Dining on Seabourn - Thomas Keller

We have recently completed a cruise on the Odyssey (which at that stage still had R2, so no dedicated Thomas Keller Grill restaurant). There were TK dishes on offer at night in the MDR and also on Tuesday and Thursday nights in The Colonnade they had TK ribs. I think also at the pool at night they often had some TK inspired dishes also (we didn't eat here at night). My question to those who have recently sailed on Seabourn, where there was a dedicated TK restaurant, and in particular, The Encore, do the other restaurants still have TK dishes or are they confined solely to the dedicated TK Grill restaurant. Just curious as we did miss the variety of specialty nights in The Colonnade, given that two nights of every week were given over to the ribs etc. which did not change from week to week. Wanting to know how TK is handled on the ships with a dedicated TK Grill.

We were on the Quest for 24 nights over the holidays in Antarctica and it was the only one of the Odyssey class ships at that time where R2 had been converted to the wonderful TK Grill. We still had the Keller casual dinners in the Colonnade a couple of times a week and in the Restaurant there were still inserts every few nights with a Keller first course, main course and dessert.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Candylover - We were on Encore for 35 days. The dedicated TK Grill restaurant was open for dinner only and had a set menu the entire time. Dishes from Chef Keller were available many nights in The Restaurant in the front of the regular menu for that evening. I would say that happened 3 - 4 times per 7 days. And there were still special TK menus in the Colonnade that were by reservation only. That probably happened about 10 times throughout our 35 night cruise. We are fans of Chef Keller but I have to say that his dishes were executed in a hit or miss fashion throughout our cruise. Since it was really a back-to-back cruise I am guessing that chefs changed mid cruise. During the 1st half of our cruise (Singapore to Dubai) Chef Keller dishes were excellent in The Restaurant, the Colonnade and TK Grill. On the second half of the cruise (Dubai to Athens) dishes in the Colonnade were not good, TK Grill was ordinary at best. However Keller dishes in The Restaurant remained delicious. Hope that helps

Just to avoid confusion - although the menu in the TK grill is 'set' every evening it does have quite a choice on each course, so some people would enjoy trying it more than once.

Thank you to all responders. Your responses have certainly made it clearer for us. I must say that when we were on the Odyssey we generally really enjoyed the TK dishes that we tried in the MDR, however for two nights every week The Colonnade only had the TK "ribs". We did this only once and it was extremely disappointing. The night we went there was probably only 6 - 8 tables at most in the Colonnade. We were hoping that when there was a dedicated TK Grill restaurant on board that the Colonnade would revert to the variety of theme nights that they used to have, and that we really enjoyed in the past.

Candylover - Even though there were TK nights in the Colonnade on our cruise there were also a number of 'special themed' nights too. I remember the themed nights of "Indian", "Arabian", 'Australian" to name some. There were others as well altho my brain can't recall them. So there were TK nights, themed nights, as well as just regular menu nights for dinner in the Colonnade.

I have to confess, I don't understand what all the palaver is about "Keller". Seemed to me the dishes in TK were good, but not great, and the quality of meat was extremely variable.

I went to TK meals on board Sojourn without any expectations as I've been to his restaurants on land but wasn't so sure the quality could be duplicated far off in the South China Sea. I was astounded how delicious - consistently delicious. Then again, any thing with that much fat is never too bad.

Sent from my dogs' iPad using Tapabark.

I have to confess, I don't understand what all the palaver is about "Keller". Seemed to me the dishes in TK were good, but not great, and the quality of meat was extremely variable.

Couldn't agree more. The food is OK but not worth all the foodie hype. We tried the "famous" Dover sole twice and both times it was tough (if that's even possible) and way too salty. Over-seasoning seems to be a common theme in comments about the TK experiment. The emperor really isn't wearing any clothes?

Hamasgirl summarized the procedures on the Quest, they reflect what we had very recently ( got off 5/1) and also summer 2016 in Norway.

On our 16-night cruise I think there were 3-4 TK Colonnade nights ( ribs, clam bake, and fried chicken) and the rest were ethnic themed nights or regular.

