Specialty Restaurant Debate

[nostalgiaguru]

Hitting FOTS in a couple of weeks, and we are typically "why spend more for food when food is already included" type of people. But, we have some onboard credit, so we thought we would try one of the specialty restaurants. We are leaning towards Giovanni's Table, since some RC fanatic friends of ours say GT served them the best steak they've ever had (including Chops), and I like GT's format of serving.

 

Feel free to talk us out of it - what are your faves (of the restaurants we would find on FOTS).

 

Thanks

Edited June 21, 2016 by nostalgiaguru

[Clarea]

Giovanni's is our favorite too.

[BillOh]

Do Sabor for lunch one day. Have loved it twice. Once on Freedom and once on Oasis.

[troykahack]

Hitting FOTS in a couple of weeks, and we are typically "why spend more for food when food is already included" type pf people. But, we have some onboard credit, so we thought we would try one of the specialty restaurants. We are leaning towards Giovanni's Table, since some RC fanatic friends of ours say GT served them the best steak they've ever had (including Chops), and I like GT's format of serving.

 

Feel free to talk us out of it - what are your faves (of the restaurants we would find on FOTS).

 

Thanks

 

Last two times we have ate in Chops from ships based out of FLL, the steaks have not been as good as they were in the past. We were told by the staff that RCCL had changed supply venders for meat. Maybe others might know more. We cruised Jan/May this year.

[setsail]

You can't go wrong with either. Try both and make up your own mind.

[papaflamingo]

I have always been a Chops fan. However, we have stopped going as I think they have limited the menu a bit and it just isn't what it used to be. Plus too expensive now. We have always done Giovanni's for lunch. Menu is a bit smaller, but I've always liked the food there. And it's cheaper at lunch. To be honest, I've never had the steak at Giovanni's, but people do rave about it. So... depending on how much you want to spend with your OBC, try both.... Giovanni's for lunch and Chops for dinner. Also look for deals. Sometimes they offer 2 for 1 or a discount on day 1 or 2.

[jstewie23]

We will be on Freedom this summer. Will be eating at Giovanni's and Sabor. Had the steak at Giovanni's last time and it was fantastic. Much better deal than Chops (and I like Chops too).

[bdpatrick]

We did Giovanni's on the Allure a few years back. Absolutely loved it. We went for both lunch and dinner during our cruise. Lunch is also less expensive than dinner.

 

We will be going back to Giovanni's when we sail on the Radiance in December. Looking forward to it.

 

Sly

[island lady]

We use our BOBO on the second night, formal night, which makes it even

more elegant when we go to Chops. OBC goes a bit further that way also. ;)

 

If we still have enough, we might go to Giovannis, Izumi, Chefs Table, and love

150 Park Ave on Oasis. :)

[Paul65]

Think of the "why pay more, when food is already included" argument in terms of your normal dining out. You probably occasionally go to a nicer restaurant in your home city/town, even though it costs more than some other alternatives. Why do that? Usually, because you want the different food and/or atmosphere/experience that it provides.

 

So, I would definitely say try a specialty restaurant with your OBC, and you can then decide for yourself in the future, whether it's worth the extra money to get the different experience.

 

I'm one who is generally satisfied with dinners in the main dining room, but like to do a specialty restaurant once or twice during a cruise.

[IsanTom]

GT is very good, but I like Chops, too!

[Royal2464]

Royal Caribbean got greedy and ruined Chops. Took the good sides away, destroyed the dessert offerings, reduced portion sizes and increased the price. My opinion go to Giovanni's before they ruin it too, in their blinded efforts to improve their bottom line by sacrificing quality.

[Iluvcruising2]

We did Chops, Giovanni's and Izumi during our recent cruise on the Serenade. We liked them all. Headed to Chops because we wanted to eat the beef, soup and dessert. Here is a video to show you what we ate.

[YOUTUBE]8Z_babm5mhI[/YOUTUBE]

[George C]

Giovanni's is so worth the money have done it at least 6 times in last 3 years ( some for lunch) , had not been impressed with Chops on a few of our cruises but last cruise 2 months ago on Liberty the filet mignon was perfect as good as any steak restaurant, so good we retuned a couple of days later. ( we also like Izumi and wish it was on more ships)

We eat half our dinners in specialty restaurants.

