Riviera crossing: Part 2 of 3 - restos and food

[DavidTheWonderer]

Overall, the food was very good, occasionally excellent, however with a few "BUT ..."s. But first a disclaimer: one or two meals is not a fair test of a restaurant, which all do some things better than others.

 

Grand Dining Room. Perfect for a leisurely meal. Overall the food was very good, with a varied selection. I had bad karma with service, with a number of lapses, but others did not seem to have had the same problems. I heard some complaints about the Thanksgiving dinner, but I thought they did it very well and the pax who were complaining were just that sort of people.

 

Terrace. Our favourite for breakfast, lunch and dinner. In general the selection was broad and good, and as a buffet (which our friend Pat insists on calling a "cafeteria") it was easy to exercise portion control. "BUT ..." on more than one occasion the scrambled eggs were so runny they shouldn't have been allowed out of the kitchen, and if they were the server should have refused to serve them, or failing that served them in a bowl instead of a plate. "BUT ..." the lobster tails were so salty as to be inedible. "BUT ..." one day for lunch the cannelloni had more than a nodding acquaintance with the previous night's moussaka.

 

Tea in Horizons every afternoon at 4. Lovely selection of little sandwiches and sweets. What do they do with the bread crusts they cut off all the bread for the sandwiches? One day it was "Grand Tea" which was a somewhat wider selection than usual, but without the trolleys that brought the food to us: we had to go get it ourselves. Tea was usually well attended, but for the Grand Tea it was packed.

 

La Reserve. This extra cost restaurant rivals any restaurant on land or sea for quality of food, service, and price. Outstanding.

 

Now to the specialty restos, which are all free but usually require reservations.

 

Polo. A steak house. I didn't know it was possible to grill a filet mignon and have the dominant flavour to be salt. Perhaps the cow had spent too much time at the salt lick as a young heifer.

 

Red Ginger. Asian: Thai, Japanese, Chinese, etc. Overall very good food, sometimes excellent, and excellent service. "BUT ..." the noise level makes conversation very difficult. "BUT ..." sake is not included in the Premium Drink Package: $60 / day and sake is not included? That is beyond chintzy.

 

Jacques. French. By far my favourite of the speciality restos. Excellent food and service.

 

Toscana. Italian. Toronto has a huge Italian population, and therefore a huge number of very high quality Italian restaurants. Toscana wouldn't survive two weeks in Toronto. The quality was indifferent, which made things like the choices of olive oil seem pretentious.

[Travelcat2]

Very detailed review - thank you. Although food is subjective, I find it interesting that although Jacques was your favorite dining venue as well as ours, the Terrace Café was your choice for breakfast/lunch/dinner and this was our least favorite restaurant.

 

We enjoyed Red Ginger - particularly the Sea Bass. In terms of the choices of chopsticks, it is a bit gimmicky but when we are on vacation, we tend to go with the flow so it didn't bother us.

 

Could not agree more about Le Reserve. We would do that again in a minute!

[RachelG]

Laughing about your cow at the salt lick comment. But seriously, I hate to think that a steak place can't properly cook a steak.

 

Now you have me worried about our January cruise. But it is just a try out, and only 7 days. I am sure we will be ok. The drink refills better come though, or George will be in revolt mode.

[gabelle]

Ironic you mention your beef;) with salt. That has been our complaint many times on O. There are so many other ways to flavor food.

[poss]

Your mention of Red Ginger sure makes me miss the Asian restaurant on Regent--'twas our favorite.

[DavidTheWonderer]

Laughing about your cow at the salt lick comment. But seriously, I hate to think that a steak place can't properly cook a steak.

 

Now you have me worried about our January cruise. But it is just a try out, and only 7 days. I am sure we will be ok. The drink refills better come though, or George will be in revolt mode.

 

But remember that overall the food was very good and sometimes excellent. And the drink refills were usually so quick and invisible that I needed to be careful or else the next morning I wouldn't remember whether or not I had desert.

 

Food at sea presents huge challenges, and others have noted that nobody does better at this than Oceania. In my limited experience this is true. So "don't worry, be happy!"

[Travelcat2]

Your mention of Red Ginger sure makes me miss the Asian restaurant on Regent--'twas our favorite.

 

We also miss Latitudes:)

[Paulchili]

 

"BUT ..." on more than one occasion the scrambled eggs were so runny they shouldn't have been allowed out of the kitchen, and if they were the server should have refused to serve them, or failing that served them in a bowl instead of a plate

.

