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best menu items in Blu

gail8

By gail8,
in Celebrity Cruises

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gail8

gail8

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Hi we will be cruising aqua class for the first time and have searched but have had little luck finding a list of must haves in Blu. I am wondering what are peoples favourite dishes that are not to miss. We are pretty adventurous eaters...

 

Thanks Gail

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jenniebnyc

jenniebnyc

Posted
Posted

Always hit or miss depending on ship and chef, but I have I used to enjoy the soups quite a bit. The last cruise on Reflection ... not so much. I also like the beef on the first night. Always very good. As an adventurous eater, I say stick to basics in BLU. It's when Celebrity tries to get creative is where they lose sight of their dishes (IMHO). They sound good, they might even look good, but more than not, they don't taste that good. One example is the dish with the pumpkin gnocchi, AKA little balls of lead.

 

Can't go wrong with the french onion soup and escargot (they are tiny bits now and not whole snails, but still tasty)

 

I try to make my own dishes up and then I know the food will be fresh and made to order. So for example if they have turbot fish one night I ask for a different preparation to my liking and then it come out hot, fresh and I know what I am in for.

 

Breakfast used to be great too, but again last trip over a year ago on Reflection is was not good at all. I think sitting in chaffing dishes in the back. Bummer.

 

I hope they have improved since it's been a while.

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flames9

flames9

Posted
Posted

Breakfasts are always great!!

 

I enjoy their steak at the bottom of the menu that is always available, and I had it often on our recent British Isle cruise..I'm not a very adventurous eater,lol If it tastes good, why change,lol

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soxfan2013

soxfan2013

Posted
Posted (edited)

Overall, the food in Blu is very mediocre....the menu items sound great, but little flavor, rarely a wow. I think this is because Celebrity is catering to a Middle America taste bud that's just not a very high standard...so that's what they get away with.

 

Some of the items I thought were excellent:

* Curry chicken salad (appetizer)

* Bell pepper soup (soups generally were good)

 

I disagree that either the French onion soup or the escargot are great...both only OK. Too bad. So easy to make great.

 

The sauces for the entrees were generally too thick and somewhat bland. Steaks are cut way to thin to start with...the herb crusted lamb was not well crusted and not particularly distinctive. I had the lobster tails grilled and then served plain with lemon and butter sauce, and they were fine for frozen, plain grilled Caribbean lobster tails. I was very disappointed with the veal loin and the duck breast. The Caesar salad was ok.

 

THE OJ was delicious and a real treat!

 

The cheesecake was really weak (they it call it NY cheesecake, but the worst NY cheesecake is much better)...the ice cream was 95% served icy, which means it was sitting out and then refrozen...bad! (you know when the kids have a problem w chocolate ice cream, something's really missing). The apple pie is pretty good...hot deserts will be served warm, unless you request otherwise, and then sometimes they will be hot. I recall an apple crumble which was also very good.

 

The bread sticks are very good (unfortunately).

 

Service was painfully slow on the Summit, although the attitude of the staff is excellent, starting with and especially including the Maitre D (David) and the Sommelier (Elvis)...maybe they are understaffed?

 

Nice room, nice to have a space and place away from the MDR, but just nothing special in terms of food or service, and therefore pretty disappointing.

Edited by soxfan2013
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soxfan2013

soxfan2013

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watch for the crab martini, its an appetizer, my favorite!

 

One of my favorites too -- at most seafood or steak house restaurants besides Blu. Would have been expecting nice juicy chunks of lump crab meat...just wasn't up to par for me.

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jenniebnyc

jenniebnyc

Posted
Posted
Overall, the food in Blu is very mediocre....the menu items sound great, but little flavor, rarely a wow. I think this is because Celebrity is catering to a Middle America taste bud that's just not a very high standard...so that's what they get away with.

 

Some of the items I thought were excellent:

* Curry chicken salad (appetizer)

* Bell pepper soup (soups generally were good)

 

I disagree that either the French onion soup or the escargot are great...both only OK. Too bad. So easy to make great.

 

The sauces for the entrees were generally too thick and somewhat bland. Steaks are cut way to thin to start with...the herb crusted lamb was not well crusted and not particularly distinctive. I had the lobster tails grilled and then served plain with lemon and butter sauce, and they were fine for frozen, plain grilled Caribbean lobster tails. I was very disappointed with the veal loin and the duck breast. The Caesar salad was ok.

 

THE OJ was delicious and a real treat!

 

The cheesecake was really weak (they it call it NY cheesecake, but the worst NY cheesecake is much better)...the ice cream was 95% served icy, which means it was sitting out and then refrozen...bad! (you know when the kids have a problem w chocolate ice cream, something's really missing). The apple pie is pretty good...hot deserts will be served warm, unless you request otherwise, and then sometimes they will be hot. I recall an apple crumble which was also very good.

 

The bread sticks are very good (unfortunately).

 

Service was painfully slow on the Summit, although the attitude of the staff is excellent, starting with and especially including the Maitre D (David) and the Sommelier (Elvis)...maybe they are understaffed?

