Current MDR Menu: What is Good and What is Bad?

[dkjretired]

Of course don't forget Ed's waffles for breakfast, get the fresh ones as they come off the grill.

[Lois R]

Regular MDR on the daily side of the menu! None of our table ever remembered a porterhouse before either (& we all ordered it)

 

Solstice did not have it listed on the every day menu. So I wonder

if varies....ship to ship.

[OzKiwiJJ]

Eclipse in March this year (Equinox past 2 years). Rack of lamb was superb. Lamb shank was gigantic but very tasty. Beef Wellington was a favorite at our table. I love fish & was surprised that there were few fish entrees. The standout for our table was the Porterhouse steak, never had a better steak on a cruise (& that includes specialties). Hot dogs/burgers by the pool are always good. Pasta to order in the buffet was quite good. The ice cream (especially the pistachio) in buffet is wonderful (& missed)

 

I noticed on our recent RCI cruise that the MDR menus tended to feature a lot of red meats, and less fish, poultry, game birds. Is Celebrity the same?

 

Not a major problem for me as I enjoy red meats, but I also like variety and found that on our earlier Princess cruise. I am curious to hear whether the red meat bias is cruise line specific (RCI only) or corporate (RCCL).

[Texed]

Of course don't forget Ed's waffles for breakfast, get the fresh ones as they come off the grill.

 

I whole-heartily agree with this statement. ;)

[awhfy]

Regular MDR on the daily side of the menu! None of our table ever remembered a porterhouse before either (& we all ordered it)

 

 

Folks, I didn't say everyday menu, I said daily (guess I should have said daily specials). The prime rib was very good too

[wendychloecruiser]

We recently returned from the Eclipse TA. I am a bit of a vegetarian. I will occasionally have a bite of chicken, though very rarely. I will eat fish. Personally I had a very difficult time finding something that was appetising. The best choice was a Caesar salad with grilled shrimp. I had to ask specifically for the shrimp to be grilled. The salmon was OK but the other fish dishes were hit and miss. The pasta options were not very good at all. I found that the buffet at lunch was fabulous as it had significantly more options due to the salad bar.

 

My DH never left hungry, but not wowed by anything. We would never base a future cruise based on choice of food, but I don't ever remember having as much difficulty on previous cruises (70) as I had on this one.

[wvufan]

Cruisestitch, did you have regular seating? We had my time and I wonder if that could have been a factor. Much of the time, our entrees were overcooked and dried out. For example, my lobster was horrible. The maitre d got me another and it was perfect. The steak Diane was the best meal I had.

 

My wife got the snails every night and loved them.

 

Happy Sails to You

 

OOOEEE Baby :D:D Bob and Phyl

[plimouth pilgrims]

I think you can have salmon everyday, as well as the French Onion Soup and escargot, from what I remember. If the Steak is available everyday, it must be good.

 

The steak they are referring to is a New York strip steak. I don't have the menus but here is a list of the recommendations from the 15 May Solstice cruise

Friday: Home style pork chop, we ate in Silk Harvest

Saturday: BBQ glazed Coba "Black Salmon" no one at our table ordered it, I had the Alaska Salmon

Sunday: Cabernet Braised Lamb Shank, Two people at our table ordered it and liked it, I had the Alaska Salmon again

Monday: Top Chef menu; We ate off the ship at Taku Lodge best meal of the trip for us.

Tuesday: Sautéed duck breast I ordered it and didn't like it, too much chewy fatty skin and was not crisp.

Wednesday: Lamb chop provencal This was lobster night but it is Caribbean lobster not sweet like a main lobster, tasted like a large fresh water shrimp'

Thursday: Veal cordon bleu: we both ordered it and it was ok, surprisingly it was not one of those packaged things.

Other thing I remember on the menu were Talaipa, Branzino and Chicken Cesar salad.

There was a sea day brunch in the MDR but not like they used to be. you ordered off a menu.

I know everyones taste is different so in our opinion the MDR food that we encountered at our table was just ok, good but not great.