 

I am not sure I understand your point here. Is it possible that some people might like their scrambled eggs more runny than dry?

If one does not like runny eggs, there were not one but two stations that would be happy to fix your scrambled eggs any way you desired without any significant wait - I used them often.

I don't like scrambled eggs that have sitting there for a while - wet or dry. Much prefer to get them fresh and to my liking.

Edited December 4, 2013 by Paulchili

[marylovestotravel]

A low salt diet does not mean a low flavour one! I feel that many of us are watching our sodium consumption and most of the rest should be!! It is easy to add salt and impossible to take it out. There are wonderful specialty salts available (for example the fleur de sel at Jacques). These give a superb enhancement to your dishes that regular iodized salt does not.

 

Given our demographic, lower sodium should be a consideration in all the restaurants on Oceania

 

Mia

[LHT28]

A low salt diet does not mean a low flavour one! I feel that many of us are watching our sodium consumption and most of the rest should be!! It is easy to add salt and impossible to take it out. There are wonderful specialty salts available (for example the fleur de sel at Jacques). These give a superb enhancement to your dishes that regular iodized salt does not.

 

Given our demographic, lower sodium should be a consideration in all the restaurants on Oceania

Mia

I agree

Leave the most of the salt out & let passengers add it if they want it

I have to request no or very low sodium meals

I place my order the night before so cannot be very spontaneous if I change my mind by by dinner time :(

 

Sometimes too many cooks must have salted the food without tasting first:eek:

[orchestrapal]

 

Given our demographic, lower sodium should be a consideration in all the restaurants on Oceania

 

Mia

 

Fore sure.

We have always asked for and gotten "no extra salt." That way since they cook to order they just don't add salt at the end.....

[Hawaiidan]

Sounds like some have a salt aversion.... I have never had a lobster that was inedible...you know they live in the ocean....salt water Most good chefs will brine various fish shrimp,lobster etc and some poultry like turkey to bring out the taste. Good shrimp is always brined in a salt sugar mix for example

Salt is a key ingredient in abut every dish from strawberry shortcake and pastry to meats It is a catalyst to react and which enhances just about every flavor known to man.... Ever sprinkle salt on watermelon or papaya?...

 

Food without salt, in some amount will be blaha.. sale free is taste free for the most part healthy but yuk......... trick is to get the right balance .

 

I figure I am going to die from something no matter how hard I try... so I am going to enjoy the now...

[DavidTheWonderer]

Sounds like some have a salt aversion.... I have never had a lobster that was inedible...you know they live in the ocean....salt water Most good chefs will brine various fish shrimp,lobster etc and some poultry like turkey to bring out the taste. Good shrimp is always brined in a salt sugar mix for example

Salt is a key ingredient in abut every dish from strawberry shortcake and pastry to meats It is a catalyst to react and which enhances just about every flavor known to man.... Ever sprinkle salt on watermelon or papaya?...

 

Food without salt, in some amount will be blaha.. sale free is taste free for the most part healthy but yuk......... trick is to get the right balance .

 

I figure I am going to die from something no matter how hard I try... so I am going to enjoy the now...

 

Gee .. lobster live in salt water so that's why they're salty. Thanks for the insight. Despite my PhD in Physics, I hadn't realised the connection between salt water and lobster. It leads to another question which I'm sure you with your expertise in these matters can answer. I've eaten lobster a lot, at one point in Boston 2 or 3 times a week fresh off the dock, and never experienced one that was too salty until this cruise. That night we were eating with another person who also is not inexperienced in lobster eating activities, but who also thought it was much too salty. Now, given your superior knowledge, the problem clearly was with us and not the lobster. Do you have any insights about what personality flaw in me and the other person that I ate with that night could lead to such obviously wrong impressions? Should we have had the strawberry shortcake instead?

[RachelG]

I would much rather be served something that is not salted or under salted, so that I can add salt to my taste, rather than having something presented way too salty. It is hard to take away salt if there is too much, though my mom taught me the trick of adding a potato or two to soup or stews if you have accidentally over salted it.

[ChatKat in Ca.]

In almost 4 weeks on the Riviera - I ate at the Terrace Grill 4-5 times for dinner; Each time having grilled Lobster. I actually mentioned the Salt when dining with David because no other night was the lobster salted - but this night it was to excess; Since it was a small half tail - I did not go back. My lamb was perfection. But lobster was definitely over salted. Or salted period and should have been without. It was about the only meal - other than at Polo the first time that the food was mediocre to me.

