Chop Grille & Portofino on Radiance

[monis20]

Hello all!

What I wanted to know how early should you make a reservation to eat at this places? Right when you get on the boat? Or early on the day that you want to eat there? Pretty much how fast do they book for the whole week? And where do you book with the Guest Relation? Thanks for the info ahead of time. :D

[rpnelson54]

Make the reservation when you board so you can select the day and time you desire. You might want to ask the waiters which night the food in the main dining room is not the best. We booked Chops on the night they had the caribbean themed dinner.

 

You make your reservation at the restaurant.

 

Chop is was wonderful.

[shirleygr]

From what I've read here, you can go to the restaurant and ask to look at the dining room menus for each evening so you can decide which night you would least enjoy the dining room and opt for the alternative restaurants instead. It's what I plan on doing when we board the Radiance in November.

[KamloopsCruisers]

We booked Chops on the first day - at the restaurant. While I didn't ask to see dining room menus, they were able to tell me which nights were formal, Caribbean, Italian, etc. Day 3 or 4 we booked for Portofino's (we were on a 14-night sailing) and didn't have a problem getting a reservation for the night we wanted.

 

BTW - Both dinners in the specialty restaurants were outstanding.

[LBB]

Was on Radiance in April and had no trouble making reservations after the first day. With 2 specialty restaurants, they didn't seem to fill up too quickly, and neither were busy when we went.

 

Enjoy!

[cpup]

We were aboard Radiance in April. We booked both Chops and Portofino immediately following the muster drill (our muster area just happened to be located in Chops). Both take reservations at the entrance to each restaurant. Both also take reservations via your room phone. We ate at Chops twice and Portofino once. We notice several unoccupied tables during each sitting. We booked early in order to reserve window/sea-side tables. These tables are very limited during sunset times when traveling in a northerly direction. If you're interested in a sunset dinner at one of these tables, check your itinerary, reserve when cruising north about 1/2 hour before nautical sunset. Both restaurants are on the port (left) side, window seating faces only to port (west when cruising north). Bring a camera, the wait staff was eager to shoot our photos. Photo below is from Portofino...

 

[shirleygr]

Great photo, cpup! We went to Chops on the Enchantment and loved it. I'm really looking forward to getting a chance to try Portofino's. The descriptions of the tiramisu always sound incredible. :D

[luckygurl1227]

We were aboard Radiance in April. We booked both Chops and Portofino immediately following the muster drill (our muster area just happened to be located in Chops). Both take reservations at the entrance to each restaurant. Both also take reservations via your room phone. We ate at Chops twice and Portofino once. We notice several unoccupied tables during each sitting. We booked early in order to reserve window/sea-side tables. These tables are very limited during sunset times when traveling in a northerly direction. If you're interested in a sunset dinner at one of these tables, check your itinerary, reserve when cruising north about 1/2 hour before nautical sunset. Both restaurants are on the port (left) side, window seating faces only to port (west when cruising north). Bring a camera, the wait staff was eager to shoot our photos. Photo below is from Portofino...

 

 

That was some creat advice, I'm also going on the cruise above with Monis> never thought about having a table to watch the sunset. We will definitely go for that one.

[monis20]

Also wanted to know how many courses come with the Meal?

[logan1_2000]

From what I've read here, you can go to the restaurant and ask to look at the dining room menus for each evening so you can decide which night you would least enjoy the dining room and opt for the alternative restaurants instead. It's what I plan on doing when we board the Radiance in November.

 

We did exactly what Shirley is planning when we boarded the Radiance back in January. The books were wide open for reservations, the restaurant managers had listings of the menus in the dining rooms (though not the actual full menus themselves, but they could tell you when was italian night or caribbean night, and name a featured entree or two). And reservations continued to be available on a more limited basis during the week.

 

Going right away is one of the benefits to us all hanging out here on these boards. While so many are still looking up to the top of the centrum in wonder and trying to figure out which way is the front of the boat, and which is port or starboard and what is there to do, you've already researched and in a quick 45 minutes you have alternate restaurant reservations for window tables at preferred days and times, and you knew when the formal nights were to figure that into your planning, and you've also gone to the spa if that is your thing, skipped the tour and gone straight to make the appointments for whatever you want.

 

Hint--never overlook the possibility of starting your cruise off in wonderful fashion and making an embarkation night reservation. We then strolled after dinner to the dining room to say hello to our servers, joked that they had not been "ditched", and told them we were looking forward to seeing them the following night for formal night, and they gave us the lowdown on our table mates (who were lovely--I suppose if they had been a terrible match for us we'd have had fair notice to beg for a table change at that point...!!)

[shirleygr]

We did exactly what Shirley is planning when we boarded the Radiance back in January. The books were wide open for reservations, the restaurant managers had listings of the menus in the dining rooms (though not the actual full menus themselves, but they could tell you when was italian night or caribbean night, and name a featured entree or two). And reservations continued to be available on a more limited basis during the week.

 

Going right away is one of the benefits to us all hanging out here on these boards. While so many are still looking up to the top of the centrum in wonder and trying to figure out which way is the front of the boat, and which is port or starboard and what is there to do, you've already researched and in a quick 45 minutes you have alternate restaurant reservations for window tables at preferred days and times, and you knew when the formal nights were to figure that into your planning, and you've also gone to the spa if that is your thing, skipped the tour and gone straight to make the appointments for whatever you want.

 

Hint--never overlook the possibility of starting your cruise off in wonderful fashion and making an embarkation night reservation. We then strolled after dinner to the dining room to say hello to our servers, joked that they had not been "ditched", and told them we were looking forward to seeing them the following night for formal night, and they gave us the lowdown on our table mates (who were lovely--I suppose if they had been a terrible match for us we'd have had fair notice to beg for a table change at that point...!!)

Logan, we did dine at Chops our first night on the Enchantment on our November cruise. Embarkation day happened to be our actual anniversary and we had a lovely, romantic dinner for just the 2 of us--almost literally, there were only 2 other tables in use. Of course, the service was outstanding and the food was probably the best meal I've ever had at sea. I did call the dining room and let them know we wouldn't be joining them that evening so our tablemates weren't waiting on us to show up. The only down-side to dining there the first evening was the dining room food seemed a bit of a let down and my dh wanted to go to Chops several other evenings of the cruise as well. :rolleyes:

[luckygurl1227]

That was some creat advice, I'm also going on the cruise above with Monis> never thought about having a table to watch the sunset. We will definitely go for that one. :)

 

 

Caribbean Member Community

[KTimlin]

We were aboard Radiance in April. We booked both Chops and Portofino immediately following the muster drill (our muster area just happened to be located in Chops). Both take reservations at the entrance to each restaurant. Both also take reservations via your room phone. We ate at Chops twice and Portofino once.

 

Were you pleased with both restaurants service & food?