Dining in a specialty restaurant

[apollobeach]

On all the cruises we have been on we have dined atleast once in the specialty restaurant(s). Dining in a specialty restaurant should be an outstanding dining experience on all levels. This was true for Aqualina on the Azamara Journey and Sabatini's

on the Coral Princess.

What has been your personal experiences regarding specialty restaurant(s)?

[ikelmay]

We always try to enjoy at least one specialty restaurant meal on our cruise - most have been well worth the money. One highlight was the Carnival Miracle, partly down to the excellent duo performing - the singer reminded us of Karen Carpenter's clarity of voice.

 

We also enjoyed Aqualina and Prime C on Azamara, the service and food was outstanding. The one maybe that I wasn't so taken with was the Pinnacle on board HAL's Ryndam - it may have been the quantity of the food or the overbearing service which became a little unnerving.

[MiamiSpartan]

We try to hit a premium restaurant at least once, usually twice during a 7 day trip...Often, I will pick one, and my partner will pick one...

All have been fantastic with the exception that none of us were too bowled over by the steak house on the Caribbean Princess...There were 8 in our party, and with the exception of those who ordered the filet, most of our meat was a tad tough, and over-cooked. Could've just caught them on a bad night, tho...

We've been very pleased with our other choices: Sabitini on Princess, Chops and the Italian place on RCCI (have eaten in both of those multiple times, Le Bistro, the steak house, and the Teppenyaki place on NCL, but thought the Italian place was just ok...

[Kenito]

I am all fired up to dine at the specialty restaurant on my next cruise... looking forward to it, and interested in the responses here.

 

Some will say that I am a bit anal about it and tending to over-plan, but I had thought to make reservations in advance. I don't want to do it on a port day or a formal night since I will be inviting guests to join me. It would be nice if they published the formal nights in advance... but that just doesn't seem to happen.

 

So I guess I will just wait until I get aboard and make my decision on the fly. If they are sold out that night, oh well. Next cruise....

 

But I am definately looking forward to the experience, and I'm sure it will all work out.

[apollobeach]

Our waiter at Sabatini's on the Coral Princess suggested that we have our meal like a "tasting Menu" in that he would have a large tray/dish with the food from each course and give us small portions of each. This was wonderful and we got such a wide range of Italian items. The only drawback was that by course four, we were full. We still had three (or so) courses to go. If we had known this was the manner of the meal, we would have gone to Sabatini's twice (once for course one to four and once for the next three or so).

 

Yes, it is strongly suggested to make reservations for the evening you want to dine. This can be done in some cases before travel or going to the restaurant once on board.

[Ithocles]

We went to a specialty restaurant on our first cruise, and were amazed at the experience. It's the first time we've ever had a two hour dining experience and were pleasantly surprised at how enjoyable it was. The food was amazing and the service was beyond compare.

 

I'm not sure how I would like NCL though, with so many different specialty restaurants. Is it my impression, or do they have many more specialty restaurants that other cruise lines?

 

-Danny

[Schplinky]

We have had varying levels of service and food in specialty restaurants. I thought the Pinnacle Grill on HAL was incredibly average in both food and service (they came around twice during meal trying to sell us a wine tasting the following day). I also did not love Sabatini's (sorry) because they seem to prefer to serve you volumes of food over quality. That was our experience on Sapphire Princess, at least.

 

We have been on a few shipboard steakhouses and the best was Carnival Dream. We didn't expect that but it was better than Chops (RCL), Sterling (PRincess) and Pinnacle (HAL) easily.

 

We really liked the Italian restaurant, Giovanni's, on Oasis but again, it was FAR too much food. I know, it's easy to just say no or to not eat it but that's not really true in these places. They just keep bringing it and asking if you're not enjoying it if you don't eat it!

 

My favorite specialty restaurant was the Silk Harvest on Solstice. It was a combincation of a lot of Asian foods, served in small plates for sharing. Tremendous service and delicious food.

[Darrell6t]

I have very mixed feeling about those specialty restaurants. On Oceania, where the special places cost nothing extra, the Italian place was wonderful. The steak place was the worst meal we had on the entire cruise. The main dining room was much better.

