Recent Virgin cruisers - dining reservations?

[walkmypanda]

I'm a pretty adventurous food person, and a younger millenial (who I feel like is the target of this cruise). So here are my thoughts on the dining since it's being asked (ranked in order of best to worst):

1.  Pink Agave
   1. Dinner
      1. Service
         1. Best all around. Super attentive and cordial. 
      2. Drinks
         1. Cocktails were good.
      3. Food
         1. Great. All the dishes tasted great and the choco tacos for dessert were excellent. Wish I could have gotten more chips with the gauc but it's fine.
2. Test Kitchen
   1. Dinner
      1. Service
         1. Good
      2. Drinks
         1. We got the cocktail pairing. Pretty great cocktails, worked well with the food.
      3. Food
         1. Great. Pretty great for an included cost tasting course restaurant. Definitely not as adventurous as other tasting courses I've had, but I think that's to be expected.
3. Gunbae
   1. Dinner
      1. Service
         1. Was alright. The server unfortunately didn't have the best english and we were sat with an older party who had trouble understanding him. The older party was great fun to sit with though.
      2. Drinks
         1. Out of Soju. All of it. Except for when used with cocktails. Kind of a bummer but the cocktails were good.
      3. Food
         1. Great. It's korean bbq, so you really just need to know if you'll like it.
4.  Extra Virgin
   1. Dinner
      1. Service
         1. Good. A little spotty at first because we had two people trying to be our server but there weren't really any issues other than that.
      2. Drinks
         1. Were fine. Nothing really memorable. They do give you a shot of limoncello with your food though.
      3. Food
         1. Standard italian fair. It was good, but nothing exciting. But if that's your thing, you'll like it.
5. Razzle Dazzle
   1. Brunch
      1. Service
         1. Was fine. They were really, really busy though, so I'll give them a break there. Definitely the busiest restaurant we had been in.
      2. Drinks
         1. Only had coffee. 
      3. Food
         1. Meh. It looked pretty, but other than that, really was just "okay". 
6. The Wake
   1. Brunch
      1. Service
         1. Probably the worst. Not bad, mind you. Server was professional and polite, but not very outgoing/friendly. I couldn't even tell you who our server was.
      2. Drinks
         1. We just drank coffee. Server didn't ask if we wanted splenda or anything, just gave us sugar cubes. Cool, thanks.
      3. Food
         1. Meh/Bleh. Had the shrimp dish as a starter. Expected a more "elevated" cocktail shrimp dish but just got cocktail shrimp equivalent to some bought from a grocery store. Had french toast as a main. It was too thick and not enough syrup, so ended up being dry puffy bread. This place might be a "go for dinner if you want steak" kind of place (which isn't my thing tbh).

 

And I would actually rate the Galley above the Wake for service/food in all honesty. One thing to note is that staff rotate between restaurants/the galley/etc. We had our server from the test kitchen server us in the galley for breakfast one morning.

[dcgrumpy]

I'm 45 days out, in a regular room and I was able to book all of my dinner reservations in the app today. 

Edited December 2, 2021 by dcgrumpy

[denisey]

On 11/30/2021 at 12:15 PM, Lurdes777 said:

 

Question about breakfast - I love good breakfast.  What are the options for eat?  I read Razzle Dazzle has brunch?  I also see The Wake coming up with being available in the morning - what do they serve?

The Brunch at the Wake was fairly limited ...some appetizers, three Benedicts, steak and eggs, and a steak and not much else.  The food was very good, just not a big selection.

 

There was more choices at Razzle Dazzle, but they are heavily vegetarian.  You can get a "bucket" of bacon on the side.  Again the food was very good.  The apple cruffin was out of this world!

 

We ate breakfast in the Galley most days.  They have a really good selection at breakfast.  My eggs were cooked absolutely perfect every time (which rarely happens on land!)  They have the standard fair (eggs, bacon, sausage, beans, hash browns, sweet potato hash browns....) as well as other stuff, chorizo burrito, salmon and cream cheese, a bagel bar, lots of yummy pastries. 

[pa-annie]

Test Kitchen clarification please:  Is the TK basically like a chef's table and you get whatever they serve you, or ... do you get to choose different foods you would like to try?  How does the cocktail parings work, cost?  Do you have your own table or is it a big community table? Thanks - BZ

[ociana]

21 hours ago, pa-annie said:

Test Kitchen clarification please:  Is the TK basically like a chef's table and you get whatever they serve you, or ... do you get to choose different foods you would like to try?  How does the cocktail parings work, cost?  Do you have your own table or is it a big community table? Thanks - BZ

It is a chef's table and you get a pre set menu served to you. They do adjust for allergies, so my husband had a gazpacho instead of the scallop course. I don't recall the exact cocktail pairing cost, but it was around $30 and was a smaller version of each cocktail served just before each course. They were all delicious.

The restaurant is large and I didn't see all the seating options but ours was at a counter where we watched them preparing the food in front of us. Seated next to us on either side were other passengers that we chatted with during dinner.

[Chamoretta]

On 12/3/2021 at 1:42 PM, pa-annie said:

Test Kitchen clarification please:  Is the TK basically like a chef's table and you get whatever they serve you, or ... do you get to choose different foods you would like to try?  How does the cocktail parings work, cost?  Do you have your own table or is it a big community table? Thanks - BZ

There is a vegetarian option as well as the pre set menu and adjustments for allergies.

[pa-annie]

12 hours ago, Chamoretta said:

There is a vegetarian option as well as the pre set menu and adjustments for allergies.

So if you plain-ole don't like something they are serving, you just skip it?  Do you know in advance what the menu courses are for the evening, or is it a SURPRISE?  Tx again - BZ

[CruzinMermaid]

Just got off the 12/15 - 12/19 Fire & Sunset. 

 

I'd booked dinner reservations in advance of boarding and changed all of them after boarding and meeting new friends. Plus, the walk up and requesting different seating was easy.

 

[Chamoretta]

On 12/8/2021 at 11:07 AM, pa-annie said:

So if you plain-ole don't like something they are serving, you just skip it?  Do you know in advance what the menu courses are for the evening, or is it a SURPRISE?  Tx again - BZ

You know the main portion of the dish but that is it.  

[CruzinMermaid]

On 12/8/2021 at 8:07 AM, pa-annie said:

So if you plain-ole don't like something they are serving, you just skip it?  Do you know in advance what the menu courses are for the evening, or is it a SURPRISE?  Tx again - BZ

 

There's a fixed menu (see image). I assume over time the courses will change. If there's something on the menu you are allergic to or can't eat they will substitute another dish in its place. I didn't do any subs but heard from those who did that it was wonderful. 

 

My suggestion, if you're not allergic to something, be bold and go for it. I did the wine pairing and the original menu - everything was fabulous.