Dining Room Disasters: What's the worst dish you've had on Carnival?

[DMH15]

I am not sure what happened last week on the Sensation but it was OFF!!

 

My sister is a vegetarian so the meal choices are limited. One night she had the vegetable parm and the veggies were crisp in the middle and chesse on top was almost burnt. She ordered mac and cheese and it was COLD!

 

I sent the flat iron back the first time. I ordered it medium. It was way over done. They brought another that was seriously bleeding and the last one was more medium rare.

 

Even our bar waiter in the MDR was clueless. My sister asked for a peach belini and she brought a glass of white wine.

 

I was on Paradise and had a wonderful Panini sandwich... Fresh Mozzarella cheese, roasted peppers, arugula and tomato on Ciabatta Bread and warmed on the Panini Grill. Made a little side salad with ripe olives. So yummy. Does your sister eat cheese? She might like this. I also adore a grilled cheese and tomato sandwich. Multiple cheeses. Yum!

[westview1]

I haven't had any bad food in the MDR that I can remember.

 

I always order the chocolate melting cake with 2 scoops of ice cream, it helps on the nights it is thicker.

[dannymissy]

Last week on the Glory we asked our waiter's recommendation every night, thanks to this thread. Patrick and I Made (prounced Eee Mah-day) never led us astray. They told us what was great, what to avoid. The only time Dan didn't listen was on night one, and he ordered the chicken ala Greque (sp?) and it didn't even LOOK appetizing. It tasted okay, but was not nearly the best thing on the menu that night. Dan had WCMC almost every night. I am not a chocolate eater generally, so I tried one bite but just wasn't into it. There were many other great desserts to choose from. I especially loved the Bitter n Blanc and I had my first Creme Brulee, which was amazing.

[JennLuvs2Cruise]

I had some seafood dish on my last cruise on the Dream.. Forget the actual name of the dish, but it was waaaay too fishy tasting for me to enjoy. Did not have a balance - one of the seafood items in the dish over powered the entire dish.

[FlaGrl4Evr]

The first night of our cruise we were given a bread basket with only one type of roll. The rolls were so hard that they could have been used for hocky pucks. No kidding. The second evening our bread basket consisted of the same hard rolls along with a selection of some other fresher breads. I seriously wonder if they try and use-up the rolls from the previous cruise because after night 2 the rolls were soft and tasted very fresh.

 

As far as main courses, I would have to say it is a toss up between the very-fishy tasting crab cakes and the Chateubriand, which had an almost off taste and not tender at all. It almost reminded me of a very tough piece of chuck steak that was sliced.

[craftykitty]

Steveaaaa did a survey and 97.6% of the people said it was their favorite.

 

So 2.4% of us are right!

[craftykitty]

What was bad abou the chocolate melting cake??? :confused:

 

Partly cooked chocolate fudge cake batter is not what I call my dessert of choice.

[MikeM]

The Worst is Flat Iron Steak, just terrible. We have ordered it many times with a different backup entre. Still waiting for one that is eatable.

[jpg1747]

I generally cruise during Thanksgiving week, so we don't get the usual Thursday menu, which has the veal parmigiana on it. I finally got the chance to try it on my Destiny cruise and I was underwhelmed. The piece of meat was very thin and on the tough side, although the rest of it was fine. Not terrible, but I probably won't order it again.

 

The only other thing I've really disliked was the penne mariscos.

 

I am also not a fan of the chocolate melting cake. I tried it once and I'm not inclined to try it again.

[big_duck]

So 2.4% of us are right!

 

John Heald was shocked when CMC didn't win the favourite dessert in his "Carnival Awards" ... I wasn't.

[stargate fan]

CHOCOLATE MELTING CAKE is bad

 

I agree!

[ATL2LAS]

I guess I have really been lucky. Never ordered a dish I didn't like. I prefer my steaks really rare...still mooing if possible and they have always done them right. Not a big dessert eater so the WMC has remained untried. Maybe this cruise...

[Kel040]

On the Fascination I ordered a BLT one evening, from room service. I was really impressed with how quickly it came, then I figured out why... I am pretty sure it was made with leftovers from breakfast, toast and bacon were sooo dried out and hard as rock.. blaaa... yuck !

:( (sorry didnt like CMC either... so much hype from here, was expecting too much I guess... ice cream that was with it was really good though...)

[Buffettfan 225]

Some turkey main dish thing. My daughter ordered it and wouldn't eat it. I thought she was being a picky teen. . . until I tried it. It was supposed to be with gravy and stuffing but had a kind of sweet taste. Not appetizing at all. . .

I bet the turkey thing was Farfalle. My dad a die hard turkley lover also thought it was awful.

[Sargent_Schultz]

Without a doubt the flat iron steak. The only way to fix it is to delete it off the menu. I'll order a hamburger before I order a flat iron, which isn't a steak at all.

[laumicmah]

Our head waiter on the Liberty last month gave us his best recommendations every single night. He was dead on every time. He also would tell us the things to avoid, and although he said he couldn't recommend it, I ordered the dreaded sugar-free pumpkin pie. It was beyond nasty!

