REVIEW: Cocktails and Pizza Fries From The Weeknd After Hours Nightmare Bar at Universal Studios Hollywood During Halloween Horror Nights 2022

Face your fears at The Weeknd After Hours Nightmare Bar in Universal Studios Hollywood during Halloween Horror Nights 2022.

The bar is in the seating area above Jurassic Outfitters.

It has premium cocktails and snacks.

Menu

There are four signature cocktails. The specialty snack is pizza fries.

After Hours Nightmare – $17

Cutwater tequila, raspberry puree, peach & lime juices, grenadine syringe

This is definitely the most interesting of the cocktails to look at, with its syringe of grenadine.

Overall, as with all of these, the spirit doesn’t come through strongly and this ball of sweet and tart is overloaded with too many things that are so similar they mask each other.

If anything were to be discernible from this beyond the sweet red flavor or the grenadine itself, the peach juice does come through a bit to bring a fruity character but it’s not strong enough to really be classified as a fruity drink. It’s very cute for Instagram but lacking in flavor. 

Out of Time – $17

Cutwater rum, blue curacao, lime juice & Sprite, gummy toad

Again, the spirit doesn’t come through on this one, but it is more fruity than the rest. The gummy on top is at once slimy yet hard as it slowly dissolves in the drink but is still tough and chewy in the center from being cold.

This one struck us almost as a blue Kool-Aid flavor which was very sweet and overall fine for what it was but nothing that we were really satisfied with.

Save Your Fears – $17

Stella Artois, Cutwater vodka, fresh grapefruit & lime juices, tajin rim

This one was very disappointing in that the whole was less than the sum of its parts. The overall character of this, as agreed upon by several people with us, was that of a watered-down beer.

Stella Artois is not a robust flavored beer to begin with. It remains the center of the flavor profile but is so watered down by the other ingredients, it’s unpleasant.

Blinding Lights – $17

Of the four signature cocktails, this was the one that we enjoyed. Not just tolerated, enjoyed. It’s light and refreshing and tart, the perfect sip for cooling off and coming back to life after a series of long lines and hot haunted houses. It’s still not the best cocktail in the park, can’t hold a candle to anything at Isla Nu Bar, but it was definitely the best of the four at the Weeknd Bar. 

Pizza Fries – $11.99

Fries topped with marinara sauce, shredded mozzarella & pepperoni

These are a Universal Orlando Resort staple that have made their way out to the West Coast for the first time and we completely understand why they are a hit. These are the perfect bar food, melty and rich and delicious. Paired with the Blinding Lights cocktail, these are an enjoyable mid-event snack on their own.

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