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CANALLETO, your favorite meal...

a.madruga

By a.madruga,
in Holland America Line

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OlsSalt

OlsSalt

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Unfortunately, my favorite Canaletto meal was the one we never had. Total disaster recently on the Maasdam. Don't go the night they feature "Fegato alla Veneziana" - Venetian-style calf's liver which they promised was anything but - just a lump of indifferent beef liver and not even sauced Venetian style - a sage and balsamic vinegar pan scraping reduction 

 

We had to wait an hour for just the appetizer plate which was very limited (like they had run out?), and dessert was very ho-hum. A fail across the board except for the always charming staff who kept apologizing.  A great concept but again something can often go wrong in its execution. 

 

The Prosecco-Aperol cocktail was good.

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BJzink

BJzink

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I dined there 6-7 times on Maasdam on the KonTiki Voyage.  I like the less formal atmosphere, noted that the ship officers were also dining there on most of the nights.  A couple of my favorites:  Small plates:  Veal Polpettine (little meatballs in spicy tomato sauce), Canaletto salad (with tiny picked beets & candied walnuts), Zuppa di Pesce - Seafood soup   Pasta - Potato Gnocchi with shortribs.  I have had most of the items on the menu, but these are my go-to comfort foods.  Very attentive staff, knew my name after the first visit & welcomed me back each time.  

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OlsSalt

OlsSalt

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Posted (edited)
13 minutes ago, BJzink said:

I dined there 6-7 times on Maasdam on the KonTiki Voyage.  I like the less formal atmosphere, noted that the ship officers were also dining there on most of the nights.  A couple of my favorites:  Small plates:  Veal Polpettine (little meatballs in spicy tomato sauce), Canaletto salad (with tiny picked beets & candied walnuts), Zuppa di Pesce - Seafood soup   Pasta - Potato Gnocchi with shortribs.  I have had most of the items on the menu, but these are my go-to comfort foods.  Very attentive staff, knew my name after the first visit & welcomed me back each time.  

 

Which goes to show, at any given time on any given ship there can be a huge variety of experiences. We are not that picky about our food and have often been accused of being "Hal Cheerleaders" but this one night -and they were pushing this particular night with flyers and a discount - was a total fail.

 

Yes, we did see a lot of the HAL staff also dining there in the back room on that cruise and we wondered why on earth did they do this since it was so off the mark the night we attended. So obviously we picked the wrong items, but why the long wait for a cold antipasto plate?  Plus the table setting was so awkward the waiters actually had to crawl around on the window sill to deliver anything to the table. Very weird. 

 

Again I speculate,  is this the curse because we have never had the practice of tipping in any of the HAL speciality restaurants over our past 10 years. Alors! 

Edited by OlsSalt
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BJzink

BJzink

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3 minutes ago, OlsSalt said:

 

Which goes to show, at any given time on any given ship there can be a huge variety of experiences. We are not that picky about our food and have often been accused of being "Hal Cheerleaders" but this one night -and they were pushing this particular night with flyers and a discount - was a total fail.

 

Yes, we did see a lot of the HAL staff also dining there in the back room on that cruise and we wondered why on earth did they do this since it was so off the mark the night we attended. So obviously we picked the wrong items, but why the long wait for a cold antipasto plate?  Plus the table setting was so awkward the waiters actually had to crawl around on the window sill to deliver anything to the table. Very weird. 

 

Again I speculate,  is this the curse because we have never had the practice of tipping in any of the HAL speciality restaurants over our past 10 years. Alors! 

I love calves liver and onions fried crispy, as did my late husband, but I never order it when eating out - just like the way I fix it & had a couple of disappointing experiences in restaurants.  

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OlsSalt

OlsSalt

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Posted (edited)
50 minutes ago, BJzink said:

I love calves liver and onions fried crispy, as did my late husband, but I never order it when eating out - just like the way I fix it & had a couple of disappointing experiences in restaurants.  

