Portofino/Chops Grille, give me the lowdown.

[littlesteelo]

Hello all,

I have been bestowed with a generous amount of onboard credit on our upcoming cruise, and seeing as we have pre-booked the excursions and soda packages for the kids, I highly doubt we will go through it purely on drinks.

 

Because of this, I am considering one of the two speciality restaurants (we intend to go to Johnny Rockets a couple of times too). The ship we are on is Independence, as you can tell by the signature.

 

So I want to know all about them. What they are like, the service, food (pics would be great), and overall experience. I have never tried them before.

 

More importantly are they worth it, and which would you choose? There are 4 of us, and we really enjoy the MDR food, so we will probably only do one of the restaurants.

 

:)

[AF-1]

In my opinion, yes they are worth it. I have eaten at both chops and portifion's. I ate the filet beef at both venues; yes, I know why didn't I eat italian at Portifino's ; well the answer is, they offered filet at both places, and I loved the one from Chops; I did eat a caprese salad at Portifino's and did have their cheesecake for dessert. The service and food was great; the desserts were huge and delicous; also, and someone else can back me up; but the bread and rolls they serve is way better than what you get in the main dining room. So there you have it.

[BGCruiser85]

I love Chops! I've never had anything bad there. In my opinion it is more than worth the extra fee. Everything from the service, to the ambiance, to the food is top notch. You won't be disappointed. We've got two nights scheduled there in September on the Allure.

[mets550]

If everyone is a hardcore steak lover, then Chops is the way to go. If not, then go with Portofino, as it still has some excellent steaks but more overall variety. Both are worth it; in fact, on our four-night Jewel cruise we are eating in each restaurant twice!

[amzgirl]

LOVE Portofino. A great variety of foods, and they bring you extra of things they think you might like. If you go on a formal night you may be treated extra special, we got free champagne concoctions. My husband and I like to treat ourselves to a very nice steak at Ruth's Chris or Del Frisco's, and we have become steak snobs, so the steaks didn't do it for us (just our opinion, no flames please!) Also my husband was appalled at the lobster bisque, he thought it looked and tasted like canned tomato soup. So it's Portofino for us, and well worth the $20.

[Cheryl H]

We were in the same situation for last cruise and we had not yet ever tried Chops. So we decided instead of packing formal clothes, we would book Chops and Sambas (on Radiance of the Seas) for the two formal nights. My husband wore dockers and a nice shirt. I wore black slacks and a nice top. We fit right in.

 

Oh my goodness, Chops was so wonderful. We are doing Chops again twice on our next cruise.

 

We started with a crab cake that was fantastic. Then we each had the filet. We selected three sides. We got asparagus, onion rings, and roasted pamesan potatoes which had some white cheese on them. The potatoes were the best. The onion rings were just okay. I believe we had 3 sauces to select from for the steaks. That is when I discovered bernaise sauce which is a rich buttery sauce.

 

Then for dessert we each got a slice of mud pie which is sort of like chocolate cheese cake. It melted in our mouths.

[Cheryl H]

Okay, attempting to post some Chops Grille photos. Please forgive that I nibbled on the mud pie and the crabcake a bit. This filet was the regular size, not the petite.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[AF-1]

Lovely pics Cheryl. You guys ate well.

[dacsmom]

I hear good things about both Chops and Portofinos. As a purely scientific experiment I am going to have to try both in Feb.:D. I just cannot decide.

[CruzieSue]

Cheryl H you just made me sooooo hungry !!! Yummy looking - can't wait to try on our next cruise !!! ;)

[bouhunter]

On our next 7 night cruise we plan to each at Chops twice and Portofino twice. I guess that's a positive recommendation:D

[PattyG12]

We go to Portofino and get their filet .... IMO it's much better than Chops.

[kcbookworm]

We just got off a 5 night on Explorer. We ate at Portofinos the first night because it was a gift from our travel agent and it was soooo good we booked it again for the last night. My daughter had a t-bone that she said was one of the best steaks she ever had and she eats a lot of steaks! The breads were much better than MDR as were the appetizers. The desserts were to die for. This is our third time on RCI and we always thought "why pay more for the specialty restaurant when we have already paid for the MDR?" Well now we know why! If it hadn't been a gift from the travel agent, we probably would not have tried it, but once we did we were hooked! I should mention that our 3 dinners in the MDR were very good, but they really pull out all the stops at Portofinos.