 

Nice room, nice to have a space and place away from the MDR, but just nothing special in terms of food or service, and therefore pretty disappointing.

 

I totally agree with this, Sox.

 

Never said onion soup and escargot was great if you were referring to me. Just "tasty" compared to other items available. :)

 

I will be in Luminae in January. Can't wait to try the food!

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Champagne Cruiser

Champagne Cruiser

Posted
Posted

I love the soups, especially the cold soups. There will always be something on the menu that you will like. If you order something that is disappointing just tell your waiter and he will bring you something rise. Although this has never happened to me I have seen others do this. Thanks for the tip on the steak at the bottom of the menu. I'll have to try this in my October cruise.

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soxfan2013

soxfan2013

Posted
Posted
I love the soups, especially the cold soups. There will always be something on the menu that you will like. If you order something that is disappointing just tell your waiter and he will bring you something rise. Although this has never happened to me I have seen others do this. Thanks for the tip on the steak at the bottom of the menu. I'll have to try this in my October cruise.

 

I always ordered multiple items and we generally ordered most things on the menu. They definitely aim to please and you can get as much of anything that you want...and while I somewhat agree w Jean -- once in a while you will stumble across something that is very nice -- most of the time it will be only OK, IMO.

 

We were disappointed that breakfast closes so early: 9:30 on cruise days and 9:00 on shore days. Def too early for us...would have expected and preferred closing time of 10:30 or...don;t think I've been to a resort where breakfast closes so early. Often food served was not hot (Breakfast and dinner). Pancakes never were hot. Also, they were unable to put blueberries in the pancakes but had blueberry walnut pancakes on the menu from a batter which was pre-mixed...not sure why it would have been difficult to sprinkle a few blueberries into the batter as the pancakes were cooking...small pet peeve.

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soxfan2013

soxfan2013

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I second the short ribs, melt in your mouth good and no fat on them. We tried the Crab Martini and sent it back as the crab tasted like it was off. Perhaps we should give it another chance.

 

Personally, I found the sauce on the short ribs to be too thick and sweet, but I can understand why they were popular. The chef said it takes more than 24 to prepare this dish.

 

There was a fish dish that I thought was good on night 2 or 3...but that doesn't really help too much.

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jelayne

jelayne

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The short ribs are our favorite. Also have had excellent duck and some not so good. Last cruise in Blu we had some very good steaks. I don't eat fish so no opinion on the seafood. DH enjoyed the frog legs but the lobster was not good.

 

For breakfast I love the muesli made tableside.

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Snit13

Snit13

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Posted

We are big BLU fans and with 8 Aqua/Suite cruises have only had 1 or 2 dishes we sent back. Love their lamb shanks. We are adventerous eaters and will try anything that doesn't eat us first so we find almost every dish in BLU far superior to MDR and at times better than Murano's or Tuscan. Been fortunate to be able to travel to many countries around the world, we find the food in BLU to our liking and almost world class. I will admit it is not as great as it was a few years ago.

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Cruizen Susan

Cruizen Susan

Posted
Posted
We are big BLU fans and with 8 Aqua/Suite cruises have only had 1 or 2 dishes we sent back. Love their lamb shanks. We are adventerous eaters and will try anything that doesn't eat us first so we find almost every dish in BLU far superior to MDR and at times better than Murano's or Tuscan. Been fortunate to be able to travel to many countries around the world, we find the food in BLU to our liking and almost world class. I will admit it is not as great as it was a few years ago.

 

This has been our experience too! And we are spoiled and hard to please gourmands! :)

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Tyler80

Tyler80

Posted
Posted
Hi we will be cruising aqua class for the first time and have searched but have had little luck finding a list of must haves in Blu. I am wondering what are peoples favourite dishes that are not to miss. We are pretty adventurous eaters...

 

Thanks Gail

 

Hi Gail,

 

It's my first time sailing Celebrity and in Aqua Class at Blu too. Really looking forward to breakfast and dinner. Can't wait to see everyone's opinion. We're not picky but favor more vegetarian options.

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UniPac

UniPac

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We will be doing a transatlantic cruise in October, our first Celebrity cruise and have an aqua cabin. We so appreciate all the information on the food. Really looking forward to trying these dishes.

 

If you are interested in the menus, make sure you click the link in my signature :)

 

If you are on a TA and it is longer than 14 days, the menu will be repeating. Cross your thumbs and they will have offer "Surf and Turf" on one of the last days as a special - had it on our repositioning cruise and loved it!

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perditax

perditax

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If you are interested in the menus, make sure you click the link in my signature :)

 

If you are on a TA and it is longer than 14 days, the menu will be repeating. Cross your thumbs and they will have offer "Surf and Turf" on one of the last days as a special - had it on our repositioning cruise and loved it!

 

Oh wow, thank you--despite fairly ambitious googling, this is way more than I was ever able to find and makes the Blu menu look far more appealing. :)

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