 

I always order the liver in the main dining room - it is a very good rendition - liver, bacon, onions, apples and a potato pancake.  Nicely handled. 

Edited by OlsSalt
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DeeniEncinitas

DeeniEncinitas

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The first couple of years was great!!! Our favorite was Oso Bucco not any more🙄

loved how the presentation of a huge platter of antipasto would come around and just point to your desires and the waiter would give you as much as you want. That was at the beginning of your meal and they would also bring all of these wonderful marinated olives with crusty warm bread with several olive oils and balsamic vinegar to choose from.

our last March South American cruise on The Maasdam it was never crowded and always giving perks of discounts . Humm.

Even with the changes and different menu with shared plates it was still nice. Our experience with the Sea Bass was great but all the other entrees we had were not as good. We figure it was the staff being overworked and the chief. Will be on the Rotterdam and will try Canaletto again 

Denise😊

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dogo88 Holiday Sharing Rare

dogo88

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As others have pointed out, Canaletto is hit or miss.

 

When cruising HAL we like to cycle around the three main options of MDR, Pinnacle and Canaletto for the duration of the cruise. On a short 7 day cruise that usually means 2 dinners at Canaletto. Our 2 week Alaskan Cruise on the Zaandam in May was tough to do more than 3 dinners there. We cancelled our last reservation.

 

For some unknown reason HAL takes what works in a little Italian restaurant and removes it. For example, Minestrone soup, an Italian staple in almost any Italian restaurant I've been to. On the Zaandam - nope, not available.  And the desserts, other than the gelato were tough to choke down. In the past they had a dessert of three small glasses each filled with a different dessert: Tiramisu, Limoncello, and something else that I forgot. What a wonderful selection. Not too much and very good. But now gone. 

 

But to their credit, the staff there attempted to make our group a pot of Minestrone soup for our next reservation. It wasn't too bad except the beans were under cooked. Hey they tried and we said it was good. 

So in the future we'll do one reservation and see how it goes. 

 

The positive is it's a nice quiet place with no hurry to get in or out. Whereas the MDR can be a bit rushed.    

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avian777

avian777

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🥐🥣🍗🥗🥩  We make it a point to dine at Canaletto at least once each time we cruise, and all of our meals have been far above average, so I guess we've only experienced the Canaletto "hits" and none of its "misses".  My favorite menu item is the Zuppa di Pesce, which varies from ship to ship but IMO is always delicious!  👍👍👍

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BJzink

BJzink

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14 hours ago, OlsSalt said:

 

I always order the liver in the main dining room - it is a very good rendition - liver, bacon, onions, apples and a potato pancake.  Nicely handled. 

Perhaps on my Dec/Jan cruise I will try it - who knows, it might be fixed to my taste, and if not, I can always order something else (the beauty of cruising!)

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Harry1954

Harry1954

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we love Canalleto ... so many great dishes ..

some of our favorites are the poplettine, zuppa di pesce, and the veal ...

as well as the salads ... much more fun than the scaled down menu at Pinnacle Grill - we miss the old ways there.

harry

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Harry1954

Harry1954

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On 12/6/2018 at 10:18 PM, Copper10-8 said:

Spaghetti, Veal and Gnocchi with the three Limoncello samplers for desert; delizioso! :classic_smile:

 

That reminded me ... another I like is to take the spaghetti dish and have them put the meatballs ( polpettine ) on top ...

harry

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kazu "Live from...." Rare

kazu

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There's a slight change to the Canaletto menu - at least on the N Statendam and, I suspect if it is changed there it will be fleet wide.

 

It's been posted on Vict0riann's live thread from the Premier cruise of the N Statendam.

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Cruising-along

Cruising-along

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12 minutes ago, kazu said:

There's a slight change to the Canaletto menu - at least on the N Statendam and, I suspect if it is changed there it will be fleet wide.

 

It's been posted on Vict0riann's live thread from the Premier cruise of the N Statendam.

Well shoot.  I don't see the shrimp entree at all 😞  We had it several times on the VOV, it was so good!

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