Specialty Dining Review - Reflection, 1/18/14

[Alsmez]

We just returned from a wonderful 7-night cruise on Reflection in Aqua Class, and although we ate most of our meals in Blu (review here: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1981587 ), I’d like to share my review of the three specialty restaurants we tried on this trip (Lawn Club Grill, Tuscan Grille and The Porch). We sailed with Celebrity in 2011 on Equinox, and ate in all of the specialty restaurants on that trip, so I was interested to see if there were any changes or improvements this time around. For comparison purposes, you can find the review from our 2011 trip here: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1366182 We also ate at the buffet and other alternative venues on this trip (all of which have been reviewed separately and linked below).

 

Talking about and critiquing food is one of my favorite hobbies, so I apologize in advance for the length of this review. A bit about me: I am an avid cook, read food blogs/magazines religiously, make my own cheese, bread and sausage, and I’ve taken courses in pastry and sugar art. We live in NYC, so we are privileged to be surrounded by some of the world’s finest restaurants, as well as really fantastic ethnic foods. I realize that everyone’s standards for food are different, and I know mine are high. However, since Celebrity has a reputation for being a cut above in the cuisine department, and they advertise a higher-end experience, I feel that they should be held to a high standard! I received a call from them after our Equinox cruise regarding my feedback on the food, so I hope they will read and respond to this review as well.

 

Before I get to the “meat” of the review, a word about the two restaurants we didn’t visit: Qsine and Murano. We ate at Murano on Equinox and enjoyed it, although there was nothing that really wowed us. We would have gone, but, but the price hike ($45 per person, now) and the reduction in the menu (it appears to be three courses including dessert instead of four, as it was on Equinox) made it far less appealing. Also, the menu has more or less the same items as it did on Equinox, with just a few things switched around and a couple of additions from older MDR menus. Not worth it, IMO. As for Qsine, we have eaten in plenty of places like it elsewhere, and although it can be fun once, the concept is pretty tired. It’s best done with a larger group anyway, and we were only two. I would rather have the option of Silk Harvest, but you can’t have everything!

 

And without further ado, the review!

[Alsmez]

The Porch

We wanted to avoid the crush in the buffet upon embarkation so we decided to head up to The Porch for lunch. When we arrived (around 11:30), we were told by a waiter that they were closed and that we should go to the buffet. We had read on Cruise Critic that they would be open for lunch, though, so we asked what time they were opening and were told, grudgingly, to come back at noon. Not sure why we were initially discouraged from dining there, but whatever – that waiter had disappeared when we came back and the rest of the staff was very gracious.

 

We came back at noon and found the place about half full. It’s quite a nice space for al fresco dining, with a lovely view (in our case, of Miami). Service was a little disjointed but very friendly, and I can only attribute the minor quirks to the fact that it was embarkation day. We settled in with drinks from the Sunset Bar (they had only a limited selection of beer and wine available, so we brought our own drinks over) and ordered our sandwiches from the short menu – the Italiano (salami, pepperoni, prosciutto, pepperoncini, arugula and provolone) for me, the Chicken Pesto (chicken, mozzarella, pesto and roasted peppers) for DH, and a Philly (roast beef, fontina cheese, caramelized onions, mushrooms and chipotle aioli) to share. I asked to have pesto added to the Italiano, but was told that it wasn’t possible because the sandwiches are pre-assembled and they don’t keep the actual ingredients available up there.

 

Anyway, these were promptly delivered with a side of potato chips (Lays, which I ADORE). The bread for all three was a focaccia-style bread that was relatively flavorless – not a terribly auspicious start in my view, as I was thoroughly unimpressed with the bread on Celebrity when we sailed on Equinox. God knows I didn’t need the extra carbs, though, so I just removed half the bread to make my sandwich openfaced, which was quite satisfactory. The Italiano was delicious in a super-greasy, ‘holy-crap-this-is-bad-for-me-but-I-don’t-care’ kind of way. You really can’t go wrong with hot salami! I could have used more pepperoncini, as a lover of all things spicy, but the version they served was probably engineered not to offend anyone, which was fine. DH had chosen the chicken pesto with some vague notion of “health” in mind, and ended up not eating much of it – the chicken was a bit dry, there wasn’t enough pesto, and overall it just wasn’t a very interesting sandwich (which was pretty obvious from the menu description, so it was really his own d*mn fault!). He was quite satisfied with the Philly, though, as was I – again, deliciously bad for you, with lots of melty cheese and sweet onions. The fontina and chipotle aioli really made the sandwich – I would have loved even more chipotle (but I am a spice wh*re, so there you go).

