Sabatini's, Crown Grill, Crab Shack or Chef's Table Experience

We are sailing the Caribbean Princess in June and would like to dine at one of the finer restaurants.

Any recommendations and why.

Thanks,

David

If you are only going to do one, Crown Grill would be an excellent choice. :D

Crown Grill for us, big tender steaks, great vegetables, several wonderful appetizers each and a couple or three lobster tails on the side, oh yeah...................

We used to do the Chefs Table but now its gone up in cost quite a bit, they pour the wine like its a tasting, inch in your glass if you're lucky, and it always seems to be veal for the entrée and that is one thing I will not eat.

Now with a lot of days on Princess we get a nice lunch almost every cruise ( some Captains have a cocktail party instead) with the Captain and officers so that has pretty much taken the place of Chefs Table for us, and its totally delicious and free. It is without doubt the best meal served on Princess.

We are sailing the Caribbean Princess in June and would like to dine at one of the finer restaurants.

Any recommendations and why.

 

Thanks,

David

We always try to book Sabatini's, Crown Grill and Chef's table.

We don't do crab shack because If I'm doing to have to do all the work for getting the crab out, I'm out. I can do that at home. Back when we did our Alaska cruise on Princess years ago we were amazed at the King Crab that they served in the MDR. It was sawed in half and really easy to eat. If it's not that easy, I don't want to pay to go there. :) People love it though.

Sabatini's love the buratta, the risotto, and the steak. Of the options you've provided it's my 3rd choice but we always go at least once per cruise.

Crown Grill is great. We always leave so full it hurts, but I don't want to waste. We always order our steak one temperature less than we want. I like medium rare beef, and I order rare at the crown grill, otherwise it's overcooked. We go here at least once per cruise, sometimes twice.

Chef's table, they only have it available for a handful of people so we try to get on the list and if we are lucky we get it. The tour of the galley is great, and in the end, I'm so full I can't really eat the main course. However, have found that it's the same every time.

What I would like to do is the Ultimate Ship Tour but since I normally don't have the room in my luggage for a robe, I've not signed up for it yet.

I've done all except for the Chef's Table. Too much $ and food for me plus I don't drink wine. Prefer the Crown Grill over Sabatini's and Crab Shack. The Crab Shack isn't what I'd call a fine dining experience. It was fun and good but to me, not in the same league as the Crown Grill or Sabatini's.

Sabatini's is wonderful when it's good. Unfortunately it varies from bland to excellent depending on the ship. We like to wander past each night to see how many people are dining. It Sabatini's is full, we go ahead and book.

Also, on the ships where Alfredo's pizza is in Sabatini's at lunch time, it's usually good at night. That's our theory anyway.

My preferences would be in this order :

1. Chef's Table. To me, it's so much more than just "a meal". It's a real dining experience leaving diners feeling stuffed but thoroughly pampered. The menus are determined on each ship by the Exec Chef; My favorite is the surf and turf ... filet, lobster, and sea scallops. Nice wine pairings with the courses, and I have always found the wine portions to be generous and refills poured upon request. I don't drink red wines, and have never had an issue with getting served whites throughout the meal.

2. Crown Grill. Excellent menu options, beautiful steaks, grilled lobster tails. Chilean Sea Bass. Nice selection of sides, special salts, and desserts.

3. Sabatinis. It's been a few years since I have dined there. It was good, but I liked it much better before they changed the menu and took away the multiple samplings that were served with the starters. It just doesn't feel quite as "special".

Oh please try the Chef's Table. It is an amazing experience. You get to go into the galley and have appetizers with the head chef and head maître d. There are 3 -4 appetizers(that were wonderful) and lots of champagne.

Then you are escorted to one of the dining rooms for the rest of the courses. We had a risotto with seafood and the main dish was double surf and turf(lobster, shrimp, filet, and lamb. The dessert was incredible, hand made chocolates with a spun sugar statue, cheese plate and a chocolate something that was to die for.

You also get the Princess cookbook and complimentary pictures taken with the chef and the rest of your party.