[LuckiePuris]

My partner and I are foodies, and do love casual meals and fine dining meals. We went on our first Celebrity cruise last month and loved the food in the main dining room. We had a specialty restaurant package booked so we tried the specialty restaurants and loved those also, however we had no problems at all with the main dining room and looked forward to each dinner meal there. Lunches on sea days were also fantastic in the main dining room and we loved lunching there away from the crazy buffet. Breakfasts in the main dining room were ok however not amazing, so we preferred to have for breakfast in the buffet with some bagels and smoked salmon.

 

Some of the main dining room dishes are some of our best food memories from the cruise - crocodile, kangaroo, escargots (each night!), amazing desserts :)

[LuckiePuris]

PS we had set dining late sitting and food always come out hot and fresh, and cooked to perfection. We had a table of two, the only negative I have is that the tables were quite close to each other with only an approx 15cm gap between tables. As a couple we would have preferred a little more of a gap between tables, but this didn't affect our dining :) Wine sommelier always happy to help make recommendations and wine match to our courses to fit in with our premium beverage package.

[GUT2407]

I found the food pretty good.

 

The rib was nice 9pity it wasn't ribs).

 

And that was probably my biggest complain that a few times the servings were crazily small. But the quality wasn't too bad at all.

[curtdesilets]

I think you can have salmon everyday, as well as the French Onion Soup and escargot, from what I remember. If the Steak is available everyday, it must be good.

 

The steak they are referring to is a New York strip steak. I don't have the menus but here is a list of the recommendations from the 15 May Solstice cruise

Friday: Home style pork chop, we ate in Silk Harvest

Saturday: BBQ glazed Coba "Black Salmon" no one at our table ordered it, I had the Alaska Salmon

Sunday: Cabernet Braised Lamb Shank, Two people at our table ordered it and liked it, I had the Alaska Salmon again

Monday: Top Chef menu; We ate off the ship at Taku Lodge best meal of the trip for us.

Tuesday: Sautéed duck breast I ordered it and didn't like it, too much chewy fatty skin and was not crisp.

Wednesday: Lamb chop provencal This was lobster night but it is Caribbean lobster not sweet like a main lobster, tasted like a large fresh water shrimp'

Thursday: Veal cordon bleu: we both ordered it and it was ok, surprisingly it was not one of those packaged things.

Other thing I remember on the menu were Talaipa, Branzino and Chicken Cesar salad.

There was a sea day brunch in the MDR but not like they used to be. you ordered off a menu.

I know everyones taste is different so in our opinion the MDR food that we encountered at our table was just ok, good but not great.

 

I realize that the MDR quality has diminished since we first started cruising Celebrity 15 years ago. I'm sure you can still find a good meal, but heck, we were spoiled when the M-Class ships originally debuted. There was no need to try the one Specialty Restaurant onboard as every meal in MDR was 5-star in terms of quality, service and presentation. Those were the days!

[Queen of Oakville]

I think the food we had on Celebrity (MDR) was the best food we've ever had on a ship. The red meats options were all excellent and cooked to perfection. My daughter had the every day steak pretty much every day (except for the day she had prime rib) and it was always cooked to a perfect mid-rare. She had no complaints either.

 

I think timing does make a difference. We were MTD, generally at 7PM. food was served hot and perfectly cooked.

 

I agree that the portions were small(er). This was fine for me, as we often ordered two or three plates because everything looked so good! We'd each other an entrée, and then DH and I would order and extra one or two to share :D. No food wasted, so all was good.

[kseks]

I was on the same ship as you wvufan, and I found the MDR AMAZING!!! You obviously ordered the wrong stuff! I found the buffet very boring, repetitive and only ate breakfast there! Got so sick of seeing all that congee, rice and inedible stuff on a daily basis. The pizza and pasta bar NEVER changed from day to day, or night to night for that matter. B O R I N G!

[Oxo]

I was on the same ship as you wvufan, and I found the MDR AMAZING!!! You obviously ordered the wrong stuff! I found the buffet very boring, repetitive and only ate breakfast there! Got so sick of seeing all that congee, rice and inedible stuff on a daily basis. The pizza and pasta bar NEVER changed from day to day, or night to night for that matter. B O R I N G!