MDR had TK offerings for each course ( including some vegetarian) on average every other night, and with a couple exceptions, they tasted much better than in 2016. I particularly liked the TK caviar appetizer offerings, and vegetarian stuff, and DH the Valrhona chocolate dessert offerings.

The TK MDR menus, however, did not show up on the daily TV screen menu displays, which we would typically look at in advance to help us decide what to order to avoid delaying the busy waiters or fellow diners, and would then be surprised by a TK insert. I suppose you could ask the MD what nights have what when you board and not just wait for the daily newspaper to find out.

Definitely not just ribs in the Colonnade.

We ate at the TK Grill once last year and once this year, the food was much better this year, but not our favorites. The venue is also too loud for us (pounding overhead music). Many meat-loving pax on board loved the Grill, as do people here. I miss R2.

I have to confess, I don't understand what all the palaver is about "Keller". Seemed to me the dishes in TK were good, but not great, and the quality of meat was extremely variable.

We can't understand what the palaver is either. Everything TK we have experienced so far (two trips, so more than 60 days) has been mediocre at best, in terms of quality, taste and complexity. We have had better meals on Qantas. Some meals have been quite dreadful - something we have never experienced on SB before. TK Colonnade is just a cost cutting exercise.

If you like TK, that's fine. But for those who aren't too impressed, the infiltration to other menus means that your onboard dining options are quite limited. Doing TK dishes in the MDR reduces the menu and it becomes very narrow and repetitive on long cruises. Doing TK in the Colonnade limits your dining location options on cold weather cruises or wet nights with closure of the pool grill, as if you would like to dine casually you are limited by the pre-booking and reduced numbers issues. Then it's room service or get dressed for dinner and put up with the extra guests and hassle in the MDR.

I wonder if there is any correlation between TK likes and dislikes and cruise length. We don't usually do less than 30 days and never had a food complaint until TK came along.

Overall it reduces dining location options and menu item options. Keep it in the Thomas Keller Grill please. In that way perhaps they can focus on getting it right for those who really want and appreciate it and give the rest of us some variety in the other dining areas.

Catlover, we were lucky on our Odyssey cruise in April this year, as we still had R2. I too will miss R2 on future SB cruises. Our experience with TK in the Colonnade was different. We were on for 14 nights and every Tuesday and Thursday was ribs only. Maybe the flavour was different but essentially the same menu. We certainly had no clambake or fried chicken etc. Overall for us the ribs were very disappointing and we certainly felt that 2 nights out of every 7 was just too much. We too enjoyed the TK offerings in the MDR (I particularly loved the apple trifle), and also the other selections in the MDR. You mentioned looking up menus via the TV. I didn't know you could do this. However on our cruise every evening at turndown we received a printed fold out brochure type thing (in addition to the daily Herald) which provided details of the following nights dinner menus in all restaurants (MDR, R2, Colonnade and Patio Grill). It was the full menus, including dessert. This also included details of the TK dishes that would be served on that night in the various venues. Did you not get this on the Quest? We found it a very welcome addition.

BasandSyb, I could not agree with you more. When I started this thread I was wanting to ascertain if TK menu items infiltrated all dining venues after a dedicated TK restaurant had been fitted on the particular ship. As we sailed on the Odyssey we still had R2, and I was hoping that when you sailed on a ship with a TK specific restaurant, the TK menu items would be confined to that restaurant. We too felt that things got repetitive (and we only sailed for 14 nights), particularly with the 'ribs' appearing 2 nights out of every 7 in the Colonnade. It did certainly limit your dining choices on that night. Would much prefer TK menu to be confined to the TK restaurant.

We were on Sojourn last October/November and I thought that the steaks in the Patio Grill were better than the Keller offering.

I'm not a huge fan of R2 and had hoped that R2 would be changed to something that I cannot get easily elsewhere or that other Seabourn venues could not do as well or better.

We were on Sojourn last October/November and I thought that the steaks in the Patio Grill were better than the Keller offering.

