Lunch at The Porch Today on Silhouette: One of many bright and shining moments on our “Oops it’s a Tampa Bay Bucs Cruise”

[Stem to Stern]

We have not dined prolifically at specialty restaurants on board Celebrity’s ships.  
So when the opportunity presented itself during a flash sale, I booked the unlimited speciality dining package through the planner for the cruise we are currently on.

 

Until this cruise we had never dined at The Porch, Lawn Club Grill, or Le Petit Chef.  With all of our weak move up bids from DV Deluxe Verandah to The Retreat coming up unsuccessful, we are enjoying trying them all out and avoiding the main dining room and the buffet.  
We also enjoyed two Elite breakfasts in Tuscan Grill so far.

In Key West we had lunch off the ship.

 

As soon as we boarded on Thursday we went to Murano and booked the following:

 

Thu - Lawn Club Grill

Fri - Murano

Sat lunch - The Porch

Sat dinner - Le Petit Chef

Sun - Tuscan Grill

 

The cruise has been a bit lively which is to be expected on a short 4-day long weekend sailing out of Port Everglades.  
Even more so with 650 Tampa Bay Bucs fans on board.😱 This partial charter came to light after we booked and the topic surfaced during our roll call conversations.

 

Not to mention we also have the  bridal party of 90-plus participants on board with their daily themes, as well as two other on board weddings.🤗

 

Nevertheless we are still having a fabulous time.  I just wanted to offer a positive post for whatever it might be worth.

This is our third time on Silhouette.

I would be happy to try to answer any questions not related to The Porch.

 

Today we arrived a few minutes early at The Porch for our 1:00pm reservation.  
We were able to select the table of our choice.  We selected a four-top with a view of the sea and aft toward the Lawn Club.

 

We were served by Salvio from Goa, India.  He was perfectly attentive and professional without being overly intrusive.

I ordered Whispering Angel and DH had a Pinot Grigio.  We enjoyed our wine for a few minutes before placing our order.  
A plate of wonderful, soft cheesy garlic brioche was served and enjoyed while we sipped and stared at the sea.

 

We both started with Blackened Mahi Mahi Tacos on hard shells which I initially thought was weird, but they were very manageable and tasty.  

Next I had the huge portion of Red Snapper Ceviche while DH had the Romaine and Avocado Salad.  

We both had the Lobster Roll for our main which had a bit of a chipotle kick.  I ended with the Dessert Trio while DH just stuck with the Chocolate Mousse.

 

This all sounds like a lot, but we both have large appetites.😂  Yet at the end of the meal neither of us felt uncomfortably full.  
 

And this should get us through until our 8:00pm reservation at La petit Chef.

 

The photos should pretty much tell the rest of the story of our very pleasant and enjoyable lunch experience at The Porch today.  Give it a try if you ever get the chance!😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 6 by Stem to Stern

[JackE]

Great recap of your lunch! 

Off topic, I was wondering where you had lunch in Key West, and would you recommend?

Jack

[Stem to Stern]

16 minutes ago, JackE said:

Great recap of your lunch! 

Off topic, I was wondering where you had lunch in Key West, and would you recommend?

Jack

Hogfish where Mariluz will take great care of you.👍👍

 

 

 

[kiwichick62]

Great post thanks.  I will be interested to hear about Lawn Club Grill and Murano.  🙂

[Lena11033]

I'm glad you are having a good time and enjoying the food.

 

I had the same thing last year with I didn't know it was a charter until someone on the roll call mentioned it by which point I had booked everything. Mine was on Summit though, I think there was about the same amount of Tampa bay fans plus a Airline convention - thankfully I was in Aquaclass because I had some bad experiences with some of the TB fans.

Edited April 6 by Lena11033

[cbfb]

Is The Porch only open on sea days for lunch? 

[NaplesKnitter]

Love your review!  Do you know what specialty restaurants have lunches on sea days. We also have that dining package on our cruise coming up.  

[Stem to Stern]

41 minutes ago, NaplesKnitter said:

Love your review!  Do you know what specialty restaurants have lunches on sea days. We also have that dining package on our cruise coming up.  

Murano was also open for lunch today.

[TommyD3]

Wondering if you were able to get your desired dinner dining times every night?

[Stem to Stern]

13 minutes ago, TommyD3 said:

Wondering if you were able to get your desired dinner dining times every night?

