Boulder Beach Water Park has a variety of counter service food stands for guests to choose from when visiting. Normally, we’d prefer to write a separate review of each one, but in this case, we’re grouping them together. Most of the food stands are located relatively close to each other, and while the variety is different, the quality and service are all essentially the same. All the options are just your run-of-the-mill food you’d expect to find at a theme park, albeit slightly better quality. There’s no “theme” to delve into or any of that extra stuff. So, we figure this is a pretty safe way to go. In this review, we’ll discuss the options available, as well as a few of the items we’ve sampled over the years. (Updated August 8, 2023)
We’ll start with the lineup, and divide our review up accordingly. There are three places to get food, two spots to get desserts, and two beverage bars. All are located inside the main entrance to the water park, and if you’re spending your day here, you’ll be choosing from these options. The nearest food outside the water park is a bit of a walk to get to, and in general, there’s enough options that most everyone should be able to find something to their liking.
First up, the food. Just past the entrance of the park is the Granite Grill, which serves burgers and chicken strips. In the past, we’ve had their burgers, and they’re not too bad. Nothing compared to Lindy’s, but much better than, say, your typical Cedar Fair park has to offer.
This past trip, our kids got the chicken strips. Again, nothing to rave about here, but nothing to complain about either. The breading is nice, crispy, and doesn’t taste like it’s been sitting in a freezer.
Continuing on just past the Rumble Falls tube slides are the last two food spots which are located in an area that has several other stands as well: Pablo’s and the Chicken Shack. Pablo’s serves Mexican food such as taco salads and nachos; the Chicken Shack serves chicken strips (same ones you can get at Granite Grill), and chicken sandwiches.
We’ve eaten at Pablo’s a few times in years past, and again the food is decent enough, but nothing to write home about. We had the pork nachos on this past trip, and all the ingredients and toppings were nicely balanced and fresh.
In this same area is one of the dessert stands, which is Dippin’ Dots. We figure most of you already know enough about the infamous “ice cream of the future”, so we won’t explore that much more.
The second spot you can get dessert is the soft serve ice cream stand which is now located across from the main locker area. Again, it’s decent enough, but nothing over the top. (Seeing a pattern here?)
Lastly, and most notably, are the two beverage bars. There’s one across from the Chicken Shack and Pablo’s, right in between the two wave pools. The other is right smack dab in the middle of the lazy river, and is one you can literally float right up to in your tube. Both stands serve alcoholic and non-alcoholic tropical beverages, so there’s something for everyone. This is one of the few water parks that has a “float up” bar like this, and it’s tremendously popular as such. It’s a truly shining star amongst all the other stands throughout the water park.
First up, the positives: Clearly, there’s a lot of different options to choose from, so variety is a positive here, although it’s dwindled in recent years. We’d like to see something that is a little more on the healthy side, like a fresh fruit stand, but we recognize that for most of the general public, the current options are sufficient. We also give huge props for the float-up bar, as mentioned before. And lastly, for food that seems like it should taste like it came from Taco Bell or McDonald’s, the park has definitely worked to bring freshness and quality to the table.
Our main complaint is on the service side. While you have all of these options available to you, each individual stand serves a limited menu, and each has an individual queue. Without exception, those queues are incredibly slow, especially for counter service. We’ve waited 30+ minutes at these places on many occasions, even when the lines looked short. This can really become an issue when not everyone in your group can agree on one place to eat.
Granted, we know that there’s a balancing act here: Silverwood wants to provide food that’s high-quality for a theme park, and all of the things we’ve sampled definitely show this. But on the flip side, better quality food takes time to prepare, so be ready to wait.
It’d be nice if some of these stands were combined together so that you could just wait in one line to get what you want, but alas, this is the way Boulder Beach food has always been, and likely always will be. You can maximize your efficiency by strategizing – try and find a food stand that has most of the things your group wants, and stick to that. If you really want to go to more than one place, the only way to do that without chewing up over an hour of your day is to simply divide, conquer, and re-group to eat.
Bottom line: Boulder Beach has a wide range of basic food options that all taste pretty good, considering you’re inside a theme park. Nothing too unique or memorable to write home about, but also nothing that will leave you regretting your decision.
If you liked this post and found it helpful, let us know and share it with your friends! Do you like the food at Boulder Beach, or do you opt for somewhere else? Let us know if you have any questions in the comments, and we'll be sure to answer them! Last but certainly not least, let us know what other topics you'd like to see covered.
The official Silverwood Theme Park website can be found at: www.silverwoodthemepark.com. All business-related questions should be directed to this site.