[mets550]

We just got off a 5 night on Explorer. We ate at Portofinos the first night because it was a gift from our travel agent and it was soooo good we booked it again for the last night. My daughter had a t-bone that she said was one of the best steaks she ever had and she eats a lot of steaks! The breads were much better than MDR as were the appetizers. The desserts were to die for. This is our third time on RCI and we always thought "why pay more for the specialty restaurant when we have already paid for the MDR?" Well now we know why! If it hadn't been a gift from the travel agent, we probably would not have tried it, but once we did we were hooked! I should mention that our 3 dinners in the MDR were very good, but they really pull out all the stops at Portofinos.

 

Totally agree. You are really just paying an upgrade charge, and when you consider the difference between the MDR and Portofino/Chops, the $20/$30 per person, respectively, is actually a very good value, since what you are paying for is that difference in quality.

[dachshunddoglover]

Both are fantastic and not to be missed! I think you will find it is money well spent. :D

 

E-Beth

[DeltaOne]

We ate at Chops twice last week on the Enchantment. It's a great value, the same meal at home would be $100 or more.

 

The 10 ounce filet is enough for two people and tender as butter. The second night I ordered the 7 ounce filet and it was great too.

 

You can order multiple sides and they're served family style. We had the asparagus, roasted potatoes and onion rings. The OP is right, the roasted potatoes are great. The onion rings are good too, but seemed an odd choice in this setting.

 

The tomato-cream cheese spread for the bread was good too. I had the Chops signature salad and it was very good.

 

Someone had recommended the red velvet cake dessert, but we didn't care for it. I had the creme brûlée one night and the passion berry duo -- the passion berry duo was actually the best. The creme brûlée had a mocha flavor I wasn't expecting.

[mets550]

The chocolate mud pie is amazing as well. Does anyone who has been to Chops recently know whether they have a ribeye or a porterhouse on the menu? The RCI website has two different menus in two different places, each one showing a ribeye and porterhouse, respectively.

[DeltaOne]

The chocolate mud pie is amazing as well. Does anyone who has been to Chops recently know whether they have a ribeye or a porterhouse on the menu? The RCI website has two different menus in two different places, each one showing a ribeye and porterhouse, respectively.

 

They had the porterhouse on the Enchantment. And it was huge, 18 ounces.

[Zach1213]

My fiance and I left Chops with the same opinion this past Valentine's Day on Liberty:

 

Atmosphere = Great

Service = So-so

Starters/Salads = Great

Filet = Disappointing and not cooked well

Sides = Very good

Dessert = Great

 

For our special occasion, it was nice...and the food is loads better than the MDR. But it was not without fault. We would do it again.

[stephanie1]

I love chops. No comparison to the food in mdr. Personalized service, good food, quality and not expensive. I live in nyc and if I went to a steakhouse and ordered a jumbo shrimp cocktail, Caesar salad, porterhouse or filet mignon, sides of baked potato, mushrooms, asparagus and dessert it would be well over $100. Ruth Chris or the palm would charge $45 or so for the steak alone! I prefer chops to portofino, but I have to say that the meal we had there last was outstanding. The pastas, salads, desserts etc were out of this world as was the veal.

[Radio]

Okay, attempting to post some Chops Grille photos. Please forgive that I nibbled on the mud pie and the crabcake a bit. This filet was the regular size, not the petite.

 

Great Pics Cheryl. .. Thanks for posting.

 

I love Chops !

 

 

Radio

;);)

 

.

[spookwife]

I'll be honest, we were underwhelmed by Chops on EN.

 

service was no better than MDR( and i to be perfectly honest I thought it was BETTER in the MDR).

 

food was no better either.

 

we don't regret spending the money but quite frankly won't do it again.

 

however we are looking forward to Izumi on GR next year as we both are Japanese food snobs.. if they have tako yaki I will count the cruise a complete success......regardless of what else happens.