I think because we booked asap we were okay in this regard.  The options offered each evening were either on the earlier side or later.  We do not eat early typically, so we were fine with 8:00 or 8:30 each evening.

[Stem to Stern]

4 hours ago, kiwichick62 said:

Great post thanks.  I will be interested to hear about Lawn Club Grill and Murano.  🙂

We lerrrrve Murano.  This one we have done previously.  
LCG was pretty good.  I will come back with more details in the morning.

We are getting ready to catch Captain Kirk’s performance in the theater.🤩

He sings and plays the guitar.

[PinkSandGirl]

Hi!  Enjoy your cruise! 🥳

 

Silhouette was my first Celebrity ship. 🥰

 

I've eaten dinner at The Lawn Club Grill on the Silhouette & Reflection and we had lunch there on the Reflection. The burger (back in 2017) was very good.  We all customized our burgers.  I think the waiter was expecting we would each order a burger by name as is on the menu (without modifications) but not us. 😂  People really like the Luminae burger (not bad but not my favorite).  Lawn Club burger definitely out ranked Luminae.  It was neat the first time I went up and made a pizza and my boyfriend helped on the grill, everyone else watched as we worked.  Hehe.  It's not like we never made a pizza or grilled but to do it at sea, that was a first. 😉  Do they still allow that? 

 

I never ate at the Porch.  I don't eat fish/seafood but I see there are other options.  I love that it is outside.  I love dining al fresco.  

 

🍹

 

P.S.  Great pictures.  You have a knack for capturing nice shots. 📸

[kiwichick62]

3 hours ago, Stem to Stern said:

We lerrrrve Murano.  This one we have done previously.  
LCG was pretty good.  I will come back with more details in the morning.

We are getting ready to catch Captain Kirk’s performance in the theater.🤩

He sings and plays the guitar.

Thanks again.  We will be on the silhouette late next month and have booked for Murano and LCG.  
 

Have fun on your cruise. 🛳️

Edited April 7 by kiwichick62

[Stem to Stern]

13 hours ago, cbfb said:

Is The Porch only open on sea days for lunch? 

I believe The Porch is only open for lunch on sea days.

[Stem to Stern]

Murano was as good as we remembered it to be after several years since we last indulged.

 

 

@kiwichick62 If you have not done it yet, you are in for a treat.

 

 

Amuse-bouche:  shrimp with mango salsa

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We both started with the lobster bisque.

Next for me was the goat cheese soufflé.

DH had the salmon parfait.

We also shared the pork belly.

 

 

 

 

Next was the Chateaubriand for Two.

We shared a lobster tail.

This was prepared table side.

 

 

Petit four tray

 

 

Dessert for me:  Grand Marnier Soufflé.

Dessert for DH:  Chocolate Soufflé.

 

[Stem to Stern]

On 4/7/2024 at 12:32 AM, PinkSandGirl said:

It was neat the first time I went up and made a pizza and my boyfriend helped on the grill, everyone else watched as we worked.  Hehe.  It's not like we never made a pizza or grilled but to do it at sea, that was a first. 😉  Do they still allow that? 

We were not offered the opportunity to partake in the preparation of our food at LCG.

I was okay with this.😂🤣😂

[Norwaylady]

Looking forward for the rest🤗 

[ICANTWAITTOCRUISE]

On 4/6/2024 at 5:38 PM, Stem to Stern said:

Hogfish where Mariluz will take great care of you.👍👍

 

 

 

I think we'll go there when we are in key west in a couple of weeks on the apex! Do you mind telling me how you got there from the ship? 

[Galaxy2004]

Really love the Grand Marnier Soufflé!

[Stem to Stern]

13 minutes ago, ICANTWAITTOCRUISE said:

I think we'll go there when we are in key west in a couple of weeks on the apex! Do you mind telling me how you got there from the ship? 

Hogfish Bar

(Ask for Mariluz, tell her Glenda’s friends recommended, and order a Dragonfruit Mojito.)🍹

 

 

Hogfish is located on Stock Island very far off the beaten path.  This would give you a taste of how the real Key West used to be - trailer parks and all.😂

 

If you wake up in KW and your view is this, then these are the best directions I can offer.

 

 

By car it is about a 20 minute drive from the Opal Key Resort sign pictured here.  

