Palo lunch or dinner

[JT888]

Hi, 

 

Is Palo really good? They charge both lunch and dinner for the same price $40. Should I go to lunch or dinner? What's the difference? I wonder if I should spend extra $40 pp instead of going to MDR for dinner. Also, will they have any tables available if I make a reservation when I get on board the first day if there are no more tables available online? Thanks.

[ivanp91]

Disney always keeps plenty of tables out of the online inventory for people to book once they are onboard, so if you try to book after embarkation you should have no problems.

 

Palo offers brunch, rather than lunch.

 

Dinner is ordered off a menu, whilst brunch is a combination of a la carte and buffet and also includes a complimentary alcoholic beverage (eg. a mimosa). I personally prefer the variety offered at brunch.

[gometros]

Brunch and dinner are two totally different experiences. Brunch is buffet style tied together with a choice of entrees from the kitchen, both items geared towards breakfast, like Eggs, pancakes and waffles and lunch items including flatbreads, past, chicken and veal. You can see a menu here: https://disneycruiselineblog.com/2016/09/new-palo-brunch-printed-menu/

 

Dinner is a three course sit down meal. The cuisine is Northern Italian. https://disneycruiselineblog.com/menus/palo-menu/

 

Don't ask which I prefer, it's like choosing your favorite child. On a 7 day or longer cruise, we'll usually fit in both.

[angie7911922]

We've been. The food is good, but it's still not fantastic. We tend to stick with the main dining room and spend our money elsewhere. It's truly personal preference. 

[Bet_The_Field]

I've done both and prefer brunch but you really can't go wrong with either.  

[FSU Girl]

I would pick dinner. I wasn’t a fan of the brunch although I know a lot rave over it. I think the food at dinner is far above what is served in the MDR. You’ll also have a better shot getting reservations for dinner since it’s served every night whereas brunch is only on sea days

[Shmoo here]

Another fan of brunch over dinner.  Dinner is good, but I like the variety available at brunch.  

 

 

[cantgetin]

We prefer dinner.  That said, as platinum CC members, we get one visit comped.  Would I pay for it otherwise?  Well, if you want a nice, quality dinner without kids, it is a good value.  I recently prices a similar cuisine at a local restaurant--a nice place, not a chain.  Choosing the least expensive menu items would have cost about $60, the most expensive about $100.  

 

On the other hand, for a first time cruiser, I'd recommend enjoying the MDRs each night.  Then you'll know which menu you wish to miss if you do a Palo dinner.

[indychristine]

I prefer the brunch over dinner....but then we usually do both.  We are on the Dream in 26 days and we have both booked. I will say though that I called Disney to check on our rotation.......that way we could book our Palo dinner during our repeat night in AP.  We love the MDR's too! 

Have fun!

[gometros]

1 hour ago, indychristine said:

I prefer the brunch over dinner....but then we usually do both.  We are on the Dream in 26 days and we have both booked. I will say though that I called Disney to check on our rotation.......that way we could book our Palo dinner during our repeat night in AP.  We love the MDR's too! 

Have fun!

 

I learned the hard way that on a short cruise, I have to do one or the other. We made the mistake of doing Palo brunch they morning after Palo dinner and it was just too much in a short amount of time. At least on a longer cruise, I can space it out better. But, that's just us.

[Cedricandsophie]

Definitely dinner.  But I’m not a fan of brunch because there is way too much food.  I love the atmosphere at dinner and the food.  We always order extra antipasto. It’s my favorite thing. And I rarely get an entree.  Antipasto, salad and pasta.  That’s enough for me,  we are platinum so we get it free. But i would pay for it if needed.  Also we usually take the longer cruises, 9 days or more.  So it doesn’t seem like we are giving up too much time in the MDR. 

[indychristine]

On 1/29/2019 at 9:32 AM, gometros said:

 

I learned the hard way that on a short cruise, I have to do one or the other. We made the mistake of doing Palo brunch they morning after Palo dinner and it was just too much in a short amount of time. At least on a longer cruise, I can space it out better. But, that's just us.

I would agree with that! There is no way I could do the brunch after a dinner at Palo!   Our dinner is the first night and our brunch is the last day.  🙂  

[indychristine]

On 1/30/2019 at 9:17 AM, Cedricandsophie said:

Definitely dinner.  But I’m not a fan of brunch because there is way too much food.  I love the atmosphere at dinner and the food.  We always order extra antipasto. It’s my favorite thing. And I rarely get an entree.  Antipasto, salad and pasta.  That’s enough for me,  we are platinum so we get it free. But i would pay for it if needed.  Also we usually take the longer cruises, 9 days or more.  So it doesn’t seem like we are giving up too much time in the MDR. 

Lucky you! I can not wait until we can do longer cruises! We usually do 7 or 8 night but now that the husband is at a new location he can only take 4 or 5 nights.  We are thinking he may retire sooner than later!  

[*jess*]

We did the brunch at Palo, and enjoyed every second of it. The serving team was just incredible and waited on us hand and foot. We never had an empty glass, and he was checking on us at the perfect intervals. The food was just.... wow.... we would have preferred to be rolled back to our room rather than walked. We were gluttons for sure and didn't regret it a bit. 

 

I'll definitely book it again on our next one.

[croozymooner]

We prefer dinner.  We finally tried brunch on our last seven day cruise, and it was very good food, but we felt overly stuffed for the rest of the day.  I also prefer the general ambiance of dinner as opposed to serving myself from a buffet.  

[Bonnie1222]

Brunch is amazing!  I book that the very first thing when my booking window opens because we usually do Western Caribbean and it is only offered on Sea Days and I prefer the 2nd sea day.    It is leisurely and be prepared you may  not want to eat the rest of the day.  We have our favorite server, Silvio, and the last 3 times we have gone he lets us take our time and we usually stay 3 hours.  It is a nice variety and the desserts are amazing.   I really want to try dinner, and Silvio always asks us to come back.  Our next cruise later this year is our first as Platinum cruisers so we get a Palo meal as a perk.  I may just get to do both next trip.

 

If you opt for brunch, you have to ask for the Gorgonzola and grape flatbread.  It is not on  the menu any more, but they will still make it.  DH thought it sounded gross the first time I ordered it so Silvio did 1/2 that way and 1/2 the way DH wanted.  Now, DH only want the grape and Gorgonzola.