Chef's Table Menus

[SquatsandChampagne]

1 minute ago, jasardeax said:

We are probably in the minority here, but we don’t really get all the hype about Manfredi’s. We have dined there 5 different times on 3 VO cruises and found the food mediocre at best. In my opinion, on a good night it didn’t even reach the low bar of an American chain like Carraba’s, Olive Garden, Macaroni Grill, and certainly inferior to our local Italian restaurants.

 

I personally enjoy the restaurant more than Manfredi's, I think partially because once you get to know the waiters and wine stewards in the MDR the experience is much better (food nonwithstanding).

I could not believe how many people I saw complaining about food options at the Chef's Table, the menus are available on the Viking App, on the T.V. all over the place.

[caviargal]

35 minutes ago, jasardeax said:

We are probably in the minority here, but we don’t really get all the hype about Manfredi’s. We have dined there 5 different times on 3 VO cruises and found the food mediocre at best. In my opinion, on a good night it didn’t even reach the low bar of an American chain like Carraba’s, Olive Garden, Macaroni Grill, and certainly inferior to our local Italian restaurants.

Pasta always way past al dente and medium rare steak dry and tasteless, even on the kitchen’s second try.

We have tried the Chefs table on each cruise with mixed results. Asian menu interesting and flavorful, French bistro menu dull and under seasoned.

To each his own though. We still enjoy VO, and usually find something acceptable on the MDR menu, sometimes making a meal of several appetizers.)

 

Oh, no!  We don't do chain restaurants and definitely never for Italian food.    I will be sending food back if I am served overcooked pasta or dry steak.

We love the specialty dining on Oceania.  Sounds like I will have to seriously lower my expectations!

 

We've already been seriously disappointed by their air department, general misinformation and lack of available excursions (within hours of when we were able to book) and their "explanations" have been annoying at best. 

 

 

Edited December 20, 2018 by caviargal

[philw1776]

My wife likes fine dining but is OK with informal.  Therefore I thought she'd prefer the Restaurant over the World Cafe.  Turns out on our 2 cruises, she really likes the World Cafe as well as the Restaurant.  For a buffet, they're excellent.  Lots of choices including sushi appetizers, whatever the Restaurant is serving and more and then gelato after dinner.

I like Manfredi's, but I would not call it exceptional Italian food.  Still plan to book it.

Last cruise, the Pool Bar had special dinners unannounced on Viking Daily.  Lobster tail & steak was one excellent selection. We ate there 2-3 times at dinner. Roof was open and evening ambiance was unexpectedly nice.

We differ on Chef's Table.  It's OK for me but not something I'd choose on my own were my wife to leave me for Tom Brady.  Reading the CT menus it's not easy for me to tell what the heck most of the stuff served is, other than the main entree.

[TruJeffie]

Why would they not announce a special dinner at the Pool Bar? Seems a shame to miss out on the unique offerings

[Marykatesmom]

53 minutes ago, philw1776 said:

My wife likes fine dining but is OK with informal.  Therefore I thought she'd prefer the Restaurant over the World Cafe.  Turns out on our 2 cruises, she really likes the World Cafe as well as the Restaurant.  For a buffet, they're excellent.  Lots of choices including sushi appetizers, whatever the Restaurant is serving and more and then gelato after dinner.

I like Manfredi's, but I would not call it exceptional Italian food.  Still plan to book it.

Last cruise, the Pool Bar had special dinners unannounced on Viking Daily.  Lobster tail & steak was one excellent selection. We ate there 2-3 times at dinner. Roof was open and evening ambiance was unexpectedly nice.

We differ on Chef's Table.  It's OK for me but not something I'd choose on my own were my wife to leave me for Tom Brady.  Reading the CT menus it's not easy for me to tell what the heck most of the stuff served is, other than the main entree.

