Bar 17 Bistro: Sunset Seventeen Floors Above Universal Orlando

Seventeen floors above Adventure Way, the elevator doors open onto open sky. Bar 17 Bistro, the rooftop bar and grill atop Universal’s Aventura Hotel at 6725 Adventure Way, is the best free view at Universal Orlando — no park ticket required, just a ride to the top of the sleekest tower on property. In our rankings it placed No. 9 among Orlando rooftop bars with a Net Score of 83.0; the full list is in Orlando’s best rooftop bars.

The view is the headline

Universal describes Aventura as offering views of all four Universal Orlando theme parks, and from Bar 17’s wraparound terrace you can pick them out: Volcano Bay’s Krakatau rising to one side, the towers and coasters of the original resort spread across the lagoon, and the Orlando skyline beyond. Sunset is the obvious play — arrive in the late afternoon, claim a rail seat, and watch the parks light up. On weekend evenings a live DJ keeps the energy up; on weeknights the room settles into an easy lounge hum that suits couples and small groups better than almost any bar inside the parks’ orbit.

Korean-inspired plates, familiar comforts

The kitchen describes its menu as Korean-inspired alongside familiar favorites, and the signatures bear that out: bao buns (look for firecracker shrimp and crispy pork belly versions), bibimbap with shrimp, and the Hurricane Fries — cut fries with soy, ginger and garlic seasoning, citrus aioli and a sriracha finish — that regulars order before they have fully sat down. The bar pours custom-crafted cocktails and mocktails; the Butterfly Kiss, with strawberry popping pearls, is the one photographed at every table. This is small-plates food, priced like a hotel lounge rather than a steakhouse, and it is entirely possible to make a light dinner of two rounds of plates and call the night complete.

How to do it well

You do not need to be an Aventura guest. Come as a visitor, ride the dedicated elevator, and treat Bar 17 as the closing act of a Universal day — it pairs naturally with an evening that starts at Strong Water Tavern across the way at Sapphire Falls, our other essential Universal hotel bar. Two honest notes: the terrace is genuinely open-air, so a Florida storm can close it without much warning, and the best seats go first on clear evenings — this is a place that rewards arriving before sunset rather than after dinner. Hours run from the afternoon into late evening and stretch later on weekends, but check the day’s listing before you make the trip.

Find Bar 17 and the rest of the resort’s high points on our Orlando Top Spots Map, and browse the full Universal Orlando hub for where to eat and drink before you head up.

Why Aventura punches above its price

Bar 17 is also the exclamation point on the best value argument in Universal’s hotel lineup. Aventura is the sleek, tech-forward tower — floor-to-ceiling windows, in-room tablet controls, a robot that delivers amenities to your door — priced below the Premier resorts while sitting in the middle of the action, with Volcano Bay (when open) effectively in its backyard. Guests get the rooftop as a house amenity; the rest of Orlando gets it as a destination. Either way, it has quietly become the place Orlando locals take out-of-town friends when they want to show off the resort without buying a ticket: up the elevator, out onto the terrace, parks glittering in every direction, a plate of bao between you. That is a hard trick for any rooftop in the city to beat, and it is why Bar 17 holds its ranking year after year.

Photo: Farragutful, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Filed under Aventura Hotel · Cocktails · Rooftop Bars · Sunset · Universal Orlando

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