Equinox 1/2 - 1/11 A Food Report

[vedettes1]

Just got home and here is a brief food report from a dedicated cook and eater:

 

All our dinners were in MDR. In general, the main courses were good to excellent, with portions that were normal for a good restaurant:

 

* "Seared Salmon" Absolutely perfect. It is tricky to get salmon cooked to precision and X nailed it. I'm from Seattle and even I was impressed.

* Duck Breast. We asked about doneness and our waiter said all were cooked the same - "medium." We wanted Mid-rare or less. He said he would do what he could with the chef. We got perfect medium rare. Bravo.

* Roast Veal Loin. Again we asked for mid-rare and received it. Very tasty.

* Branzino - outstanding, outstanding. Dish of the Week.

* Cajun Drum. Fish was good but not much Cajun seasoning.

* Tilapia. Perfectly cooked and seasoned.

* NY Strip; Prime Rib. Very tender, cooked exactly as requested. Meat not quite as flavorful as it might be.

* Roast Duck. Beautifully roasted and got half a duck each!

* Lamb Chops Provencal. Wife raved about them and she know lamb.

 

* Butternut Squash w/ caramelized apples. This was a travesty that should have never left the X test kitchens. Looked like hell and tasted worse. A glop of gruel. BTW head of dining came and tasted and agreed.

 

As we have experienced on X before, the fish choices were consistent winners.

 

Appetizers were generally well-conceived and executed. Kudos especially to frog legs, short ribs, seafood salad. There was a scallop app that was particularly good. I cannot remember whether it was raw (ceviche) or poached, but in any case it was barely cooked. It, like other app servings, was very small (one scallop sliced in half horizontally). If I had it to do over, I would order two or even three. App failures? Caprese looked fine, but with only three ingredients, they better be good. In this case, the tomatoes were tasteless mush. Out of season, they need to use cherry tomatoes or abandon the dish.

 

I am not much for sweets, but I did have crème brulee which was quite good.

 

Not much to say about the Oceanview buffet. Disappointment was in two of the most popular things in the morning. Omelet station was slow and the results bad. The guy doing them some mornings doesn't seem to know exactly what an omelet is. Cooking of bacon was haphazard and sloppy at best.

 

A couple of notes on things that have been talked about here. Some have said that "lamb shanks" are no longer lamb shanks, but rather some shredded lamb wrapped up in phyllo dough. Well that's exactly correct, but X did not advertise them as shanks, just "Slow-braided lamb wrapped in phyllo" so no falseness there. We did not have them, so no appraisal

 

Also, there are indeed still daily special in Bistro on 5. I did not write them all down, but they included mac/cheese, bouillabaisse, short ribs.

 

In general, we were well pleased. The butternut squash dish was the only disaster and it was quickly replaced. Our waiter and sommelier wanted only to please us and everyone. I would call it another very good Celebrity experience.

[Alsmez]

Thanks for the report - I love hearing food reviews from people who love to eat and cook! We'll be on Reflection in a few weeks but won't be eating in the MDR. However, I'm happy to hear that things seem to be going well there - perhaps we'll drop in one night, just to see! Also glad to know that Bistro is still serving an expanded menu.

[storelady]

Thanks for the food review.

 

Have a question about the Bistro. Does the 5.00 pp cover charge allow you to have anything and as much as you want?

 

Thanks in advance for the info.

[suec12]

For your dinners, were you assigned seating or select? I think, like you, my main focus is the food but I've gotten a bit concerned by some of the comments lately about service, esp. in select venue.

[az_tchr]

A comment that the general tone on Cruise Critic for all boards has turned negative the last few months. Daughter was on X a couple months ago and service was just fine in Select. The only problem IMO is that they sometimes try to hurry there a bit to accommodate those waiting. Same situation in MDR on early seating. DW and I are usually at a table in late seating where they are turning off the lights as we enjoy the company of others.

[vedettes1]

We were in select dining. We had reserved the same time each night (6:15, so we would enter after the first rush of early-sitting diners). We had most of our meals in the back section, with a few in what I would call the main area. In the back section, we had the same waiter (Andres) and sommelier (Allen) each time. They were wonderful, made sure we were happy and satisfied, and never rushed us in any way. In the main area, we had different staff at different tables but still got perfect service and certainly no rushing. Our overall feeling is that every staff member aims to please.

[kenevenpar]

Thanks for the food review.

 

Have a question about the Bistro. Does the 5.00 pp cover charge allow you to have anything and as much as you want?

 

Thanks in advance for the info.

 

$10 pp. It hasn't been $5 in a while, first increasing to $7, and now$10.

 

I'm not sure about as much as you want; I'm not a fan of BO5, so only go once a cruise, and do not eat much (DW likes it more than I).

[SAC69]

$10 pp. It hasn't been $5 in a while, first increasing to $7, and now$10.

 

I'm not sure about as much as you want; I'm not a fan of BO5, so only go once a cruise, and do not eat much (DW likes it more than I).

 

It's about to go to $15.00 in February when they switch BO5 to all sushi. You will also most likely see the sushi in the buffet disappear as well so you can't get it for free. I hate this upcoming change.:mad:

Edited January 15, 2016 by SAC69

[bananawindnj]

It's about to go to $15.00 in February when they switch BO5 to all sushi. You will also most likely see the sushi in the buffet disappear as well so you can't get it for free. I hate this upcoming change.:mad:

 

 

Will this change take place on the Eclipse also. We are going on it the end of February?