Universal Studios Hollywood is celebrating the 50th anniversary of Jaws with a restaurant take-over.
Jaws has been a staple on Universal's Studio Tour for decades, with an animatronic shark attacking trams after making Officer George's first day on the job a very bad one.
But after all these years of scares, it's time for Universal Studios Hollywood visitors to get some relief. So Universal has transformed its Hollywood & Dine restaurant's menu to feature new seafood and Amity-inspired items.
Okay, there's no shark on the menu. But how about a Lobster Roll... for $29.99?
Can a quick service sandwich be worth that price? Universal describes it as "Creamy Lobster Salad with mayo, celery, lemon, and chives served on a toasted bun with a side of seasoned pub fries."
First up, the photo above is how the sandwich was served, but once the photo session was done, I ripped off much of that extraneous lettuce. As much as I love to see parks add veggies to their menus, that much lettuce is just uncalled for on a lobster roll. Maybe Universal was just covering for the possibility that I would discard the bun and eat this "protein style"? Hey, at least they provided both options.
I opted for the more traditional presentation and ditched most of the lettuce. That left... a delicious sandwich.
Full disclosure: I prefer a hot buttered lobster roll over the cold "lobster salad" version. My gold standard is the Lobster Roll from Red's Eats in Wiscasset, Maine. The roll there is going for $35 this summer, I hear, but it's packed with meat and slathered in hot butter, just how I like it. Closer to home, California's Broad Street Oyster Co. is listing its warm lobster rolls for $25, but with fries that bumps up to $31. So Universal is not being unreasonable in charging $30 for its sandwich and a side of fries.
If you are curious for more theme park context, Disneyland no longer serves its Lobster Roll, replacing it with a $17.99 Peel-and-Eat Shrimp on the Harbour Galley menu. Perhaps asking over $20-25 for a quick service counter sandwich was too much for Disney, so it opted for a lower-cost substitute, instead.
If you are wishing for that less costly seafood alternative at Universal, Amity Island Cafe also is serving the same $18.99 beer-battered cod with seasoned pub fries that you can find at The Three Broomsticks in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. But I wanted a Lobster Roll.
I find that the extras on cold rolls tend to hide rather than enhance the flavor of the lobster that we are paying so much to enjoy. But Universal dressed this lobster relatively lightly - with the exception of all that lettuce - allowing for a nice flavor balance. There were no huge chunks of lobster here, but the chop of tail, claw and knuckle meat was consistent.
Again, I enjoyed every bite, but at $30, I do not see myself ordering this more than once a season as a "treat yourself" indulgence. But that is exactly what theme park visits are for, right?
For dessert, I chose the $10.99 Amity Island Parfait.
This might not look very big (see the spoon for a size reference), but it comes packed with blueberry mascarpone mousse, fresh blueberries, vanilla cake, strawberry topping, and cinnamon streusel crunch. It was also delicious, with multiple, complementary fruit and cream flavors, rather than just the one note of sickly sweetness that most themed desserts deliver. But this is rich - two bites were enough for me.
Perhaps that $11 price is trying to send the message that you really ought to be sharing this and not trying to finish it alone. If so, message received.
Keeping with the Jaws re-theme, just around the corner and across from the entrance to the Waterworld show you will find that Universal Studios Hollywood has brought back its iconic (and much missed) Jaws hanging-shark photo op.
Chief Brody was greeting guests when I visited, no doubt proud to see this menace hanging safely out of the water. But do worry, for in the time that it takes to walk across the park and board the Studio Tour, our friend Jaws will have escaped and made its way back to scare your tram.
The Jaws menu and photo op are part of Universal Mega Movie Summer, which continues through August 10. For discounts on tickets to the park, including a second-day-free offer, please visit our partner's Universal Studios Hollywood tickets page.
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Universal really likes going all-in on lobster rolls. Over at Lombard's in Universal Studios Florida, the lobster roll retails for $35 (includes chips). At the new Atlantic restaurant in Epic Universe, the lobster roll is $48! $30 for a sandwich is...better than $48 for a sandwich, I guess?
I just took a peek at the Columbia Harbor House menu at MK, and they're still listing their lobster roll at $18.99. I can't say that I've tasted WDW's item recently (I think the last time I had it was back in 2012), but I definitely recall being disappointed in their interpretation of the iconic New England delicacy.
I think any quick service menu item that lists for over $25, even in today's world of tariffs and inflation, is not long for this world. This feels solely like a novelty item to generate interest through influencers and Instagram accounts.
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At this rate, any purchase in a theme park is "treating yourself"...