Pearl Dining - favorite specialty restaurants?

HI - we have sailed NCL so have eaten in most of the same specialty restaurants on other NCL ships -- but never Moderno - if you have eaten in this one since the Pearl was refurb I'd love to know your thoughts and opinions?

We have not eaten at La Cucina? Is it worth using one of our meals in the package to eat Italian? Just wondering if it is 'really good'

We loved Le Bistro on other NCL ships so know we want to book this one. Cagney's is usually good and Teppanyaki is the same as on land in our opinion.

I noticed all but Moderno and Teppanyaki are a la carte? How does that work with a package??

Thanks!

At the a la carte restaurants on the Pearl you may order as many dishes (appetizers, sides, entrees and desserts) as you wish for no charge under your specialty dining package. The only exceptions are Cagneys and Le Bistro where you would pay a la carte for a second entree.

https://www.ncl.com/ca/en/specialty-dining-package/faq

My wife and I have enjoyed Moderno on other NCL ships, but people who frequent Brazilian steakhouses say that Moderno is nothing special. That's probably best describes how we feel about La Cucina since my wife is Italian: Okay but nothing special.

We just sailed Pearl beginning of July. We had the dining package and ate at a Moderno. It's basically all you can eat. There is a salad bar that includes a variety of salad, pasta salad, and soup. From what I've read on Cruise Critic, it's a smaller salad bar than other ships. After you've eaten what you want from the salad bar, you place your green card on the table and servers come around offering you a variety of meats on skewers, different cuts of beef, ribs, chicken, lamb, sausage and pineapple. When you are finished they bring you a dessert menu. We enjoyed it and would go back :)

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If you have eaten at Moderno on NCL Pearl, can you confirm for me that roasted (or grilled not sure which, served on a skewer) pineapple is one of the things they serve? DH had it at a restaurant in Mexico that did the meat skewer thing and loved the whole experience but especially the pineapple. Am planning on making the reservations before we sail in august as a surprise for him. The pineapple thing would, I'm sure, earn me a few extra brownie points.

If you have eaten at Moderno on NCL Pearl, can you confirm for me that roasted (or grilled not sure which, served on a skewer) pineapple is one of the things they serve? DH had it at a restaurant in Mexico that did the meat skewer thing and loved the whole experience but especially the pineapple. Am planning on making the reservations before we sail in august as a surprise for him. The pineapple thing would, I'm sure, earn me a few extra brownie points.

Yes they have pineapple and it has great! We had seconds :)

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Thank you so much. I'm not a pineapple fan but hubby loves it.

my husband and I were on the Pearl two weeks ago. Moderno's salad bar was pretty good but we weren't as impressed with the meat. It was the one meal that we would not have repeated

Something to take into consideration for sure.

One thing I would add about Moderno is that you can buy it without the dining package for $25. Since a 3-meal SDP is $69 or $23 each, it's not much of a savings especially compared to Cagneys or Le Bistro (depending on what you order, of course).

You can ask the maitre d' to charge the meal to your room rather than using one of your SDP meals if you'd rather save your "free" meals for an a la carte restaurant.

We didn't get the SDP as a perk and decided that wasn't where we wanted to spend our money so am not buying. I did see that I could get Moderno on its own so that's going to be our splurge. We can get Italian and steaks (home of Omaha steaks) at home but nothing like what the Moderno has. Since we are cruising (our first) for the location and not the food, we'll splurge on one meal and do O'Sheehan and MDR and buffet the rest of the time. And spend our money on excursions which I'm getting really excited about.

I really appreciate Cruise Critic and all the help the experienced cruisers share.

HI - we have sailed NCL so have eaten in most of the same specialty restaurants on other NCL ships -- but never Moderno - if you have eaten in this one since the Pearl was refurb I'd love to know your thoughts and opinions?

 

We have not eaten at La Cucina? Is it worth using one of our meals in the package to eat Italian? Just wondering if it is 'really good'

 

We loved Le Bistro on other NCL ships so know we want to book this one. Cagney's is usually good and Teppanyaki is the same as on land in our opinion.