 

We spied our neighbors enjoying a Reuben on marbled rye, and were tempted to order one (it looked fantastic, and I had hopes that the rye would be better than the focaccia of the other sandwiches), but we decided to order dessert instead. That was a HUGE mistake. I can’t remember what all of the offerings were, but most of them were pie – they had at least six kinds. We chose cherry and pumpkin and awaited them with a bit of trepidation, as we felt desserts were very weak when we sailed Equinox. Sadly, we were not surprised when we were served two frighteningly plastic-looking slices, complete with a puff of weirdly firm whipped “cream.” The pumpkin was coated with some type of flavorless, shiny, gelatinous glaze, which covered an even more flavorless filling (I don’t know how they got it to be the color and consistency of pumpkin pie without ANY pumpkin flavor, but they managed). The cherry filling was so firm that my fork got stuck when I tried to cut a bite, and the crust was a blend of sawdust and cardboard. There were actual cherries in it, but no cherry flavor – again, not sure how they accomplished that. I don’t even want to contemplate what was in the whipped cream!

 

Our lovely waiter noticed that we weren’t eating our desserts and came to see if he could bring us something else, but we were plenty full from the sandwiches (and we knew there were other things to taste around the ship!), so we just took care of the check. We meant to come back to try breakfast at some point, but we never got around to it – next time, perhaps! We enjoyed the meal but I feel that The Porch could be put to much better use with a different menu – shift the panini back to Bistro on Five and have something entirely different in The Porch – a pizzeria, perhaps?

 

 

Lawn Club Grill

Since we had already eaten at Tuscan Grille and Murano on Equinox, we were more interested in the new-to-us spots on Reflection. Qsine didn’t interest us but we did want to try Lawn Club Grill, so when a 50% off offer for AQ guests popped up on the first night (a night when the menu in Blu didn’t look terribly interesting), we jumped on it.

 

We were offered only 8:30pm or later when we called to reserve, so I was surprised to find the restaurant nearly empty when we arrived. By the time we were finished, there was only one other table occupied and they were clearly closing the place down for the night. I’m not sure if they were trying to create an impression of busy-ness or exclusivity by pushing our reservations late, but whatever it was, it only served to make the staff work that much harder. We were greeted and offered a choice of tables depending on where we’d be most comfortable due to the cool temperatures. The seating area is enclosed with heavy plastic and heated with ceiling-mounted space heaters, but the wind does still whip through the openings and it was definitely chilly. Our waiter kindly brought me a blanket while taking our wine order. The wine list had a number of nice wines by the glass that fit into our premium drink package – I stuck with red throughout, but DH started with white and switched to red later.

 

Next up: ordering. Our waiter asked if we had been there before, and when we said no, took his time explaining the concept and how the ordering/service would go if we cooked our own food as opposed to letting the chef cook it for us. I had originally intended to grill my own, but when I saw the set up I found it a bit off-putting. Other DIY grill restaurants I’ve seen have a centralized, patrons-only grill, where patrons can stand on all sides and sip a drink while chatting with their “grillmaster” or other guests (and all the rest of the cooking is done behind the scenes in a separate kitchen). Not so at Lawn Club. There is just one long grill area against the back wall, which is very industrial looking – makes sense, since it’s the same area where the kitchen staff grills everything else and bakes pizzas and desserts. Definitely not an inviting space, and I would imagine it gets VERY crowded and annoying when the restaurant is busy.

