I must admit - I do not understand the flow/courses of Sette Mari

[mj_holiday]

DH and I have been to Sette Mari twice (maybe only once) and I just thought chaos and crowded as people are getting up making their way past seated guests to go to a selection of food.  Maybe didn't give it a chance, but just didn't understand when to get up to get food, when do you order drinks or food etc.  So we haven't been back.  Ready to give it a try on our next cruise, especially since I heard that there is roasted garlic someplace.  (we are not buffet people).  So Sette Mari fans, give me a course in eating dinner there, please.

[2012_Alaska_bound]

Hi mj_holiday.

 

This is how we do it.

Get seated by host. We love to sit out on the back deck if it is a nice evening.

About now they come and ask if you would like a glass of Prosecco and bring water.

Wait for the waiter to come over and greet us and bring the menu. This is when they should explain how Sette Mari works, if you aren't familiar with it.

Along comes a server with small appetizers (bruschetta, fried cheese, zucchini crisps, parmesan Reggiano, etc.), served family style at the table.

Waiter takes your order from menu. You can also ask them to bring items from the buffet when you order. Or you can tell them you will be going to the appetizer buffet yourself.

This is when I order wine to go with what I'm having for dinner, either one of the two recommended wines of the night or something else, just like in CR.

After ordering we go up to the buffet to get appetizers.

Once we are done with appetizers, second course is served if you are having one (salad, soup, small pasta), then the main course is served. If you want everything served at the same time, let your server know (usually they ask).

Finally after they clear the table they will bring over some biscotti and the dessert menu. For dessert you can either order from your server, or return to the dessert section of the buffet.

 

Hints:

Great place to go if you aren't too hungry one night, as the appetizer buffet can be quite filling and you don't need to get a main.

Pastas can be small size or you can ask for it as a main.

Edited October 28, 2022 by 2012_Alaska_bound
updated info

[lincslady]

Sette Mari was my favourite for dinner on Regent.  There was a great temptation to eat far too much, but if you chose carefully with just small portions, having so many different courses and things to choose was lovely.  We needed to go at opening time, as it soon filled up, or leave it until about  an hour and a half later when the first rush had finished.  (Have not been on Explorer or Splendor, with more places to choose from,  however).  

[pingpong1]

MJ - As "Alaska" suggested, the diner's themselves can "guide the action and set the pace".  It took us a while (and actually, a few cruises) to figure this out.  You can spend the evening there without having to conform to any particular order of service.  You can be as "structured" or as "free flow" as you wish.

 

The key is just to let the waitstaff know (up front) what your preferences are going to be for the evening.  You can browse and serve yourself at the buffet selections all evening if you want.  Or you can just get a "starter" up at the buffet on your own, and let the staff bring everything else for the rest of the evening, or you can have the staff bring/serve you everything, and in the order you wish.  The table is yours for the evening.

 

Now that (at least), was the way things "used to be" when there was a full complement of well-trained, knowledgeable, and long-experienced waitstaff serving in Sette Mari (and all dining venues).  Since Covid, leaner staffing levels, along with a newer and less experienced dining staff are making the entire dining experience (on all the Regent ships) a bit more "hit or miss" (my own opinion).

 

Since Setti Mari is a "Bistro" - a smaller, more casual, less structured evening venue (compared to P7, CR, PR, and CHAR), it lends itself to diners exercising more personal preference in the "flow and order" of their various "plates".  Perhaps look at a menu in the afternoon before going there for the evening meal.  You might decide to treat it as a more structured "Italian" evening (appetizer, salad, primi, secondi, desert, etc.) and have it all served to you in order and entirely by the waitstaff or...do a bit of "this and that" on your own or using a combination of your own visits to the buffet selections and the staff bringing you additional other courses.

 

We really enjoy dining in Sette Mari. I also like the variety of Italian wines available and offered with the different courses.  Regards. 

 

 

[2012_Alaska_bound]

Forgot to mention that the menu only changes every 2 days.

 

Agree with Pong that looking at the Sette Mari and CR menus in the afternoon is usually how we decide where to go.

[RetiredandTravel]

Agree with everyone above, we also really enjoy Sette Mari.  We also don't care for buffets so don't partake in the buffet, there is so much food it almost seems to be overkill unless there isn't anything you like on the menu.   In addition to the appetizer, salad, pasta and main course they serve wonderful hors d'oeuvres and bread (focaccia, bread sticks, etc) .  The Veal Milanese is one of our favorites, always delicious and the size of a catchers mitt.  We treat Sette Mari like any other restaurant. 

 

If you want to go to the buffet I'd just wait until there aren't many people and go between sitting down and the appetizer (or later), they isn't any real structure.

 

The menus posted on the TV help decide.

[loriva]

3 hours ago, mj_holiday said:

 I heard that there is roasted garlic someplace.

 

The appetizer buffet is the home of the roasted garlic heads.  As others have noted, you can serve yourself from the buffet or go take a look and ask the server to bring what you wish.  As far as I know (only two trips with Regent) the roasted garlic is always on the appetizer buffet so you can just ask the server to bring just that from the buffet if you wish.  We can also attest that the cloves are yummy smashed on a piece of the nice bread!

[mj_holiday]

Thank you all for your answers and examples.  I have been wanting to give Sette Mari another try, and will just do that in a little over a month.

[Lonedaddy]

Don't forget the Grappa !

[SWFLAOK]

On 10/28/2022 at 2:13 PM, mj_holiday said:

Thank you all for your answers and examples.  I have been wanting to give Sette Mari another try, and will just do that in a little over a month.

