Mel’s Diner

I was on vacation in Hollywood staying in a hotel near the Hollywood and Highland metro station. Universal Studios is one stop away. We were able to see Universal Studios and eat great food in one place in one afternoon. The burger and fries were great. The service was friendly. The restaurant is easy to access via metro for visitors staying in Hollywood.

The Premium Burger was good, but was dry. Also the food is quite expensive just like all other Universal diners.

Close this place down. half cooked beef burgers for a high price. You will never want to eat burgers again. We were sick after eating at this place in universal.

Yuck!!! Waste of lots of money for yucky hamburgers. Not worth it. I was a big fan of Mels but after coming here I will never go to Mels again. Sincere advice close this Mels diner in universal. Seems like they are taking advantage of tired and hungry people, charging $ 11.99 for half ass cooked disgusting hamburgers. They charged for root beer float but gave only half a cup. Please universal studios u are bringing ur standard down by not closing this peice of crap hamburger place.

The vibe they’re going for is very clearly Happy Days, which they nail with the décor.
The food, along with the actual experience, however — not so much. I went with the Chicken Grille Sandwich. It’s much more a quick service, café style restaurant. You’re better off seeing if they have a flux capacitor in the nearest gift shop & tricking out your family car for a ride back to 1955 for something a bit more authentic.

Universal knows how to cater to the masses. The food was hot, large portions, and had a great flavor. The price was reasonable for a theme park. The awesome part was that we received our food right then and there and didn’t have to spend a bunch of time waiting to be served.

We want to the original location on Sunset. Food was ok. Service was not. My order was wrong on both meal and beverage. We had to ask several times for water.

Bacon cheeseburger with thousand island sauce was decent but the cookie were hard. Go back to Gru lab since better tasting in theme park

The food is so low compared to the others in the theme park. We got chicken nugget with fries. The fries smelled like garlic? And half the chicken strips had a pungent smell of black pepper and as we opened the strip it was black inside from so much pepper!!! Unaccptable save your money and try somewhere else

I am surprised there are 3 – 4 star reviews here and that Mel’s allowed itself to be associated with such dreadful food.
It’s terrible food for theme park standards (I was just at WDW). I am very ashamed to see this type of slop served to international tourists — to them, this is what American food is. This is definitely not the best America has to offer!
I had the grilled cheeseburger and chicken tenders along with fries.
The best of the bunch was the grilled cheeseburger. The burger was grilled decently but I stripped it from the best part — the grilled cheese bread (trying to minimize carbs).
The chicken tenders was mostly inedible, consisting of mostly cold and bland breading. I stripped as much as I could and was left with a bowl full of cold bread bits. There was barely any protein.
Fries were the worst. I had a few and stopped.
Definitely pass!

Unilocal’s 365 Review Challenge 2014 #282 — #365
Mel’s Diner was a WIN WIN in my opinion!
It was around 2pm and we haven’t eaten since 8am. I didn’t want to eat a hot dog or a churro but something more filling. So we walked around and saw the sign for Mel’s Diner, I went with my gut and tried it out. You have an option to sit inside the restaurant or enjoy eating in the patio. There was a line that had taken about 15 minutes to get our food and pay.
The theme of the diner was a 50’s theme with singers from the past on the wall and bright red and yellows all around. As the line moves towards the end, you tell the cook what you want to order and they cook it for you right away and slide it down the display case when it’s ready.
The burgers were scrumptious and juicy with lots of meat, not the fast food kind of meat but the gourmet kind. Yummy yummy in my tummy it was that good! I guess the wait was worth it after all. It also came with thick french fry wedges and cole slaw that didn’t taste fresh and I ordered some onion rings. My Mom got the chicken fingers that also came with fries. We brought our own drinks just to save the money and the total came up to $ 27! It was worth the wait and the food was on point.

Love that the food is fresh because the line is constantly moving, though with all the people wiaiting it still takes awhile, we waitied about 20 mins but for the quality of the food it was definitely worth it.
Split the Grilled cheeseburger and chicken tender meals with my BF. Both were tasty, but the grilled cheeseburger was better than the chicken tenders by far. All meals come with fries, if you want onion rings you actually have to pay extra you can’t substitute :(Tons of seating around so you don’t have to hoover over poeple waiting for them to finish as your own food gets cold. For sure one of my better theme park food experiences.