 

I know that food is very subjective. The MDR is good in our opinion, but not Amazing. The buffet had a very large selection considering you had salad bar, pizza, pasta, Mexican food, Indian food, Asian food, roast, chicken, pork, etc., every day. It looked the same, but you cannot eat all of that in one seating.

What would you have liked to see in the buffet that wasn't there to satisfy your tastes?

[cruzysuzy]

I normally cruise Princess and just had my first Celebrity cruise on the Solstice. Naturally I made some comparisons:

 

Pizza - Not a fan of Celebrity's 'cracker' crust pizza. I think Princess' chewy more New York style pizza is much tastier.

 

Rolls - The croissants in Celebrity's buffet were a bit better than Princess' but they really cheaped out in the MDR by overloading the dinner basket with sliced baguettes instead of yummy rolls that I get on Princess. Also, I was not a fan of their trio of whipped butter, hummus, and whipped cream cheese/chives. Give me regular butter anytime.

 

Desserts - Gotta give this one to Celebrity. Had some great ones at Cafe al Bacio - the strawberry chiffon cake was delish. The major exception was the ice cream both at the Gelateria and the dining venues. It lacked the higher butterfat content of Princess'.

 

Bistro on Five - not particularly special and the crepes were as thick as pancakes. I did not try any other pay venues.

 

Although there were highs and lows (great veal chop and French onion soup, awful overcooked lobster tail), I would rate Celebrity's food somewhat higher than Princess'.

[BunnyLebowski]

We took our 1st cruise in 2012 and were generally pleased with the meals served in blu.

 

Since then we have taken 1-2 cruises per year, and have likewise been happy with the food presented in th MDR. While not outstanding, it has genrably been edible/enjoyable. We are pretty laid back, and are happy so long as we have a good bottle of wine with dinner :)

 

We eat out a lot at home, and when eating in I cook with fresh, preferably local ingredients, so we are admitably a bit spoiled. That being said, we have never sent back a dish on a cruise ship.

 

The only caveat is that I have never been served a fish dish on Celebrity that hasn't smelled "fishy". As such I never order the fish anymore.

 

Escargot is fine, but bouillabaisse...uh, no way- that's always been foul smelling. Buffet fish is positively inedible. Same for fish items in Blu. Looking forward to trying Luminae in the next couple of months for their take on fresh fish.

 

On a positive note, the lamb is usually tasty, and I have positive memories of pasta dishes.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

[goldesq]

I normally cruise Princess and just had my first Celebrity cruise on the Solstice. Naturally I made some comparisons:

 

Pizza - Not a fan of Celebrity's 'cracker' crust pizza. I think Princess' chewy more New York style pizza is much tastier.

 

Rolls - The croissants in Celebrity's buffet were a bit better than Princess' but they really cheaped out in the MDR by overloading the dinner basket with sliced baguettes instead of yummy rolls that I get on Princess. Also, I was not a fan of their trio of whipped butter, hummus, and whipped cream cheese/chives. Give me regular butter anytime.

 

Desserts - Gotta give this one to Celebrity. Had some great ones at Cafe al Bacio - the strawberry chiffon cake was delish. The major exception was the ice cream both at the Gelateria and the dining venues. It lacked the higher butterfat content of Princess'.

 

Bistro on Five - not particularly special and the crepes were as thick as pancakes. I did not try any other pay venues.

 

Although there were highs and lows (great veal chop and French onion soup, awful overcooked lobster tail), I would rate Celebrity's food somewhat higher than Princess'.

where is Celebrity's pizza found...buffet or the Mast/Pool Grill? I am going on my first Celebrity cruise this weekend and typically cruise on Princess so I will have similar experiences as you coming up. I am not hitting any pay venues when we cruise next week other than Bistro possibly on Embarkation Day.

[Champagne Cruiser]

The pizza is at the buffet. They have at least 3 selections (plain, meat and veggie) and they have bowls of grilled veggies you can add on top.) I know food is subjective and that Princess has been rated the best pizza at sea, but DH loved the Celebrity pizza way more than Princess. Just goes to prove the subjectivity of the Great Food Debate:o

[4774Papa]

We like any of the lamb dishes. Most fish is good. Generally the shrimp with pasta is good.

