Osteria

[Texas Tillie]

4 hours ago, travelberlin said:

I am glad to read about your positive experience at Tastes. From all restaurants onboard is the one I am most curious about because I will probably will eat there on port days at lunch time. Have you been there also for lunch? Can you tell us about your experience at lunch time?

Ivi

 

 

Lunch isn't like dinner at Tastes. A sample menu is available on the Crystal website under Ships and then Dining. The menu is rather limited but with some favorites from Old Crystal.

[dimundsR]

Here's the lunch menu . . . 

 

[Cruise-y]

 I enjoy sauces and garnishes of all kinds. I think they enhance food, when added creatively and with a measured hand. 
 

Osteria only has 4 main choices. The breaded veal chop and baked sea bass just seem plain and uninspired to me. And I am a very adventuresome eater. I’d like to see a few other options.

 

I will give it a go but expect to be eating mostly starters, which all look very good. I’m not expecting old Prego, just a little more zing to the mains. JMO

 

 

Edited November 21, 2023 by Cruise-y

[Keith1010]

28 minutes ago, Cruise-y said:

 I enjoy sauces and garnishes of all kinds. I think they enhance food, when added creatively and with a measured hand. 
 

Osteria only has 4 main choices. The breaded veal chop and baked sea bass just seem plain and uninspired to me. And I am a very adventuresome eater. I’d like to see a few other options.

 

I will give it a go but expect to be eating mostly starters, which all look very good. I’m not expecting old Prego, just a little more zing to the mains. JMO

 

 

Best bet as I've said is don't pre-judge it until you have eaten there. Also, go more than once.

 

And there is nothing wrong with having more than one starter.

 

And there are other items to enjoy such as the rolls which IMHO are very tasty along with an item that comes out early in the meal not on the menu.

 

I would also add that in high end restaurants often there are fewer choices for the main course.  

 

Again, just try it and then decide  and like everything it's not for everyone. None of the specialty or alternate restaurants are and that goes on land and at sea.

 

Keith

[travelberlin]

5 hours ago, dimundsR said:

Here's the lunch menu . . . 

 

Thank you por posting the menu of tastes for lunch. I guess one day the salmon and another day the chicken salad. Pizza Margarita ( is this fresh made pizza)? Spaghetti bolognese? Quesadillas? Canned tuna salad? No thanks. I wonder what am I going to eat the other port days at lunch time 🧐. My itinerary has 8 port days. Since food is subjective, I know some would love the menu at Tastes for lunch. 
 

And yes …I know there is the buffet restaurant and the Bistro as part of the luxury experience 😃.

 

Ivi

 

 

[Txcotn]

We wish Waterside would be open but understand the reason. We often go ashore and fins some wonderful little cafe or restaurant and enjoy a nice lunch. Is that a possibility for you?

 

[Cruise-y]

I love to eat local food when in port. Some of my best meals ever. 

[TER777]

There is also the Trident Grill. 

[BWIVince]

8 hours ago, Cruise-y said:

 I enjoy sauces and garnishes of all kinds. I think they enhance food, when added creatively and with a measured hand. 
 

Osteria only has 4 main choices. The breaded veal chop and baked sea bass just seem plain and uninspired to me. And I am a very adventuresome eater. I’d like to see a few other options.

 

I will give it a go but expect to be eating mostly starters, which all look very good. I’m not expecting old Prego, just a little more zing to the mains. JMO

 

 

 

I think that's totally a understandable feeling...  I can kind of see how they got there though.  The new concept is more of a tasting menu, and usually with tasting menus there aren't a whole slew of mains.  (You don't have to do their set menus, but the courses are still kind of teed up that way even if you select your own.)  From my experience with similar restaurants around here, four choices for a main is typical since there are so many choices overall...  But it doesn't leave you with too much love when none of those four really strike you.  That's typically one of the hazards of coursed tasting menus.  😞 

 

OTOH, I could totally see myself doing two appetizers, a pasta, and dessert, and being totally happy with it.  We'll see when the time comes for me to actually try it.

 

Vince

[travelberlin]

3 hours ago, Txcotn said:

We wish Waterside would be open but understand the reason. We often go ashore and fins some wonderful little cafe or restaurant and enjoy a nice lunch. Is that a possibility for you?

 

In Europe is a possibility … in the Caribbean is not. This particular itinerary is in the Caribbean. Besides that, when the food in the ship is good we have not had the necessity to go eat at the port of calls. We have done it in cruise lines like Royal Caribbean where we really had to search for good food outside the ship. 
Ivi

[travelberlin]

2 hours ago, Cruise-y said:

I love to eat local food when in port. Some of my best meals ever. 