My boyfriend and I decided to eat in here because they had indoor seating. I had a mega burger and my bf had a sandwich. The burger was just alright. We also tried their turkey legs for dinner. It was not good. It’s just salty. We just wanted to try it for the experience. The only reason I’m giving this place 3 stars is because their chicken nugget was really good. It was the ONLY thing that was good.

Excellent two star greasy spoon with some healthy choices (fruit cups and chicken Caesar salads). IMHO, if you go to an amusement park, you are obligated to eat the high cholesterol, high sodium, and high carbohydrate option. Accept it and move on. Don’t complain about the grease or the sodium or carbo load! Own it! Enjoy the meal!!!

45 mins in line for pre cooked food that wasn’t even that great compared to a real Mel’s location… disgrace to even use the name…

If you have visited or will be visiting Universal Studios Hollywood, you’ll have your selection of places to eat. As I am writing for 2014, you’ll have limited selections of places to eat with the major renovations that Universal Studios is undergoing. There is one place that I remember for a long time that has gone through Universal’s many phases. A classic diner named called, «Mel’s Diner».
Located near Universal Plaza and Animal Actor’s, you’ll find a 1950s exterior and almost wants you to be reminded of Back to the Future in a way. Unfortunately, the service is not like a diner. Its a cafeteria style process. You can eat inside or outside at Universal Plaza. The food items you can get range from salads to fruit cups and hot dishes to cold desserts. However, a lot of the items are already made and all you do is pick it up. You have selections from cheeseburgers to chicken tenders.
For my choice, I usually go the chicken route. I got myself the Chicken Grille Sandwich with a side of fries and a small cup of coleslaw ($ 9.99). The bun on the chicken sandwich is baked on site. Sometimes, it reminds me of Carl’s Jr.‘s new house made buns. The bread can be too bready! Better yet, too much bread. The chicken patty was quite dry. The tomato wanted to escape the sandwich a bunch of times. The french fries were good as well as the cole slaw. The texture of the bread was quite thick, but not sure how I was able to finish my meal.
With the recent renovations at Universal Studios Hollywood, its hard to tell if Mel’s Diner will go away like Doc Brown’s Fancy Chicken. I still remember Mel’s Diner being a participating site for the All-​You-​Can-​Eat Pass. Also, I remember Mel’s Diner being the site for the Blues Brothers car to wait to make its grand entrance to their stage. Although Mel’s Diner is modeled after the Mel’s Drive-​in. Unfortunately, cars can’t park here.
Do you think I write too much? Well, you can call me a Unilocal-​O-​Holic!

Came here during Hollywood Horror Nights as it was one of the few restaurants that were open during the event
This Mel’s has cafeteria style dining. You go up to the chefs and tell them what you need, get your food and then pay. It’s priced a little high, but it’s expected from a Theme Park eatery.
The restaurant was clean, service was average, food was hit or miss. We got the Grilled Cheeseburger + Nacho Fries which were a hit. We also got the onion rings which were a miss. There are condiments and napkins right outside the restaurant which is a little inconvenient if you plan to eat inside.
I like Mel’s burgers so I would come again if visiting Universal, I’ll just avoid the onion rings next time.

The interior and seating arrangements «look» like a Diner but that’s where it ends.
Food service is like a college dormitory cafeteria with high school flunkies busy bullshitting behind the glass window case (that should be full of food, but isn’t).
Good thing I got the food discounts because of my Annual Pass or I’d be overpaying for this slop. Got big discounts at the register: desserts, chicken tenders, bacon burgers with fries and 99 cent soda refills with the souvenir cups (which we bring back with us on each visit to Universal).
The Diner motif is a gimmick and they DO NOT sell onion rings here (even though the mural on the wall says they do, LIES!).

While we were at Universal Studios, we got REALLY hungry, so we stopped by here since it was the closest place to us that was open.
I got the grilled chicken sandwich, while my sister got the chicken tenders, and her boyfriend, the angus cheeseburger. The grilled chicken sandwich is simply okay. The sauce is a bit different, and it made the sandwich taste odd. I didn’t fully enjoy it as much as I wanted too. The fries were good, however. The chicken tenders tasted alright as much. Not a lot of flavor to them, and it was a little dry. I don’t know about the cheeseburger, but he finished it.
Overall, nothing about this place left an impression to me, and I feel once my vacation is over, so is the memory of this place. =/

What’s not to like about Mel’s Diner? We got our usual fix of burgers with fries and was good to go…
This location was fairly clean and service prompt. I loved the oldies classic décor!
It’s all good…