Manfredi’s

[SantaFe1]

16 minutes ago, longterm said:

I guess I'm mistaken; I could've sworn we always got reservations for the Restaurant on our last ocean cruise, but that was 15 months ago, so perhaps things have changed.

During Covid, reservations were required, or at least could be made in advance for the Restaurant. This was for maybe a year, ‘21-22.  It was very cumbersome. You made The Restaurant rez before you could book the other restaurants, and then had to roll the dice and cancel a Restaurant rez before you could make reservations for Manfredis or CT on a given night. If that night wasn’t available, then you had no reservations. We ate in World Cafe a lot during that time. 

[millybess]

21 minutes ago, longterm said:

I guess I'm mistaken; I could've sworn we always got reservations for the Restaurant on our last ocean cruise, but that was 15 months ago, so perhaps things have changed.

@longterm  You aren't mistaken.  Post Covid you could make reservations on MVJ for the Restaurant before the date you could make reservations for Chef's Table or Manfredi's.  But if you used up all of your allotted reservations on the Restaurant then you had zero available reservations left when it came time to book the specialty restaurants.  

[millybess]

3 minutes ago, SantaFe1 said:

During Covid, reservations were required, or at least could be made in advance for the Restaurant. This was for maybe a year, ‘21-22.  It was very cumbersome. You made The Restaurant rez before you could book the other restaurants, and then had to roll the dice and cancel a Restaurant rez before you could make reservations for Manfredis or CT on a given night. If that night wasn’t available, then you had no reservations. We ate in World Cafe a lot during that time. 

👍 you beat me to it.  

[CCWineLover]

4 hours ago, millybess said:

@longterm  You aren't mistaken.  Post Covid you could make reservations on MVJ for the Restaurant before the date you could make reservations for Chef's Table or Manfredi's.  But if you used up all of your allotted reservations on the Restaurant then you had zero available reservations left when it came time to book the specialty restaurants.  

Yes you could, but they ignored those reservations.  It didn't make any difference 🙂

 

[SantaFe1]

You are right.  I remember that too.  Eating in theWC is not a hardship.  We really don’t like the restaurant.  On the World Cruise, if we ate there ten times in 18 weeks, I would be surprised.  We love Viking, but feel,the food is their Achilles heel.  But tastes vary.  

[CCWineLover]

10 minutes ago, SantaFe1 said:

You are right.  I remember that too.  Eating in theWC is not a hardship.  We really don’t like the restaurant.  On the World Cruise, if we ate there ten times in 18 weeks, I would be surprised.  We love Viking, but feel,the food is their Achilles heel.  But tastes vary.  

We are same as you!  We thoroughly enjoy the atmosphere of the WC - so relaxing.  We take our time and just "graze".  We try lots of different items.  We pick up small portions and if we like something we go get more.  We really liked the Asian station in the back !!

The Restaurant for us was TOO slow, TOO noisy, and more like a large boisterous restaurant back home (which we used to enjoy but now that we've aged, not so much anymore.  We like a nice quite, relaxing environment these days!.  )

 

Edited October 24, 2023 by CCWineLover

[millybess]

17 minutes ago, CCWineLover said:

Yes you could, but they ignored those reservations.  It didn't make any difference 🙂

 

That I didn't know.  I read so many posts here on CC by people who had made reservations at the restaurant and then couldn't make their specialty reservations.  I didn't realize that their original reservations were ignored.

[SantaFe1]

49 minutes ago, CCWineLover said:

We are same as you!  We thoroughly enjoy the atmosphere of the WC - so relaxing.  We take our time and just "graze".  We try lots of different items.  We pick up small portions and if we like something we go get more.  We really liked the Asian station in the back !!

The Restaurant for us was TOO slow, TOO noisy, and more like a large boisterous restaurant back home (which we used to enjoy but now that we've aged, not so much anymore.  We like a nice quite, relaxing environment these days!.  )

 

Yes!  Agree with all you say.  👍

[longterm]

11 hours ago, CCWineLover said:

The Restaurant for us was TOO slow, TOO noisy, and more like a large boisterous restaurant back home...

 

Our experience was different; we always enjoyed The Restaurant, and I can't recall ever thinking that it was noisy or boisterous. 