[JPR]

A dose of fresh lemon juice cuts the salt and tastes delicious with lobster. You can also request unsalted melted butter.

[cruisun]

This thread seems excessively negative, so much bickering. Opinions are appreciated but a salty lobster tail or an Italian meal that wasnt a favorite shouldn't be the focus of or reason to spoil ones cruise:rolleyes:

[ChatKat in Ca.]

I don't see any bickering; We are friends conversing.

 

I ate at least 75 meals onboard Riviera over the last month. One meal was less than mediocre. Of the other 74, 4 were average or below and the rest quite delicious with one rating in the top 10 of meals ever served to me.

 

I think that is quite remarkable to be able to put out 3600 or more meals a week and have that kind of quality.

[titong]

Gee .. lobster live in salt water so that's why they're salty. Thanks for the insight. Despite my PhD in Physics, I hadn't realised the connection between salt water and lobster. It leads to another question which I'm sure you with your expertise in these matters can answer. I've eaten lobster a lot, at one point in Boston 2 or 3 times a week fresh off the dock, and never experienced one that was too salty until this cruise. That night we were eating with another person who also is not inexperienced in lobster eating activities, but who also thought it was much too salty. Now, given your superior knowledge, the problem clearly was with us and not the lobster. Do you have any insights about what personality flaw in me and the other person that I ate with that night could lead to such obviously wrong impressions? Should we have had the strawberry shortcake instead?

 

Excellent points. I eagerly await the answers. :)

[DavidTheWonderer]

This thread seems excessively negative, so much bickering. Opinions are appreciated but a salty lobster tail or an Italian meal that wasnt a favorite shouldn't be the focus of or reason to spoil ones cruise:rolleyes:

 

I am "of an age" where reading on a screen leads to problems. I scan too quickly and miss nuances that I like to think I wouldn't miss if I were reading in hardcopy.

 

Most of the posts in this thread, certainly including mine, have said in one way or another that the food was very good to excellent. The few glitches certainly didn't spoil my cruise or, from my own observations, that of anybody else. There may have been super-critical passengers that didn't have a good time on this cruise, but I'm not one of them and (thanks to the deities) didn't meet any of them. In fact "Wendy the Wanderer" and I think that if there were a contest for who had the most fun on this cruise, we would be the winners.

 

It would have been dishonest for me to not report the occasional glitches and opinions. I've never been on a cruise without glitches of one form or another, and keep cruising because the overall experience is so fabulous.

 

Perhaps thinking this thread is 'excessively negative' is an example of what I regularly do: scan a post and pick out a few phrases and lose track of the overall context.

Edited December 7, 2013 by DavidTheWonderer

[S O B]

I've been on Regatta and Riviera and I've always been quite impressed with the quality of service provided. I have a major pet peeve in restaurants. It happens near the end of the meal when a server visits the table and sees a nearly empty plate and remarks "You finished working on that?"

 

My response is usually something like "Gee, I didn't think it was work, but now that you mention it..."

 

I have NEVER heard that phrase on Oceania or any other remark indicating they're anxious to pick up my dish. They are wonderful.

 

Last year we got off the Regatta in Miami and drove home stopping in Fort Myers for lunch along the way. Sure enough, before I finished my burger and fries, the waiter asked "Ya finished workin' on that?"

 

Arrrrrgh!

[orchestrapal]

"Ya finished workin' on that?"

 

Arrrrrgh!

 

LOW class for sure but not on Oceania.:)

[VIRGINIA ARTIE]

Please be aware that waiters and waitresses are people that are trying to make a living the best way they can.

Can you spell EMPATHY ?

[Tarpeian Rock]

Please be aware that waiters and waitresses are people that are trying to make a living the best way they can.

Can you spell EMPATHY ?

 

 

I consider myself quite empathetic, go out of my way not to burden the server, and my normal tip is 20%. That said, "trying to make a living the best way they can" doesn't have to mean that when I am eating out with my wife, the server first approaches the table with the greeting "How are you GUYS tonight?" She doesn't appreciate being called that, nor the feeling of being rushed.

[ORV]

I consider myself quite empathetic, go out of my way not to burden the server, and my normal tip is 20%. That said, "trying to make a living the best way they can" doesn't have to mean that when I am eating out with my wife, the server first approaches the table with the greeting "How are you GUYS tonight?" She doesn't appreciate being called that, nor the feeling of being rushed.

 

Or the "What are we having tonight?" I want to answer with, "I don't know what you're having but I'll have............"