An Evening at Le Cirque - Maasdam June 1 2011

[HALFans]

Having had mostly positive Pinnacle Grill experiences we were looking forward to trying the new "An Evening at Le Cirque" - especially after seeing the article in the recent Mariner's Magazine - Food issue.

 

It started with an interesting Amuse - not on the menu. For us it was a wonderfully smooth, delicious and rich Pate on top of a small amount of Rhubarb Chutney. The flavors went ok together but the textures were (I thought) a bit of an unfortunate pairing.

 

Next up was the Poached Lobster Salad. I have to say that this was the worst food ever presented to me in a restaurant of any type. Land or Cruise Ship. The good: The sauces were tasty, the bib lettuce was beautiful. The bad: The lobster had been frozen at least twice, once after poaching. It was tough, flavorless and dripping the thawed ice water. The 'mushroom' slices turned out (after eating one) to be brown avocado wedges. Disgusting. My plate was missing the Haricot Vert entirely, although my dining companion had 3 or 4. I sent mine back less than one quarter eaten. HORRIBLE! They offered to bring a new salad 'with more dressing'. I wasn't about to take the chance and asked him to just 'make sure our entrees came out right'.

 

Main course: I had the rack of lamb. It was cooked beautifully but unfortunately had been cut without being rested. All of the juices had drained out before the lamb ever got to the plate. As a result, it was dry and tough. My plate was served first, but since my dining companion had ordered the Rib Steak I waited while the server cut the steak from the rib, sliced and then transferred to plate. With this delay my entire plate was barely lukewarm at first bite. Also accompanying: beautifully prepared (if under-seasoned) vegetable assortment and some twice cooked potato 'puffs' that were very tasty. I thought my lamb was to come with some Endive, but as it wasn't on the plate I may have been mistaken about that.

 

Dessert: We both had the Creme Brulee. I must admit, the custard was exceptionally smooth and tasty. Unfortunately the brulee had been prepared at least a couple of hours before serving. It was covered by a thin layer of clear liquid that had separated from the Creme. A pity, as it marred an exceptionally tasty chilled 'custard' dish.

 

There was an assortment of candies with coffee.

 

Over all - this was an experience I'm not willing to repeat; especially at $30pp. I'm not sure I'd even waste an evening's meal trying it for free - it was that bad.

 

Other good: On June 3 we ate at the 'regular' Pinnacle Grill and it was a near perfect dining experience. No comparison at all.

[Lesinindy]

Really seems strange to have such a good regular PG meal and An Evening at Le Cirque that appears to have basically been one step up from fast food. I wonder if it is just that ship or something that is happening fleet wide? We have never had bad meal in PG, but then again we have not tried out the new kid on the block.

[kazu]

This is disappointing after reading Lisa's (Laffnlasvegas) great report on Le Cirque

 

I do hope you expressed your disappointment to the PG manager.

 

What a shame - a special evening ruined.

 

My sympathies.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

I am so sorry to hear this especially since we had a wonderful experience. My biggest fear when ever we dine is for my husband because he tends to be a bit of a picky eater. (me I'll try anything kind of like the old commercial of Mikey ;) ) but my relief was DH loved everything especially because they could make the soup with out the mushrooms in it and he loved the Lobster Salad. I was actually really impressed with the Lobster salad because our was tender and sweet and quite large. DH loved his salad too. I had the steak which was served for one and DH had the Halibut which was huge and he said was one of the best halibut's he had ever had. Our Creme Brulee had the crunchy topping definitely not liquid. I am actually looking forward to trying it again on the Oosterdam.

 

:o Hopefully this was just an off night for the Maasdam.

[Jade13]

 

 

Over all - this was an experience I'm not willing to repeat; especially at $30pp. I'm not sure I'd even waste an evening's meal trying it for free - it was that bad.

 

 

.

 

Thanks for letting us know. We will pass. My DH (who is a Chef) did not like the menu I showed him and did not want to pay extra. Also, this experience is offered on our cruise for $39.00 per person, so double the reg Pinnacle Grille cost.

 

And, this was on Maasdam? I hope they get their dining room straightened out before we board for VOV next month.