 

Anyway, we placed our orders, turning down the offer to learn to toss our own pizza dough (I already know how to do this, and DH knew he’d make a mess of it, LOL). We made our own salads while they stretched out our dough, and by the time we were done eating them, we were ready to top our pizzas. This process was a bit of a mess too, though, and I’m sure it would be a complete disaster if the restaurant was busy. The “salad bar” is just one rolling buffet table, probably six feet by three, with salad bar items from the Oceanview buffet on it, plus a few things that are obviously meant for pizza (tomato sauce, shredded mozzarella, etc.). If there had been more people there than just us, it would have been a nightmare to get up to the tiny bar ONCE, let alone twice. Also, if I wanted a salad from the buffet, I would have gone to the buffet for a salad – I was expecting a different and nicer assortment of items from Lawn Club, especially given the steep price.

 

Any negative thoughts I had about Lawn Club dissipated when our pizzas arrived, though – they were delicious! I was rather worried, to be honest, as the pizza we had on Equinox in 2011 was absolutely INEDIBLE, and I didn’t know if Celebrity had upped its game in that department. We had had a slice from the buffet earlier in the day, and found it much improved, but again, I had no idea whether Lawn Club would be the same, better or worse. I think the crust they’re using in Lawn Club is the same as the buffet (and it isn’t anything special, but it’s just fine – a huge improvement from the cardboard mush they were serving in 2011), but since you get to top it yourself and have it freshly baked just for you, it’s clearly much tastier. Our waiter had advised us just to order one to split, but we LOVE pizza so we did one each and took the leftovers back to our room (the staff seemed rather amused/appalled that we would want to eat cold leftover pizza for breakfast, but honestly it was probably the best breakfast we had all week!).

 

Our grilled items arrived promptly thereafter, and even though we hadn’t gorged ourselves on pizza, I could tell that we had WAY over-ordered (this is partially the fault of the waitstaff, though – they were pushing the grilled items and sides hard). DH had requested the ribeye (and reluctantly agreed to a tenderloin kebab even though he knew the ribeye would be enough), and I ordered the veal chop and a shrimp and scallop kebab. In addition, they brought me a big tenderloin steak, as if we didn’t have enough on our plates already! They wanted to bring us a portion of each side, but we were only interested in the lobster mac and cheese and the baked beans, so we convinced them to hold off on the others. These were accompanied by a trio of sauces – their signature steak sauce (which is a sweeter, Peter Luger-style sauce), a BBQ sauce and a chimichurri, which our waiter was very proud of.

 

We dug in to find something of a mixed bag. The lobster mac and cheese was FABULOUS, nice chunks of warm water lobster mixed into very creamy, cheesy and perfectly al dente mac and cheese. I didn’t sample the baked beans but DH pronounced them way too sweet. The shrimp and scallops were ok, with the scallops being far better than the shrimp. I would request a kebab of just scallops the next time – they were fresher and just work better on the grill, IMO. The veal chop was excellent – by far the best grilled item we were served (all of the veal we had on the ship was quite good, in fact). They recommend it cooked medium but we requested and received medium rare. Tenderloin is not our favorite cut of meat (too lean), but the steak they gave me was nicely medium rare, at least – DH’s kebab, which he requested rare, was way overdone. The BBQ and steak sauces were too sweet for my taste (DH liked them), but the chimichurri was decent, if not traditional. Instead of a vinegary herb sauce, accented with garlic and oil, this was more of an oil sauce with TONS of garlic, accented with herbs. Tasty if you like garlic, but calling it chimichurri is a bit of a stretch.

 

The ribeye, DH’s most favorite cut of all, was a bit of a problem. When he ordered, he requested it rare, at which point the server stated that medium rare is better because it would melt the fat better. DH knows he likes rare ribeye, though, and stated again that he wanted it rare. The server then asked if he liked it “blue” (shorthand for nearly raw inside). DH responded that if they could do “black and blue,” (shorthand for a very deeply seared outside and a nearly-raw inside), then he would like that. The server may not have understood this request, or he may have relayed it incorrectly to the cook, or they may not have a hot enough grill to make it possible – but whatever it was, the steak arrived nearly raw inside, but also just barely grey on the outside. Crispy seared fat is DH’s whole reason for ordering ribeye, so he was rather disappointed, even though the meat itself was tasty.

