When choosing table service restaurants for your next Universal Orlando vacation, look no further than Vivo Italian Kitchen. Located in Citywalk, you don't need park tickets to enjoy this delicious meal. Vivo has a modern look, with ample seating and an open kitchen. Everything that came out of the kitchen looked and smelled absolutely amazing, making us want to go back for another meal the next day.
Each meal begins with a homemade loaf of Italian bread. Olive oil is provided at the table for dipping. Although all of the appetizers were tempting, we decided on the fried ricotta. The creamy rosemary and lemon ricotta was breaded and fried and served on a bed of homemade tomato sauce. It was so delicious we used the rest of the bread to mop up the tomato sauce.
Entrees were an even more difficult decision. I was stuck between the lasagna made with a white béchamel sauce but the option I ultimately went with was the chicken ravioli. The triangle ravioli was stuffed with a chicken and ricotta filling and served in a pesto cream sauce, topped with a little chili oil, toasted pine nuts, and sun-dried tomatoes. My husband opted for the squid ink seafood pasta. The black pasta was served in a light white wine sauce with shrimp, clams, calamari, and mussels. My daughter opted for the wood-fired pepperoni pizza. Having tasted a slice I can tell you it might be the best pizza in all of Universal.
Vivo makes all of their pasta by hand daily, so you can't go wrong with any of those. In addition to pasta, they serve wood-fired pizzas, steaks, and seafood. The picatta and parmigiana dishes at the table next to us had us drooling. To finish our meal we chose a panna cotta. This is a traditional Italian light vanilla custard topped with a mixed berry sauce. It was also served with a piece of homemade biscotti. Other traditional desserts such as stracciatella, tiramisu, and cannoli were also offered.
Although same-day and next-day reservations can be found, I highly recommend making this reservation in advance of your vacation. This restaurant seemed to be very popular and typical meal times were usually unavailable on the same day.