 

We prefer the World Cafe over The Restaurant.  I like to try different foods and just a taste of everything is fine with me.  The waiters bring your drinks and there is plenty of seating.  I wish I knew the Pool Bar had nice dinners.  Our first lunch nothing appealed to me at the World Cafe except the beef but I was craving a hamburger so I went and got one and brought it back to the WC.  It was very good.

[philw1776]

54 minutes ago, TruJeffie said:

Why would they not announce a special dinner at the Pool Bar? Seems a shame to miss out on the unique offerings

 

I think it might be something new or experimental.  Cruise was Med Odyssey 16 October on the Sky.

Could also be that, unknown to me, the Pool always features the same main entree as the World Cafe at night.  Dunno.
It was jammed but we got there ~6PM with no crowds.

Edited December 21, 2018 by philw1776

[Dauntless]

42 minutes ago, philw1776 said:

 

I think it might be something new or experimental.  Cruise was Med Odyssey 16 October on the Sky.

Could also be that, unknown to me, the Pool always features the same main entree as the World Cafe at night.  Dunno.
It was jammed but we got there ~6PM with no crowds.

 

I was on the same cruise in April/May and the pool grill was not open for dinner.  It might have been in the daily like I've seen them do Seafood Buffet and Italian buffet by the Aquavit bar on deck 7 for a night on y 2 cruises but they were listed in the daily so be sure and check it out the night before when you get your copy in the evening for the next day

[philw1776]

Yah, I never saw it mentioned in the daily because after stumbling across the first pool dinner I checked for others.  Saw none listed but they kept having them.

[alexsarasota]

We have reservations at CT on 1/4 on Star and saw a sample of the Asian menu. Looks terrific!

[deec]

We just finished the Amazon to Caribbean cruise on the Sea.  There were a number of "themed" dinners on the Aquavit Terrace (Italian, Seafood, Indian & what I cant remember) that were announced on the back page of the daily by the restaurant times.

 

Chef Table menus were available on the TV for the entire cruise to help in planning.  the menus seem to rotate every 2 days on this particular itinerary.  No French Bistro or Mexican on this cruise.  Some of the other menus were slightly different than on of trip last winter.  The upgraded wines were very good.

[caviargal]

They posted the CT menus for our 7 night cruise and there are only two options offered on the entire cruise, both Asian.

[TruJeffie]

Caviargal, that is probably just the sample menus and not the only meals offered. My 15 day cruise in late April has two sample menus posted for the Chefs Table and they are the two Asian ones. Its not what is on offer just a sample and it does not yet let me know what is being served per night. It will change every 2 to 3 days. However, I suspect you will not be happy with anything they offer or do at this point and confused by the whole process. 

Edited December 24, 2018 by TruJeffie

[Scootoir]

On 12/19/2018 at 7:56 AM, Parsley Cruises said:

We are not foodies - we prefer to spend our time differently.  Just can't get excited about 'trendy' food, which is what we perceive CT to be. 

 

Food is simply fuel, but simple food superbly cooked - that's fine by us.  I think we may try it once, but 5 minutes will be enough to decide if we like it or not.  There's always an alternative.

 

We've had gussied-up, fiddled-with food - and we are done with all that.  The main restaurant with the occasional visit to Manfredi's is fine for us - and if we simply can't be bothered then it will be a visit to the World Café.

 

 

 

We will be able to make reservations for our summer cruise soon and this entire thread was really helpful.  Thank you for your post Parsley Cruises, this is us to a T as well.  "Simple food superbly cooked" sounds great to me.

 

And foam?  Thanks for the head up!

[Peregrina651]

New menu debuted on new thread, with dish by dish pictures:

New Chef’s Table Menu-Lotus!!!

 

Thank you, Clay!

 

 

[Clay Clayton]

On 12/16/2018 at 10:08 AM, Jim Avery said:

Our good friends loved CT.  We did not.  My gripe is not the space, the service, even the menu, my personal dislike is for the fascination with foam.  Foam on everything.  Yuck!