You also get wines that are chosen for each course, but you do not have to have the wines. There is a discounted price for the dinner without the wine.

The Chef's Table dinner is still one of the best meals I have ever had. I would highly recommend anyone and everyone have this experience.

Crab Shack was really good also. I thought it was worth the money. The different kinds of crabs and other seafood to choose from was really fresh and tasty.

Both Sabatini's and Crown Grill are great dining experiences. The steaks, sea food and pastas are wonderful. The service is great, too.

If I only got to pick one dining experience out of the four, I would pick Chef's Table. It was the ultimate experience. Be sure to sign up as soon as you get on the ship.

Chefs table. Unbelievable event

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If you are only going to do one, Crown Grill would be an excellent choice. :D

Agreed.

I love both restaurants as I love Italian food. The Crown Grill is good too but it is not often I can get some really good Italian food so I would go with Sabatini's.

Sabatinis where possible.

Depending on the itinerary we have booked obstructed view cabins with the plan to eat in specialty restaurants every night. We enjoy both Crown Grill and Sabatini's, but Crown Grill is consistently #1 for us. Crab shack is okay, but not very consistent between ships. We skipped it the last couple of cruises. Chef's table is in a league of its' own. Just depends on if you are looking for a great meal in a more quiet atmosphere, or an experience!

I enjoy both Sabatini's and the Crown Grill, but were I to choose only one, it would be Sabatini's. I find the menu to be more diverse with lots of options to mix and match allowing one to make a great meal out of vegetables, cheeses, sea food, pasta and meat. Crown Grill tends to be a bit more "one note" for me. I've had steaks there that were delicious and others that were pretty much on par with the Main Dining Room. Still, I try to go to each restaurant once per cruise. The Crab Shack doesn't really interest me for the added cost.

I haven't tried the Chef's Table. We usually travel (and dine) as a family, and the surcharge for the Chef's Table times three people is a pretty big nut to crack, especially when there is so much other enjoyable food on the ship. When I price out the Chef's Table, I invariably come back to: "Well, for that much money, we could do 'this excursion' or 'that excursion', or dine at Sabatini's twice and the Crown Grill once." If my budget was unlimited, I would definitely try it. But typically, my cruise costs hit the upper reaches of my budget an adding another $300 to the total tab just seems like a bad choice. I'm sure it is wonderful though.

Ask a question with four different options and you are sure to get four differing opinions!

The only thing I can gauge by the responses here is that no-one recommends the crab shack if you are only going to choose one specialty dinner.

We did the Chef's Table once and it was excellent. My only regret is that I didn't pace myself better so by the time we got to the main course and then dessert, cheeses and petit fours, I was completely done in. I usually don't drink that much so I also got pretty tipsy by the end of the meal. If you decide on the Chef's Table be sure to bring closed toed shoes with you, a requirement for touring the galley. That being said, we wouldn't do the Chef's Table again - we just don't have an appetite big enough to appreciate all the food and to get our money's worth.

We are not huge fans of Sabatini's and usually pick the Crown Grill as our one specialty dinner. DH and I both love steak but rarely eat red meat so that might be why we tend to choose a steak house over Italian.

Do you have a balcony? Just to throw another option into the mix - we had the Ultimate Balcony Dinner on the Coral in Alaska (actually, it was too cold that evening and we ended up just having it in our cabin) - it turned out to be one of the best and romantic dinners we have had onboard a ship thus far.

We never miss the Crown Grill. Sometimes multiple times on a cruise.

Sabatinis is OK. After 3-4 meals there, we won't do it again.

Crab Shack-Again just OK.

Chef's Table-We loved it. Just too much food. Definitely something to try at least once.

Our favorite....Tuscan Dinner-Its done one time per cruise in Sabatini's. Includes Wine Paring. Set menu. Absolutely fabulous! We have been on over 35 Princess cruises and never new about it. Now we will do it every time. Must sign up early.

Definitely Crown Grill, the service and food is top notch compared to other venues on the ship

We are sailing the Caribbean Princess in June and would like to dine at one of the finer restaurants.

Any recommendations and why.