 

Preferences vary; I've read some posts where they said Chef's Table was their favorite--it was our least favorite and we rarely ate there and will probably eat there perhaps once or twice on our upcoming British Isles cruise. 

 

As to whether the staff "ignored" our reservations, I can't speak to that, only to say that when we arrived and referenced our reservations, we were always immediately seated at our table of choice (port side rear corner).

[CDNPolar]

3 hours ago, longterm said:

Our experience was different; we always enjoyed The Restaurant, and I can't recall ever thinking that it was noisy or boisterous. 

 

Preferences vary; I've read some posts where they said Chef's Table was their favorite--it was our least favorite and we rarely ate there and will probably eat there perhaps once or twice on our upcoming British Isles cruise. 

 

As to whether the staff "ignored" our reservations, I can't speak to that, only to say that when we arrived and referenced our reservations, we were always immediately seated at our table of choice (port side rear corner).

 

We love almost every venue that Viking has on the Ocean ships and I will rank in order of preference:

 

Dinner

Big Number One!!!  The Chef's Table  (Every menu change)

The Restaurant  (In between menu changes for Chef's Table)

Manfredi's  (Once, perhaps twice on a cruise - our least popular)

The World Cafe. (When the menu in the restaurant does not excite us)

 

Lunch

The World Cafe. (Not sure we have ever eaten lunch anywhere else - we just like the selection and help yourself)

 

Breakfast

The World Cafe. (Not sure we have eaten anywhere else - we just like the selection and help yourself)

 

Never Eaten At:

The Pool Bar - menu does not interest us

Mamsens  - menu does not interest us other than the Success Cake, so I guess we have eaten from Mamsens.

[duquephart]

2 minutes ago, CDNPolar said:

 

We love almost every venue that Viking has on the Ocean ships and I will rank in order of preference:

 

Dinner

Big Number One!!!  The Chef's Table  (Every menu change)

The Restaurant  (In between menu changes for Chef's Table)

Manfredi's  (Once, perhaps twice on a cruise - our least popular)

The World Cafe. (When the menu in the restaurant does not excite us)

 

Lunch

The World Cafe. (Not sure we have ever eaten lunch anywhere else - we just like the selection and help yourself)

 

Breakfast

The World Cafe. (Not sure we have eaten anywhere else - we just like the selection and help yourself)

 

Never Eaten At:

The Pool Bar - menu does not interest us

Mamsens  - menu does not interest us other than the Success Cake, so I guess we have eaten from Mamsens.

 

Too bad about Pool Bar menu. The food there is always quite good. Check out the salad table some time just for grins.

[CDNPolar]

18 minutes ago, duquephart said:

 

Too bad about Pool Bar menu. The food there is always quite good. Check out the salad table some time just for grins.

 

We are just not burger / hotdog folks... we want to eat things that we have either never eaten before or are not on our regular diet.

 

Fully understand the "comfort" of the burger and they do look good.

[Hobson1754]

1 hour ago, CDNPolar said:

 

We are just not burger / hotdog folks... we want to eat things that we have either never eaten before or are not on our regular diet.

 

Fully understand the "comfort" of the burger and they do look good.

The onion rings in the pool bar are delicious.

[Clay Clayton]

1 hour ago, duquephart said:

 

Too bad about Pool Bar menu. The food there is always quite good. Check out the salad table some time just for grins.

 

1 hour ago, CDNPolar said:

 

We are just not burger / hotdog folks... we want to eat things that we have either never eaten before or are not on our regular diet.

 

Fully understand the "comfort" of the burger and they do look good.

 

1 minute ago, Hobson1754 said:

The onion rings in the pool bar are delicious.

We like to have order seared tuna to put on top of a salad we make in the WC. ...usually with an order of onion rings on the side.  Can't just eat healthy😂

[CCWineLover]

3 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

 

We are just not burger / hotdog folks... we want to eat things that we have either never eaten before or are not on our regular diet.

 

Fully understand the "comfort" of the burger and they do look good.

We love the pool grill and are not burger and hot dog folks.

We always get the grilled Ahi steak.  Sometimes we ask for a bun and sometimes not.

AND we always fill the plate up not with fries but the really good salads they have at the Pool Grill.  And sometimes, like the other poster, we have put that Ahi on top of the green salad that we make.

