Theme park dining discussions, like many discussions, display various perspectives. The title of best theme park restaurant gets thrown around often. How does one define that? Who gets to decide? Should these awards be celebrated? If an “insider’s” subscribers declare one restaurant the best but USA Today declares another one the best, should we care?

Mythos Restaurant in Islands of Adventure became famous for displaying a banner for their awards of being the best theme park restaurant. With all due respect to the voters for that reputable website, Mythos offers a great experience but falls well below best restaurant at a theme park. In fairness, the declaration of Mythos being so good creates unrealistic expectations from guests. They expect perfection. Thus, they often feel a bit disappointed.

I suggest that Mythos might offer the best overall value in terms of a theme park table service dining option. Though prices have risen over the last two to three years at Mythos, the value compared to Lake Buena Vista comparable table service options can easily be seen.

However, the Fork, Knife, and Spoon Grilled Cheese creates a conundrum. This well presented upscale grilled cheese and soup costs $18. The last time I reviewed this menu item the cost was $14. For context, I did not move from editing blogs to writing blogs until about three years ago. My initial reaction to seeing the price increase was to remember that an excellent lamb burger with fries at Mythos costs only one dollar more. Also, a very well-prepared spinach and ricotta ravioli costs only a few dollars more.

Is this very popular item worth your time and money? In typical blogger fashion, my best answer is maybe. The menu description for it reads “a unique presentation of a classic 3 cheese sandwich set in a Tuscan tomato soup with crispy pork belly.” This also come with house made chips. As the title implies, you might need all three standard utensils for this menu item. The standard presentation involves grilled cheese placed within the bowl of soup. Ideally, this causes all the great ingredients to combine for flavorful bites. You can request the sandwich to come outside the bowl of soup. Some guests claim you get more soup that way.

Unquestionably, this sandwich tastes like a excellent table service level sandwich. The cheese combination creates a nice overall balance. The soup functions as an excellent level of soup you might expect as an opening course for table service dining. Overall, this grilled cheese rivals any table service grilled cheese in the area in terms of quality and taste. The pork belly could be better but adds a nice savory crunch.

On the negative side, the portion size of pork belly looks to have decreased over last 3 years compared to photos. Also, some guests find the house made chips to be lacking in flavor. These issues could relate to the chips stacking up against cheesy goodness of sandwich though.

Mythos Restaurant deserves to be a great sit-down theme park restaurant. I strongly recommended this menu item before price increases. Though I still consider it a good option, my standard recommendation to enjoy table service meals in CityWalk continues to be true. I can probably name 25 menu items at CityWalk sit-down restaurants that offer at least equal quality for the same or lesser price.

Yet, the theming of Mythos holds up after all these years. You can still get bread service, by request only though. Though not my thing, I understand the alcoholic beverages here taste great with large portion size. I have many experienced Universal Orlando friends that love this menu item. They will lovingly give me grief over my review of it.

If I were dining at Mythos, I would order something else. Still, this grilled cheese and soup provides a high-quality light meal. Light meals with some nutrition can be hard to find in theme parks. I respect that this review conveys a wishy-washy view of this entrée. However, that represents my thoughts about it. The entrée offers great taste but also some negatives. Of course, this menu item made a “Top 3” article based on its quality though. As always, eat like you mean it!