Author: liriel

A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to be able go to Florida and stay at the Swan for almost a week with my husband while he went to a convention. I only had two months to plan our trip, so many of the most popular restaurants that we love to eat at were all booked up.  One place that I have really wanted to try again for a while was the Sci-Fi Dine-in Theater. The last time I went was in 2005.  They updated their menu in September 2011 and it has gotten some good reviews since then. Luckily there was an available dinner reservation for the day we were going to be at Hollywood Studios.

We showed up about 15 minutes before our reservation to check-in and found the restaurant to be extremely crowded. There were quite a few families already waiting for tables. We had to wait about 30 minutes to get seated ourselves.  Once inside we were seated in the back row of one of the car tables along with another family. Our waitress came to our table right away to take our drink order. I ordered a coke with cherry flavoring, and my husband just got water, since it was incredibly hot out. We looked over the menu while we waited for our drinks. I decided to get the much talked about Reuben and my husband opted for the Shrimp Pasta.

Our drinks were brought to us and we placed our order.  I tried my cherry flavored coke and didn’t like it at all. I was really disappointed, since I really like cherry coke. I am pretty sure it was the dye they used in the cherry flavoring that made me dislike it. I am very sensitive to them, and often find them to add a bitter taste to things. While I waited for a regular coke to arrive to replace the cherry flavored coke, I took in the atmosphere of the restaurant.

There is a huge movie screen that you watch from the comfort of your car, that shows clips from old sci-fi movies, cartoons and even some old space related Disney clips. This was a great way to pass the time while you waited for your food. It also worked really well at keeping the kids from the family in front of us entertained and quiet. Aside from the main attraction of the restaurant there are lots of little things to look at to remind you of drive-ins from the 50s. The entrance to the kitchen had a huge lit up sign over it stating it was the snack bar, there were speakers next to your car playing the movie sounds, and many nostalgic signs on the walls around you to look at as well. Overall I give it a 10 in my book for atmosphere!

Our food came in about 10-15 minutes, which was great because we were hungry after a long hot day at Star Wars Weekends. My sandwich came with fries and a pickle, but I could have gotten a cucumber salad instead of fries if I had wished. My husband got a fairly good sized portion of pasta. My Reuben was fantastic. Definitely lived up to the reviews I have read about it. Just the right amount of corned beef and sauerkraut and nicely toasted. There also wasn’t a lot of sauce on it to make the toasted bread soggy, it was just right. My husband’s pasta was good, but nothing special. I certainly could have made the same dish at home, it wasn’t bad just unexciting.

Our service was great overall. The waitress was very attentive, and never let our drinks become less than half-full. She even offered to take our photo together for us when she saw me taking lots of pictures. They didn’t turn out great but it was nice to have our photo together.

The only negative things I have to say about our dinner there was that it was really dark inside the restaurant, and though it made us feel really cool compared to the heat outside, it was not great for taking photos and felt like we were eating in the dark, and that it took a long time to get our check at the end of our meal. I think our server might have gone on a break just about that time, so that may explain the 20 minute wait we had to get our check. I also wouldn’t recommend getting the cherry flavoring for the sodas if you are sensitive to the taste of artificial dyes.

Overall it was a great place to eat, has a great atmosphere, and was fairly cheap ($40) for a table service dinner. I would highly recommend it to anyone!