 

Despite the unevenness of our grill course, we were PLENTY full by this time. However, the desserts really sounded irresistible – who can say no to a freshly baked cookie with ice cream on top? Not us. Our waiter recommended the chocolate chip cookie above all else, so I went with that while DH chose the warm apple crumble. Both were fabulous – the cookie was ooey gooey sweet and over the top. DH’s apples were nice and cinnamon-y, just right. The one quibble I had (and this is a general quibble about ice cream on Celebrity) is that they don’t hold their ice cream at a low enough temperature, so it melts very quickly when placed on something warm (or even just in a bowl). It turned into ice cream soup almost immediately on these hot desserts. No biggie – they were still amazing!

 

Overall, this was a very enjoyable evening with good food, but I would never have paid full price for it - $40 per person is WAY too much for such a casual venue serving this type of food. Quite honestly, now that I have seen the whole thing in action, I kind of think $20 per person is too much. The food at Lawn Club is pretty redundant – they just took food you can get elsewhere on the ship for free, added a grill and mashed it together into an upcharge restaurant. Reflection already has a grill restaurant in Tuscan Grille, which has a much nicer atmosphere and a smaller price tag, in addition to a more interesting and varied menu. Also, the Lawn Club space is much better suited to a daytime venue, given the lovely views during the day and cool temps at night.

 

DH had a suggestion that I thought brilliant on a number of levels – instead of a grill, install smokers and remarket Lawn Club as an American-style BBQ joint. It could serve both lunch and dinner, with lunch at a lower price point ($5 or $10) with a reduced menu (pulled pork and smoked sausage sandwiches, rib tips, chicken and sides, perhaps). Dinner could then be a bit more expensive and serve the full Monty – ribs, brisket, shoulder, you name it. IMO, this would appeal to Americans (something familiar but not something most people do at home) and Europeans (something new and distinctly American), and is something that people would be willing to pay a decent upcharge for (maybe not $40, but certainly $25-30, if the prices at BBQ restaurants in the US are any indication). It suits the outdoor, casual atmosphere perfectly. And it’s something that isn’t available ANYWHERE else on the ship, which I think is key. If they turned The Porch into a pizzeria as well, they’d have all of their bases covered!

 

Tuscan Grille

As I mentioned, we ate at Tuscan Grille on Equinox so we weren’t planning to visit it on Reflection, despite the fact that we had a great meal. However, we received some unexpected OBC from our TA, so we decided to use it up on a night at Tuscan. The menu has changed a bit from 2011, and we thought it might be nice to try out a few of the new dishes.

 

All meals at Tuscan start with a bread basket (delivered with a few olives and some sundried tomato pesto) and a selection of antipasti, which were all quite good (prosciutto, grana cheese, some vegetables, etc.). I found a fabulous Italian rosé on the wine list (it was only available in Tuscan and at the Ensemble Lounge, as far as I know) – one of the best wines I had on the whole ship.

 

Our waiter went through the menu with us and made some recommendations before we ordered – this was helpful to an extent, but our particular waiter was a little more assertive in his opinions than I would have liked. More on this later. Anyway, we started with the crabcake for DH and a braised beef ravioli for me. The crabcake was excellent, perfectly crispy with a hit of spice that really offset the sweetness of the crab. A home run. My ravioli were much less good – the filling was actually quite flavorful, but the pasta itself was thick and chewy, and the sauce extremely bland, with a weird, slippery mouthfeel (probably a thickener, like xanthan gum, or too much gelatin). I felt like it was an effort to give the sauce body without using a more expensive ingredient, like demi-glace or reduced wine, but anyone who cooks knows that never works – you just end up with a flavorless, weirdly textured sauce.

 

Next up, onion soup! This was one of my favorite dishes on Equinox and I’m happy to say that it was just as good on Reflection, rich, cheesy and delicious. I found it a tad salty this time, but not distractingly so. We each ordered a bowl and we should have just split one, though, given what we had coming and the richness of the dish. Neither of us finished it but we both wanted to!