[sail7seas]

We did Le Cirque dinner on Maasdam in December and I agree the halibut was outstanding. I really enjoyed it though the portion was very large.

 

[Jade13]

My plate was missing the Haricot Vert

.

 

thin string beans

[Krazy Kruizers]

Soory you had a bad experince with Le Cirque.

 

It seems to be hot and miss.

 

We lucked out and had a great experince the first time we tried it -- who knows what it will be the next time?

[SJSULIBRARIAN]

We are trying Le Cirque on the Amsterdam soon and am hoping for a good hot meal. Our luck in the Pinnacle Grills on various HAL ships has not been that great. For us, the food normally comes out cold. Our best meals in the PGs have been lunches and we will try that also on the Amsterdam next week. Barbara

[m steve]

to change the LeCirque menu and try some new dishes.

[KirkNC]

Well this is most disappointing. My major gripe with PG has been a lack of consistency and now we get a similar report on LC. If these were restaurants on land they would be out of business PDQ. We will be giving LC a try in a few weeks and I hope to have a better experience.

 

Kirk

[kazu]

Well this is most disappointing. My major gripe with PG has been a lack of consistency and now we get a similar report on LC. If these were restaurants on land they would be out of business PDQ. We will be giving LC a try in a few weeks and I hope to have a better experience.

 

Kirk

 

I hope you do Kirk and I hope we do too as we booked it for dh's birthday (he doesn't know).

 

I'll be watching reviews with great interest including yours :D

[erewhon]

HALFans,

Sorry to read of your disappointing dining experience.

[Aruba]

That's disappointing but I must say I enjoyed your review. It was like something I would read in the Sunday paper. Are you a food writer by any chance?

[CowPrincess]

HALfans, glad to see you are back cruising on HAL :) Sorry to read that (again) you were victims of HAL's "unevenness". If you did not complain on the night of your LeCirque experience, I fervently hope you write to HAL with your comments.

[fatcat04]

Hey HALfans! It was great to meet you two. Sorry the meal was so disappointing. I so understand the not resting rack of lamb. I am sure it was dry as a bone. That was very unfortunate and a mistake that should simply not happen in a professional kitchen.

 

Like you, we found the regular night PG quality to be great. We, minus kiddo, went on the Halifax night. Our issue, and what caused us to cancel our last night reservation, was the insanely long time the meal took. 1 hour and 45 mins just to get to our main entree. :eek: We had to skip dessert to get to the show in the piano bar. As it was we were late. That was disappointing.

 

We both had the Caesar salad. I had the crab cakes. Husband had lobster bisque. He had the veal chop med and I the rib eye med rare. All good and cooked correctly but none of which should have taken as long as it did.

[BruceMuzz]

Having had mostly positive Pinnacle Grill experiences we were looking forward to trying the new "An Evening at Le Cirque" - especially after seeing the article in the recent Mariner's Magazine - Food issue.

 

It started with an interesting Amuse - not on the menu. For us it was a wonderfully smooth, delicious and rich Pate on top of a small amount of Rhubarb Chutney. The flavors went ok together but the textures were (I thought) a bit of an unfortunate pairing.

 

Next up was the Poached Lobster Salad. I have to say that this was the worst food ever presented to me in a restaurant of any type. Land or Cruise Ship. The good: The sauces were tasty, the bib lettuce was beautiful. The bad: The lobster had been frozen at least twice, once after poaching. It was tough, flavorless and dripping the thawed ice water. The 'mushroom' slices turned out (after eating one) to be brown avocado wedges. Disgusting. My plate was missing the Haricot Vert entirely, although my dining companion had 3 or 4. I sent mine back less than one quarter eaten. HORRIBLE! They offered to bring a new salad 'with more dressing'. I wasn't about to take the chance and asked him to just 'make sure our entrees came out right'.

 

Main course: I had the rack of lamb. It was cooked beautifully but unfortunately had been cut without being rested. All of the juices had drained out before the lamb ever got to the plate. As a result, it was dry and tough. My plate was served first, but since my dining companion had ordered the Rib Steak I waited while the server cut the steak from the rib, sliced and then transferred to plate. With this delay my entire plate was barely lukewarm at first bite. Also accompanying: beautifully prepared (if under-seasoned) vegetable assortment and some twice cooked potato 'puffs' that were very tasty. I thought my lamb was to come with some Endive, but as it wasn't on the plate I may have been mistaken about that.