We have taken 6 Regent cruises, and after our first dinner at Sette Mari on our first cruise, we have never eaten there again. For 2 people, it was just too food much for us. All of those wasted appetizers put on our table, a few dinner entree choices, and a dessert buffet, isn't the way we eat, on cruises or at home.

[ChucktownSteve]

Am I mistaken or is Sette Mari always heavy on the carbs? When I've looked at the menus, it appeared that way which I have to restrict.

[SusieQft]

1 hour ago, SWFLAOK said:

For 2 people, it was just too food much for us. All of those wasted appetizers put on our table,

I have considered asking them not to bring the routine appetizers, for just that reason.  Has anyone tried that?  Or can you ask them to bring some but not others?  They are not really my choice for what calories to ration myself, but I enjoyed everything else about Sette Mare.

 

[rcandkc]

If they bring all of them before you can state your preference, just don’t eat all of them.  Also, ask for half portions…they kept worrying that I wasn’t eating enough and then they learned.  Problem solved. 

[cwn]

32 minutes ago, SusieQft said:

I have considered asking them not to bring the routine appetizers, for just that reason.  Has anyone tried that?  Or can you ask them to bring some but not others?  They are not really my choice for what calories to ration myself, but I enjoyed everything else about Sette Mare.

 

Yes you can ask for no appetizers or just the one you like. On the WC (last time on Regent) we only liked one of the three they served every night. We asked for that one, the roasted garlic and bread. You can pick what you want. Eat as much or little as you want, be served or self serve. I would have a small pasta or maybe some soup and some sort of veggie. My DH is a meat or fish eater so he ordered a main dish. We did indulge in a dessert. We don’t like buffets and avoid breakfast and lunch at La Veranda if at all possible.

[GOARMY]

With the risk of stating the obvious:

 

We are not potted plants unable to make simple choices as to caloric  consumption--at any meal or any venue.  

 

As to Sette Mari:  There is no reason to sit there and observe food being delivered to your table which you have no intention of eating.  Particularly appetizers.  

 

For us:  Meatballs, period.  Just make that simple statement upon being seated and served with chilled water, or whatever.  

 

Take some responsibility for indulging, or not, at any meal.  Or, skipping a meal; or at Compass Rose, just ordering a salad and an appetizer.  Period. 

 

It is really not that complicated.  Similar when in a Penthouse as to afternoon canapes.  Advise the Butler not to deliver same. 

 

GOARMY!

 

 

 

 

 

[irishwitchy]

My husband and I loved the first thing they put down - the cheese and fried zucchini thing, but it was very tiny.   We asked for two of those and skip the other stuff and we ordered off the menu. I would go get the garlic and my husband would look to see if calamari was up there.   Dessert is lemonchello  for me!  

[wcsdkqh]

8 hours ago, GOARMY said:

With the risk of stating the obvious:

 

We are not potted plants unable to make simple choices as to caloric  consumption--at any meal or any venue.  

 

As to Sette Mari:  There is no reason to sit there and observe food being delivered to your table which you have no intention of eating.  Particularly appetizers.  

 

For us:  Meatballs, period.  Just make that simple statement upon being seated and served with chilled water, or whatever.  

 

Take some responsibility for indulging, or not, at any meal.  Or, skipping a meal; or at Compass Rose, just ordering a salad and an appetizer.  Period. 

 

It is really not that complicated.  Similar when in a Penthouse as to afternoon canapes.  Advise the Butler not to deliver same. 

 

GOARMY!

 

 

 

 

 

Geeze people. This ain’t brain surgery. 

[2012_Alaska_bound]

12 hours ago, SusieQft said:

I have considered asking them not to bring the routine appetizers, for just that reason.  Has anyone tried that?  Or can you ask them to bring some but not others? 

 

Yes, we started saying we didn't want the appetizers or only wanted certain ones on our last cruise. No problem!

[2012_Alaska_bound]

14 hours ago, ChucktownSteve said:

Am I mistaken or is Sette Mari always heavy on the carbs? When I've looked at the menus, it appeared that way which I have to restrict.

 

I don't do many carbs either, and have no problem there.

[RetiredandTravel]

One improvement would be to mix the hors d'oeuvres up a little. although delicious they do get a little repetitive.

 

Some people are never happy. 🙂

[Lonedaddy]

13 hours ago, SusieQft said:

I have considered asking them not to bring the routine appetizers, for just that reason.  Has anyone tried that?  Or can you ask them to bring some but not others?  They are not really my choice for what calories to ration myself, but I enjoyed everything else about Sette Mare.

 

Yes, the second time we went we told them we didn't need them.  Wasn't a problem.  Now the Bread..... 

[Lonedaddy]

BTW they do have the "rotating pasta selections"  at compass rose too.  DW likes pasta so she can get it at compass if I want something else besides Setti's other offerings.

[lincslady]

The first time you do a Sette Mari dinner it is a bit confusing as heaps of food seems to come at you immediately.  However, surely that should mean you that when you go again you are able  to stop all the  breads etc. arriving if you don't want them?  It certainly worked for us.  

[SusieQft]

13 hours ago, lincslady said:

The first time you do a Sette Mari dinner it is a bit confusing as heaps of food seems to come at you immediately.  However, surely that should mean you that when you go again you are able  to stop all the  breads etc. arriving if you don't want them?  It certainly worked for us.  

Yes, that is our plan for next time.  We have only eaten there twice.  The first time we wanted the full experience, and the second time all the stuff appeared before I could express a preference.