Theme Park Scope

Joey Fatone opened a hot dog joint at Universal CityWalk, and honestly?

We went in expecting a novelty and came out with a genuine Italian ice obsession.

Fat One’s Hot Dogs & Italian Ice opened September 19, 2026, taking over the old Hot Dog Hall of Fame spot at Universal CityWalk. The concept comes from *NSYNC’s Joey Fatone and his longtime manager Joe Mulvihill, who’ve been running versions of this hot dog-and-Italian-ice pairing for over a decade before finally landing a permanent home right in the entertainment district, no park ticket required.

What’s It Like?

This is very much a walk-up, grab-and-go counter service spot, not a sit-down experience.

There’s no elaborate theming to speak of here, it reads more like a clean, casual quick-service window than an immersive dining destination, which honestly fits its CityWalk neighbors just fine.

You’re not coming here for the vibe. You’re coming here for the food, and specifically, for the ice. While it’s very much a grab-and-go set up, for those looking to hang around a bit, there are tables and chairs set up nearby for you to sit and enjoy your meal rather than find the nearest trashcan serve as a makeshift table or take the entire meal with you walking.

Menu Overview

Fat One’s built its menu around nine signature hot dogs, a lineup of loaded Pop Fries, and six flavors of Italian ice, each available with or without a shot of alcohol for guests 21 and up.

It’s a small, focused menu rather than something overwhelming, which makes it easy to actually decide what you want instead of standing at the counter overthinking it.

What We Ordered

• The Fat★One ($15.99) — A footlong hot dog piled with roasted pork, pepperoni, chili beans, cheddar cheese sauce, and red onion sauce on a soft bun.

This thing is genuinely juicy, and the pepperoni and toppings give it real spice and flavor without ever tipping into “sweating through your shirt” territory. It’s less a hot dog and more a full meal disguised as one. We split it between two people and still walked away full.

• Fries (add-on) — Thicker cut than your standard fast-food fry, which we appreciated, but they came completely unseasoned. A basic salt shake would go a long way here.

• Large Italian Ice (Cherry, Mango, and Tropical) — For the large size, you get to pick three scoops from the entire flavor lineup, mixing and matching however you want.

Texture-wise, it’s thicker than a slushy, closer to a gelato consistency that holds its shape but still melts on your tongue exactly the way you want frozen fruit ice to. Every flavor we tried was vibrant and properly tangy where it needed to be, with just enough sweetness that we never hit that sickly “liquid sugar” wall partway through.

The One Real Complaint

The Italian Ice’s presentation needs work. The large Italian ice comes served in a paper cup, similar to an oversized pleated condiment cup, and once it starts melting, you need to start scooping fast or it’ll leak right out the sides.

Our workaround: we asked for a cup of ice water at the counter, drank it, and transferred the ice into the now-empty solid cup so we could actually eat at our own pace instead of racing the melt (and risking a brain freeze in the process). It’s a small fix, but it shouldn’t be necessary on a hot Florida afternoon in the first place.

Good To Know

We asked at the counter, and both Annual Passholder and Team Member discounts are accepted here, so don’t forget to flash your pass or badge before you pay.

Would We Go Back?

Eh, it depends on what we’re craving. The hot dogs are seriously filling, flavorful, and worth trying at least once, but you really need to be in the mood for a hot dog, or a genuine hot dog enthusiast, to fully appreciate one. Casual fans will probably enjoy it too, but might find they’ve bitten off more than they can chew (see what we did there?). The Italian ice, though? That’s a yes every single time. It’s a convenient, reliably good snack with a flavor lineup and portion sizing that make it easy to order the exact same thing again and again. We just want Universal to fix that cup.

We’ll keep tracking new CityWalk dining spots like this one, so check back with Theme Park Scope for the next review, and follow us on social so you don’t miss it.

Have YOU tried Fat One’s yet, and did the Italian ice win you over the way it did us?