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Jewel--Mama's Restaurant

MikeandAmy

By MikeandAmy,
in Norwegian Cruise Line

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MikeandAmy

MikeandAmy

Posted
Posted

Hello,

 

For those of you who have been on the Jewel lately, have any of you tried Mama's? Is it any good and is it worth the $15.00 coverage charge?

 

We have already booked Cagneys and Moderno, but we would like to do a 3rd.

 

Anyways any input on Mama's would be greatly appreciated.

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pliskin

pliskin

Posted
Posted

I have not eaten at Mamas but did eat at the Italian restaurant on the Star and was sooo not impressed. Think Olive Garden. And when you think for only $5 more you could have eaten at Le Bistro, hardly worth it IMHO. Le Bistro is awesome!

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kcwingwalker

kcwingwalker

Posted
Posted
Hello,

 

For those of you who have been on the Jewel lately, have any of you tried Mama's? Is it any good and is it worth the $15.00 coverage charge?

 

We have already booked Cagneys and Moderno, but we would like to do a 3rd.

 

Anyways any input on Mama's would be greatly appreciated.

 

We are hoping Mama's is good, but so far the input has not been great. Usually described as just so-so or blah. We loved the Italian restaurant on the Spirit.

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newmexicoNita

newmexicoNita

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Posted
I have not eaten at Mamas but did eat at the Italian restaurant on the Star and was sooo not impressed. Think Olive Garden. And when you think for only $5 more you could have eaten at Le Bistro, hardly worth it IMHO. Le Bistro is awesome!

 

We felt very different about Mama's, as well as some of the other Italian restaurants on other NCL ships. Of course Le Bistro is at the top of our list, but we do enjoy the other ones, including the Italian restaurants and we would never go to Olive Garden. I guess I am the exception. I will say, we didn't try pizza, that we wouldn't pay the extra money for.

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Ilovesailing

Ilovesailing

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We only eat in the specialty restaurants on NCL. While the Italian isn't up to LeBistro standards it is still good providing you know what your ordering.

The deep fried calamari is one of the best we've ever had and we usually order two.

The chic parma is good but ask for extra sauce.

Now the best dish is the osso bucco it's tender, falls off the bone and comes on a bead of parma polenta its the first time I've ever eaten polenta and now I make it at home all the time, if you don't want the polenta ask for a side of pasta instead.

Stay away from the pizza while it's better than on the buffet but still disappointing.

I can tell you out of 24 cruise we have never had a problem with the Italian restaurant and I can't say that about Moderno or Cagneys.

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terrydtx Great Review Rare

terrydtx

Posted
Posted

Since we will be on our first NCL cruise on the Jewel in 4 weeks I have been following the few reviews from people back from the last couple Jewel cruises. The comments about Momma's is about what most have said here 'not as good as Olive Garden". I do not waste my dinning out money at any Olive Gardens so I will not on the Jewel. I agree with the poster who said for $5 you eat at Le Bistro and that's what we can do. Le Bistro gets great reviews too.

 

One review said the Calamari that is on the everyday MDR menu was the same as what was in Mama's so I will get my Calamari fix in the MDR. Our last HAL cruise on the Nieuw Amsterdam had an Italian restaurant and it was terrible so I can't see how Momma's can be any better.

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realtorlady42

realtorlady42

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Posted
We only eat in the specialty restaurants on NCL. While the Italian isn't up to LeBistro standards it is still good providing you know what your ordering.

The deep fried calamari is one of the best we've ever had and we usually order two.

The chic parma is good but ask for extra sauce.

Now the best dish is the osso bucco it's tender, falls off the bone and comes on a bead of parma polenta its the first time I've ever eaten polenta and now I make it at home all the time, if you don't want the polenta ask for a side of pasta instead.

Stay away from the pizza while it's better than on the buffet but still disappointing.

I can tell you out of 24 cruise we have never had a problem with the Italian restaurant and I can't say that about Moderno or Cagneys.

 

Thanks for this informative post. Mama's was included as one of our booking bonus'.

The osso bucco sounds yummy..what kind of meat is it? I love polenta. what else is severd with it (veggies?)

Do you happen to have a menue for Mama's?

 

Thanks again

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terrydtx Great Review Rare

terrydtx

Posted
Posted
Thanks for this informative post. Mama's was included as one of our booking bonus'.

The osso bucco sounds yummy..what kind of meat is it? I love polenta. what else is severd with it (veggies?)

Do you happen to have a menue for Mama's?

 

Thanks again

 

Real Osso Bucco is supposed to be made from veal shanks. On one HAL cruise they made them from beef shanks and they were tough and tasteless.