 

Thanks,

David

I like Sabatini's!! I just don't think the CG is as good as it once was.

Tony

Crown Grill & then Sabatini's; Crab Shack now cost the same as both of them & not as tasty for us; Chef's Table (went 4 times at $75 but not since it increased to $95) but a wonderful experience.

If you have a balcony, the Ultimate Balcony Dinner would be my first choice,

http://www.princess.com/ships-and-experience/ships/products/dining-specialty/ultimate-balcony-dining.html

It's a great experience & for $100 it includes nearly that amount in extras: flowers, photo, cocktails & half bottle of champagne which I've been able to exchange for a full bottle of wine costing up to $32.

I vote for Sabatini's, the Lobster Three ways is incredible. the Crown Grill was very, very disappointing, perhaps because it was so touted on CC. The service was not good, for instance my husband received the beer he ordered well before the main course with our dessert. We mentioned the beer again when another waiter set our main course on the table, and could not get the waiters attention until it was time for dessert. At that time we thought the beer had been forgotten, and in no way expected it to be delivered with dessert, so we did not cancel the beer order, our mistake. We had both asked for lobster and we got two tails sat in the middle on a plate and they were the smallest I have ever been served. My lamb chops were so overdone, I could only cut a little bite or two out of each one. My husbands steak was rare, and he asked for well done. Since the waiter never came back to check on our food we could not tell him about the problem with the meat. The waiter seemed to spend all of his time chatting with one couple, and ignored the rest of us. On top of this we had a child of about four screaming most of the meal. Two other couples kept doing the looking around to find the waiter also, and when we caught each others eyes they did the hands up, I can not believe it look.

And the onion soup I had been so looking forward to trying, had jack, not melted cheese on top, not browned blue cheese. I think I got someones special order, because when I asked the waiter, he said that is what you ordered. For us it was the most problematic meal of over 40 cruises, and I felt we should have been paid to eat there.

We are sailing the Caribbean Princess in June and would like to dine at one of the finer restaurants.

Any recommendations and why.

 

Thanks,

David

I was blown away by both Crown Grill and Sabatini's. I guess it depends on whether you prefer steak or Italian. Sabatini's is supposed to be getting a new menu in March, so you might want to get input from people who have dined there after it changes.

As for Crab Shack, it was OK, but it's not really fancy, so if you're looking for a nice night out, it might not have the right vibe. The food there was certainly tasty, and the portions are generous, but I found it to be the same as any crab shack you could experience on land.

Crown Grill is our first choice followed by Sabatinis. Tried the Crab Shack on our recent cruise aboard the Caribbean. They did try very hard to accommodate my food allergy but the crab was over cooked and rubbery. However, the shrimp they made special for me were great. We won't go back. Ultimate dinner is no in my book. I am allergic to alcohol so it would be a big waste of money. My other allergy is to all forms of pepper. Hard to book a dinner and have them cook mine without pepper! We are very happy with the Crown Grill every time.

We are sailing the Caribbean Princess in June and would like to dine at one of the finer restaurants.

Any recommendations and why.

 

Thanks,

David

Chef's table by far but limited opportunity. The Crab Shack was great if you like Cajun/seafood and the Crown Grille if you like Ruth Chris or Flemings on land. Sabatini's had great Italian dishes so as you can see, there is no wrong choice.

We like the Crown grill.

 

We used to do the Chefs Table but now its gone up in cost quite a bit, they pour the wine like its a tasting, inch in your glass if you're lucky, and it always seems to be veal for the entrée and that is one thing I will not eat.

The chef's table that we did there were 3 meats for the main and none of them was veal...pork, beef and lamb.

Chef's table, they only have it available for a handful of people so we try to get on the list and if we are lucky we get it. The tour of the galley is great, and in the end, I'm so full I can't really eat the main course. However, have found that it's the same every time.

How could that be possible?

I've read numerous reviews of the Chef's Table and they all had different food and the one we did had different food from all the reviews I've read.

Unless by the same you mean...we went to the galley and had appetizers, the we went to the MDR and had dinner. That's the same for everyone.