A couple of observations about specialty dining

[noobcruiser]

Our group of 4 got off the Pearl this past Sunday and without reviewing every facet of the trip I did want to share two observations about dining in the specialty restaurants.

 

1. Tapas for all intents and purposes is gone...Mamba's is still there, but anything Tapas related is gone. We were eating in Mamba's and while the "First Margarita free" gimmick is good....I really wanted Sangria...the bartender proceeded to hand me a bar menu and offered to make anything on the menu, but Sangria was not available. The food by the way was about on par with Chili's or <insert pseudo-mexican themed chain here>.

 

2. We are big fans of asian cooking....so we decided to do Teppanyaki on one night and Shabu Shabu on another. Teppanyaki ($25pp) was as good as Benihana or any other similar chain. However, Shabu Shabu was a disappointment.

 

For those of you not familiar with this cooking style, here is the lowdown: You get a pot of boiling broth on your table (kept hot by a glass top burner in the middle of your table) and all of your food is served raw, you then proceed to cook off your items and eating them after dipping them into one of the two sauces offered, utlimately you end your meal by ladling the broth into your soup bowl and having the now flavored broth (from you cooking in it) as the last course.

 

To give some perspective...we have eaten this style of cooking in many restaurants, and we even do this at home a few times a year with friends and family. So I knew what to expect and how to do it.

 

The disappointment was based on the fact that the staff had no idea what they were doing and the actual food was boring. There are 2 predefined menus offered..the waitstaff mixed the 2 of them together so we got some of the items from menu 1 and were missing items from menu 2 (which we selected). We eventually got the missing items after I got up and grabbed a menu to show them where they messed up. They never really showed us what to do or how to handle the raw meat (poultry specifically)...for people that have never done this, I would think the staff would at least recommend one fork for raw meat, one fork for cooked meat...nope. Hello Salmonella....

 

There was enough food...just that the vegetables and meats were bland and added no flavor to the broth: chicken, tofu, broccoli, snowpeas, white mushrooms, and bok choy. No peppers, onions, garlic (for flavor), or anything that would have added flavor to the broth. :confused:

 

I could have planned a better menu and executed it more efficiently then whomever NCL's theme designer did.

 

Overall, recommendation: keep the $25 (Mamba's and Shabu Shabu combined covers) for somewhere else those two nights.

 

Anyway....that's my 2 cents. Thanks for reading.

[IceWarrior]

I was on the same cruise, and the night we ate at Mambo's others were definitely able to order Sangria. I think we were there Thurs or Fri night of the cruise.

[CanadianTwosome]

Our group of 4 got off the Pearl this past Sunday and without reviewing every facet of the trip I did want to share two observations about dining in the specialty restaurants.

 

1. Tapas for all intents and purposes is gone...Mamba's is still there, but anything Tapas related is gone. We were eating in Mamba's and while the "First Margarita free" gimmick is good....I really wanted Sangria...the bartender proceeded to hand me a bar menu and offered to make anything on the menu, but Sangria was not available. The food by the way was about on par with Chili's or <insert pseudo-mexican themed chain here>.

 

2. We are big fans of asian cooking....so we decided to do Teppanyaki on one night and Shabu Shabu on another. Teppanyaki ($25pp) was as good as Benihana or any other similar chain. However, Shabu Shabu was a disappointment.

 

For those of you not familiar with this cooking style, here is the lowdown: You get a pot of boiling broth on your table (kept hot by a glass top burner in the middle of your table) and all of your food is served raw, you then proceed to cook off your items and eating them after dipping them into one of the two sauces offered, utlimately you end your meal by ladling the broth into your soup bowl and having the now flavored broth (from you cooking in it) as the last course.

 

To give some perspective...we have eaten this style of cooking in many restaurants, and we even do this at home a few times a year with friends and family. So I knew what to expect and how to do it.

 

The disappointment was based on the fact that the staff had no idea what they were doing and the actual food was boring. There are 2 predefined menus offered..the waitstaff mixed the 2 of them together so we got some of the items from menu 1 and were missing items from menu 2 (which we selected). We eventually got the missing items after I got up and grabbed a menu to show them where they messed up. They never really showed us what to do or how to handle the raw meat (poultry specifically)...for people that have never done this, I would think the staff would at least recommend one fork for raw meat, one fork for cooked meat...nope. Hello Salmonella....

 

There was enough food...just that the vegetables and meats were bland and added no flavor to the broth: chicken, tofu, broccoli, snowpeas, white mushrooms, and bok choy. No peppers, onions, garlic (for flavor), or anything that would have added flavor to the broth. :confused:

 

I could have planned a better menu and executed it more efficiently then whomever NCL's theme designer did.

 

Overall, recommendation: keep the $25 (Mamba's and Shabu Shabu combined covers) for somewhere else those two nights.

 

Anyway....that's my 2 cents. Thanks for reading.

 

Excellent information!! When we were on the Pearl in January, a family near us in Lotus Garden was having the Shabu Shabu and they weren't impressed either. We loved what we ordered off of the 'regular' Asian menu, though.

 

I wonder if you could have asked them to bring you an onion or some garlic... They certainly have both items in Teppanyaki, and I can't imagine why they wouldn't have access to anything available in any of those included restaurants. I know we ordered dessert from the 'regular' menu when we at at Teppanyaki on the Star and they were happy to accommodate. (I miss the banana spring rolls! :() Anyway, do you think it would have made the experience more enjoyable for you?

 

I often think that one of the reasons I'm always pleased with the food on NCL is that I'm so picky I have to be sure whether or not specific fare is going to appeal to me before I will consider ordering it, but clearly your experience and knowledge didn't help you here, and that's too bad. I think the family I mentioned above were quite familiar with it as well. Perhaps it's a more enjoyable experience to people who are trying it for the first time...

 

Thanks for the info. Are you going to tell us about the rest of your cruise anywhere? :)

[noobcruiser]

IceWarrior - then I'll chalk it up to the wait staff on the night we went....because they looked at me like I was crazy

 

CanadianTwosome - I may, but it really wouldn't anything that hasn't been said before.

 

It was hard enough to get the actual menued items, let alone a special order. Honestly, they need to re-launch that menu to make it more exciting, it really could be a gold mine if they tried.

 

Aside from those two experiences (and they weren't awful...just not up to par IMO), I enjoyed all of the other food that I had throughout the week.