The Burning Blade Tavern is located in the brand new theme park, Epic Universe. It is in the Dark Universe Portal, towards the back of the portal. If you walk past the giant castle, and stay to the left, you will walk right into it. It is very far in the back of the actual portal. They are a bar with a few tables inside. They also serve food but it is confusing, you actually cannot order drinks and food together. The food is outside and the drinks inside at the bar. We really enjoyed this stop. We would stop here every time we visit. Their drinks were great and the food was so much better. I would say probably my favorite in the park.
The concept behind this spot is an old mill which Darkmoor Village monster hunters have transformed into their hangout. They at times have a character walking around, talking to people, teaching you the toast of the village and more. The bartenders are always in character as well. They have a few tables inside and then about 5 outside by the food, but most people seemed to get their drinks to go. If there is a lounge in a park, we are stopping there and sitting in there!
For food you need to head outside, order on the mobile app and pick up your food. They have a variety of options including a loaded baked potato (we were so full but I wanted to try this so bad, next time), grill chicken on garlic naan or a burger on a black potato bun. We didn't try these but we definitely want to head back and get them. What we ordered was the Hunter's Garlic Stake which is a crispy garlic butter pretzel with garlic dipping sauce and the Burning Cheddar Bites which were crispy fried jalapeño pimento cheddar bites with sriracha ranch. We were with a group and couldn't grab a photo of the cheddar bites but they look like small round pieces of coal. They are a solid black and inside is a gooey, cheesy pimento inside. These were delicious! I loved them and really didn't want to share them with our group of friends. This was the perfect snack. The garlic stake had mixed reviews with our friends. They did not like it all saying their pretzel was hard. However, my husband and I loved this. It was a garlicky pretzel stick with a garlic butter dipping sauce. A lot of people are comparing it to Papa Johns sauce but I disagree. The sauce here was much thinner, more of a butter sauce. It was very garlicky and very good. You need the dipping sauce. Our pretzel was a little crispy on the sides but a majority of the pretzel was soft. We loved it. We tasted garlic ALL day and I mean ALL day. I would very much prepare for that.
For drinks, I ended up ordering the same thing both time we visited. I stuck with the "Lagoon'ita" which had Bacardi Superior, Pallini limoncello, lime, blackberry purée, blackberries and mint sprig. It was refreshing and very dangerous since you did not taste the alcohol but it was strong, it hit you all of a sudden. I stuck with this because their other signature cocktails are very gin and whisky which are not my favorite. My husband tried the "My Only Weakness" which was Hayman's London Dry gin, Aperol, Bols cherry brandy, lemon juice, simple syrup, Angostura aromatic bitters, Angostura orange bitters, soda water, topped with a lemon wheel and a cherry. This was good. He loved it a lot but it wasn't my persona favorite. It had a strong Gin taste. He also ordered a secret drink which was called a Smoking Jacket. It had a purple tint to it and was a mixture of two different beers they have on tap. It was very good, had a nice fruity flavor to it.
My only issue with this location is the tables and chairs. We went during the previews and the tables were so wobbly if you put even the slightest pressure on the side, it would completely fall over. I'm not sure if that was intended or if they were already broken but I almost flipped tables on accident a couple of times. I also hate the seats. They are hard and actually left deep grooves in the back of my legs and our friends legs. They are not comfortable at all.
My only other issue is no one is cleaning the tables. People are being messy and dirty (which shame on them), they are not taking their trash to the trash can, they just leave it on the tables. First and foremost, clean up after yourself. Like come on, don't be messy. But also no one is wiping tables. The tables are sticky and full of crumbs and trash. The second time we came here we were able to grab a table by the bar and it was full of trash, pushed over to the side. We also had a table that was full of food pieces and was so sticky, we actually moved. There is also no rim or reason to the lines, they just sort of form.
Besides that I would definitely recommend this stop. It is themed so well and has such great food and drinks. I cannot believe they are pumping out so much food from a tiny kitchen attached to the bar. This is more of a quick service and therefore need more tables. I would 100% add to this to you list even if you just go in to grab a drink to go. read more