Dinner in the Coastal Kitchen vs Unlimited Dining Package on Symphony

[Carol28]

We sure would like some opinions.  We have only had breakfast and lunch in the Coastal Kitchen on the Allure ( and loved it), but we were travelling with friends so dinners were always in the main dining room or at a specialty restaurant.  This year we will be on the Symphony and are looking forward to the Coastal Kitchen again which I'm assuming will be just as good as the Allure.  However, we've no idea about their dinners.  Is the food better than the food in the main dining room or the same? We do have a two night dinner in the specialty restaurants. Are the dinners in the Coastal Kitchen as good as the lunches?  And the service was superb!

[Cigar King]

I think the food in CK is marginally better than the MDR.  What I do like is it's not as crowded so it's a more relaxing meal.

[loman]

On Allure we had all meals in Coastal Kitchen . 

Its included so why not take advantage of the great service and ambience

along with a reasonable menu and food quality.

[BirdTravels]

1 hour ago, Carol28 said:

We sure would like some opinions.  We have only had breakfast and lunch in the Coastal Kitchen on the Allure ( and loved it), but we were travelling with friends so dinners were always in the main dining room or at a specialty restaurant.  This year we will be on the Symphony and are looking forward to the Coastal Kitchen again which I'm assuming will be just as good as the Allure.  However, we've no idea about their dinners.  Is the food better than the food in the main dining room or the same? We do have a two night dinner in the specialty restaurants. Are the dinners in the Coastal Kitchen as good as the lunches?  And the service was superb!

We have dined in CK on other ships, but had a not-good experience recently. We were on the Quantum a few months back and ate in CK most nights. We cruise a half dozen times a year and don't have unreasonable expectations for complimentary restaurants. 

 

1) We were disappointed to see items served at CK lunch, appear on the CK dinner menu. It just really "cheapened" dinner when appetizers from lunch was also showed up the next nigh on the dinner menu. Kidna like left overs. 

 

2) While the CK menus were "o.k.", a lot of the food served at the Quantum CK was really bad. One night, I sent a steak back twice because it was undercooked (cold to the touch in the center). 

 

There were several nights when we exited the CK out the back door into the Windjammer to get some "better food". 

 

It was really, really disappointing. 

 

That is just one post-pandemic experience. We have had o.k. experiences at CK on the Allure and Symphony pre-pandemic. 

[John&LaLa]

42 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

We were disappointed to see items served at CK lunch, appear on the CK dinner menu. It just really "cheapened" dinner when appetizers from lunch was also showed up the next nigh on the dinner menu. Kidna like left overs. 

 

I found the order to be opposite 

 

CK lunch made up of the previous nights dinner. This was on Harmony, my least favorite CK

 

 

[luv2sailAgain]

15 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

I found the order to be opposite 

 

CK lunch made up of the previous nights dinner. This was on Harmony, my least favorite CK

 

 

What is your favorite CK?

[John&LaLa]

15 minutes ago, luv2sailAgain said:

What is your favorite CK?

 

Oasis, food just seems better and more diverse. Symphony is nice. Can't wait to try Wonder.

 

Not a big fan of the Quantum Class. The venue is kind of boring. Food on Odyssey was ok

[SWACruising]

Instead of UDP we did the 3 night dining package and went on nights the CK menu was so so. Worked out great. Best part of both is the intimacy 

[topnole]

58 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

I found the order to be opposite 

 

CK lunch made up of the previous nights dinner. This was on Harmony, my least favorite CK

 

 

Do you think that is due to the chef or just an overall vibe?   We were on Harmony several years back and thought it was good.  We’ll be back on her soon and sure hoping the CK is up to par.   

[topnole]

3 hours ago, Carol28 said:

We sure would like some opinions.  We have only had breakfast and lunch in the Coastal Kitchen on the Allure ( and loved it), but we were travelling with friends so dinners were always in the main dining room or at a specialty restaurant.  This year we will be on the Symphony and are looking forward to the Coastal Kitchen again which I'm assuming will be just as good as the Allure.  However, we've no idea about their dinners.  Is the food better than the food in the main dining room or the same? We do have a two night dinner in the specialty restaurants. Are the dinners in the Coastal Kitchen as good as the lunches?  And the service was superb!

We always seem to enjoy the CK.  If you always do suites than maybe keep your two dinners elsewhere.  But if you don’t always travel in suites, then maybe do more specialty restaurants on those trips and enjoy the CK when you do suites.   For us, we always love the service and atmosphere of the CK so we have no desire to pay extra to go to the specialty restaurants when in a sky class suite.  We find the food a bit better than MDR and the service to be great.  It just feels different and we really enjoy it.  

[George C]

We like CK for breakfast and lunch not dinner we do UDP . 

Edited November 13, 2022 by George C

[John&LaLa]

23 minutes ago, topnole said:

Do you think that is due to the chef or just an overall vibe?   We were on Harmony several years back and thought it was good.  We’ll be back on her soon and sure hoping the CK is up to par.   

 

Harmony was only doing 2 rotating menus for lunch. Changes on day 5. Hated the 2nd lunch menu, to heavy.

 

Oasis uses 4-5 menus, and while some things repeat on the menu, it's a better variety. 