Really tasty lunch and environment (and don't have to eat hot dogs - but of course we love Ahi!)

Edited October 24, 2023 by CCWineLover

[millybess]

40 minutes ago, CCWineLover said:

We love the pool grill and are not burger and hot dog folks.

We always get the grilled Ahi steak.  Sometimes we ask for a bun and sometimes not.

AND we always fill the plate up not with fries but the really good salads they have at the Pool Grill.  And sometimes, like the other poster, we have put that Ahi on top of the green salad that we make.

Really tasty lunch and environment (and don't have to eat hot dogs - but of course we love Ahi!)

And the wings!  They often switch up the flavours from day to day: hot, Korean, etc.   The Pool Grill is our first stop after we board. 

[May B]

6 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

 

We are just not burger / hotdog folks... we want to eat things that we have either never eaten before or are not on our regular diet.

 

Fully understand the "comfort" of the burger and they do look good.

If you are fish eaters, I think you’ve missed out on something truly outstanding, the chargrilled tuna.

 

Now I see several others beat me to it!

Edited October 24, 2023 by May B

[CCWineLover]

2 hours ago, May B said:

If you are fish eaters, I think you’ve missed out on something truly outstanding, the chargrilled tuna.

 

Now I see several others beat me to it!

Yes indeed!  On our last cruise a few weeks ago we were the only people wa saw order the Ahi. EVERYONE else had hot dogs hamburgers and more.  

[wine-wine-wine]

I like the Norwegian hotdog. The accompanying shrimp salad is quite nice if unusual. 

[CDNPolar]

Ok... so you all have convinced us that we need to look more closely at the Pool Bar menu.

 

Our next scheduled Ocean is a bit away, but we will look at this menu with a new eyes.

 

I am sad to say however that several of you have mentioned the onion rings, as I consider myself a connoisseur of onion rings and there are very few that I give a seal of approval.  I had no idea the Pool menu had onion rings of considerable mention.  This may be the death of me on my next ocean cruise if they are truly good.  You will find me there at breakfast begging them to fire up the deep fryer! 

[duquephart]

Actually only one person mentioned onion rings but try them anyway. And I highly recommend that you at least pass by the salad table a few times and check it out - there's always something well worth your while there.

[millybess]

2 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

Ok... so you all have convinced us that we need to look more closely at the Pool Bar menu.

 

Our next scheduled Ocean is a bit away, but we will look at this menu with a new eyes.

 

I am sad to say however that several of you have mentioned the onion rings, as I consider myself a connoisseur of onion rings and there are very few that I give a seal of approval.  I had no idea the Pool menu had onion rings of considerable mention.  This may be the death of me on my next ocean cruise if they are truly good.  You will find me there at breakfast begging them to fire up the deep fryer! 

It better be a late breakfast.  I don't think it opens 'til 11:30.  It's really a nice place to go when you return from a morning excursion.

 

On a sunny day, we have found it quite hot to sit at some of the tables at the Pool Grill so we take our food out to a shady Aquavit table.

[CDNPolar]

24 minutes ago, millybess said:

It better be a late breakfast.  I don't think it opens 'til 11:30.  It's really a nice place to go when you return from a morning excursion.

 

On a sunny day, we have found it quite hot to sit at some of the tables at the Pool Grill so we take our food out to a shady Aquavit table.

 

The heat, and or the humidity may be one thing that keeps me from the pool area.  I often find it too warm or too humid in that deck around the pool, but there is nothing stopping us from taking the food into the WC or the Aquavit.

[CCWineLover]

1 hour ago, CDNPolar said:

 

The heat, and or the humidity may be one thing that keeps me from the pool area.  I often find it too warm or too humid in that deck around the pool, but there is nothing stopping us from taking the food into the WC or the Aquavit.

I agree except that on the 3 new ships they now can open the windows along the sides!! (Mars, Saturn, Neptune only).  Makes a HUGE difference!!

[Clay Clayton]

1 hour ago, CCWineLover said:

I agree except that on the 3 new ships they now can open the windows along the sides!! (Mars, Saturn, Neptune only).  Makes a HUGE difference!!

Agreed. Wish they could retro fit the other ships.