The Actual CowFish Orlando Post

It finally happened! After almost a whole year of anticipation, on Wednesday December 10 the Cowfish Orlando grand opened to the public. It was in a soft open phase for about a month and a half. That means they can blame things on "they're still working out the kinks" if something goes absolutely haywire while training the staff. Through the whole soft opening period, the only bad thing I heard about was long check times. That can be expected in a new kitchen facing the end of the day Universal crowds. I ate there twice during this soft open time, and can't complain about the speed of service either visit. I sprinkled some photos throughout this post, but there are quite a few at the bottom showing construction of the building and food offerings!

There's definitely a few contributing factors to my fascination with this place.
To be able to watch a project from construction to open is something pretty special! The building itself underwent a major overhaul. Connecting the upper level with a lower level, adding an elevator, another level for dining and patio seating! That's some facelift! Before it was Cowfish, the upper level was Starbucks, and the lower level was mostly in front of Pastamore. Now complete with multiple interactive displays throughout the restaurant, indoor and outdoor seating with spectacular views of the resort, and an actual Cowfish swimming in a tank, this place has quickly turned into the new cool and trendy place to eat at Citywalk!

The design of the interior is really vibrant with loud colors and bright lights. The music each time I ate there sounded like it could've been a Beastie Boy Pandora station. Lots of hip hop, Sublime, and Foo Fighter/Weezer genre rock. I had a different server each time I went, and they were all very good. Attentive, informative and were easy to talk to. When you go to a place that has something called Burgushi on the menu, you're going to want to ask about it and they don't make you feel dumb for asking. They let you take your time, or offer advice if you need to be walked through your order. There's so much to choose from and it can be overwhelming, but the servers don't make you feel rushed at all.

Something else that contributed to the fascination and anticipation for the new restaurant was their engagement on social media. Based out of North Carolina, the home office loved seeing progress reports about how the new place was coming along. They were always quick to favorite or retweet photos or other construction related tweets about the new venue. I like it when businesses or venues are on social media and can be active and engaging. It gives the concept a sense of personality. A voice if you will. If a brand is warm and welcoming on social media, imagine how they are in person! Being someone who works in that field, I know the smallest thing like a brand interacting with you on Twitter or liking your photo on Instagram can make your day. I had quite a few interactions with the Cowfish brand leading up to the opening of the restaurant. I think they even read my last blog entry about the weird dream I had about them. I've been having the same interactions with The Orlando Eye on Twitter. They share the photos I take of the progress of it with their Twitter followers and Facebook fans and I think that's awesome! That's free publicity for them, and gets a few new followers for Magic City Mayhem. Now if only I could get on Universal's list for media events...

Time to talk about the food and the actual concept itself. I like burgers. I like sushi. How can this be bad? I've eaten there a total of three times since it soft opened and it has been absolutely fantastic each time! The first visit I was very lucky to be invited to try a couple of menu items. I had the Tuna & Avocado-tini appetizer, and the Grilled Salmon BLT. That first experience was completely unexpected and a very special surprise. I was all by myself and ate on the patio. The views of the sunset I saw that night were amazing! The food was also very good! The appetizer was almost enough to satisfy me as a complete meal. And the Salmon BLT was exactly what you'd expect and very tasty. The other choice I could've had that evening was a Cobb Salad and I'm happy with what I picked to sample that night.

The second time the whole family went. It was still in soft open phase so we did wait a little bit

longer to be seated and the food took just a little long to come out of the kitchen. It still came out hot and correct so there was no real need to complain about it. We know how it goes. It was this visit that we tried their Fried Pickles for the first time. We consider ourselves fried pickle connoisseurs and
the Cowfish has some pretty good ones! The breading is very light and isn't spicy at all. The pickles themselves are half sours and those are my favorite kind! They don't seem to just batter one pickle chip at a time either. I had more than one pickle fried together which made it even more delicious! They were served with the standard horseradish and ranch dipping sauces. For our entrees, Lauren chose to go off menu and build her own burger. Nothing too crazy about it. Maybe just the fried egg is something you wouldn't normally see on a burger. She's not big on seafood so this will probably be her standard every time we return. I had a burger as well, but I selected one off of the menu. "The Big Squeal". Half pound burger, pulled pork, bbq sauce, onion straws, smoked gouda cheese and bacon coleslaw. I could've finished it if I wanted to. But I had to stop myself because I didn't want it to end. It was the

best burger I've had to date! Very flavorful and not too messy that you couldn't eat it properly. Harry got the standard ninja (chicken) nuggets both times he went. It came in a bento box looking dish with fries and a Rice Krispie Treat that was made to look like a sushi roll with a Swedish Fish on top.

The third and last time we went, we were joined by my mother and she opted to build her own burger as well. She didn't get anything fancy. She's a pretty basic burger kind of gal and they were very happy to accommodate. She was happier than she should've been that they had sweet potato fries, but hey, it's the little things! We got the fried pickles for the appetizer again and they were consistent with the first time we got them. They came out quickly, hot, and delicious! Lauren got Fuji Apples on her burger this time and she said it was just as good as the last time. My family is not very adventurous when it comes to trying new things. I tried something a little different this time and got an item from the Burgushi menu. They describe Burgushi as

"...a unique fusion of burgers and sushi". What I got was called the "High Class Hillbilly" and wasn't a burger but it was pulled pork. They roll it in a potato wrap with caramelized onions and bbq sauce then flash fry it. They cut it up into sushi rolls and top it with their bacon coleslaw. Fried potato straws stacked in the middle and the whole thing has more bbq sauce drizzled on it. I used chopsticks to eat it and it was so good! Now, I love sushi. But I also love feeling full after going out to eat. Sushi never satisfies me! This is why I'm afraid to try it at Cowfish. When I go out to eat, while I like to be adventurous, I also like to get my money's worth. Unfortunately, the Burgushi I had, was pretty close to this feeling. I was almost satisfied, but I wasn't quite full. I could've eaten another 2-3 pieces of it and then maybe I would've been ok. Maybe it's the way sushi is presented that I feel like I'm not getting a lot of food. It's a mind trick. Either way, the pulled pork version of Burgushi was very tasty, but fell just short of being filling. I ate all the fried potato straws then felt like I ate a garnish as opposed to something that was supposed to be eaten.

The next time we go back, which I hope will be sooner rather than later, I am probably going back to a burger. There's a fried banana and peanut butter burger that has me very intrigued. It should be noted that I intend to eventual try the traditional sushi and I also heard their desert menu is to die for. Not to mention there's also spiked milkshakes that I heard are quite yummy! The Cowfish is a great addition to Universal's Citywalk and I look forward to many more visits in the future! Check out more photos from the construction and food from our experiences below! Be sure to tweet at them (@CowFishOrlando) to tell them you were inspired to go for a visit because of what you heard from me!

Enjoy it!

Mikey