Crown Grill or Sabatini’s?

[SNJCruisers]

5 hours ago, redflag216 said:

You guys aren’t making my decision easy! I’m trying to keep track of who is voting for which restaurant lol. Honestly, I’m leaning toward Sabatini’s. This is a comped meal, so it will be delicious either way 😊

So, use your comped meal for CG and spend 25 to go to Sabatini's.

[bjkTX]

1 hour ago, JimmyVWine said:

What is this thing you call “leftover steak”? It is a concept with which I am not familiar. 😁

It must be like that "leftover wine" I've heard rumors about!

 

[SNJCruisers]

19 minutes ago, bjkTX said:

It must be like that "leftover wine" I've heard rumors about!

 

When that happens you just pour it back into the box.  You can't do that with a steak. 😉

[brisalta]

28 minutes ago, SNJCruisers said:

When that happens you just pour it back into the box.  You can't do that with a steak. 😉

 

Box?!!!?

[capriccio]

6 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

 

 

I agree with both of you in that one of the top dumb design decisions on the Royal Class ships is the CG Bar and having music bands there during prime dining hours.  IMO, the area is quite tiny for a music venue anyway and half out in the hallway.  I never make a CG res without requesting a table towards the back.

 

8 hours ago, XBGuy said:

However, we do have a preference for Sabatini's based on solely on the fact that you are going to be on the Royal Princess.  

 

The Crown Grill on the Royal Princess is located on Deck 7 adjacent to and integrated with the Crown Grill Bar.  (My recollection from when we criused on the Royal Princess in 2019 was that at that time this space was called the Wheelhouse Bar,)  When we arrived for dinner at the Crown Grill, we were shown to a table that was more in the bar than the restauarant.  There was a singer performing that just listening for a few minutes was enough for us to know that we did not enjoy.  We immediately asked for a different table.  Happily, we were led to another table that was a little farther from the bar.  We could still hear the singer, but at least we did not have to pretend that we enjoyed it and clap after each song.

 

7 hours ago, JimmyVWine said:

FWIW, I agree with every syllable of this, including the part where we were shown to a table that was more of a bar table and asked to be moved, and were.  When first seated, my teenage daughter leaned over to me and said: "Dad, this is a table that they should give to walk-ins, not to people who made a reservation, and certainly not to a group with a minor.  I am clearly in a bar."

We were on the Royal Princess about 6 months after her first cruise and had a similar experience.  We left before ordering and said we would return on another evening.  After hemming and hawing the maitre'd found us a reservation on another evening at an acceptable table.  Since then we sailed over 50 nights on the Royal Princess and never returned to the Crown Grill.

 

We are just off the Enchanted and the set up is similar so no Crown Grill for us.  Instead we went to Sabatinis - a very pleasant dining experience for our group of 6 - and the Bistro Sur Le Mer even though the latter is located on deck 7 open to the Piazza.  Quiet music was being played down on deck 5 through most of our dinner and that wasn't bothersome but at around 8 pm the band came in and they were so loud we were happy we were finishing up.  If we had arrived for dinner then we would have left immediately and missed a meal we all enjoyed. The Bistro's hours are only 5:30 (IIRC) to 9:30 and it had mostly cleared out by 8 pm and no one seemed to be being seated at 8 pm. I think word is out that it is too loud.

 

The location of these 'open' restaurants really makes me wonder who is making these decisions.  I find it impossible to believe that most passengers think the noise level is appropriate.

[Steelers36]

6 hours ago, Kmkub said:

I had a CG filet in January on Enchanted and in February on Regal. Both were cooked a perfect medium rare and were delicious!

 

A note about CG, now - they will no longer wrap up leftover steak in foil and let you take it back with you. I tried on both cruises, and it was a no-go.

Another thing to add to the "take" list for a cruise?  A couple of pieces of aluminum foil to self-wrap before plate taken away and then slip into a bag?  I get they didn't do this before, but with expanded room service and lots of different foods, I don't see the problem.  They let people take cake away AFAIK.  But do agree cold steak is not all that great and no microwave to warm it up.

[Kmkub]

19 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

Another thing to add to the "take" list for a cruise?  A couple of pieces of aluminum foil to self-wrap before plate taken away and then slip into a bag?  I get they didn't do this before, but with expanded room service and lots of different foods, I don't see the problem.  They let people take cake away AFAIK.  But do agree cold steak is not all that great and no microwave to warm it up.

Cold steak is a childhood favorite. A piece of bread and some salad stuff from the buffet, now I have a steak sandwich. Mayo and mustard are easy.

[SNJCruisers]

1 hour ago, brisalta said:

 

Box?!!!?

It's a joke.  You never heard of wine in a box?

[brisalta]

27 minutes ago, SNJCruisers said:

It's a joke.  You never heard of wine in a box?

 

Do not give up your day job.

I would have put you down as a vodka in a box person.😉

[SNJCruisers]

14 hours ago, brisalta said:

 

Do not give up your day job.