In the Caribbean? Can you recommend something?

[travelberlin]

1 hour ago, TER777 said:

There is also the Trident Grill. 

I am afraid I do not remember that one. What type of food do they serve? Where are they located? The name sounds good. Maybe grilled fish, grilled steak, grilled shrimps?

 

A nice lunch would be for me for example a grilled salmon or trout with a salad, a lady rib eye steak with a salad, a beef tagliata with rucola and parmesan salad or a salad nicoise but with fresh tuna. 😋

 

Ivi

[Keith1010]

4 minutes ago, travelberlin said:

I am afraid I do not remember that one. What type of food do they serve? Where are they located? The name sounds good. Maybe grilled fish, grilled steak, grilled shrimps?

 

A nice lunch would be for me for example a grilled salmon or trout with a salad, a lady rib eye steak with a salad, a beef tagliata with rucola and parmesan salad or a salad nicoise but with fresh tuna. 😋

 

Ivi

Ivi next to tastes. Grilled hot dogs, hamburgers, salmon, chicken, pouts and sweet potato fries,  There might be other items and if so others can chime in. 

 

Keith

[travelberlin]

3 minutes ago, Keith1010 said:

Ivi next to tastes. Grilled hot dogs, hamburgers, salmon, chicken, pouts and sweet potato fries,  There might be other items and if so others can chime in. 

 

Keith

Thanks Keith, it sounds good. Grilled fish and sweet potato fries and salad sound definitely like an option to me for lunch.

 

Ivi

[Texas Tillie]

1 minute ago, travelberlin said:

Thanks Keith, it sounds good. Grilled fish and sweet potato fries and salad sound definitely like an option to me for lunch.

 

Ivi

 

This is the most casual of all the restaurants on Crystal. Fish is a frozen, breaded piece, to be served on a bun. Don't think anything at the Grill would be to your liking since you seemed to not like many items on Taste's menu which most would consider a step up from the Grill.

[travelberlin]

7 minutes ago, Texas Tillie said:

 

This is the most casual of all the restaurants on Crystal. Fish is a frozen, breaded piece, to be served on a bun. Don't think anything at the Grill would be to your liking since you seemed to not like many items on Taste's menu which most would consider a step up from the Grill.

Texas Tillie, please do not destroy my hope 😂😂😂. Now seriously, thanks for your post. It puts things in perspective. By the way, isn’t fish always frozen on cruise ships? I have only had fresh fish on port of calls in the Royal Clipper and I remember the cook himself went to the market to buy the fish.
 

Ivi

Edited November 21, 2023 by travelberlin

[Cruise-y]

2 hours ago, travelberlin said:

In the Caribbean? Can you recommend something?

Oh my yes! We just walk down the beach for a while or ask a local and almost always find wonderful little places with fresh grilled fish, plantains, peas and rice, oxtail, grilled chicken, stews with island veggies, lovely tropical fruits, etc. All delicious. Perhaps not to your liking but we love local Caribbean food. Sometimes we rent a golf course and drive. 
 

I also pick excursions that might include lunch.

Edited November 21, 2023 by Cruise-y

[May B]

1 hour ago, Cruise-y said:

Oh my yes! We just walk down the beach for a while or ask a local and almost always find wonderful little places with fresh grilled fish, plantains, peas and rice, oxtail, grilled chicken, stews with island veggies, lovely tropical fruits, etc. All delicious. Perhaps not to your liking but we love local Caribbean food. Sometimes we rent a golf course and drive. 
 

I also pick excursions that might include lunch.

Or a golf cart. 😉

 

You can’t lump all Caribbean ports together. Mr B and I actually had a wonderful lunch in Bridgetown, Barbados, a few years ago.

 

Just twelve days ago, our Crystal tour at St. Lucia had a nice lunch. And we’ve had others in the past, cruise line, Distinctive Voyages, and booked through a local tour company.

[Cruise-y]

Ha ha! Yes a golf cart. That’s what I get for thumbing on my phone. 

[Txcotn]

55 minutes ago, Cruise-y said:

Ha ha! Yes a golf cart. That’s what I get for thumbing on my phone. 

I love your idea of renting a golf course! Maybe you could take us ALL out to lunch!😁

[travelberlin]

2 hours ago, Cruise-y said:

Oh my yes! We just walk down the beach for a while or ask a local and almost always find wonderful little places with fresh grilled fish, plantains, peas and rice, oxtail, grilled chicken, stews with island veggies, lovely tropical fruits, etc. All delicious. Perhaps not to your liking but we love local Caribbean food. Sometimes we rent a golf course and drive. 
 

I also pick excursions that might include lunch.

