Jade restaurants

[Fawn524]

Wow...there are a lot of choices here. I'm sure we'll eat in the ports a lot, but I'd like to be prepared for our sea day choices.

 

From what I can tell, there's your casual free choices...Blue lagoon, the garden cafe, the great outdoors and the grill.

 

Upgraded restaurants for a fee are Cagneys, Jasmine Garden, Le Bistro, Paniolo, Papa's and Teppanyaki.

 

What shouldn't we miss? Which ones are worth it? Breakfast? Lunch? Dinner? Suggestions/advice/whatever you have to give! :) Thanks for your help, as always!

[njhorseman]

Wow...there are a lot of choices here. I'm sure we'll eat in the ports a lot, but I'd like to be prepared for our sea day choices.

 

From what I can tell, there's your casual free choices...Blue lagoon, the garden cafe, the great outdoors and the grill.

 

Upgraded restaurants for a fee are Cagneys, Jasmine Garden, Le Bistro, Paniolo, Papa's and Teppanyaki.

 

What shouldn't we miss? Which ones are worth it? Breakfast? Lunch? Dinner? Suggestions/advice/whatever you have to give! :) Thanks for your help, as always!

 

You've left out the two most important "free" (no additional charge) choices...the two main dining rooms, Grand Pacific and Alizar.

[Fawn524]

You've left out the two most important "free" (no additional charge) choices...the two main dining rooms, Grand Pacific and Alizar.

 

Yes, I did! LOL I'm sure we'll get there also...is one better than the other?

[njhorseman]

Yes, I did! LOL I'm sure we'll get there also...is one better than the other?

 

The menu will be the same in both...it's different decor and ambience. In my experience on most NCL ships service in the larger dining room is generally slower paced. The smaller dining room tends to be noisier, with lower ceilings and tables closer together.

[Carnac767]

My favorite on Jade was Cagney's: terrific NY strip, one of the best I've ever had. DW's fave was Paniolo: great Margarita selection, really good appetizers. Le Bistro was very good, too. Both MDRs were fine but they do tend get a bit loud when crowded.

[woodnitaly]

Just came off the Jade 2 months ago. Ate at the MDR twice. All the rest of the meals were in specialty restaurants. The sushi (at $15) is quite a bargain. You get as much as you want. Tepenyaki was good, though expensive. We ate at the mexican place 3 times (but we live in Italy) anddon't get Mexican (or even tex-mex) here. Le Bistro was quite good as well, but we only had it once. As I mentioned, we live in Italy and did not need nor desire to try Papa's. Last, and certainly not least, Cagney's. We were in a AB Penthouse and had the privledge of eating Cagneys daily for breakfast and lunch (this is the single best perk for the SUITE life). The food in there is awesome, so much so that we even paid the $25 to eat there one of the nights.

We plan on eating at the specialty restaurants, so we budget that into our cruise fund. That said, I have eaten at all the venues, paid and free, during my different cruises with NCL, and never been dissatisfied with what I got.

[Fishbait17]

From what I can tell, there's your casual free choices...Blue lagoon, the garden cafe, the great outdoors and the grill.

 

Upgraded restaurants for a fee are Cagneys, Jasmine Garden, Le Bistro, Paniolo, Papa's and Teppanyaki.

 

When is your sailing? As you can see by my signature, we are sailing the Jade on May 21 for the third time! You will love the Jade, just the right size for sailing the Med, large enough to keep you busy on sea days, but small enough to not be overwhelming. I have eaten at all the above venues, plus one (maybe both) of the main dining rooms on the Jade.

 

For specialties (listed in my personal preference best to not-so-best), I would easily rank Le Bistro as the best restaurant on the ship - we always find ourselves eating here at least twice every week, usually three times. Jasmine Garden is very good - you can order from one of three menus - sushi, asian, or Mongolian hot pot - best tip here is have one order off the sushi menu, the other off the asian menu, and split it all. Cagney's is pretty good, not a great steakhouse (above average maybe) but has some great items on the menu like Truffle Fries and Oysters Rockefeller (which can be hit or miss in quality). Teppanyaki is good - if you are an regular teppanyaki diner, you will find it average, but if you don't get it much at home, it's a fun and tasty exerience. Paniolo is good, casual, somewhat tasty - great sangria! Papa's is very average - we get better Italian food locally at any of the 10 trattorias in our hometown.

 

The main dining rooms both serve the same menu, so preference would be which one you like better for ambience. Casual dining is excellent - the buffet is large and varied, Blue Lagoon is excellent for late night snacks or a light meal anytime, Great Outdoors is a mini-buffet on a quieter deck on the aft of the ship (great fries, also usually available at the buffet), the grill is open on sea days by the pool.

 

Robin

[mikewrit]

We much preferred Grand Pacific's elegantly deliberate service and found much to like, few complaints with the menu. We've heard much praise of the premium venues, particularly Cagney's but my Scot wallet muscle cramps up when I consider the added fee.

[Fawn524]

When is your sailing? As you can see by my signature, we are sailing the Jade on May 21 for the third time! You will love the Jade, just the right size for sailing the Med, large enough to keep you busy on sea days, but small enough to not be overwhelming. I have eaten at all the above venues, plus one (maybe both) of the main dining rooms on the Jade.

 

Robin

 

We're the week after you...May 28!

 

Thanks for all the suggestions...this is perfect! Sounds like we can't go wrong whatever we try. I imagine we'll eat in port often enough, but it's great to know where to go when onboard. We usually cruise DCL, and there's just not this many choices! We may have to try everything once! LOL

[SteveH2508]

Le Bistro is the best (in our Francophile opinion) - the Jazz Brunch on a sea day is rather good ($15 PP IIRC).

 

Cagneys is good but we get some incredible steaks each week from our local farmers market so we are not so in need of good steaks.

 

Sushi is a must for us - $15 for all you can eat is a bargain.

 

We are neither of us a partial to Tex-mex so we leave that alone.

 

The Italian place (I forget the name) is OK but was not that special last time we went.

 

The Oriental area is good - plenty of choice.

 

Teppanyaki is good once - book early - it fills up quickly.

 

Blue Lagoon chicken wings are gorgeous.

 

MDRs are good.

 

Buffet is OK - assuming you miss the busy times.

 

Pool deck BBQ is OK - but I'm usually too stuffed to appreciate it! :D

 

The number of food choices is one of the things which attracted us to NCL in the first place.