 

If you do a search for Momma's menu you will find some posted, I have seen them here on CC. The Osso Bucco is the only menu item that I would try as it is one of my favorite Italian dishes. Since you got a dinner there as a bonus it would be worth trying, I doubt we will try it on our cruise.

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Warm Breezes

Warm Breezes

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We ate at Mama's on our 1st NCL Jewel cruise in 2007 and we were not impressed. We had decided before our 2nd NCL Jewel cruise a couple of weeks ago that we were only going to do Moderno (excellent BTW). When we went to the Latitudes Party we won a drawing for a dinner for 2 at Mama's so we went....again we were not impressed and were glad we did not pay for that meal.

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newmexicoNita

newmexicoNita

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You'll find the speciality restaurant menus from NCL's site, the menus are the same fleetwide so the Italian menu is the same everywhere despite the possibly different name on each ship.

 

http://www5.ncl.com/cruise-ship/jewel/onboard/eat#tab_detail

 

I won't share to it, but I think the Sun Italian restaurant is different. Again, I can't say for sure, it used to be very different.

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kcwingwalker

kcwingwalker

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Posted
You'll find the speciality restaurant menus from NCL's site, the menus are the same fleetwide so the Italian menu is the same everywhere despite the possibly different name on each ship.

 

http://www5.ncl.com/cruise-ship/jewel/onboard/eat#tab_detail

 

Thanks for the link to the menu. It looks good and might be worth trying.

:)

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Demonyte

Demonyte

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Posted
I won't share to it, but I think the Sun Italian restaurant is different. Again, I can't say for sure, it used to be very different.

 

Just see for yourself on the website, they are the same - and have been for at least few years to my understanding (for sure at least few last revisions of fleetwide menus). :)

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chloemonkey

chloemonkey

Posted
Posted
Hello,

 

For those of you who have been on the Jewel lately, have any of you tried Mama's? Is it any good and is it worth the $15.00 coverage charge?

 

We have already booked Cagneys and Moderno, but we would like to do a 3rd.

 

Anyways any input on Mama's would be greatly appreciated.

 

 

We recently did 16 days on the Jewel (Sept/Oct) and actually chose to eat there TWICE! So answers that you get are subjective. We had previously eaten in the Italian Specialty restaurant on the Star 3-4 times and thought that the one on the Jewel was far superior.

 

And although a lot of the ships DO have the same menu....I think that it also has to do with the preparation as well which can be better or worse depending on who is doing the "cooking" so to speak...

 

We ate in ALL of the specialty restaurants...Cagneys 3 times, Le Bistro x2, Chinese 1, TEppanyaki 1, Moderno 1, Buffet 3-4? on those late arrival times coming back from shore excursions but PREFERABLE to main dining rooms! Only tried each of the main dinind rooms ONCE! as they were not very good.....and Italian two times. Again, everyone has their own opinion....and although the experience is fun at Teppanyaki....I would rate is BELOW your average Benihana......but then some people live in areas where this style restaurant/cooking is not available - so this makes it a bit more enticing and enjoyable to those guests....so again, it all depends on what you are used to.

 

We "used" to love Le Bistro....but now find it to be not half as good as it used to be......miss not being able to pay for a "true" lobster tail anywhere also! As the one in Le Bistro is sort of this chopped up version....

 

Guess we have all confused you even more now, right? I envy you though....as you are about to take a cruise and mine is over! Have fun and no matter where you choose to eat.....we found the food on the Jewel to be pretty good! And we were beginning to think that the level of food was on a continual decline on ALL of the lines that we have been on over the past 2-3 years...so were pleasantly surprised!

 

For $15, I think that the Italian restaurant is a GREAT buy.....and my husband doesn't even LIKE italian food...so the fact that we ate there twice says something....LOVED the dessert....wish I could remember the name....you choose either vanilla, chocolate or macadamia ice cream and then they pour hot expresso over it......really good!

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terrydtx Great Review Rare

terrydtx

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Posted
well thank you everyone for your reviews.. We will choose another restaurant. Does not sound like its worth the $15.00

 

We decided the same thing after looking at reviews and comments. For the extra $5 Le Bistro looks like a much better choice with a more gourmet sounding menu. I could eat rack of Lamb every night too.

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FF Woman

FF Woman

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I agree that food is subjective. We tried Teppanyaki on our cruise on the Jewel several years ago. I thought it was okay. I wouldn't pay to go there again though.

 

On the Pearl a few years ago we tried Le Bistro and I didn't particularly care for it. The only thing I really liked was the fondue dessert. It was great.

 

It's not that I'm fussy because I've tried specialty restaurants on other lines that I really liked. Maybe I haven't tried the right ones on NCL. That said, we plan to try Moderno's on our upcoming Jewel cruise. I'm always game to try something new and see what it's like.

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