Emeril's Tchoup Chop

12/20/07

How did they gey 4 1/2 Stars???

by mailiz at Citysearch

I wish I read these reviews before we went. Someone must have paid others to give them 5 stars. We went there with our employees for our Xmas dinner and it was HORRIBLE! The guy in a suit (manager, I suppose) had us follow him, but instead of taking us to our table, lead us in, and then turned around and pointed that our table was " back there" -- I guess I should've known that we were supposed to know where our table was! That is when I should have known that this was going to be a horrible experience. Our server kept rolling her eyes at us everytime we asked a question. We told her there was something in our waters and she told us it was just tea leaves. What are tea leaves doing floating in water glasses? Service took forever, food came out cold and pretty salty, and the staff definitely did not care. I guess I wouldn't care much either since 20% gratuity was already added on a $500 tab. There are so many better places in Orlando to eat...then to waste your money and time here!!! This place needs to be shopped so that upper management knows how bad it really is. I suppose most of their business is from tourists and conventions--people who probably won't come back on their own and don't really complain. Or maybe Tchoup Chop doesn't really care because they make their money anyways!!!

• Pros: Decor
• Cons: Everything else-service, food, drinks

12/01/07

Not worth the money

by maddmaxx007 at Citysearch

The good news.... the service was seemless from the pre dinner drink at the bar through the entire meal. The bad news... the food, for the money, just wasn't all that great. We are locals and seldom venture out into bowels of tourist world (for all the obviouis reasons) but chose to do the Blue Man Group and endulge ourselves in a good meal prior to the show for an anniversay outing. Again, the staff was great but sadly, they were the only highlight of the night. The drinks were were (their version of the Pina Colada (sp?) but I couldn't detect the faintest whiff of the prerequiste rum. Expensive too. (Could have bought two six packs of Dead Guy Ale for the price, but I digress)... The ball and chain ordered up their New York Strip Steak which was pretty good and tender, and there was plenty of it... in fact, in fairness, the steak was above averate as were the potatoes, onion rings, and tidbits that came with it. Since I have a close connection to Hawaii the dinner (sampler) plate caught my attention... let's see, ribs, chicken, a pork and noodle concoction, a diced potatoe dish with a fancy name and some other green vegie... honestly, it sucked. The food come have come from a Golden Corral. Simpy put... for over a 100 bucks I expected more. There are many, many better places in Orlando to eat... the cost vs. benefit based of last night's experience was dismal. Emeril should do himself a favor and disassociate his good name with this outpost. Oh, the Blue Man Group was... in a word, different. Definately worth the ride but you are going to have a hard time explaining it to your friends.

• Pros: Great service and ambiance
• Cons: Weak, overpriced drinks and the food just simply isn't all that great

09/12/07

Don

by bsilber at Citysearch

Pretentious service-not in a good way> Pushy servers and bartender who badmouthed the restaurant as soon as we walked in. Had the prix fixe meal, and lucky I did. At least this was a half portion of sub-par food. Added the lobster miso soup to my choice. There were tiny shreds of overcooked lobster meat in an overly smoky mushroom broth. This tastes nothing like miso and I only wish it tasted as good as the $1.95 soup I get at my local sushi bar. I had the tomato salad which was small but good. Had the bouillabase as my entree. It was served with overcooked clams, mussels, and tiny rubber like bay scallops. I ordered the coconut creme brulee for dessert. It tasted more like a dollop of cool whip with some dried coconut flakes. Either Emeril should be ashamed, or we should, for thinking this place is worth spending any money at. If you are looking to spend money at a Resort, visit the Hyatt Grand Cypress. What is Loews thinking?

• Pros: beautiful atmosphere
• Cons: the food and the service

09/10/07

Awful! Truly awful!!!