 

Dessert: We both had the Creme Brulee. I must admit, the custard was exceptionally smooth and tasty. Unfortunately the brulee had been prepared at least a couple of hours before serving. It was covered by a thin layer of clear liquid that had separated from the Creme. A pity, as it marred an exceptionally tasty chilled 'custard' dish.

 

There was an assortment of candies with coffee.

 

Over all - this was an experience I'm not willing to repeat; especially at $30pp. I'm not sure I'd even waste an evening's meal trying it for free - it was that bad.

 

Other good: On June 3 we ate at the 'regular' Pinnacle Grill and it was a near perfect dining experience. No comparison at all.

 

You might want to look up the differences between a "Custard" and a "Creme". Larousse Gastronomique would be a very good place to start. Unfortunately too many people do not know the difference, and present a custard with burned sugar as a creme brulee.

[BumperII]

I am inclined to agree with the observations of OP. We tried the LeCirque aboard the Westerdam. It was OK, I'm glad we tried it once, but at $39.00 pp it just didn't measure up. Part of it is my peasant upbringing. I've just never been wealthy enough to enjoy anything that tastes as bad as that corn soup. Last cruise we dined three time in the regular PG, half the price, and the flaming shiskabobs were to die for.:D

[ironin]

Sorry to read that you did not enjoy your Evening at Le Cirque.

 

Without discounting your experience, I'll note that during the three evenings we've dined there, on two different ships, all of our meals were well-prepared. The lobster salad, in particular, was delicious every time. I'm generally not a fan of ordering lobster aboard ship because past experience led me to believe it generally ends up just about as you described.

 

Someone above mentioned the menu needs changing. It is. More choices are being added. Some selections are being removed. Some ships are already using the new menu.

 

Another above detests the corn soup. My dad would have absolutely loved it. (IIRC, it is coming off the menu.) Can't please everyone.

[m steve]

I would love to see it.

[ironin]

I would love to see it.

 

To see a .pdf file of the revised menu, click here. To see what some of the dishes looked like aboard the Veendam recently, click here.

 

(Thanks to CC member FoxyTerrier for posting the info. to her blog)

[sail7seas]

Thanks, Ironin.

 

That menu is wonderful. HUGE, HUGE, HUGE improvement from the previous.

 

Now I'm excited to return for another Le Cirque dinner. We probably would not have gone back to have the same menu from which we previously dined.

 

[taxmantoo]

That menu is wonderful. HUGE, HUGE, HUGE improvement from the previous.

 

The menu is indeed an improvement but still can't understand why this is more expensive than a regular Pinnacle Grill Dinner. Cheese Ravioli and Brick Chicken are hardly considered haute cuisine...more like pub food to me!;)

[LAFFNVEGAS]

To see a .pdf file of the revised menu, click here. To see what some of the dishes looked like aboard the Veendam recently, click here.

 

(Thanks to CC member FoxyTerrier for posting the info. to her blog)

Thanks so much for posting this. The menu looks fantastic. I see the Lobster Salad turned into a Lobster Cocktail :D Cutting back on the Lobster ;) The Sea Bass looks wonderful, I know what I am having in October when we are on the Oosterdam :)

The price being more is because Le Cirque themselves is getting a cut from each person dining in Le Cirque on HAL. I forget what the dollar amount is. I think it might be $10.00 per person this is for HAL to have the rights to use the name, their recipes and place settings, of course HAL had to purchase the china too. The menu before and event he new one now is very similiar to the Le Cirque here in Las Vegas. They have a few different menus based on the flat price you want to pay which the $39.00 is a bargain compared to the real thing.

[kazu]

To see a .pdf file of the revised menu, click here. To see what some of the dishes looked like aboard the Veendam recently, click here.

 

(Thanks to CC member FoxyTerrier for posting the info. to her blog)

Thanks very much Ironin. dh will be happy with any of these selctions (I hope) for his surprise birthday celebration;)