I would have put you down as a vodka in a box person.😉

I'm sure that liquor stores in the San Francisco area sell wine in a box.  But I have to assume that your refined taste only consumes wine with a cork.  And hard liquor such as vodka doesn't come in a box.

[voljeep]

3 minutes ago, SNJCruisers said:

I'm sure that liquor stores in the San Francisco area sell wine in a box.  But I have to assume that your refined taste only consumes wine with a cork.  And hard liquor such as vodka doesn't come in a box.

well ... Flor-i-DUH, of course, huh ?

Camo Box Vodka — Kozuba & Sons Distillery (kozubadistillery.com)

[SNJCruisers]

14 minutes ago, voljeep said:

well ... Flor-i-DUH, of course, huh ?

Camo Box Vodka — Kozuba & Sons Distillery (kozubadistillery.com)

That's a first.....gotta serve the retirees.  But a screw top bottle is just as easy to open as a screw top box.

[wrongwaywatson]

We've eaten at Crown Grill often and decided to try Sabatini's on our November cruise.  There were six of us and We were all disappointed.   We went to the Crown Grill a few days later and it was superb!

[brisalta]

1 hour ago, SNJCruisers said:

I'm sure that liquor stores in the San Francisco area sell wine in a box.  But I have to assume that your refined taste only consumes wine with a cork.  And hard liquor such as vodka doesn't come in a box.

 

You do protest too much. A simple search on the web demonstrates that there are several brands of vodka in a box. I have never seen wine in a box in a wine store in San Francisco.

Edited March 26, 2022 by brisalta

[brisalta]

6 minutes ago, CarelessAndConfused said:

 

I don't drink wine but I believe Trader Joe's has them.  Which would kinda make sense.

 

 

 

Never seen it in Trader Joe's. Who knows what they sell in Philadelphia though?

[brisalta]

Just now, CarelessAndConfused said:

 

This is from a foggy memory years ago where I thought they said they were putting that Two Buck Chuck or whatever in boxes as well.  I could be totally misremembering the whole thing.

 

 

 

Two buck chuck is no longer 1.99 and is still in bottles.

[SNJCruisers]

3 hours ago, brisalta said:

 

You do protest too much. A simple search on the web demonstrates that there are several brands of vodka in a box. I have never seen wine in a box in a wine store in San Francisco.

Wine in a box has been available for well over 10 years in the metropolitan Philadelphia area.  Have never seen any kind of hard liquor in a box before.  Did a quick search on TotalWine.com, which is a chain of liquor stores in various states that has wine, liquor and beer.  There were 270 choices of boxed wine and 0 choices of boxed liquor at my closest location.

[SNJCruisers]

3 hours ago, brisalta said:

I have never seen wine in a box in a wine store in San Francisco.

According to total wines website..... Daly City CA sells 185 types, San Mateo CA sells 190 types and Pleasant Hill Ca sells 178 types of boxed wine and all three sell zero boxed liquor.  These were the three locations that came up for San Francisco.  So obviously it's available in your area, similar to it being available in my area of the country for 10+ years.  

Happy cruising.

[Kmkub]

Boxed wine has been around for decades. At least 35 years.

[brisalta]

3 hours ago, SNJCruisers said:

According to total wines website..... Daly City CA sells 185 types, San Mateo CA sells 190 types and Pleasant Hill Ca sells 178 types of boxed wine and all three sell zero boxed liquor.  These were the three locations that came up for San Francisco.  So obviously it's available in your area, similar to it being available in my area of the country for 10+ years.  

Happy cruising.

 

 None of those locations are San Francisco. California has so much good quality wine at low prices there is no need to drink wine in a box. I could see a commercial kitchen using it for making sauces.

[SNJCruisers]

54 minutes ago, brisalta said:

 

 None of those locations are San Francisco. California has so much good quality wine at low prices there is no need to drink wine in a box. I could see a commercial kitchen using it for making sauces.

Millions of people drink box wine on a daily basis and have for years.  Like I previously said, you never knew about it because of your palate that is so elevated.  

[brisalta]

15 hours ago, SNJCruisers said:

Millions of people drink box wine on a daily basis and have for years.  Like I previously said, you never knew about it because of your palate that is so elevated.  

 

As I said none of those locations are San Francisco. California.

Wine of decent quality is very inexpensive in California.

Edited March 27, 2022 by brisalta

[Kmkub]

11 minutes ago, brisalta said:

 

As I said none of those locations are San Francisco. California.

Wine of decent quality is very inexpensive in California.

Go to BevMo. They carry Franzia boxed wine.

[SNJCruisers]

2 hours ago, brisalta said:

 

As I said none of those locations are San Francisco. California

According to google Daly City is 7.6 mi from SF via I-280. That's close enough.

[Kmkub]

38 minutes ago, SNJCruisers said:

According to google Daly City is 7.6 mi from SF via I-280. That's close enough.

I just opened Shipt and changed my address to Howard Street in SF. You can get boxed wine delivered in SF