by bradnphx at Citysearch

We went there last night with our best friends. Needless to say we were more than a little dissappointed. There is a special in September called "The Magical Dining Month" where local restaurants offer a prix fixe menu consisting of an appetizer or salad, entree, and desert for $29.00pp plus tax and gratuity. While there are some stellar restaurants that participate in the program (Le Coq au Vin for one), most are in hotels that cater only to the tourist market. Tchoup Chop is such an example. I understand that this is in a hotel so prices are going to be higher but $15.00 for a martini is a little over the top (and the glass wasn't even half full).Now for the meal. I ordered the dumpling appetizer and my companion had the crispy shrimp in lettuce leaves. While somewhat tasty I can't see spending $9.00 for two little dumplings. Three half cooked shrimp on lettuce is not worth the price either. For our entrees we ordered the NY strip steak and the bouillabase. The steak was cooked completely wrong (as noted by other reviewers). The bouillabase consisted of two small shrimp, two fishy tasting mussels, two clams, a 2"x2" piece of fried fish, a few soba noodles and a broth that was 1% water and 99% salt. Don't get me wrong I like my salt, but it literally tasted like ocean water. Everyone at our table agreed that it was truly inedible. Typically when the food at a restaurant is this bad we just don't go back but considering the meal for 4 of us cost almost $300 I decided to quietly walk up and talk to a manager. He told me that had we mentioned it when our entrees arrived they would have done something about it, but since we were into our deserts (after they took away our not even half eaten entrees) there was nothing he could do.

Bottom line: If you want to dine in a beautiful, overpriced restaurant with awful food then this is the place for you. Consider yourself warned.

• Pros: Restaurant is gorgeous!
• Cons: Overpriced and overhyped food.

09/03/07

Please Read before you go this is the truth!!!!!

by normb28 at Citysearch

The Macadamia Nut Crusted Atlantic Salmon still had the skin on it and tasted fishey ..The $10.00 Crab cake tasted like shreded can crab meat with can crab meat Flavor you buy for $1 at the store ..you would Figure a $120.00 Meal for 2 ..Would not taste so poorley...Please think twice before you waste your time and $$$$

• Pros: Non

01/27/07

DO NOT EAT HERE!!!

by jennyh500 at Citysearch

I ate here this past weekend when I was in town with my fiancee his employee and his wife for a convention. Not only did we all have stomach aches after we ate here but I was sick all night and haven't been that sick in a long time!! Not only was I sick but the food was absolutly horrible! My duck was fatty and raw! You would think that with Emeril having such a reputation for himself that he would check on his restaurants!

11/26/06

organized chaos

by mortgagegirl02 at Citysearch

This restaurant is hard to find? if you self-park?which I won?t recommend. Literally walking 10 miles before passing through what seemed like an eternity clad banquet or hallway; we finally made it to the entrance of the place. What a beautiful restaurant so peaceful yet uninviting. The stark and cold restaurant is barely lit by the kitchen and the seating arrangement feels like organized chaos. The disheveled staff aligns the back of the wall almost fighting to leap at you in anticipation of them replenishing your glass or to remove plates. When there is nothing for the wait staff to do, they wander aimlessly and confused. The food was strange! To me, the offerings at the start of the meal selection were hard to describe except that when placed on your tongue, they pop loudly in your mouth. I did not like my dish, it was too unorthodox with over embellished flavors. However, my sister is more ethnically diverse when it comes to cultural food and she absolutely loved it. It was her birthday celebration and the chef was nice enough to give her a dessert on the house which was classy. I think the restaurant menu, drinks, and wait staff ? need a serious overhaul.

• Pros: decor
• Cons: parking, service, price, taste, poor menu selection

09/03/05

very dissappointed

by kjt at Citysearch

We had gone to Emeril's at Citywalk so we were expecting great food... what we got was very dissappointing. The food was overspiced and way overpriced. I can't believe Emeril puts his name on this place. The meat and fish didn't even seem to be quality, I could've gotten better at the grocery store. There are hundreds of better restaurants in Orlando, and you won't have to shell out $100.

• Pros: nice decor
• Cons: bad food, overpriced

01/27/04

Do Not Recommend

by ag2001 at Citysearch

Our waiter was very pushy at persuading my fiance and I to order the more expensive items on the menu because business was 'slow' for them being off-season at the time. He kept pushing for us to order not just one, but TWO appetizers with the reason being that the appetizers are VERY small. For my entree, I was planning on ordering a steamed banana leaf wrapped fish and out waiter kept insisting that that entree was very 'plain' and kept insisting that I get the special for the day- grilled Ono fish. After finally giving in since he obviously would not back down- I regreted going with his recommendation after biting into the fish once I got it. It was the worst fish I've ever tasted being so dried out. That was the worst $90 meal I've ever had!

• Pros: Atmosphere, Location
• Cons: Food, Price, Waiter