fails to be the dominant flavor. With that title, I expected a more prominent pork belly flavor. I also doubt cheese qualifies as the dominant flavor.

The glaze on the pork belly and sweet potato demand attention when consuming this entrée. The glaze does not overpower the ingredients. Yet, you can always taste it. I suspect the glaze leads to the greasy factor as you consume more of this mac n’ cheese. For the record, in my notes, while eating this I called the glaze “interesting.” I think that would be the equivalent of describing me for a blind date by saying that I have an interesting personality.

This mac n’ cheese bowl defies the typical Universal Orlando dining review platitude. You do not need to consume every ingredient in this bowl to fully enjoy it. I tasted each component separately. Though some were better than others, they all provided an adequate amount of positive flavor. This entrée continues to be hard to quantify for me. Almost 36 hours later, I still lack words to fully explain it. Maybe my limited linguistic skills have been damaged by holiday sugar.

The texture of this meal will please some and disappoint others.  In my opinion, the sweet potato portion combined with the pork belly serves to overcome the biggest criticism of the Halloween Horror Nights mac n’ cheese options. The sweet potato provides flavor while also giving guests a larger portion of food. This hash does provide a satisfying amount of “stuff” on top of the mac n’ cheese though.

Nothing about this holiday food option counts as below average when I consumed this. Yet, nothing reaches an excellent level either. For $12.99, before any applicable discounts, I expected slightly higher quality. If wanting mac n’ cheese, I would stick to the other two options for this holiday season. Universal Orlando should receive credit for this twist on mac n’ cheese. Yet, I think for me, this is one and done though. As always, eat like you mean it!