[John&LaLa]

23 minutes ago, topnole said:

We always seem to enjoy the CK.  If you always do suites than maybe keep your two dinners elsewhere.  But if you don’t always travel in suites, then maybe do more specialty restaurants on those trips and enjoy the CK when you do suites.   For us, we always love the service and atmosphere of the CK so we have no desire to pay extra to go to the specialty restaurants when in a sky class suite.  We find the food a bit better than MDR and the service to be great.  It just feels different and we really enjoy it.  

 

Unfortunately service just wasn't what it used to be. Its a shame

[topnole]

1 minute ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Harmony was only doing 2 rotating menus for lunch. Changes on day 5. Hated the 2nd lunch menu, to heavy.

 

Oasis uses 4-5 menus, and while some things repeat on the menu, it's a better variety. 

Ok.  Thanks.  Was hoping it wasn’t a good quality opinion.  I’ve read

some mixed reviews recently on Harmony CK, with some saying it was horrible.  Of course I was quite skeptical of that type of opinion given that I’ve been on Harmony (albeit several years ago now) and really loved the CK on her back then.   The lunch menu doesn’t bother me much (although I understand your feeling on it) because that is the one meal we don’t eat in CK as much as we are usually out and about by the pool.  
 

Any idea who the chef is now?  

[John&LaLa]

9 minutes ago, George C said:

We like CK for breakfast and lunch not dinner we do UDP . 

 

I love the Oasis version of poached eggs, but I'm learning a new way down in Chops. Need to adapt to your surroundings 

 

[topnole]

3 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Unfortunately service just wasn't what it used to be. Its a shame

I’ll just go into it assuming the worst on this and hoping for the best.   I have to imagine CK will still be far better for us than MDR.  At a minimum it is very nice having our cabin 50 feet away from the entrance.  

[John&LaLa]

8 minutes ago, topnole said:

Ok.  Thanks.  Was hoping it wasn’t a good quality opinion.  I’ve read

some mixed reviews recently on Harmony CK, with some saying it was horrible.  Of course I was quite skeptical of that type of opinion given that I’ve been on Harmony (albeit several years ago now) and really loved the CK on her back then.   The lunch menu doesn’t bother me much (although I understand your feeling on it) because that is the one meal we don’t eat in CK as much as we are usually out and about by the pool.  
 

Any idea who the chef is now?  

 

No idea, sorry

[reallyitsmema]

23 minutes ago, George C said:

We like CK for breakfast and lunch not dinner we do UDP . 

 

You should try a Quantum class sometime, CK is much better than the Oasis class ships.  CK is a standalone restaurant, so a much more intimate venue without the craziness of the SL attached to it.  We have found the food to be better too.

[bonsai3s]

5 hours ago, Carol28 said:

We sure would like some opinions.  We have only had breakfast and lunch in the Coastal Kitchen on the Allure ( and loved it), but we were travelling with friends so dinners were always in the main dining room or at a specialty restaurant.  This year we will be on the Symphony and are looking forward to the Coastal Kitchen again which I'm assuming will be just as good as the Allure.  However, we've no idea about their dinners.  Is the food better than the food in the main dining room or the same? We do have a two night dinner in the specialty restaurants. Are the dinners in the Coastal Kitchen as good as the lunches?  And the service was superb!

We enjoyed CK on the Smphony...yes, service was excellent.

We usually look at the menu for CK in advance...and if there's nothing we like on the menu, we go to a specialty restaurant that night.

JMHO, the food and service at CK are better than the MDR. The staff at CK will do the best they can to accomodate you. (For example, the filet is usually served only on Night 1...on Night 4, our CK waiter heard me say that I loved the filet...and he gladly served it to me.)

[topnole]

3 hours ago, reallyitsmema said:

 

You should try a Quantum class sometime, CK is much better than the Oasis class ships.  CK is a standalone restaurant, so a much more intimate venue without the craziness of the SL attached to it.  We have found the food to be better too.

Never done quantum but I’ve heard many reviews of people not like the CK atmosphere on that class ship.  I guess it is all personal preference.  I like oasis class CK because the bar is right there.  Feels like a happening place in the evening.  

[DaKahuna]

I have said it before and I’ll say it again, the lunch menu in CK likes variety.  However, we do like that the option of ordering off the MDR menu as well as the children's menu. 
 

I happened to like the spaghetti and the burger on the CK kids menu.  I had one or the other multiple times on our recent Quantum B2B.

 

if you are a dessert fan, order the banana split or the chocolate brownie from the children’s menu.  
 

[topnole]

3 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

I have said it before and I’ll say it again, the lunch menu in CK likes variety.  However, we do like that the option of ordering off the MDR menu as well as the children's menu. 
 

I happened to like the spaghetti and the burger on the CK kids menu.  I had one or the other multiple times on our recent Quantum B2B.

 

if you are a dessert fan, order the banana split or the chocolate brownie from the children’s menu.  
 

I like the dessert idea.  Definitely gonna get banana splits for kids as well so I don’t look so bad   😂😂

[Carol28]

10 hours ago, George C said:

We like CK for breakfast and lunch not dinner we do UDP . 

 

10 hours ago, George C said:

We like CK for breakfast and lunch not dinner we do UDP . 

What is UDP please?  Is Chops open for breakfast? I thought perhaps that was only on ships without a Coastal Kitchen?

[Tulsacoker]

Ultimate Dining Package.... no Chops is not open for Breakfast 

[Tulsacoker]

Some ships without CK do have a specialty restaurant open for Suite and Pinns for breakfast. Not sure since its been a while on a ship without CK