 

I noticed all but Moderno and Teppanyaki are a la carte? How does that work with a package??

 

Thanks!

We loved Le Bistro on the Pearl- I did a detailed review here- http://thecheerfulcruiser.blogspot.com/2017/03/specialty-dining-on-norwegian-le-bistro.html

We def want Le Bistro & Cagney's Steakhouse.... just not sure what the 3rd should be.... Italian or Brazilian? We have a Teppanyaki Grill here so the only reason for us to choose it would be for a 'fun' evening....but not for the food....

Can we book all 3 90 days out before boarding or have to wait till on ship??

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I always find the Ossobuco in La Cucina really good. But then, I'm a Chicken Parm kinda guy there also. I like the beef tenderloin with the portobello mushrooms at Le Bistro also, and of course the four mushroom soup. For Moderno, I do like the salad bar offerings. My wife only eats from the salad bar. However, as far as the meat goes, I just consider it a place where a meat lover can pig out on meat, all you want. But...I don't think it is special, just lots of it. My last steak at Cagneys was a very good steak. However, with steak, I like the ones I cook at home and seasoned my way best. So Cagneys is just a nice place to eat for us. Actually, most of the specialty restaurants are mostly a nice place to have a very pleasant and relaxing special night dinner. And with the recent SDP promos and the platinum plus additional dining certificates we get, I can't actually use it all....or if I do, I consider scheduling another triple bypass as soon as we get home. By the way, go here and you can drop towards the bottom and see the menus for the Pearl. Don't know how current though. You can search other ships also. ....I'm getting hungry now... http://www.beyondships.com/NCLPearl.html

You can book all 3 or just 2. NCL only allows a certain number of reservations to be made prior to the cruise so you should be able to book any add'l upon boarding.

We didn't get the SDP as a perk and decided that wasn't where we wanted to spend our money so am not buying. I did see that I could get Moderno on its own so that's going to be our splurge. We can get Italian and steaks (home of Omaha steaks) at home but nothing like what the Moderno has. Since we are cruising (our first) for the location and not the food, we'll splurge on one meal and do O'Sheehan and MDR and buffet the rest of the time. And spend our money on excursions which I'm getting really excited about.

 

I really appreciate Cruise Critic and all the help the experienced cruisers share.

Last year was my first cruise ever and we did the 10-day Pearl to Alaska in May. FANTASTIC all around. We had a 5-meal SDP so were able to try each of the extra cost restaurants (not counting the sushi bar...). We found our least favorite was Moderno, Cagney's was #1. Teppenyaki was nothing spectacular - my favorite part was the Wasabe Martini drink. Le Bistro had a nice feel to the place but La Cucina wasn't memorable - I honestly can't remember what I had at either of those two... Don't forget about Lotus Garden, they have some very good Asian dishes - we ate there twice and I did have them bring me sushi from the bar that I paid extra for. All very good. We ate lunch at Summer Palace twice, dinner once at Indigo - both were okay. We ate breakfast each morning at the Garden Cafe and it was very good - finding a place to sit is another matter... Going out on the back deck was our best bet plus there is another buffet out there for 2nds. O'Sheehan's had excellent Buffalo Wings and Fish & Chips - I had both twice. I'll be back on the Pearl in May '18 and will probably use our SPD at Cagney's more than once. :D

HI - we have sailed NCL so have eaten in most of the same specialty restaurants on other NCL ships -- but never Moderno - if you have eaten in this one since the Pearl was refurb I'd love to know your thoughts and opinions?

 

We have not eaten at La Cucina? Is it worth using one of our meals in the package to eat Italian? Just wondering if it is 'really good'

 

We loved Le Bistro on other NCL ships so know we want to book this one. Cagney's is usually good and Teppanyaki is the same as on land in our opinion.

 

I noticed all but Moderno and Teppanyaki are a la carte? How does that work with a package??

 

Thanks!