We don't eat beef a lot, but have had mixed results with steak or prime rib.

 

The oysters are not fresh and just don't cut it.

Most desserts are excellent. Love creme bruile, crepe suzette and lava cake.

[CoralReef]

We enjoyed all the MDR menus during our 5/28 Connie cruise, except for one night. That night, I had the tilapia in puttanesca sauce, which was weirdly sweet, not spicy like a good puttanesca. Hubby had a beef stroganoff with shoe-leather beef. Heard complaints about the other dishes that night, too.

 

All other meals were great! Weird that nothing seemed to work that night. Fish, pasta, and simply prepared steak dishes are usually good.

[ghstudio]

I don't think anyone has been served a porterhouse steak on a Celebrity ship....including specialty restaurants. Most steak on the ship is NY Cut which is the non tenderloin part of a T bone steak. A porterhouse steak is larger and generally thicker than a T-bone and has significantly more tenderloin than a T-bone. I'm sure celebrity has taken freedom of expression to describe a t-bone as a porterhouse....but it's in word only.

 

we've found the steak in the specialty restaurants to be very tender and flavorful, but they are not porterhouse steaks. Our experience with the NY Strip steak is far less positive....in fact I probably send 1/2 of them back due to being overcooked or just terrible pieces of meat, or should I say gristle and fat.

 

But lamb dishes are almost all excellent and other dishes quite good if you avoid the non-chicken/turkey birds. Hot soups are generally quite good, salads are fresh, desserts can be iffy in the MDR and buffet, but there's always cafe al bacio which has great (and free) pastries most of the day and evening. Finally the sushi in the buffet is refreshing starting at 5pm...

 

If you order the shrimp cocktail, order two...but other appetizers seem to be nice size.

Edited July 4, 2015 by ghstudio

[rlbeck]

I don't think anyone has been served a porterhouse steak on a Celebrity ship....including specialty restaurants. Most steak on the ship is NY Cut which is the non tenderloin part of a T bone steak. A porterhouse steak is larger and generally thicker than a T-bone and has significantly more tenderloin than a T-bone. I'm sure celebrity has taken freedom of expression to describe a t-bone as a porterhouse....but it's in word only.

 

we've found the steak in the specialty restaurants to be very tender and flavorful, but they are not porterhouse steaks. Our experience with the NY Strip steak is far less positive....in fact I probably send 1/2 of them back due to being overcooked or just terrible pieces of meat, or should I say gristle and fat.

 

But lamb dishes are almost all excellent and other dishes quite good if you avoid the non-chicken/turkey birds. Hot soups are generally quite good, salads are fresh, desserts can be iffy in the MDR and buffet, but there's always cafe al bacio which has great (and free) pastries most of the day and evening. Finally the sushi in the buffet is refreshing starting at 5pm...

 

If you order the shrimp cocktail, order two...but other appetizers seem to be nice size.

 

Melody(awhfy) is correct. On a recent Celebrity cruise I ordered a steak. What was delivered looked like a very thick cut t-bone with a very generous tenderloin portion. It was excellent. One of the best I've ever had in any venue on a cruise ship......BTW, the crab cakes in the MDR are to die for!!! :)

[neverbeenhere]

We enjoyed all the MDR menus during our 5/28 Connie cruise, except for one night. That night, I had the tilapia in puttanesca sauce, which was weirdly sweet, not spicy like a good puttanesca. Hubby had a beef stroganoff with shoe-leather beef. Heard complaints about the other dishes that night, too.

 

All other meals were great! Weird that nothing seemed to work that night. Fish, pasta, and simply prepared steak dishes are usually good.

 

I would have gone for the buffet as soon as I saw "shoe-leather beef" on the menu.:p

[Kevnzworld]

The MDR, and most Celebrity restaurants are best with anything slow cooked, stewed, braised or roasted. Anything made to order ala minute is problematic.

Stick with soups, casseroles , and the above..