The Cowfish at Universal Orlando – A Bar that Serves Sushi and Burgers?!

When I was at Universal Studios in Orlando, my friends and I stumbled upon The Cowfish. At first we laughed about the concept as we saw “Sushi, Burger, and Bar” as the description for this restaurant. But when we previewed the menu outside of the restaurant, we were actually interested in what they had to offer so we gave it a try!

The Cowfish is situated inside The Citywalk of Universal Orlando and as the name says, it fuses two completely different food categories together, sushi and burgers. From the interior to the menu to the logo, you can tell the entire concept and vibe is super eccentric. In addition to specializing in both sushi and burgers, they also entice you with spiked milkshakes, premium sakes, and an extensive bar menu to get you nice and drunk.

I’m a sucker for anything truffle so I immediately gravitated towards the Parmesan Bacon Truffle Fries ($8 USD). 😀 The fries were topped with truffle oil, bacon, chives, and melted parmesan cheese. While the flavours were on point, the melted cheese hardened very quickly and made it really hard to separate the fries. Also, once melted cheese is hardened, it never tastes as good, ya know? Overall, I was a bit disappointed with this appy.

My friend ordered the Crinkle Cut Fried Pickles ($8 USD) and the portion was huge!! He’s a big eater but even he couldn’t finish this (with our help). As deep fried pickles go, this one was pretty up there.

So on the menu, you can either order sashimi, nigiri, rolls, or burgers depending on what you feel like having. OR, you can choose to from the fusion menu (called burgushi) in which you get both. I obviously went for that and got the Fusion Specialty Bento Box ($16 USD). This bento box contained a mini burger with American cheese, pickles, and chopped red onion, sweet potato fries, Thai cucumbers, edamame, and a choice of a 4 piece fusion specialty roll (I chose the ‘The Boss’ roll).

For me, the concept is super interesting and I can say I have honestly never had an entree that served me both a burger and sushi on the same plate. However, I think the execution wasn’t quite there because the burger was dry, the sushi roll was good (but compared to Vancouver sushi, it’s very meh), there were too many sides which included the Thai cucumbers, edamame, and sweet potato fries. If you really think about it, most of my entree were just sides.

My friend got the “What’s Shakin’ Tuna Bacon Sandwich” ($15 USD) which was essentially sushi deconstructed, and formed into a burger. I had seared rare blackened yellowfin tuna, bacon, iceberg lettuce, jalapenos, tomato salsa, slaw, spicy mayo, and ‘buns’ made of grilled spring roll wrapper filled with crab meat and sushi rice.

Even though I didn’t get to taste this, just for the high level of creativity here I would give them major props. My friend said the tuna was perfectly seared and he really enjoyed all the flavours together. His only criticism was the ‘bun’. Because it was made of sushi rice, it fell apart very easily and he ended up eating half the burger with a knife and fork.

This is the Taste Explosion Roll ($16 USD) which is made with certified Angus beef, bacon, jalapenos, spicy mayo, tempura flakes. It is then topped with roma tomato slices, pepper jack cheese, and a cashew cilantro pesto. Funny enough, his was really delicious and even though it was a bit pricey for the quantity, it still was probably better than my mix matched bento box.

All in all, I would say The Cowfish is a unique restaurant with an eccentric vibe, great drink selection, pub feel, and an extensive menu. I would not recommend it if you want a high quality dinner, but if you feel like just sitting down from all the walking in Universal Studios, and want a quick and easy bite to eat. This restaurant will be more than satisfactory.

Service Rating: 2.5/5

Food Rating: 2.5/5

Price: $$-$$$

Overall Rating: 2.5/5

Happy Eating!