FWIW Jim, we ate there 3 times on our recent Sea TA...only foams were on the granita...usually made an interesting flavor combination when stirred in...also made it less granitity. 

 

We also felt like the food was much better this time than on our first venture into TCT in Spring 2018. 

[Clay Clayton]

On 4/11/2019 at 10:16 AM, Peregrina651 said:

New menu debuted on new thread, with dish by dish pictures:

New Chef’s Table Menu-Lotus!!!

 

Thank you, Clay!

 

 

Peregrina

Thanks for cross posting here.   I looked and looked for this thread before starting that new thread but couldn't find it. 

[Clay Clayton]

On 12/22/2018 at 4:18 PM, alexsarasota said:

We have reservations at CT on 1/4 on Star and saw a sample of the Asian menu. Looks terrific!

There are three different ones. I can't remember the names of the old two. We liked the one with the wok beef better than the one with what they claimed was Peking Duck...it was more like a Peking burrito than what I was served as Peking duck the other two times I've had it. As noted in the thread Peregrina link we loved the new Lotus menu. 

[lackcreativity]

1 hour ago, Clay Clayton said:

There are three different ones. I can't remember the names of the old two. We liked the one with the wok beef better than the one with what they claimed was Peking Duck...it was more like a Peking burrito than what I was served as Peking duck the other two times I've had it. As noted in the thread Peregrina link we loved the new Lotus menu. 

I agree about the Peking duck menu. It is the only one we have sampled that we did not like. I am glad it wasn't our first experience there; we may not have gone back. The Sweet and Salty Chef's Table   menu was one of our all time favorite meals. Hoping to get a chance to try Lotus, or the Mexican one, or the Route des Indes menu on our upcoming cruise. 

 

On the other hand, our first experience in Manfredi's was a disappointment. We did return for a second opinion, selected other items, and enjoyed it very much.

[Peregrina651]

5 hours ago, Clay Clayton said:

Peregrina

Thanks for cross posting here.   I looked and looked for this thread before starting that new thread but couldn't find it. 

 

Glad you started a new thread to share the news; it would have been buried here and not gotten the fanfare it deserves.

[Solivita Cruiser]

This is my first time cruising on Viking Ocean Cruises. Can you order more than 1 entree, appetizer or dessert at the same sitting as you can do on other cruises lines?

[Peregrina651]

1 hour ago, Solivita Cruiser said:

This is my first time cruising on Viking Ocean Cruises. Can you order more than 1 entree, appetizer or dessert at the same sitting as you can do on other cruises lines?

 

For the most part, yes. World Cafe is buffet and all you can eat.  In MDR and Manfredi's you can order what you want--all appetizers, two main courses, whatever.  Just be warned that the servings in Manfredi's are way more than generous and pasta dishes can be ordered as a main course or appetizer.

 

At Chef's Table, however, there is only one choice per course (with some deviations made for those with food allergies) as it was designed to be a tasting experience with wine pairings  A couple of times I have hear people say that they have been offered seconds of a main course. I have also heard of folks who have followed up their meal at Chef's Table with a visit to the World Cafe.

[NewLondonNed]

Chef's Table was a disappointment on our Homelands Cruise - while creative, the various plates were just not that appetizing as a gourmand experience - it needs to be reworked IMO.  We are cruising again in August and probably wont even make a res

[_alan_]

I’ll see if I can post some pictures. 

[CCWineLover]

We very much enjoyed the La Route Des Indies Menu as well!  Here are some pictures from that wonderful meal on our recent Viking Jupiter Cruise in May.

 

 

[Cyber Kat]

16 hours ago, CCWineLover said:

We very much enjoyed the La Route Des Indies Menu as well!  Here are some pictures from that wonderful meal on our recent Viking Jupiter Cruise in May.

 

 

 

I think they are doing this menu on our cruise. I thought it sounded interesting, but how spicy is the beef?  I don’t mind a bit of a kick, but I can’t eat anything really hot