 

This is where our friends collected us.  They have lived in Key West for 30+ years.  We saw cabs collecting and dropping off here as well.  But I really can’t speak to the cab or Uber or Lyft situation in KW.  This sign is located on Front Street at the end of the path between these two buildings.

 

 

Another remote possibility might be to ask the guy that drives this three-wheeled electric bike, but I doubt he would want to go that far.  Although this would make a cool tours-by-locals way to go.  I am sure he knows all of the off-map points of interest.

But I digress.😂

 

 

We were content in our friends’ air-conditioned Toyota Forerunner.😂

 

 

 

I had the Hogfish Sliders and they were delish.  I did not go food porn crazy in front of our friends.

 

 

[Georgia_Peaches]

Love your pictures. I really need to invest in new equipment…ie update my phone before our cruise to Alaska. I’m still working with an iphone 8+ from 2016 which was state of the art complete with a home button and everything. I simply dread the prospect of changing over to a new phone and have no idea how I will function without my beloved home button….seriously. But alas, I will repeat, your pictures are lovely. 

[Stem to Stern]

@Georgia_Peaches Thanks!🙏😊

I only use an Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max.

We do not upgrade our phones often. 

We both upgraded our matching iPhone 7S+ models before the MSC Yacht Club cruise last year.

(And then we ended up missing Ocean Cay.)

😭😭😭

So I totally get your home button angst.

It has been a very easy transition.

At the time Verizon offered us something like $10 or $20 for our old phones.  
We said, See ya later Verizon!

Switched to T-Mobile which we have had before, so we were prepared for any potential idiosyncrasies.

So far so good.😁

[Stem to Stern]

Lawn Club Grill

 

 

This was our first time ever experiencing this venue.  Over the years I have enjoyed reading generally favorable reviews, even raves about various menu choices.  So we were excited to give it a try.

 

 

Menu.

 

 

 

We started with a sausage and pepper pizza.  DH has never met a pizza he did not like.  I found it just okay.  He ate his half, but I was reluctant to finish mine because I didn’t want to fill up before the main and dessert courses arrived.

 

 

After my underwhelming first course, we hit the salad bar.  I guess if this is what living my best salad bar life consists of, well meh.🫤 

 

 

At this point DH spotted Laura and my mood became elevated.  
After a brief photo op with her our steaks arrived.

 

 

Ribeye for DH.  
He enjoyed it.

Side of baked beans.

 

 

Filet with shrimp and scallop skewer for me.

Side of baked beans.  Meh.

Side of lobster Mac n cheese.  Meh.

Sides were luke warm temperature.

 

 

Cookie.

Smaller and mushier than I expected.

 

 

Looking across the Lawn Club toward the restaurant.

 

 

Across the lawn is a large video screen creating a less than ambient mood when looking toward it from inside the LCG.  

You can see how extraordinarily bright it is shining on the restaurant.

 

 

Entrance walk to LCG.

 

The overall experience was fine.  

The service was fine.  
We had the Unlimited Speciality Dining Package, so no better time to try them all.  Would the experience be worth Celebrity’s normal asking price?

IMHO no.

I much prefer Luminae and Murano.

 

 

 

 

Edited April 10 by Stem to Stern

[JackE]

19 hours ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Love your pictures. I really need to invest in new equipment…ie update my phone before our cruise to Alaska. I’m still working with an iphone 8+ from 2016 which was state of the art complete with a home button and everything. I simply dread the prospect of changing over to a new phone and have no idea how I will function without my beloved home button….seriously. But alas, I will repeat, your pictures are lovely. 

When I upgraded to an iPhone X (from a 7??) it didn't have the home button, and it was not terrible! You learn very quickly to swipe up (or down), and it becomes second nature. I now have a 14 Pro and I love it. Highly recommend.

 

You can do it! 

[Georgia_Peaches]

1 hour ago, JackE said:

When I upgraded to an iPhone X (from a 7??) it didn't have the home button, and it was not terrible! You learn very quickly to swipe up (or down), and it becomes second nature. I now have a 14 Pro and I love it. Highly recommend.

 

You can do it! 

Thank you for the encouragement!  😊 I'm biting the bullet in the very near future! 

 

Jeez...when did old dog and new tricks start applying to me?!  🤣