 

We had asked to add a pasta course before our mains so that we could try the new lobster Alfredo, so we were surprised when our main courses arrived with no sign of the pasta. We asked our waiter and he said there had been a mix up in the kitchen and it would be out shortly. No problem – we dug into our mains happily. DH ordered the veal chop, which was fine but a bit too salty for my taste. I had the ribeye, which was by far the best piece of beef I had on the ship – gloriously fatty and tender. The waiter had tried, aggressively, to dissuade me from ordering the gorgonzola butter to go with it, but I insisted, and I was glad I did – it was by far the best of the sauces/condiments we tried (the others, a Barolo sauce and a Marsala sauce, suffered from the same issue as the sauce on the ravioli – weird, slippery texture and very little flavor. I couldn’t tell them apart, actually, which is VERY strange given how different Marsala and Barolo are from each other).

 

We received our lobster Alfredo about halfway through our meats, at which point I was already stuffed to the gills. However, I soldiered on and ate a good bit of it – it was rich and creamy, with big chunks of warm water lobster and al dente pasta, but a touch bland – I actually preferred the slightly sharper flavor of the lobster mac and cheese from Lawn Club. We also ordered a side of the fabulous pecorino mac and cheese, which I think was also a bit better than the Alfredo. The other sides (grilled vegetables and mashed potatoes, I think?) were utterly forgettable.

 

I was dying to have the incredible chocolate-pistachio crème brûlée again for dessert, so we ordered one, along with a tiramisu for DH. Unfortunately, the crème brûlée fell short – instead of perfect silkiness and intense flavor, this time the chocolate layer was grainy, and the pistachio layer tasted of nothing at all. Also, they added a topping of pop rocks, which was seriously distracting and not at all in keeping with the elegance of the restaurant or its cuisine – it seemed like something you’d find at Qsine. Luckily, the tiramisu made up for it – a gorgeous presentation in a martini glass with sumptuous cream and excellent espresso flavor.

 

All in all, the food at Tuscan Grille is just as good as it was on our Equinox cruise, and I think the new menu items are well worth ordering. They need to fix the sauce problem, though – Blu had wonderful wine reduction-type sauces, so perhaps they can share recipes! Otherwise, there was very little to complain about. Highly recommended!

[Alsmez]

Link to the buffet review: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1981591

[TobyKnits]

Thanks for your detailed review of the specialty restaurants. My DH and I will be on Reflection later this year and this will help us decide where and what to eat.

 

I found it interesting that you had wonderful ribeyes. In Tuscan on Equinox a couple weeks ago we had horrible ribeyes, worse than what was served in the MDR and far less tasty than the ones we make at home.

[themutis]

Thanks for all your reviews!!! We board in two days and can't wait.

[Alsmez]

Thanks for your detailed review of the specialty restaurants. My DH and I will be on Reflection later this year and this will help us decide where and what to eat.

 

I found it interesting that you had wonderful ribeyes. In Tuscan on Equinox a couple weeks ago we had horrible ribeyes, worse than what was served in the MDR and far less tasty than the ones we make at home.

 

That must have been disappointing - the quality of meat can be difficult to ascertain before you cook and eat it, though. The Prime/Choice/Select grading system only goes so far. I haven't ever had a bad piece of beef on Celebrity, but I have had some less-than-perfect lamb and venison. Luck of the draw, I guess!

[cibumcupio]

I find it surprising that you didn't consider Qsine. I live in the NYC area too and it's not like anything you can find there. It's like surprise, art, whimsy, and deliciousness in a meal.

[Alsmez]

I find it surprising that you didn't consider Qsine. I live in the NYC area too and it's not like anything you can find there. It's like surprise, art, whimsy, and deliciousness in a meal.

 

I've done the creative presentation thing, both here and elsewhere (places like the Modern, WD-50 and others have all gone through the phase of serving food in test tubes or other special dishes). It's kind of over, IMO - not to mention that the food at this sort of place in NYC is usually 1-3 Michelin Starred. The food in Qsine seemed very average, presented to make you forget that you're eating an average meal made up of stuff you could easily get elsewhere. We'd try it with a group, I suppose, but for just the two of us it didn't hold a lot of appeal.