Full disclosure before I write this part; as you know, I’m a blogger, and I was invited to visit Planet Hollywood during our stay.
When I was asked, we were thinking about buying the dining plan, so I informed the PR, and she said to leave it with her. I didn’t hear back from her, and we went on our merry way to our reservation regardless. It wasn’t until the end that the Manager came out and told us that we were their special guests and the meal was on them. Which was a lovely surprise as I had assumed the visit via the PR was off the table so to speak.
I always write the truth in my trip reports – and it will be the same again for Planet Hollywood – I just won’t be able to give you a bill breakdown as we didn’t even see it!
We haven’t dined at Planet Hollywood before so this was a new place for us. It has seen a huge refurbishment, and a menu designed by Guy Fieri (of TV show, Diners, Drive-Ins, & Dives fame). So unfortunately we don’t know what it was like inside before, or what the food was like either.
You do have to go upstairs to the restaurant, but there are lifts too.
There was some seasonal decor, and we also popped into the restaurant’s store to buy a souvenir fridge magnet, which is a standard purchase whenever we go somewhere!
Planet Hollywood
The space inside is huge, with the restaurant being split over different floors. There was a gigantic screen which was showing music videos, and there was some movie memorabilia on the walls. From reading online, there are also a couple of bars, as well as an outdoor terrace.
We were sat in a both with a huge round table and looked through the menu. The offerings are quite standard for that type of restaurant – think Hard Rock Cafe, TGI Friday’s etc., with pasta, salads, burgers, sandwiches, steak, chicken and fish. Plus appetizers and desserts.
We quite often buy starters or appetizers to share, and so we decided to order the High Roller Platter which comes served on a Ferris Wheel, which has to be the most random way I’ve ever had food presented! Sadly, the wheel doesn’t move around, so whilst it is a fun way to serve the sharing appetizer, you either have to stand up to take from the dishes, or just take the dishes off and place them on the table and get rid of the Ferris Wheel via your server… which is what we did after I took a photo.
Starters…
Us: High Roller Platter – Our famous Chicken Crunch, Texas Tostados, Buffalo Wings, Five Cheese Dip, and Peri-Peri Shrimp ($35.99)
The Chicken Crunch is described as All-natural chicken tenders hand-breaded with a crunchy sweet coating, served with our signature Creole mustard sauce. These were yummy, and the dipping sauce was a nice change from the usual barbecue or sour cream that you tend to get on platters like this.
The Texas Tostados are Crispy gyoza skins topped with BBQ chicken, sautéed onions, blend of cheddar and Monterey Jack cheeses, pico de gallo and drizzled with sour cream and BBQ Sauce. We all love a bit of Tex-Mex food so this went down well.
The Buffalo Wings are Chicken wings baked and then fried to perfection and tossed in buffalo sauce, served with celery, carrots, and blue cheese dressing, and were your run of the mill chicken wings. The side veggies were on the dry side, like that had been sat out for a bit – and we are all a hard pass on anything with blue cheese!
What is there not to love about a cheese dip? The one on the Planet Hollywood menu is a flavorful, gooey dip made of Swiss, mozzarella, provolone, Parmesan, and Asiago cheeses with spinach, artichoke hearts and roasted tomato, served with corn tortilla chips and toasted herb flatbread. It was delicious. Spinach and artichoke dip seems to be very popular over in Orlando (maybe the rest of the USA, I don’t know!) so we’ve tried variations of this at several different restaurants over the years.
And finally, the Peri-Peri Shrimp – Six large shrimp fried and tossed in a spicy sauce of chilies, garlic, herbs, and spices served on cabbage slaw. There were originally four pieces of shrimp on this plate, but Liam pinched one before I took a photo! They were crisp and had a nice spicy kick to them.
At this point we were all feeling rather full already – maybe it wasn’t the best idea to order such a huge starter!! It is quite pricey at $35.99, but it works out to around $7 a dish, and if you were to order the apps individually, they are $13-$14 a plate, it doesn’t feel so bad.
For the main course, Steve and I both had a burger, and Liam decided on steak. I should also mention we all had fountain drinks – either Coca-Cola or Sprite.
Main Course…
All of our richly marbled Certified Angus Beef® is smash-grilled so each burger is juicy and cooked to perfection. All Big Bite Burgers are served with triple fries. Add a side house salad or side Caesar salad for 6.99.
Me: Bacon Mac-N-Cheese – Guy’s award-winning burger – Winner of NYC Wine and Food Festival Burger Bash! Applewood-smoked bacon, six cheese mac-n- cheese cheddar, LTOP, crispy onion straws and donkey sauce on a garlic-buttered brioche bun ($19.99)
This burger lured me in with its topping of mac-n-cheese (and bacon, duh!) but was nigh on impossible to eat, so I had to cut it into quarters and stuff it into my face that way!
The fries were regular fries, waffle style, and I can’t remember the third… It also had a half a pickle served on the side.
Not anticipating how full we would be after the starter, nor the amount of lettuce I got in my burger, I did order a Caesar Salad on the side, which was just a bog standard Caesar (but my favourite salad when on hols in Florida!)
Him: The Original Ringer – Crispy rojo onion ring, Guy’s signature bourbon- brown sugar BBQ sauce, SMC, cheddar, LTOP, and donkey sauce on a garlic-buttered brioche bun ($18.99)
Okay, so SMC = Super Melty Cheese; and LTOP = Lettuce, Tomato, Onion, Pickle. I have no clue what donkey sauce is, but it sounds hilarious! Another stacked high burger, which Steve didn’t have to cut to eat! Although, to be fair, I think he may have done in the end, just so he didn’t make too much of a mess!
The Boy: Bistro Sirloin Steak – 10 oz. USDA Choice steak topped with classic herb butter, served with hand-cut steak fries ($27.99)
You can’t go wrong with steak, and so, there wasn’t anything wrong with this one which Liam enjoyed.
By this point we were pretty much full to the brim, but you know when you can squeeze just a little bit more in, in the form of dessert? That was us – especially after we saw the franken-shakes – it was a case of our eyes were bigger than bellies!
Desserts…
Me: Strawberry Big Bang Milkshake – Start with a classic hand-dipped strawberry, add sprinkles & top it off with a slice of birthday cake – it’s the latest thing in party food from a frozen planet ($14.00)
Him: Cosmic Cotton Candy Milkshake – Start with a hand-dipped cotton candy milkshake, add rainbow sprinkles, white chocolate covered pretzels, & top it off with cotton candy, a lollipop, and a smile as big as the universe ($14.00)
The Boy: Chocolate Comet Milkshake – Take our classic hand-dipped chocolate milkshake & bombard it with all manner of chocolate yumminess & our double chocolate brownie frosting, candy, brownies, & a cookie straw – tell your taste buds that they’ve landed on the good planet chocolate ($14.00)
We really struggled with these! I think it’s probably worth sharing one between two of you; or not have a huge dinner first… like I said, eyes bigger than our bellies!
We asked for the bill, and our server went away and returned with the manager who told us that it was on them, which was an awesome surprise – we did still leave a tip for our server though.
We enjoyed our meal at Planet Hollywood – the service and the food was good. I will warn you that it is loud in there, so do bear that in mind if you decide to visit!