[nostalgiaguru]

Royal Caribbean got greedy and ruined Chops. Took the good sides away, destroyed the dessert offerings, reduced portion sizes and increased the price. My opinion go to Giovanni's before they ruin it too, in their blinded efforts to improve their bottom line by sacrificing quality.

 

Ouch, can I buy you a drink? :)

[cruisegirl1]

It is toss up for Chops or Giovanni's. On a recent Freedom cruise we went to Chops and had a delicious meal. I noticed that Sabor was busy every night.

 

enjoy M

[beachnative]

Royal Caribbean got greedy and ruined Chops. Took the good sides away, destroyed the dessert offerings, reduced portion sizes and increased the price. My opinion go to Giovanni's before they ruin it too, in their blinded efforts to improve their bottom line by sacrificing quality.

 

I totally agree.

 

We seldom go to Chops now that it has removed some of our favorite items and replaced them with cheaper items (tater tots is one of the new offerings).

 

GT has become our standard as well as Chefs Table.

[Paulette3028]

When we do a specialty restaurant we choose something they don't offer in the MDR, like Izumi. If you want a better cut of steak than what is offered in the MDR, you can order one there....but to us, you can't get Japanese food in the MDR at all.

 

Every dinner we have had in an Izumi has been very good and well worth the money spent....of course if you are not into Japanese food, this option won't work for you....but we love sushi and the other offerings at Izumi.

[island lady]

When they used to let you do both BOGO coupons during the week (not

just first and second night), we did Chops first formal night, then Giovannis

on the second formal night. But no longer, since they changed that.

 

On some ships, we thought Chops was better than Giovannis, then on

others ships, we thought Giovannis was better. We never know from

ship to ship or sailing to sailing what to expect in those, but we have

never had a bad Chef's Table! :)

[nostalgiaguru]

One final question - I assume that the beverages included in the cover charge at GT are the same as those included in the main dining room? Or, are there additional alternatives?

 

Getting fired up - 17 days!

[Clarea]

One final question - I assume that the beverages included in the cover charge at GT are the same as those included in the main dining room? Or, are there additional alternatives?

 

Getting fired up - 17 days!

Same free beverages as the MDR.

[bigque]

We really enjoy eating our meals in the MDR each night after having usually eaten breakfast and lunch in the Windjammer. There is always something we like on the menu and there have only been a couple of times we ordered something we did not like and asked for something different. With that being said we usually eat in specialty restaurants on a couple of nights just for something different to do! We also like Johnny Rockets burgers and will usually eat lunch there on one of the sea days! :cool:

[BigGuy25]

We no longer take special clothes for formal nights. We simply book the specialty restaurants on those nights (they don't have the formal suggestion). As soon as we board, as we're wandering around the ship, we stop by the restaurants and make our reservations. We like them all ... but Giovanni's is our least favorite. We were quite pleasantly surprised by Sabor Modern Mexican Cuisine on our Trans Atlantic in May. We actually ate there twice!!

[nostalgiaguru]

... but Giovanni's is our least favorite.

 

Critique, please

[legaljen1969]

It has been over a year since we cruised on FOTS. However, we found Chops to be better than Giovanni's on FOTS. I didn't find Giovanni's to be any better than a chain outfit like Macaroni Grill. We enjoyed the staff more. The food was excellent. It was so good, we went to Chops twice on our sailing.

 

This year, we cruised on Allure and Giovanni's was wonderful. I did not have the steak at Giovanni's but have heard good things about it. We also went to Chops (on Allure) and it was not a great experience. The food was almost no better than the MDR in my opinion. My husband loved his and wanted to go back to Chops again. I told him if he could find someone else in our party to go with him, I didn't care if he went again. I just wasn't paying more money for it again.

 

It can vary ship to ship, and sailing to sailing.

 

Others have also suggested Sabor. I will tell you that I loved Sabor when we were on FOTS. So if you want something a little different, Sabor might be worth a shot.

 

My opinion? Chops is better than GT on FOTS. But that was over a year ago, and we also have a phenomenal server.