 

He also didn't recommend the chateaubriand and a few people in my family ordered it anyway. They ALL ordered something else after tasting it. I guess it pays to listen to your waiter.

I loved the Chateaubriand and was bummed they took it off the menu. DH didn't think it was all that though. I've liked everything I've ordered...loved some and liked some... until last cruise. I ordered the pene mariscos (for the third time on my third CCL cruise...so I got it every cruise and loved it the first 2 cruises). I don't know if it was because we had just come from the farewell celebration and I had a few too many of those free whiskey sours, but I couldn't eat. It tasted very fishy:p. It kind of did me in for the night...couldn't even eat my warm chocolate metlting cake :eek:.

[PictureChris]

The diet pumpkin pie is always that shiny wobbly tasteless glob that everybody has described. Tried on two different cruises and it was the same.

 

The wcmc to me is undercooked brownie batter with some choclate flavored sauce in the middle. Not appealing at all.

[vanityfur]

I know I'm also in the minority but I don't like it either. It's like eating a piece of cake that wasn't cooked all the way through.

 

That's because it isn't actually cake. It's a souffle.

[vanityfur]

Chicken a la Greque. BY FAR...

 

It was so covered in basil that it was literally green. I tried scraping off the basil -- it was stained green. And, it was the driest piece of chicken I have ever had.

 

Everyone at the table was staring at it and making faces.

[bigsmooth]

Generally, I've been very impressed by Carnival's MDR menu. I've never had anything I didn't love...except for once.

 

One night I ordered the diet pumpkin pie. I'm pretty sure it was just a goof in the kitchen, but the pie came out wobbling like jell-o on the plate. I took a bite of the shiny texture and tasted no pumpkin or even sweetness, but something like pure baking soda! Fortunately we were brought a different dessert very quickly, and the staff apologized. Now like I said, I highly doubt it was supposed to taste like that, so it's not an attack on the recipe. But man...was it bad! :p

 

Do you have any memories of dining disasters, or just something Carnival could improve on in general? Feel free to share.

Last May of the Freedom I had the pork chops. It was the most awful dinner I had ever had on a cruise ever. Just two bites. It was spoil I know for sure.

[bachstrad]

Well for me it was the Beef Wellington. Now to be fair, I had never tried Beef Wellington before and this may have been the best one ever made. However that was the most vile thing I have ever tasted. I make it a practice to try new foods every time I cruise and that one experience won't change that practice. But I sure won't order Beef Wellington again!:D

[Neotericisis]

As I said, I know that is how Duck is "supposed" to be served and that is totally disgusting.

Beef, yes

Pork, ok

Poultry, no way Jose.

And yes, I have eaten at fine dining establishments in case anyone is going to get snarky. Duck is just not for me.

 

Andy.

:D

 

 

Way to tell 'em Andy! You DID say you knew that was how it was supposed to be cooked, but you don't like the idea/taste of poultry that is not cooked through, people just want to start drama- as usual...

[CanWeGoYet?]

Usually I love the WCMC. One time, I ordered it late (after a mix up in desserts) and I think they rushed it. It was way way undercooked, and not good. But that was not the worst. The absolute worst, hands down, was the grand marnier souffle. It was nasty and eggy. No flavor except egg - disgusting. Maybe they forgot the grand marnier.

[WendyJo]

I had the chateaubriand on the Sensation way back in 2000 and it was wonderful, just as it should be, then on the Triumph in 2004, you needed a saw to get through it. It should never be that tough. The waiter offered to brng me another one, or something else, but I declined. Today I would not hesitate to send something that tough back.

 

Other than that I cant really say I had anything truly horrible on Carnvial, except on the last cruise on the Liberty, I really didnt like the fried oysters at the fish and chip place. They just tasted off. I thought maybe it was a one time thing, so I ordered them one night in the MDR as a starter and they tasted the same, oily, and not fresh tasting. Everything else was fine though. So it may be just me. I find the food mostly very good on Carnival, so I cant complain. I suppose all of us will find one or two things on a cruise that we would not order again.:)

 

And to the OP, I have not heard one person say they liked the diet pumpkin pie. I think it must really be that bad! LOL. I do however like the diet coconut, lemon and orange cake desserts though. I know I wont be trying the pumpkin pie anytime soon.

 

I tried the diet pumpkin cake because I like pumpkin so much. It wasn't great (it tasted like it had been prepared with unflavored gelatin) but I ate it and it wasn't BAD.

[WendyJo]

Usually I love the WCMC. One time, I ordered it late (after a mix up in desserts) and I think they rushed it. It was way way undercooked, and not good. But that was not the worst. The absolute worst, hands down, was the grand marnier souffle. It was nasty and eggy. No flavor except egg - disgusting. Maybe they forgot the grand marnier.

 

The Grand Marnier souffle is probably my favorite because it tastes custardy. Come to think of it, I don't think it had much GM in it but I enjoyed it.