Interesting. I do not think that I would try to  compensate the food of the ship with those caribbean offerings. I am quite price conscious and if I am paying high perdiems for included food in a “luxury “ cruise line, I would expect the food on the ship, to be enough and not to try to find a caribbean local restaurant or resort just to have my food needs satisfied.

 

Having said that, I have enjoyed wonderful food on local ports when cruising with Royal Caribbean or MSC (not on the Yacht Club). For example a very nice seafood grill plate in Buzios, or a Moqueca de Camaraoes (something like a shrimp in cononut sauce) in Salvador Bahia (the restaurant is called Maria Matamoros). But the perdiems on those companies are low and we expect and calculate that we will spend additional money in order to have better food during our cruise.

 

At the moment I am not expecting that the food on the Serenity or Symphony would be bad. On the contrary I am expecting it to be as good as always. So, I think I will find what I consider good food onboard both ships. 
 

Ivi

[Txcotn]

So sad that you are so hung up on LUNCH! You are obviously looking for a much more formal lunch than is offered on Crystal at lunch time in port. Perhaps Marketplace, which serves pretty much the same food as Waterside, you could ask the waiter for a white tablecloth, a linen napkin, and ask him or her to serve you.......

[BWIVince]

6 hours ago, Txcotn said:

So sad that you are so hung up on LUNCH! You are obviously looking for a much more formal lunch than is offered on Crystal at lunch time in port. Perhaps Marketplace, which serves pretty much the same food as Waterside, you could ask the waiter for a white tablecloth, a linen napkin, and ask him or her to serve you.......

I concur that Marketplace really is the next closest option to Waterside, food-wise, despite being furthest in format.  In fairness to Marketplace though, it does already have linen napkins and similar silver and china (at least historically on Symphony) to Waterside, so the only thing missing is the tablecloth!

 

I share Ivi’s preference for a composed, plated multi-course lunch, but I’ve been fine with Marketplace in the past when Waterside wasn’t an option.  The food is of the same quality and some of the options are similar, it’s just not plated.

Dining trends change, we adapt…

 

Vince

[Keith1010]

The reality is other than Tastes for lunch there is no other dining venue for lunch with full wait service.

 

In the end, Ivi will have to figure out what works best for her.

 

If one wants to make Trident Grill and/or Marketplace a multi course lunch that is very doable as one can have an items at a time.

 

Also, in terms of the venue one can take food from Marketplace to a quieter location on the Lido Deck and also ask one of the many waiters on hand for assistance with this.  I have friends who do this to be in a quieter location.  

 

And one can have a portion of the meal from Marketplace and a portion from the Trident Grill if the would like.

 

I hope it all works out.

 

Keith

[travelberlin]

9 hours ago, Txcotn said:

So sad that you are so hung up on LUNCH! You are obviously looking for a much more formal lunch than is offered on Crystal at lunch time in port. Perhaps Marketplace, which serves pretty much the same food as Waterside, you could ask the waiter for a white tablecloth, a linen napkin, and ask him or her to serve you.......

Oh please don’t be sad…

 

Lunch is the main meal for a large number of Europeans specially after retirement. Even when we were still working, business meetings took place over lunch. Restaurants offer fixed menus at lunch time that even include wine for example in Spain and Italy. While I was growing up, the main meal in my family was at lunch time. This was also the time in which the family would seat together to talk and exchange information. Dinner was just something small and every one would just grab something small for dinner. Pasta and foods high in carbs were eaten at lunch time, not at dinner.  I have kept this tradition. 
 

In Germany, the main meal is also lunch. Germans eat for dinner the so called “Abendbrot” (usually dark bread with smoked hams, cheese and some raw vegetables). 
 

Now as times change and we get older, this meals at dinner times are being earlier because of health reasons (gastritis and company). Since we spend several months per year on cruise ships, and this is not just a one week vacation, we tend not to change too much our dining habits.

 

The SAD thing for us is that the Waterside is now closed at lunch time in port days. Closing the main restaurant in port days in cruise ships with US customers is not new. As far as I can remember the MDR in Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises and Azamara ships have been closed at lunch time in port days. But there are others like Mein Schiff and MSC, who open the main restaurants and the specialty restaurants even on those days. I think it is important to say when we do not like a new development at Crystal specially when we hear and read that “Crystal is back and is better than ever”. The closing of Waterside on port days is imho a pity. I am expressing my opinion and I know other people think the same. Others are fine with it? That’s also OK, no need to argue about it.

 

We have always found something that worked out for us on cruise ships in terms of meals. I am sure it will not be different on the Serenity and the Symphony in our next cruises.
 

Ivi

Edited November 22, 2023 by travelberlin