Le Cirque

[forevertravel]

Those of you who have dined at Le Cirque, is it worth the $39/pp charge? We'll be on the Zuiderman sailing April 9th and considering dining at Le Cirque. Any recommendations?

[kazu]

Those of you who have dined at Le Cirque, is it worth the $39/pp charge? We'll be on the Zuiderman sailing April 9th and considering dining at Le Cirque. Any recommendations?

 

You'll get different answers on this I'm sure ;) We had it on the Prinsendam and really enjoyed it:) The regular PG dinner has more choices, but the selections were delicious. As long as there is something on the menu that appeals to you I would definitely recommend it.

 

I actually wasn't sure if I would like it and was very impressed (food is always subjective). In all fairness, I have to say that it was on the Prinsendam where I had the best Pinnacle Grill experience ever:)

[Krazy Kruizers]

We have done Le Cirque several times and loved it each time.

[George C]

I was ok, I think it is about the same as Pinnacle which is 25 a person, did both in November when we were on Zuiderdam. There are serval recent threads on this.

[SwissMyst]

Those of you who have dined at Le Cirque, is it worth the $39/pp charge? We'll be on the Zuiderman sailing April 9th and considering dining at Le Cirque. Any recommendations?

 

We did not think it was worth it on our very recent Masdam cruise. The food is okay, but nothing special. There was no presentation that was more than the sum of its parts which was the biggest disappointment for us, and some of it was too "cute" at the expense of meaningful culinary exploration.

 

It is so hard to compare food from ship to ship, so it is hard to know if the Zuiderdam is better. But our own feeling is this was a failed experiment in premium dining.

 

The Pinnacle on the Maasdam was a far superior dining experience, in both creativity and taste with its new menu with more international offerings. (Lamb skewers and chicken coconut milk soup, creme brûlée trio were excellent)

[FLACRUISER99]

Did it once - never again IMO was a waste of $$$ the meal at the Pinnacle was better.

[josey1964]

We did it on the Westerdam on 5th Jan.

Enjoyed the experience, but would not bother again.

But pompous in attitude and looked at us gone out when we produced our own wine.

[GeriatricNurse]

Did it once - never again IMO was a waste of $$$ the meal at the Pinnacle was better.

 

 

Could you please elaborate why (Le Cirque), for you, "was a waste of $$$"? :confused: In post #3, on this thread, Krazy Kruizers stated "We have done Le Cirque several times and loved it each time". I am still debating whether or not to book it as there seems to be (ongoing) conflicting opinions whether Le Cirque is worth the extra cost, (with seemingly, a limited menu choice), as compared to the Pinnacle Grill! :(

[kazu]

Could you please elaborate why (Le Cirque), for you, "was a waste of $$$"? :confused: In post #3, on this thread, Krazy Kruizers stated "We have done Le Cirque several times and loved it each time". I am still debating whether or not to book it as there seems to be (ongoing) conflicting opinions whether Le Cirque is worth the extra cost, (with seemingly, a limited menu choice), as compared to the Pinnacle Grill! :(

 

GN - I think Le Cirque and PG dinners can vary by ship to ship. What ship are you sailing on? That might help some of us tell you past experiences;)

[GeriatricNurse]

GN - I think Le Cirque and PG dinners can vary by ship to ship. What ship are you sailing on? That might help some of us tell you past experiences;)

 

Noordam (March/April) and Eurodam (July/August)! :)

I would appreciate any comments related to their 'Le Cirque' dining experience(s) on these two ships! :)

[Krazy Kruizers]

We have been fortunate that the Le Cirque's that we have gone to have been very good.

 

But who knows whether it will be as great on the next ship.

 

Each ship / chef seems to cook differently.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Noordam (March/April) and Eurodam (July/August)! :)

 

I would appreciate any comments related to their 'Le Cirque' dining experience(s) on these two ships! :)

 

We were on the Noordam in Nov / Dec -- for 21 days and did it both times.

As I said -- food was very good!!

[Typhoon1]

A night or two at the PG suits us just fine. Le Cirque isn't worth the additional charge.

[Hlitner]

A bit off topic, but we are somewhat surprised that a world-class restaurant such as Le Cirque would lend their name to a HA promotion that is not even a shadow of the real thing. On the other hand, $39 per person at the real Le Cirque would not even begin to cover the tips much less the food :)

 

Hank

[SwissMyst]

Count us in the category that found the food at Le Cirque to be okay. It will be a lovely night of dining. It just was not a great night of dining per the name and tradition of the restaurant nor compared to more interesting items at the Pinnacle.

