Onda. Did you love it?

[McFins]

It looks great..did you love it? 
 

Edited January 5, 2023 by McFins
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[Karaboudjan]

Mostly loved it.  I had the pizza for a starter.  It was certainly the best pizza that I have had on a ship, although not quite as good as a genuine wood-fired oven pizza.  For my entree I had the Branzino which was great.  My wife had the Pappardelle Bolognese which was also excellent.  I can't recall what else she had.

 

My only issue was with the seating, which I found fairly cramped.  This was on the Prima so the other ships may be different.  

 

 

[The Traveling Man]

42 minutes ago, McFins said:

It looks great..did you love it? 
 

We really enjoyed Onda on a couple of different NCL ships.  The food was great, and the portions were huge.  On the Prima this past October, though, we found the decor and layout of the restaurant to be a bit off-putting.  as @Karaboudjandescribed, the design of some of the restaurants on the Prima just seems a bit odd.

[BirdTravels]

Not really.

 

We really wanted to like this restaurant as an upgrade to La Cucina. We have dined there 3 times on the Encore and 2 times on the Prima. 

 

On the Encore, the restaurant is very noisy. They have linoleum floors with nothing on the walls or ceiling, so the sound just bounces around the space. The dishwashing station is just inside the door of the galley, and the sounds of plates and silverware being thrown around echo in the restaurant (at least in the back). 

 

We have not tried the pizza,,, figuring I can get a free slide of cheese pizza in the buffet without paying $15. 

 

We have tried 6 of the 8 appetizers. A lot of them come off as mass produced galley food that has been sitting since they were prepped hours before. Something you would expect in the MDR, not in a Specialty Restaurant. 

 

We may have tried 1 out of the 6 pasta dishes. 

 

We have tried 5 of the 6 entrees. The most disappointing was the Veal Milanese which was all breading. 

 

We have tried 4 of the 5 sides. O.K., nothing special

 

We have tried 4 of the 5 desserts. O.K., nothing special

 

[lgdesign]

I totally agree about the Encore (post-COVID earlier this year).  The space was cramped, VERY noisy and echo-y and the ambiance severely lacking.  With the very small tables, it seemed like more like a cafeteria than a specialty restaurant.  Also, the staff seemed very inexperienced and nervous.  Tried it twice and gave up.

 

Different experience on the Spirit (just before COVID) where they had a very attentive maitre d' and a personable sommolier.  It was still a bit cramped but we had much better ambiance and top notch servers and staff.  Plus, the food was much better on the Spirit (at that time).  Happily ate there several times.

Edited January 5, 2023 by lgdesign

[YVRteacher]

The food at Onda is prepared en masse in Miami then sent in bags to the ships so it just needs to be warmed up. (I expect people to argue this but it is true.) Soon, La Cucina will switch to Onda.  Did I love it? No. Is it better than my cooking at home? Yes.

[McFins]

52 minutes ago, YVRteacher said:

The food at Onda is prepared en masse in Miami then sent in bags to the ships so it just needs to be warmed up. (I expect people to argue this but it is true.) Soon, La Cucina will switch to Onda.  Did I love it? No. Is it better than my cooking at home? Yes.

😳 Thanks YVR.  I’m not sure I’ll be able to get that out of my mind now.  Haha 

[McFins]

1 hour ago, lgdesign said:

I totally agree about the Encore (post-COVID earlier this year).  The space was cramped, VERY noisy and echo-y and the ambiance severely lacking.  With the very small tables, it seemed like more like a cafeteria than a specialty restaurant.  Also, the staff seemed very inexperienced and nervous.  Tried it twice and gave up.

 

Different experience on the Spirit (just before COVID) where they had a very attentive maitre d' and a personable sommolier.  It was still a bit cramped but we had much better ambiance and top notch servers and staff.  Plus, the food was much better on the Spirit (at that time).  Happily ate there several times.

Thanks for your insight.

[McFins]

1 hour ago, BirdTravels said:

Not really.

 

We really wanted to like this restaurant as an upgrade to La Cucina. We have dined there 3 times on the Encore and 2 times on the Prima. 

 

On the Encore, the restaurant is very noisy. They have linoleum floors with nothing on the walls or ceiling, so the sound just bounces around the space. The dishwashing station is just inside the door of the galley, and the sounds of plates and silverware being thrown around echo in the restaurant (at least in the back). 

 

We have not tried the pizza,,, figuring I can get a free slide of cheese pizza in the buffet without paying $15. 

 

We have tried 6 of the 8 appetizers. A lot of them come off as mass produced galley food that has been sitting since they were prepped hours before. Something you would expect in the MDR, not in a Specialty Restaurant. 

 

We may have tried 1 out of the 6 pasta dishes. 

 

We have tried 5 of the 6 entrees. The most disappointing was the Veal Milanese which was all breading. 

