Epic Specialty Restaurants

[SUZIECRUISE]

We are sailing on February 5th cruise and I was wondering what are the best restaurants to try? Also do you really need to book the nightly shows before you get on the crusie? I have no idea what we will want to do until we get there. Also any input for the kids club would be great because we have 4 year old girl. THANKS!

[sdmike]

Suzie - Have you tried the search function? These topics have been covered extensively on the boards already.

[jdl71115]

We ate at all free restaurants except for the brazillian steak house and that was well worth the $18 up charge. We have a restaurant similar to that is Las Olas, FL and its about $50/pp so we really felt the $18 was a good deal. The salad bar was awesome there too!

 

Our DD is 4 also and LOVED LOVED LOVED kids camp. I cannot say enough good things about the kids camp on the EPIC. The staff was amazing, it was so well organized, and my daughter never wanted to leave. She begged to go every day. They did leggos, watched movies, played in the jungle gym area, they have a dance game so much stuff for them to do!

[KandJCruising]

As far as restaurants, I highly recommend Moderno. Favorite restaurant at sea! Go hungry. As far as shows, I'd definitely book Cirque Dreams if you want to see that since it tends to fill up. If you want to see another show at a specific time, I'd also book that beforehand. Otherwise, it didn't seem like getting into a show on standby was overly difficult.

We didn't travel w/ kids, so I don't have any info on their activities or shows.

[david_sobe]

We are sailing on February 5th cruise and I was wondering what are the best restaurants to try? Also do you really need to book the nightly shows before you get on the crusie? I have no idea what we will want to do until we get there. Also any input for the kids club would be great because we have 4 year old girl. THANKS!

I really liked just about every specialty restaurant I ate at. This may sound funny but the only "free" restaurant I ate at was O'Sheehans for lunch. I never ate at Taste or Manhattan. I wanted to try as many specialty restaurants as I could.

 

La Cucina $10 - worth it but a near miss. Very rustic, romantic (big plus). Very good pizza, yummy italian bread, good wine, great service, but ok pasta or veggie lasagne. We had fantastic service there.

 

Moderno $18 - Just fun to at least try it once. Some meats are excellent while others are not so great. You want to try everything but that creates a problem and fills you up before you get to sample the meats you want to try again. They give you sample sides of fries, rice, and mashed potatoes.

 

Shanghais - My favorite meal on the ship. I am not a huge Chinese fan but got to try the Fung Pao Chicken (forgive my spelling), chicken fried rice, and tried the spring rolls and calamari. My dish was good and spicy but not too spicy. Their BBQ ribs as an appetizer are quite good too. $15

 

Cagneys $25 - best steak ever. Not as good as my other Cagney's experiences but extremely close. Their signature martini is very good but also quite strong. If you dont like steak, then it may not be worth it.

 

Sushi Bar - pretty good but definately not the best sushi. I forget the price here but I think they charge per roll or item. Not the best service we encountered.

 

Never tried Noodle Bar or Le Bistro (not enough time)

 

Loved Epic Club

 

The Buffet looked good and one morning I had a few items

 

My opinion is the food is pretty good and even all over the ship. I prefer the specialty restaurants because I dont like buffets and I think the service is better and food is a bit better dictated to a special area.

 

Pizza delievery - very poor pizza

 

Murder Mystery lunch - very average

 

Cirque Dreams - very good beef surf and turf but extremely small portions

[Keith B]

I gained 10 pounds in 7 days. Need I say more?

[silkhair1]

I gained 10 pounds in 7 days. Need I say more?

 

I think that is average! LOL

[Tomct]

Hard to recommend a restaurant for others, but our favorites on the Epic and NCL in general are the Specialties, specifically Cagney's, LeBistro and the Italian offering which varies by ship. On the Epic, the one we missed because we ran out of time and did enjoy the main dining rooms as well, was Moderno. We also have a version nearby us in Connecticut, but we are not "overeaters", so passed up this opportunity, even though one night they were offering 2/1 martinis.

 

As for advance reservations, we did that and it was a bit of a pain in the neck, especially trying to coordinate with our out of state traveling companions. It also goes a little against FreeStyle cruising, but we did it mainly so we could plan our dinners around the advance reservations we made for the shows. If you are planning to see most of the shows, then making reservations for them is recommended. If you are not so concerned with which restaurants you dine at, then you could wait until you are on board, but that could lead to some conflict with the show reservations. No fear though, there is always plenty of dining options around.

[kerrytens]

Great questions Suzie. Trying to figure out which restaurants and shows I can fit into a short 7 days too:)

[jdvmd]

We did make all of our entertainment reservations before leaving and I was glad that I did because I didn't want to stand in line once I got on the ship. We originally had a Legends show booked but ended up staying in the Epic Club with our new friends from CC and bagged the show. It wasn't a big deal to attend a different show later in the week. We just went and stood in line.

 

LeBistro is still our favorite restaurant. Loved Teppanayki as well. Didn't try Shanghai. Moderno -- the salad bar was wonderful but we didn't care for the food overall as things were more done than we like. I wouldn't do that one again. Also had a lovely meal in the Manhattan Room and great service. We had a reservation for LaCucina but decided to cancel. Next time around, I will be back at LeBistro and Teppanaki. I will also go to the MDRs.

[Why Knot Me]

Great questions Suzie. Trying to figure out which restaurants and shows I can fit into a short 7 days too:)

 

We couldn't fit it all in during 7 days, that's why I'm going back in three weeks.

[patseacruiser]

I ate in the main dining rooms - Manhattan (no shorts) and Taste and thought the food was good. However, Modernos - JMO - was excellent. The salad bar is great. But you have to go hungry. And they have wonderful fried bananas with the side dishes. Blue Man Group was great - went twice but found you had to get on line about 1/2 hour - 45 minutes early to get a prime seat. I liked Second City, Howl at the Moon. I tried to get into Cirque premium and even though I had a reservation and was 1/2 hour early there was no seating left for 2 at the same table. They pack them in like sardines there. I loved the Epic. Enjoy!