It is my recollection that during our most recent RP stay, the evening food offerings rotated on a 6-day rotation, but I think the other hotels are still on a 7-day rotation.
We have never received a pre-stay welcome letter, but the lounges post the daily menu offerings, and RP had a stack of paper copies of the menu in the lounge. Front desk gave us a welcome letter with times and all, but the lounge was where we got an actual menu. HRH had menu posted near the lounge entrance or by the welcome desk (in the lounge). I don't recall where they had menu at Portofino, but I'm pretty sure they had one posted.
Somewhere I have copies of a few of the letters, but I can pretty readily answer questions about all 3 lounges.
I think the breakfasts pretty much all stay the same every day. the only thing I can think of though is that the staff puts out plates/trays of food, and replenishes them regularly. So it is possible the staff puts out a platter with 5 different veggies, but when you arrive the serving platter only has 4, until the staff replenishes it. Something like that, but the staff is good about replenishing food.
Like all CL's, the food offering change over time. Breakfast is continental: fruit, pastries, hot+cold beverages, cereal, milk, I think oatmeal, and I think hard boiled eggs.
Mid-day/Afternoon - always hot/cold beverages. Mostly prepackaged items. At HR, think chips/packaged cookies. At Porto think assorted granola bars. I recall seeing Nature Valley (crunchy and Oatmeal/Raisin). RP maybe had cookies, I'm not 100% sure what they had. All also offer some whole fruits (oranges, apples).
ALL of the lounges offer bottled water, though not necessarily refrigerated. HRH has HRH themed water (the best!), RP and Porto both have a basic brand like Nestle, but at RP you have to ask for bottles. HRH has a machine that serves ice and ice water. All have something like lemonade or apple juice on tap mid day. I recall Porto having canned beverages.
Porto has almost a full salad bar during appetizers, but it is hard to eat any of it. the veggies/lettuce leaves are bigger than the tiny plates. You have to eat like one olive or lettuce leaf at a time. If we stay there again, I may very well bring paper plates. All offer some cheese, bread/crackers, and veggies every day.
HRH has more fried items/less veggies than the other two. RP has nice salads every day, that change by the theme of the day, like Italian or American. Our favorite is Asian salad: Napa cabbage/oranges/show peas/sesame/ginger-soy dressing.
The desserts vary by day/resort. They may include: cookies, mini-cakes, mousse, mini pastries. On a recent stay at HR, the dessert one night was fresh strawberry shortcake with real house-made whipped cream. Another night was make-your own-sundaes.
Of all, the HR tends to offer slightly less food than the others, or what they offer is crackers, hot wings, and things like pickled hot peppers- foods you can really only really sample. But they have a fun adult beverage station in the evening.
We like RP food best, though Porto is also good, and HRH was improved on our most recent stay.
We don't bother requesting a room location. At RP and HRH, all rooms are all on the lounge floor. At Porto, I think all or at least most rooms are some walk from the lounge, but relatively central 9compated to overall resort). All our Porto rooms have been some walk away, because the lounge is just off the lobby. I don't usually care all that much about our room view, but less so at Universal than WDW. None of the US rooms have balconies, so we REALLY don't spend time looking out our window, except to see if it is raining. In FL, if a thunderstorm is anywhere near the pool, they close it. You get a small advantage if your has a pool view, because you can see if people are swimming before you head down. Theme park views at these 3 aren't that impressive, IMO.
Truth be told, the best/prettiest rooms views we've had while staying at US were at Sapphire Falls. Both the pool and lagoon are pretty. All of Sapphire Falls is soothing colors.
