Splendor Burrito Bar report

[pulledporky]

A true street burrito:

Should have a tortilla with a few charred areas, refried beans, mexican rice, chopped meat, cheese, chopped onions/cilantro, salsa - that's it (if they have avacado sauce I'll take some of that too. I have one taqueria in town that actually cooks fresh tortillas.) And english is not the primary language of the cook or the server (may not know any english).

 

The Splendor burrito bar:

They had chicken, beef, shrimp - then grilled onions, roasted bell peppers, lettuce, monterey jack cheese, tomatoes, refried beans, black beans, and a couple of other things that don't belong on a true burrito. Three salsas: a green tomatillo, then a very-mild red and a mild red. They also had a green "avacado" sauce in a squirt bottle.

 

The tortillas were a yellowish color that brought nothing to the party except being a wrapper. The steak was cut into strips, it was fairly tender but should be chopped. The rice was a bright yellow lemon flavored concoction that had absolutely no business relating itself to any type of mexican food. The refried beans were standard Rosarita type. I guess when you are serving the masses, and most of those have never eaten off a taco truck, they could call this a burrito (I was a little skeptical when someone described the burrito as "yummy". That would be a girly-burrito :p).

 

I tried it a second time without all the foo foo stuff and it was an acceptable burrito for the price.

 

I sent an e-mail to Carnival and suggested at the next stop in Long Beach the cook should walk two blocks in any direction except west and look for a big white step-van with windows. Order a burrito asada with everything. Don't eat it (yet), take it back to the kitchen and dissect it. Better yet, offer the dude in the truck a job, promise him lots of travel;).

 

My tradition is to get a burger and onion rings as soon as I get on board. Last week I went for the burrito bar instead. I'm going back to tradition - even though there are no more onion rings.

 

As a side note, one afternoon the buffet had some small bean and cheese burritos fried chimichanga style that weren't bad.

 

The cruise was fine, weather was perfect. Overpaid dock workers put one of my bags in the wrong bay, had to wait over an hour until they opened the gate, Carnival was NO help at all on this. (I guess the silver lining is my wife vowed to pack light from now on so we can do self assist).

 

We had to turn around after leaving Long Beach to let someone off the boat, and then again in Cabo. Both were for medical emergencies - I heard it was a concussion, broken bones, or a chopped off finger. Take your pick.

[Rockportgirl]

That burrito bar sounds fantastic to me. I'm not real picky, though.

 

You said the second one you tried was acceptable for the price... you mean you have to pay extra for the burrito bar? :confused:

[pulledporky]

That burrito bar sounds fantastic to me. I'm not real picky, though.

 

You said the second one you tried was acceptable for the price... you mean you have to pay extra for the burrito bar? :confused:

 

Nope, they are free.

 

 

A lot of people will enjoy their burrito. It's just not a taco stand/truck burrito. But I guess the Splendor is not a taco truck, so there you go.

My expectation was different. Maybe it's more of a mexican influenced wrap.

 

Now you got me thinking about food.

A lot of the dining room items are now on the lido buffet, some work and some don't. They have the S&S shrimp available which is probably my favorite Carnival fare, it was great. The prime rib was fine. They also had the eggs benedict, this does not work on the buffet. It was like leather.

 

And, the old flattened out tater tots with breakfast? - gone. They actaully had pretty good breakfast potatoes served several different ways. I think they make a great french toast, very custardy (is that a word?). Plenty of places to sit, staff did an excellent job policing the area.

[cruiseaholic76]

A true street burrito:

Should have a tortilla with a few charred areas, refried beans, mexican rice, chopped meat, cheese, chopped onions/cilantro, salsa - that's it (if they have avacado sauce I'll take some of that too. I have one taqueria in town that actually cooks fresh tortillas.) And english is not the primary language of the cook or the server (may not know any english).

 

The Splendor burrito bar:

They had chicken, beef, shrimp - then grilled onions, roasted bell peppers, lettuce, monterey jack cheese, tomatoes, refried beans, black beans, and a couple of other things that don't belong on a true burrito. Three salsas: a green tomatillo, then a very-mild red and a mild red. They also had a green "avacado" sauce in a squirt bottle.

 

The tortillas were a yellowish color that brought nothing to the party except being a wrapper. The steak was cut into strips, it was fairly tender but should be chopped. The rice was a bright yellow lemon flavored concoction that had absolutely no business relating itself to any type of mexican food. The refried beans were standard Rosarita type. I guess when you are serving the masses, and most of those have never eaten off a taco truck, they could call this a burrito (I was a little skeptical when someone described the burrito as "yummy". That would be a girly-burrito :p).

 

I tried it a second time without all the foo foo stuff and it was an acceptable burrito for the price.

 

I sent an e-mail to Carnival and suggested at the next stop in Long Beach the cook should walk two blocks in any direction except west and look for a big white step-van with windows. Order a burrito asada with everything. Don't eat it (yet), take it back to the kitchen and dissect it. Better yet, offer the dude in the truck a job, promise him lots of travel;).