 

We have tried 4 of the 5 sides. O.K., nothing special

 

We have tried 4 of the 5 desserts. O.K., nothing special

 

We too were hoping it would be an upgrade to LaCucina which we found to be disappointing on our last couple of cruises.    Thanks so much for your feedback

[McFins]

1 hour ago, The Traveling Man said:

We really enjoyed Onda on a couple of different NCL ships.  The food was great, and the portions were huge.  On the Prima this past October, though, we found the decor and layout of the restaurant to be a bit off-putting.  as @Karaboudjandescribed, the design of some of the restaurants on the Prima just seems a bit odd.

Thanks … much appreciated

[McFins]

1 hour ago, Karaboudjan said:

Mostly loved it.  I had the pizza for a starter.  It was certainly the best pizza that I have had on a ship, although not quite as good as a genuine wood-fired oven pizza.  For my entree I had the Branzino which was great.  My wife had the Pappardelle Bolognese which was also excellent.  I can't recall what else she had.

 

My only issue was with the seating, which I found fairly cramped.  This was on the Prima so the other ships may be different.  

 

 

Thanks so much,    Sounds like the seating is an issue for many.  

[BirdTravels]

Onda on the Prima

 

Onda on the Encore - The curved walls act as parabolic reflectors, just bouncing the sound around the room

 

[McFins]

12 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

Onda on the Prima

 

Onda on the Encore - The curved walls act as parabolic reflectors, just bouncing the sound around the room

 

Thanks Bird.  Not typical Italian restaurant decor for sure.  First 2 pics remind me of something you would have seen on the Jetsons

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[curlstravel]

Loved The butterscotch budino dessert!

[McFins]

2 minutes ago, curlstravel said:

Loved The butterscotch budino dessert!

Sounds yummy

[Karaboudjan]

2 hours ago, YVRteacher said:

The food at Onda is prepared en masse in Miami then sent in bags to the ships so it just needs to be warmed up. (I expect people to argue this but it is true.) Soon, La Cucina will switch to Onda.  Did I love it? No. Is it better than my cooking at home? Yes.

 

Do you have a source for that or can you elaborate somewhat?  I can see a few things on the menu that could feasibly be prepared sous vide, but why pay people in Miami US wages when they have plenty of talented cooks on the ships who are probably earning a lot less.  And pay to ship it all the way to Australia/New Zealand for the Spirit?!

[BaWBarmy]

2 hours ago, YVRteacher said:

The food at Onda is prepared en masse in Miami then sent in bags to the ships so it just needs to be warmed up. (I expect people to argue this but it is true.) Soon, La Cucina will switch to Onda.  Did I love it? No. Is it better than my cooking at home? Yes.

 

I am going to argue.

 

How does this work for ships based in Europe?

 

[debenson0723]

We enjoyed Onda on the Encore, both pre and post Covid.  Had a white pizza that was amazing. Ate on the Waterfront so didn't have the noise issue.  But on the Prima, it was not so good. As someone mentioned, the decor seemed very cheap to me and the 4 of us didn't seem to have as much room at the table as on the Encore (4 people also). Loved the butterscotch budino on both ships.

[Kauaijim]

Once was enough for us . Switched back to Cagney s 

[chillyw]

I quite liked Onda personally.  I enjoyed the short ribs and mezzelune the one time I ate there.  Looking forward to doing it again this June on my encore trip on the Encore.

[YVRteacher]

54 minutes ago, BaWBarmy said:

 

I am going to argue.

 

How does this work for ships based in Europe?

 

Much of NCL’s provisions are shipped/flown from Miami to different ports around the world.  

[BirdTravels]

46 minutes ago, Kauaijim said:

Once was enough for us . Switched back to Cagney s 

For us, the quality of the food and service at Cagney's has been on a steady decline for a few years (pre- and post-covid). They are down on the list of restaurants to dine in.

 

In 2019, before the shutdown, we even had the Cagney's restaurant manager chasing down on the ship to apologize after I complained to the assistant general manager about abysmal service and food. 

[SpanishForker]

10 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

For us, the quality of the food and service at Cagney's has been on a steady decline for a few years (pre- and post-covid). They are down on the list of restaurants to dine in.

 

In 2019, before the shutdown, we even had the Cagney's restaurant manager chasing down on the ship to apologize after I complained to the assistant general manager about abysmal service and food. 

How would you personally rank the Specialty Restaurants on the Encore? 

[davencl]

29 minutes ago, YVRteacher said:

Much of NCL’s provisions are shipped/flown from Miami to different ports around the world.  

I too would be interested in the definition of "much"? 

Edited January 6, 2023 by davencl

[jbcallender]

For me, it was as good as a good Italian restaurant in my city.  I've had much better in Boston and St. Louis.  Nothing spectacular or exceptionally creative on the menu.