Marvel Mania is a full service restaurant located within the confines of the Universal Studios Theme Park at Universal City, California. One can enter the eatery from the Citywalk, but we were going to Universal Studios, anyway. Frankly, I braced myself for this visit, mainly because I thought it was going to be a really cheesy experience. Surprisingly, going to Marvel Mania was a lot of fun. Oh, the cheesy elements were there, but it wasn’t half as tacky as I had expected.

Marvel Mania is located right up front at the theme park. Someone who is legally blind couldn’t miss this building. Not only is it large, it has gigantic cutouts of Marvel characters located on the outside and comic book sound effects written large scattered about the building. An oversized statue of The Hulk sits on one side of the restaurant. If none of this clues you in, Marvel Mania is emblazoned in big red letters above the building.

We went to Marvel Mania with a pretty mixed crowd. My friend Kelly Dolan reads independent comics. I read indies and DC, as does my 16 year old daughter, Sidra. My husband Paul and my 13 year old daughter Elaine don’t read many comics. Kelly’s son, Ian, is 7 years old and likes superheroes. I haven’t read many Marvel books in the last 15 years, mainly because every time I’ve picked one up, it’s been a stinker. We were the tough crowd that Marvel Mania was going to have to impress.

The decor of Marvel Mania is overwrought, in the distinctly Marvel way. The carpet is composed of comic books panels with Marvel characters. The ceiling has sound effects written in large letters on it. The backs of the chairs have cut outs in the shape of word balloons. There are lighted pictures of Marvel characters in panels around the restaurant. The wall is made to look like some sort of futuristic mechanical stuff. If all of this wasn’t enough, there is a huge video wall, towering two stories high, playing snippets of Marvel videos and character profiles from Who’s Who. In case you can’t see the video wall, there are smaller screens around the room so you don’t miss the action. Those videos do come with sound effects, too. Every once in awhile there would be an annoying crash-boom sort of sound signifying the start of a new video piece.

They even had video screens in the bathrooms. Yes, the bathrooms! The bathrooms were designed to look like some mutant underground hiding place, dimly lit with red lights. I just prayed that I wouldn’t try to sit down and hit the floor: it was very dark in there.

The menu must have been written by Stan Lee. It had that Soapbox sort of hyperbole. I jotted down the food category choices, just so I could give you an idea of what the menu looked like. Tantalizing Tamers of Titanic Thirst! Astonishing Appetizers! Sensational Soups! Gargantuan Gallery of Greens! Stanwitches! Pulse Pounding Pizza and Pasta! Hearty Entrees: Hearty Helpings of Homestyle Happiness! Superhero Burgers! Stellar Sweets! They had a children’s section of the menu, too, entitled For Cosmic Kids! There were plenty of choices listed under each of these categories, each with it’s Marvel character inspired name. I heartily approved of the one public service that Marvel did with this menu. On the back, in little letters, was the number to dial to find out about the nearest comic shop nationwide. I expect that Marvel had some self interest in putting that number there, but it wasn’t really blatant in their wording. Our waiter was very helpful. He was actually dressed like a normal person, although he did have Marvel buttons on his polo shirt. He suggested that we try the fruit slush drinks or the shakes. I had a Green Goblin, which was a frozen fruit drink comprised of kiwi, blackberries and raspberries. My daughter Sidra had a white chocolate and raspberry shake. My friend Kelly and her son Ian selected a Fantastic Four, a fruit ice drink of citrus and raspberry. All were amazingly tasty, as we tried each other’s selections. Kelly and I opted to have our drinks served in Marvel Mania souvenir glasses, which we paid $7 apiece for. The glasses were made of heavy glass, in a parfait style, with a pour spout on one side, with the Marvel Mania logo on the side. They are very nice: mine went through the dishwasher at home without incident. While we waited for our entree selections to arrive, we played with the placemats. The youngest children had been given colors and were designing new superhero costumes on the placemats. Some other features of the placemats were Marvel trivia questions. I’m sure any regular Marvel fanboy could have easily answered any of them, but for us it was a challenge. There were some other games on the placemats, and each of them were different, so it kept us all busy and out of trouble until our food arrived.

Wolverine arrived on the scene and visited every table in our section. He posed for photos, chatted with the diners at each table, and was an all around good sport. After all, he posed for several photos at our table, and chatted with us. I don’t know if he had ever encountered comic geeks before. He did Wolvie very well, he had that tough, good guy kind of persona that is central to the character.

7 year old Ian was so enamored of Wolverine, that when the guy arrived at our table offering to do balloon Marvel characters for a small fee, Ian had to have Wolverine. Elaine chose Spider Woman. For two bucks apiece, the gentleman twisted long balloons into pseudohuman form, and drew insignias on them of appropriate design. Our kids were thrilled with their Marvel character balloons, and I had a good time speculating with the table about what those odd protuberances on the Spider Woman balloon were. Our food arrived, and I was impressed. The food actually looked good, was presented continental style, and the portions were huge. My husband, Paul had a hamburger, Kelly had the fried chicken, Ian had some pasta, Elaine had an individual pepperoni pizza, and Sidra and I each had the special of the day, which was grilled chicken on mixed greens, with a raspberry vinaigrette. Dear God, was the food delicious! It wasn’t just sort of good, it was really excellent. Elaine, the picky eater, ate all of her pizza. The rest of us ate as much as we could cram into our faces, and still Kelly had to get a container to take her leftovers home with. As our waiter said, "Yes, we are a theme restaurant, but we are a theme restaurant with good food." He wasn’t kidding. Of course, none of this fun comes cheap. We didn’t select the most expensive items on the menu and we didn’t select the cheapest, either. They do add the gratuity to the bill, too, which was actually easier than trying to figure out how much to tip. For 4 adults and 2 children, the bill was right at $100. Considering the high quality of the food, and the interesting ambiance, I thought the price was appropriate. We couldn’t get out the door without visiting the gift shop. It was Marvel heaven. They had Marvel product I didn’t know existed. Marvel Mania must have done it’s job, because that day began my youngest daughter’s infatuation with Spider Man. She insisted that we buy her a Spidey t-shirt, so we did. I bought some Marvel postcards, made from classic Marvel comic book covers. The one thing the gift shop lacked was, oddly enough, Marvel comicbooks. They might have had some tucked away in a nook somewhere in the place, but I didn’t see them. They sure had every other kind of Marvel product there, though, ranging from the cheap souvenir to the pricey collectible. Marvel Mania also had an area of Marvel arcade games, and Ian would have played them, had a machine been open. Marvel Mania was a popular attraction at Universal Studios. We didn’t have to wait for a table, but the place was packed and the lines were long when we left. We all agreed that Marvel Mania was a Marvel fanboy’s dream come true. The rest of us regular comic geeks and non-comic geeks enjoyed ourselves a lot, too. Pricey, but outstanding food, and decor that has to be seen to be believed makes Marvel Mania a must for any one who plans a trip to Universal Studios.

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Copyright © 1998 Sheryl Roberts

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