 

On HAL we have been to the Pinnicle Grill on several ships with very mixed results. I don't think I would go again unless our travel agent gave us a certificate. The atmosphere is nice, but the food and service isn't that much better than the main dining room.

 

On our recent NCL cruise we did not try any of the speciality places. Several of them were in extremely noisy situations and I could see no reason to pay extra for that. The steak place is an extra $25 apiece. I could have a nice steak dinner near my home for that price and with a prepaid decent dinner waiting in the main dining room, why pay as if I was going out at home. I got the impression that NCL's places were more into quanity than quality. Friends who went to the Special Indian Dinner were quite disappointed.

[apollobeach]

We are in agreement that the overall quality of the specialty restaurants can be quite varied. In conversations with other individuals, we have learned that a particular restaurant on one ship maybe excellent but not so on others. In our opinion, it really depends on the individual specialty restaurant and the ship it is on.

 

Yes, we have eaten in specialty restaurants where the food in the main dining room is better. In general, we have not been that impressed with the steak restaurants.

[Boytjie]

My experiences have been mainly with HAL. We have always had excellent meals in the Pinnacle Grill - some of the best steaks I have had (and live in New York City and have been exposed to top notch steak restaurants). I have been less impressed with the food in the Tamarind on the Eurodam.

 

On QM2 we had lunch in Todd English and it wasn't very good. Lunch was extremely slow (2 1/2 hours long!) and the food wasn't that great.

 

Our most recent cruise was on NCLA's Pride of America in Hawaii and the steak in the steak house was comparable to one I had in Applebee's last Saturday. Jefferson's Bistro wasn't bad but I have had better dinners in HAL's main dining room.

[CruisinMaterial]

I've been to several specialty restaurants on Princess and now more recently with Norwegian Cruise Line.

 

Princess I liked the Steakhouse onboard their ships and tried Sabitini's once. I wasn't impressed with Sabitini's either both service and food were just not up to par. The steakhouse on Princess had one of the largest high grade quality Porterhouse steaks I've ever consumed in my lifetime! It was HUGE and have a picture somewhere to prove it! :eek::D

 

On NCL I like a lot of their specialty restaurants. Teppanyak is a great dinner show and the food is ok. Cagney's Steakhouse by and far gets my vote ALL the time. Best service onboard the ship is given there and the food is impeccable. Love the Cagney's fries!

 

A lot of NCL fans love Le Bistro. I have dined there twice... once on the Jewel and once on the Spirit and found the Jewel to have a much better overall quality to the food. I found it strange because the menu items were the same. I have to say both restaurants decor alone would be enough to enjoy consuming a meal there.

 

Overall I'm hardly a foodie. After consuming Aramark crap for two years when I was in college I have learned to appreciate any warm meal that has good presentation and is warm (if I want it to be). Don't ever serve me Shepard's pie or I'll throw it at you!!! :p:eek::rolleyes::D

[cruzeluver]

We enjoy specialty dining and usually make it at least once per cruise. So far favorites are Le Bistro on NCL (both Majesty and Star) and Ocean Liners on Celebrity Constellation.

[MiamiSpartan]

We enjoy specialty dining and usually make it at least once per cruise. So far favorites are Le Bistro on NCL (both Majesty and Star) and Ocean Liners on Celebrity Constellation.

 

Agree on Le Bistro...

My partner grew up in Argentina, so he loves his beef....he'll order the Chateau briand for two....

:D

[Rotterdam]

My partner & I try the specialty restaurants on most cruises. We also try to eat ashore as much as possible.

 

QM2 / Todd English - we ate in 2x in13 days...it was quite good - tho not as good as his land based restaurants.

 

Azamara Journey - we tried both the steak & seafood restaurants...the steak was just ok - the seafood was a disaster - my lobster was still frozen & my partners shrimp raw....& it got worse.

 

HAL Pinnacle - after a couple of tries on several ships we gave up....mediocre at best as far as food & servoce. Funny that this past year on VEENDAM - the italian restaurant in the buffet area aws better than the DR & Pinnacle...the manager was excellent - we ate there 3x.