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Valor Steakhouse?

Texasgalsa

By Texasgalsa,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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I<3Sea&Sun

I<3Sea&Sun

Posted
Posted

I was on the Valor last week and my husband and I ate at the steakhouse on Day 2 of the cruise. We had planned on eating there again on day 5, but the service and food were so terrible that we cancelled our 2nd reservation before leaving the restaurant. It was the worst meal we had onboard all week. I am normally a huge fan of the specialty restaurants on cruise ships, and in general would highly recommend going, but in the case of the Carnival Valor steakhouse, I would recommend skipping it and saving your money if you're sailing anytime soon!

We had:

Tuna Tartare, which is by definition supposed to be raw, but it was made with seared tuna

Lobster Bisque, which contained no lobster

Cowboy Steak, which was more gristle than meat

Surf and Turf - The steak was overcooked and lobster was terrible. They served lobster in the MDR the following evening and it was a lot better than what they gave me in the Steakhouse. I would have sent the steak back, but no one came to check on us until they were ready to pass out dessert menus.

For Dessert, my husband had the Washington Apple dessert, which was burnt and inedible (we both tried it). I had the cheesecake, and it was again not as good as the cheesecake served in the MDR on another night. We had also requested a second cup of coffee that never came, and after sitting for 15 minutes (I timed it) with our unfinished desserts set to the side, we finally walked up to the hostess stand and spoke with the manager. She was completely unapologetic and rude - all she kept saying was that the meal is supposed to take 2 hours, and we'd only been there for an hour and a half. Not sure how that excuses the awful food or being ignored for over 15 minutes by the waitstaff when we were clearly looking for someone to come over, but she apparently thought it did.

We did inform guest services about it, and were going to talk to the overall food and beverage manager, but we weren't ever able to make our schedules work with his (we certainly weren't going to plan our vacation day around finding time to complain!).

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evandbob

evandbob

Posted
Posted (edited)
We ate there on NYE. Poor service. Average food. Many people were complaining. We just decided not to do it again.

 

 

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I've cruised on the Valor 6 times so far, and enjoyed the steakhouse all six. I've had the tuna tartare, shrimp cocktail, and lobster bisque for apps. As entrees, I've had the surf & turf several times, the larger filet mignon and the rack of lamb, all cooked med. rare as I prefer. I've hardly been able to finish that huge slice of cheesecake, lately I've just been having the fruit asst for dessert.

 

Granted, it's been a few years since I've sailed Valor, and I hope their service and food quality hasn't deteriorated as the previous posters attest. I'm sailing on the Valor for the 7th time in March and have already made my steakhouse reservation.

Edited by evandbob
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Cruisegirl6 Great Review Rare

Cruisegirl6

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I can only speak for my experience which was back in 2012 on the Dream...we ate in the MDR the first evening was greatly disappointed on the diminished quality of the food there, so the second evening we dined at the steakhouse lets just say it was wonderful that we ate there every night for the rest of the cruise!

 

About me....I am very fussy when it comes to food and I am 51 now and I consider myself a huge foodie when I am away on vacations. I am very experienced at dining at 4/5 star restaurants throughout the country and when we take cruises we generally only do the specialty restaurants, for instance, this past May on the Allure of the Seas we dined every night in a specialty restaurant.

 

Honestly, I would have to read more reviews for me to make judgement whether the steakhouse on the Valor is just like it was for us on the Dream or what the other two posts mentioned...I need more reviews on the Valor Steakhouse, more than just the two here for me to make any judgement, BUT, I have to say everybody is different so my advice is to give it a try, if its not good then don't go back and you know for yourself, but there is a huge chance it is very good. I have read reviews about the Steakhouse on other Carnival ships, I really rarely hear of negative reviews.

 

About some of the comments that are already written about the Steakhouse one person mentioned they couldn't send the steak back because nobody came up to them...well, there is such a thing as flagging down your waiter or another server, and there is a such thing as getting up asking the host/hostess to speak to the manager, there certainly is a way to communicate to SOME WORKER there as I am sure there was many other workers and not just one server! The person mentioned about burnt apple, honestly if I saw my dessert was burnt I ask for it to be taken away and give me a proper cooked one, they mentioned the cheesecake was like the same one served in the MDR well it could be nobody promised juniors cheesecake or a cheesecake factory cake! The person didn't get a second cup of coffee, again, ask, I am sure the waiter came by with the bill so why didn't this person ask then? Sorry its just a matter of asking and opening ones mouth up when they need something. And yes, the meal is suppose to take two plus hours its not mcdonalds or apple bees!

 

Im sorry just wait for more reviews and do try it you may just love it like we did on the Dream.

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pops72106

pops72106

Posted
Posted

We sailed on the Valor 2nd week of December, and ate in the steakhouse on the 3rd night, and it was so good, that we ate again on the 5th night. Between the 4 of us, we had the filet, the cowboy, the surf and turf and the strip, all were very good. The service on the 2nd trip was better than the 1st.

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YorN

YorN

Posted
Posted (edited)

Was just on the Valor last week and ate at the Steakhouse twice. Both the food and service was excellent. We went the first night and again the fifth night because we were tired of the slow service for already cooked food in the MDR. We got a new server the first night so it was a little awkward but still better than the MDR service.

 

I didn't experience any of the issues like the poster above. Servers were always around refilling wine and waters. Lobster bisque had lobster in it. Baked onion soup was good. Lobster tail was broiled and delicious, not boiled like that thing they serve in the MDR, and the Chocolate sampler and cheesecake desserts were very good. Wife got the lobster ravioli twice and enjoyed it both times.

 

It beyond baffles my mind how anyone can think that thing they serve in the MDR is better cheesecake than the Steakhouse.

 

We didn't pack enough formal clothes. Otherwise we would have ate there every evening as it was that much better to pay $35pp than suffer in the MDR.

Edited by YorN
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Cruisegirl6 Great Review Rare

Cruisegirl6

Posted
Posted

I wouldn't worry about it not being good because from reading many posts and reviews on Carnival ships steakhouses usually always everybody gives positive reviews and the fact that your going to certainly get BETTER quality/selection/variety in the steakhouse than what you will get in the MDR.

 

I have found some people not happy with how long it is to dine here but THATS NORMAL...2-3 hours is normal when your dining in a good restaurant, in fact, many 5 star restaurants I find take 3 1/2 hours!

 

I am booked for 4 evenings for the steakhouse on my upcoming Valor cruise and who knows when I get on the ship and experience the first nights MDR dinner, I may just eat in the steakhouse every night.:p

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Arizonagirl14

Arizonagirl14

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We ate there on New Year's Eve at 6:30 pm. Excellent service and the food was great. And I am picky about service and quality of food!

 

My steak and lobster was excellent. My steak was perfection--ordered it medium rare and was wonderful. The lobster was excellent.

 

I ordered the dessert sampler and I liked 2 of them. Nothing was wrong with the other choice, it just wasn't my favorite. My husband liked them all.

 

He ordered the apples in the crust and stated they were excellent.

 

I thought it was very nice overall. We had done the chefs table the night before which was also excellent as well.

 

 

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nybumpkin

nybumpkin

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Posted

We've dined at the Steakhouse on 7 different ships (3 Spirit-class, 4 Conquest-class) and have always been happy with the experience. My favorites:

 

Starters - Beef Carpaccio, Tuna Tartare, Lobster Bisque.

Salad - Spinach and Mushroom Salad

Entrees - Filet Mignon or Surf and Turf. Note: I have never tried the larger steaks, as I wanted to save room for....

Dessert - Chocolate Sampler. Absolutely decadent.:D

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