 

I'm not a huge fan of R2 and had hoped that R2 would be changed to something that I cannot get easily elsewhere or that other Seabourn venues could not do as well or better.

That seems to be emerging as the common agreement of the discussion - something with a point of difference that you don't get elsewhere on the ship. Like it or hate it, R2 was that. Some dishes were "interesting", but you didn't have an entire meal of something a bit odd - just a tasting.

I'm pleased to hear the Patio Grill has picked up. Last time we were on Quest the menu had been reduced to a small number of items, was virtually the same every night, and the steaks awful.

We have longstanding booking for our next cruise (30+ days). It might be the decision point for us as to whether they have turned the small ships we love into "smaller" ships with homogenous offerings.:loudcry:

Cruising aboard Encore I experienced my first Keller meal. Really enjoyed the TK Grill. The ribeye steak in particular was astounding. Enjoyed the prawn cocktail starter as well. Oh, the lamb was sublime whist I remember.

Less impressive was TK in the Colonnade. It reduced dining options and was outshadowed by the far superior regional themed nights.

Sushi was a very different option, I appreciate not everyone likes sushi but for those of us who do it was excellent, much better as a niche market product than Restaurant 2.

I did have TK lobster in the main dining room which was lovely but otherwise found the food to be generally good without the need for TK fodder. There was one hideously over salted portion of scallops but that wasn't reflective of the dining room.

Once again we failed to make the Patio Grill at night. Maybe one day :)

Henry :)

We ate in TK twice on our last cruise on the Quest.the food was good but the portions are too large. One side can easily satisfy two people. We were a little put off by the initial sell of high priced cocktails and wine and by the matre d informing us we had to be finished by 8:15.

The music, loud and not appropriate, needs to be changed. It may be great for Keller in his kitchen, not for the dining room. Music would be great in a dance club for us boomers, but not at dinner. The Doors "Light My Fire" is not dinner music.

Karen and Jin

We have sailed on Encore and found the TK grill highly overrated.

Our negatives were the over salting, portions in some cases too large, but some of the food we liked included the Caesar salad prepared at the table and the appetisers Sincerely trust Seabourn don't see TK grills being a permanent feature.

A quick question on portion sizes.

What actually is the problem with them? I can understand if a portion is too small, you leave hungry. But surely if you find the portion size too large you simply leave what you don't want.

There will be some people who want and expect larger portions so the restaurant tries to cater for them. Let's remember there is no charge for dining in the TK Grill, its included in your fare so you wouldn't save anything if they served smaller portions.

Henry :)

My wife and I recently travelled on the Quest for 28 days, during which time we ate 4 times in the TK Grill. My thoughts on the venue are in agreement with previous posts but I would make the following observations.

To allow as many guests as possible to be able to try the TK Grill I have no issue being informed that the table has been booked for later in the evening. If you are not happy with this then don't book an early dinner.

As Henry stated the portions can be large, just eat what you feel comfortable with. The sides are large and do serve two and this would be pointed out to you if you had asked.

Yes, the food is oversalted in my personal opinion but no doubt Thomas Keller wants it that way. I also feel that the choice of some music can be rather loud but once again this is dictated by TK.

All in all it is a very classy restaurant that is a welcome addition to Seabourn.

Currently onboard Encore. Meals in the MDR every night have been excellent. The TK pork tenderloin was a stand out dish. Had dinner one night in the grill and it was outstanding from start to finish IMO. So much so, that we booked again for another go this week

I think the more choices the better.

We did that same 35 day cruise on the Encore from Singapore to Athens ending May 6th.

I was very disappointed i n the TK Grill, ate there four times, the lamb was terrible, the rib-eye mediocre and the other two times I had the fish dish which was decent. If Thomas Keller ever ate in his named restaurant, he would be very disappointed.

The TK Bar was very enjoyable as was the female piano player and singer, we spent almost every early evening there before going the the Restaurant for dinner.

The TK dishes served in the Restaurant were very good as well as most everything else on the Restaurant menu.