 

My tradition is to get a burger and onion rings as soon as I get on board. Last week I went for the burrito bar instead. I'm going back to tradition - even though there are no more onion rings.

 

As a side note, one afternoon the buffet had some small bean and cheese burritos fried chimichanga style that weren't bad.

 

The cruise was fine, weather was perfect. Overpaid dock workers put one of my bags in the wrong bay, had to wait over an hour until they opened the gate, Carnival was NO help at all on this. (I guess the silver lining is my wife vowed to pack light from now on so we can do self assist).

 

We had to turn around after leaving Long Beach to let someone off the boat, and then again in Cabo. Both were for medical emergencies - I heard it was a concussion, broken bones, or a chopped off finger. Take your pick.

 

 

I think the whole point of the burrito bars was to be more like a Moe's or Chipolte I live in Florida and that's the type of burrito places we have here. Everything that is on the menu is pretty much what all the places I have been to have.

[Traveler353]

And there are people that believe that Taco Bell serves Mexican food.:rolleyes:

[Kurbanfan]

I think the whole point of the burrito bars was to be more like a Moe's or Chipolte I live in Florida and that's the type of burrito places we have here. Everything that is on the menu is pretty much what all the places I have been to have.

 

 

Yeah well the Splendor sails out of Calif. and we know what real Mexican food is..........I have yet to see anything close to real Mexican food on Carnival:D Avacado sauce in a squirt bottle.......what is that:cool:

And the kicker is the Splendor sails to Mexico:rolleyes:

[KenMo]

I haven't been on Splendor, but I loved the Burrito Bar on Valor.

 

And since I have two sisters-in-law who are Mexican, I have eaten real Mexican food.

 

To me, both are good. Just different.

[NutsAboutGolf]

I think the whole point of the burrito bars was to be more like a Moe's or Chipolte I live in Florida and that's the type of burrito places we have here. Everything that is on the menu is pretty much what all the places I have been to have.

 

I agree with this completely.

 

When I was on the Liberty, which goes out of Miami FL, it was exactly as the OP described. I'll assume they did some sort cost analysis of ingredients and several tasting panels for the final product. If this really happened, which I'll believe did, they simply made the determination that refried beans wasn't popular enough to justify the cost. I understand the OP is half-joking about the taco truck, but why even bother sending that email? It goes to low line customer service rep who spits out automated response. We know the cruise lines hire through an agency. :)

[Kurbanfan]

I agree with this completely.

 

When I was on the Liberty, which goes out of Miami FL, it was exactly as the OP described. I'll assume they did some sort cost analysis of ingredients and several tasting panels for the final product. If this really happened, which I'll believe did, they simply made the determination that refried beans wasn't popular enough to justify the cost. I understand the OP is half-joking about the taco truck, but why even bother sending that email? It goes to low line customer service rep who spits out automated response. We know the cruise lines hire through an agency. :)

 

The op said they had refried beans like the Rosarita canned crap.......

If they made the fresh refried beans it would have been cheaper.......cost is very minimum for beans.......

[bloops]

WOW, my son will love this!!! He loves taco bell; I took him to an "authentic" mexican restaurant and he said "this is not mexican food". I hope they have a burito bar on Destiny.

[MarkRosenthal]

And there are people that believe that Taco Bell serves Mexican food.:rolleyes:

 

You are so right, that is true. I believe CCL is trying to please as many people as possible, it's just that in So Cal we have lots of real mexican places to eat as well as the forementioned taco trucks so it's a let down on the ship. But the Mongolian was great and there is always plenty of other things to eat.

[Sdallnct]

I had a burrito once or twice on the Valor. Overall I thought it was good. It was easy to make it semi healthy (I did a shrimp w/veggies on wheat). My wife got a more traditional beef/bean one and she reported it was good.

[madera cruiser]

Ya wanna know the truth? Burritos aren't really Mexican! Burritos are an American invention, much like "Chow Mein" isn't really Chinese, but an American dish. Go deep into Mexico, all you will see are tacos. Flour tortillas are a Northern Mexico, And Texas mexican style. Tacos are a corn tortilla wrapped around anything, much like a sandwich. So, in reallity, those Splendor burritos are as authentic as any. Pretty much like we get in Cen-Calli, where we have thousands of "true Mexicans". Just wish lengua(tongue), or chicharron(pork fat w/attached meat) were offered. Then you are talking authentic. Maybe menudo, or posole at the breakfast buffet?

[misguidedangel]

My burrito's had lettuce, cheese, onions, sour cream, chicken, shrimp, amd more sour cream!!!!!!

 

I tried one with rice and the mild sauce and no than you very much!!!!!

[Kurbanfan]

Ya wanna know the truth? Burritos aren't really Mexican! Burritos are an American invention, much like "Chow Mein" isn't really Chinese, but an American dish. Go deep into Mexico, all you will see are tacos. Flour tortillas are a Northern Mexico, And Texas mexican style. Tacos are a corn tortilla wrapped around anything, much like a sandwich. So, in reallity, those Splendor burritos are as authentic as any. Pretty much like we get in Cen-Calli, where we have thousands of "true Mexicans". Just wish lengua(tongue), or chicharron(pork fat w/attached meat) were offered. Then you are talking authentic. Maybe menudo, or posole at the breakfast buffet?

