MrsDus

Happy to help - enjoy your experience!

Mrs Dus - many thanks for your report. I get the impression that perhaps the menu is the same each evening, with two choices for each course? As I can't eat crab - like quite a few people - that would reduce the starter choice, but lobster thermidor is lovely if the lobster is good, as I imagine it was. Maybe when everyone is more used to it there will be possibilities of dining more than once on a cruise.

 

Glad to hear it seems to be pretty successful.

It is the same menu every night. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of the menu but there are definitely more than 2 choices in each category. I believe there were approximately 5 options for starters/mains/desserts. I don't recall the other starter options but I know in addition to the mains we selected, they also offered sole meuniere, a Ribeye and I think another fish option and something like rack of lamb? Don't recall exactly but I certainly felt like there was plenty of selection. In fact, I had a hard time deciding which was why we were a bit disappointed to only go once!

Hi All - I'm recently off of the 5/21 Baltic cruise which I believe was the first cruise accepting online pre-bookings for the Grill.

Reservations/Seating:

We booked online about 1.5 weeks in advance and already there were very limited times available. On a 7 day cruise, only 1 pre-booked reservation is allowed.

The restaurant was fully booked the night we were there and on the subsequent nights when I called about getting in, they were also fully booked. While they would put you on a waitlist, I was never called about any openings. That said, we had some friends on board who asked directly at the restaurant and they were able to get in later one evening.

We were told that while their aim is 2 seatings, in practice it's more like 1.5 seatings right now and that they are staggered.

Ambience:

Lounge-y feel with dark wood and shutters over the windows which limited the natural light (these are adjustable) created a nice atmosphere. I didn't recall any loud music. There was a buzzy feel to the place, though, because of how full it was and the amazing attention of the staff.

Food & Drink:

Excellent craft cocktails from the bar. My husband had a perfectly made Manhattan and I had a gin cocktail that was fantastic. Lots of creative options for those inclined.

Many people were ordering the Caesar salad served tableside but we passed and elected the lump crab cake starter - delicious!

For mains - my husband had the beef tenderloin which he said was cooked correctly but just ok and I had the lobster thermidor which was perfectly cooked and super rich, creamy.

All sides are a la carte - think typical steakhouse options - sautéed and cream spinach, mushrooms, several potato options, etc. We tried both of the versions of spinach and both were great.

They are apparently known for their ice cream sundaes which the entire table of 6 behind us ordered. They bring everything to serve tableside. We were really full so decided to split the coconut cake instead. It was a huge portion, layer cake but lacked in flavor and execution. It was really dense and not a lot of flavor.

Final analysis: overall, we were very pleased with our dinner. Food was good quality, drinks were superb and service was great. I thought dessert was the weak point. Also, there were TK offerings in the main dining room and colonnade throughout the week and I did not think those were of the same quality as we experienced at The Grill but YMMV, I guess.