We have eaten in all the specialty restaurants more than once on all NCL ships or most of them anyway. We love Modernos and actually like La Cucinas;) If I only had 2 meals in a package I would not choose them, but more I probably would. As for the A La Carte, it doesn't seem to be very strict if you are using promo meals. At least that has been our experience so far. We usually have an appetizer, salad or soup and entree. They always ask us if we want dessert as well? Normally we do not, but the few times we have had it there has not been a charge. :p

Last year was my first cruise ever and we did the 10-day Pearl to Alaska in May. FANTASTIC all around. We had a 5-meal SDP so were able to try each of the extra cost restaurants (not counting the sushi bar...). We found our least favorite was Moderno, Cagney's was #1. Teppenyaki was nothing spectacular - my favorite part was the Wasabe Martini drink. Le Bistro had a nice feel to the place but La Cucina wasn't memorable - I honestly can't remember what I had at either of those two... Don't forget about Lotus Garden, they have some very good Asian dishes - we ate there twice and I did have them bring me sushi from the bar that I paid extra for. All very good. We ate lunch at Summer Palace twice, dinner once at Indigo - both were okay. We ate breakfast each morning at the Garden Cafe and it was very good - finding a place to sit is another matter... Going out on the back deck was our best bet plus there is another buffet out there for 2nds. O'Sheehan's had excellent Buffalo Wings and Fish & Chips - I had both twice. I'll be back on the Pearl in May '18 and will probably use our SPD at Cagney's more than once. :D

In otherwards why you are saying, is except for Cagney's you were not impressed with any of the specialty dining rooms. I guess this shows how subjective we are when it comes to food. We have always found rhwe specialty dining rooms a step above. Are they as good as land restaurants in major cities? Probably not, but the price isn't the same either. For instance a good Brazilian restaurant in the USA will run about $40 a person. As for the quality of the Chinese restaurant on the Pearl, it is ok for a meal with no sur charge, but it isn't anything special in our view.

Last year was my first cruise ever and we did the 10-day Pearl to Alaska in May. FANTASTIC all around. We had a 5-meal SDP so were able to try each of the extra cost restaurants (not counting the sushi bar...). We found our least favorite was Moderno, Cagney's was #1. Teppenyaki was nothing spectacular - my favorite part was the Wasabe Martini drink. Le Bistro had a nice feel to the place but La Cucina wasn't memorable - I honestly can't remember what I had at either of those two... Don't forget about Lotus Garden, they have some very good Asian dishes - we ate there twice and I did have them bring me sushi from the bar that I paid extra for. All very good. We ate lunch at Summer Palace twice, dinner once at Indigo - both were okay. We ate breakfast each morning at the Garden Cafe and it was very good - finding a place to sit is another matter... Going out on the back deck was our best bet plus there is another buffet out there for 2nds. O'Sheehan's had excellent Buffalo Wings and Fish & Chips - I had both twice. I'll be back on the Pearl in May '18 and will probably use our SPD at Cagney's more than once. :D

 

In otherwards why you are saying, is except for Cagney's you were not impressed with any of the specialty dining rooms. I guess this shows how subjective we are when it comes to food. We have always found rhwe specialty dining rooms a step above. Are they as good as land restaurants in major cities? Probably not, but the price isn't the same either. For instance a good Brazilian restaurant in the USA will run about $40 a person. As for the quality of the Chinese restaurant on the Pearl, it is ok for a meal with no sur charge, but it isn't anything special in our view.

Yes, you understood me correctly: unimpressed. In general we found the food in the specialty dining restaurants underwhelming. It's true, everyone has their own opinion. We probably have a different frame of reference.

Thought I'd follow up with opinions of recent specialty dining on Pearl. We LOVED the French Le Bistro -- had THE best dessert of entire cruise - the chocolate Nepolian. We had about 12 eating in Le Bistro during our week and all loved it. Cagney's is always a hit - could cut the steaks with a spoon they are so tender! SIdes are all ok -- I ordered the truffle fries but they were just crispy fries to me - so not sure what I was missing. Our third was the Italian and NO ONE was impressed -- I would not eat there again. Some at in the Teppenaki grill and said it was ok -- always a lot of fun but said not as good as most land Japanese grills. Hope this might help some others searching.