 

Ahh but we are talking about what Carnival fills their tortillas with;) Canned Rosarita refrieds and yellow tortilla wraps are not authinic Mexican.......

We make real beans pinto/refried and real flour/corn tortillas;) And not avacado sauce in a squirt bottle......so no none of that crap is true mexican food.........

[madera cruiser]

Ahh but we are talking about what Carnival fills their tortillas with;) Canned Rosarita refrieds and yellow tortilla wraps are not Mexican.......

We make real beans pinto/refried and real flour/corn tortillas;) And not avacado sauce in a squirt bottle......so no none of that crap is true mexican food.........

You are right.... but like you said ,avocado sauce. It isn't called guacamole. The tortillas I hade were brownish, kinda like whole wheat color. No matta, tasted like a flour tortilla to me. Just not homemade, like my Tias made.

[oncruisecontrol]

Overpaid dock workers put one of my bags in the wrong bay, had to wait over an hour until they opened the gate, Carnival was NO help at all on this.

 

 

How do you know the dock worker is "overpaid"? Do you know what his salary is? A friend of mine works the Royal Caribbean docks at Port Everglades in Ft. Lauderdale and, while his pay is quite better than average for so-called "unskilled" labor, he is the breadwinner (he has a wife who is a stay-at-home mom to their 3-yr-old son) and it is sometimes tough to make ends meet. But, they do it with careful budgeting. I don't know what dock workers in California make, but here in Florida they are not making a whole lot. While my friend loads stuff on Royal Caribbean ships, he is certainly not cruising on them. Just my 2 cents.

[LitchfieldParkCruisers]

Struggling with this thread..I googled "true street burrito" and found no definition..then thought about what I love about burrito's...taking a large flour tortilla and loading it with as much delicious stuff as possible...then realized the complaint, it sounds like, is that there was too much stuff in the burrito..then figured on my Martch 14 Splendor cruise I will eat a burrito, and it is pretty much a lock that it will be after consuming alot of Mexican beer which I believe is a great time for a burrito..and I have come to the conclusion that i am very excited and looking forward to a Splendor Burrito....but still trying to figure out what this sentence means...

"I tried it a second time without all the foo foo stuff and it was an acceptable burrito for the price."

 

indicates you can have whatever you want on your burrito( when the complaint was about what was on the burrito) and there is a charge associated with it(correct me if I am wrong, but the burrito bar is included in the price of the cruise)

 

Sorry..just a confused burrito lover...

[Ceece911]

 

My tradition is to get a burger and onion rings as soon as I get on board. Last week I went for the burrito bar instead. I'm going back to tradition - even though there are no more onion rings.

 

 

 

 

 

So you are telling me they used to serve onion rings with the burgers and hot dogs? When was this?

[dclark]

The best burrito in Long Beach is from Casa Sanchez-the beef sits on a turntable above the grill and meat is shaved off.

Ccl Mexican food, along with Mongolian BBQ, is mediocre. But hey, they try.

[deepnite10]

central valley has their share of authentic restraunts..good to hear that i won t have to be waiting in line for the Taco Bell burritos:D

[lappy22]

I think most of us from the southwest would agree that Mexican food on a cruise ship is more like something you would fine in a recipe from Betty Crocker or if you made Hamburger Helper Cheesy Enchilada. Not quite Mexican food. I like Chipotle, but it is a twist on tradional Mexican food. But lets be honest, the ever expanding wraps are a twist on the burrito. Carnival is calling it the Burrito Bar, not the Local Mexican Taco Truck.

 

And to the OP, although I've been known to love a chimichanga, most people from Mexico don't even know what the hell a chimichanga is.

[happy cruzer]

So do you really think the cruise ships can copy all the special ethnic food in the world? Do you think that the majority of the passengers would appreciate all that effort?

 

They do a great job of finding the middle ground to keep everyone happy. Including some great ethnic food that the crew likes, depending on the cruise line you can get good indian, indonesian, philipino, or others. They feed alot of crew and alot of average joes. Just enjoy your burrito at home and find other food that hits the spot on the ship. I'm cajun and I never expect to find true cajun food anywhere but the some cajun communities in La, tx, etc. Get real with those expectations.

[dclark]

Years ago at a mexican midnight buffet, I found it comical that the first item in the buffet lie was salsa. Yup, scoop it on the plate, then move down, make a taco and try to get it back in the taco using a fork (there were no spoons around).

I'll say this- the pico de gallo tastes pretty fresh and good. The mexican food I like to eat would probably be considered unedible by those not use to the level of spice I like. To me, a good burrito must be made with a freshly made tortilla among other things. I'll let CCL slide on this one.

[pulledporky]

So you are telling me they used to serve onion rings with the burgers and hot dogs? When was this?

On the Pride Nov '08 was the last time I saw them. Sept '09 the Paradise had no onion rings, and none on the Splendor Nov '09. I thought they were pretty good for a mass produced onion ring.