 

I had an excellently flavored lamb kabob at the Pinnacle. Perfect pieces of lamb with haunting middle eastern flavors. Ordered the lamb dish at Le Cirque a few nights after the great lamb at Pinnacle and it was more like roast lamb and gravy. Fine for roast lamb and gravy, but nothing special other than it was very good quality meat, which the Pinnacle had as well. I am sure Le Cirque's menu called it something more enticing, but it was far more like a Sunday Dinner with the relatives dinner - good and better quality than the main dining room. Just not special.

 

The lobster with citrus was equally disappointing as just a hunk of cold lobster with some orange slices and a sort of dollop of a mayonnaise type sauce on the side - nothing tying any of the flavors together. The squash and huckle berry soup was more cutesy novel than culinary worthy, pate mouse in a thimble full with rhubarb was not even pleasant but the chocolate soufflé was good, though again pretty standard.

 

So it was good food. I expected good dining. Charming as everyone was, there was nothing more to make it worth the extra money than the more premium dinner at the Pinnacle a few nights earlier. I think Le Cirque's time has passed.

 

They may have been novel and inventive decades ago when US tastes were far more pedestrian. But what they offer no longer reaches any culinary standard for exceptional treatment. Maybe I expected too much because there was a time when Le Cirque ruled the NYC dining world.

[tcook052]

Any recommendations?

 

Yes, CC search has probably dozens of threads on this topic with plenty of opinions both pro & con.

 

FWIW While I didn't try it on Ryndam I walked off today I did enjoy it on Eurodam last January.

[Tarpeian Rock]

We did Le Cirque on Eurodam last year. I agree with those who feel Pinnacle was better. The Le Cirque experience seemed more about presentation and "cute" (as another poster stated) and not so much about the food. We wouldn't do it again, but we consider Pinnacle a must at least once per cruise.

[beachbum789]

We were on the Rotterdam for the Holiday Circle Hawaii Cruise (12/21/2011 to 01/04/2012) and we enjoy the Le Cirque evening. We also dined one night on the Pinnacle Menu and that was good too. For the $14 difference between the Pinnacle and the Le Cirque, We thought it was worth it.

[JP1320]

Noordam (March/April) and Eurodam (July/August)! :)

 

I would appreciate any comments related to their 'Le Cirque' dining experience(s) on these two ships! :)

 

I can only give you an opinion as far as Le Cirque on The Eurodam. We did dine at both Le Cirque and The Pinnacle on our Christmas Holiday cruise. Again, this is purely an opinion but at the time we all thought the same, The Pinnacle gets the vote, so much so we dined there on three nights.

 

Le Cirque is nice, a smaller selection of choices presented fairly well and also very tasty. However, having tried three different selections per person from The Pinnacle, and all being given the thumbs up, speaks volumes. From your Appetizer through to your dessert, quality food plus fantastic service. As far as bringing your own wine we had no problems whatsoever, they decanted it for us and had a great follow up service.

 

Enjoy both your cruises and your choice of restaurants.

 

Incidentally, having enjoyed The Pinnacle so much I have it booked for four nights on our upcoming 11 Day Zuiderdam cruise.

[mvkor]

Usual PG Menu is much more better than Le Cirque.

We would not go again for Le Cirque.

 

But I would strongly recommend to go for Dine with the Chief.

This is excellent event with beautiful food, a lot of fun, and plenty of very good wine.

Have done it on Ryndam in September and Love it!!!

[Casino Player]

Those of you who have dined at Le Cirque, is it worth the $39/pp charge? We'll be on the Zuiderman sailing April 9th and considering dining at Le Cirque. Any recommendations?

 

HHHHHEEEEELLLLLLLLLLOOOOO forevertravel: Go for it. Le Cirque is a restaurant on Manhattan island which is part of NYC. It is an exclusive restaurant where if you want to see famous people that is the place to go. The food quality I don't know. I do know it is very expensive so for $39 a plate you are getting quite a bargain. Go and enjoy.

[FLACRUISER99]

Could you please elaborate why (Le Cirque), for you, "was a waste of $$$"? :confused: In post #3, on this thread, Krazy Kruizers stated "We have done Le Cirque several times and loved it each time". I am still debating whether or not to book it as there seems to be (ongoing) conflicting opinions whether Le Cirque is worth the extra cost, (with seemingly, a limited menu choice), as compared to the Pinnacle Grill! :(

I had a very tough steak, complained about it and only got the 'Deer in the headlights stare". Food is very subjective I know however for the extra cost the meal was unsatisfactory & the staff did nothing not even offer too bring me a different piece of meat!