Food in the main dining

[Magic Man]

On my upcoming cruise on Allure I'm eating one dinner in main dining room.I find the food in the main dining room a step above cafeteria food. I don't understand that RC can't get the main dining food better. It is usually served cold and lacks flavor, maybe it's a cheaper grade of beef, fish and veal.

[cruisingsince94]

I'm sure the RCI revenue department will be pleased to read your comments. Specialty Dining = $$$$$$ for them.

[OfTheSeasCruiser]

Thanks for your mini-rant.

 

P.S. They don't want to make the MDR food better... More people forgoing the MDR and eating in specialty restaurants means more money for Royal Caribbean!

[negc]

Unlike the previous posters I find much less fault with the food served in RCI's main dining rooms. First of all, I recognize that when hundreds or thousands of guests are being served at each meal, one should expect little more than what I would categorize as "banquet food". If my food which was supposed to be hot were served cold, I'd quickly register a complaint with my waiter and, if necessary, with the dining room captain. Secondly, while there are some menus that I find less than appealing, I have rarely been unable to find something that I enjoyed but when we do find the MDR menu to be less than appealing we do dine in some of the specialty restaurants and since they are cooking for a much smaller number of guests at any meal, it should be measurably better. Finally, I think that we sometimes tend to remember things as being much better in the "old days of cruising" than they actually were. I suspect that if someone could resurrect posts from decades past we would see many similar dining room complaints from those days. As the song goes: "What's too painful to remember, we simply choose to forget"

[dacsmom]

I enjoy the food in the MDR.

[DonnaK]

I enjoy the food in the MDR.

 

Me too. We eat there every night

[cb at sea]

Used to be MUCH higher quality...but it's still better than the buffet, IMO....and I don't relish paying for dinners nightly...so....

[negc]

Used to be MUCH higher quality...but it's still better than the buffet, IMO....and I don't relish paying for dinners nightly...so....

 

Perhaps an example of what I would call a "selective" memory. If I thought that the food in the MDR was formerly of "MUCH higher quality", I would probably be eating in the specialty restaurants much more often. I don't share that opinion so my visits to the specialty restaurants are much more limited.

[Bellamariya]

I can remember 1 or 2 meals that weren't to my taste on my last cruises but generally I love the MDR and for me it's not worth spending the extra money to go to a specialty restaurant.

[OCruisers]

We don't care for the food for dinner in the MDR on RCCL ... but, love their Specialty Restaurants! The extra cost is worth it to us. :D

 

LuLu

[OfTheSeasCruiser]

Unlike the previous posters I find much less fault with the food served in RCI's main dining rooms.

 

I did not mean for my first post to imply that I do not like the food in the MDR. I actually enjoy it and find that the majority of the meals range from good to great.

Edited July 9, 2015 by OfTheSeasCruiser

[LuCruise]

I haven't been on RCL since 2001 and can't wait for our Allure cruise next April. Back then, the food was great. Good selection on menu, (and I don't eat meat so am more limited), creative and good. We'll see how the food compares come Spring, but sounds like there are many complaints. Not sure if its due to the bulk on which they have to cook (since the ship is so much bigger) OR...I have to wonder if they are trying to make you try the specialty restaurants which cost money (or to make them seem worthwhile for those that do try them). We plan on sticking to the MDR as well and am hoping that it's just picky comments about the food and it turns out to be just as good as I remember.

Edited July 9, 2015 by LuCruise

[brn2crz]

While I'm sure there is some truth to them wanting to increase specialty revenue,it seems to be these venues are already almost booked solid. They can't handle all the passengers. IDK maybe they count on the fact that there will always be those who don't care as long as they don't have to "pay" for it. While I don't think the MDR food is horrible. It does lack. And that is disappointing.

Edited July 9, 2015 by brn2crz

[yellosno]

On my upcoming cruise on Allure I'm eating one dinner in main dining room.I find the food in the main dining room a step above cafeteria food. I don't understand that RC can't get the main dining food better. It is usually served cold and lacks flavor, maybe it's a cheaper grade of beef, fish and veal.

 

After 30 cruises with RCCL, I have never been served a cold meal. If I was, I would simply send it back, big deal. The MDR food is very good.

[Magic Man]

After 30 cruises with RCCL, I have never been served a cold meal. If I was, I would simply send it back, big deal. The MDR food is very good.

I would NEVER use the word VERY GOOD to rate the food in the main dining room. It like saying Sizzler or Outback is as good as Mastro's or Morton's.

Everybody has there own taste.

RC lovers always bash you when you state your opinion.

If I spend the mney for a Owners Suite, which Ialways do, I don't mind spending the extra money for the speciality restaurants.

[A2Mich]

I thought dinners in the MDR were pretty good, for the most part. Beef dishes tended to be a bit tough, though. We never received a cold entree - if anything, they were so hot that they needed to cool a few minutes. The only specialty restaurant we tried was Giovanni's, and thought it was excellent. That said, I certainly wouldn't spend the extra money to eat at a specialty venue every night. We will likely try Sabor on our next cruise, though. We work hard for our money and can't afford to cruise as often as we would like to, so we have to set a budget, and can't see spending a considerable extra amount for specialty dining over and above what we are already paying for, but feel that a splurge is OK. But, that is my opinion, and others' will vary.

[yankees111]

On my upcoming cruise on Allure I'm eating one dinner in main dining room.I find the food in the main dining room a step above cafeteria food. I don't understand that RC can't get the main dining food better. It is usually served cold and lacks flavor, maybe it's a cheaper grade of beef, fish and veal.

 

 

Why then would you eat any meals in the main dining room?

[kimala]

On our cruise this October I basically plan for us to eat in the MDR 5 nights out of 7. We will eat one evening at Giovanni's because it is amazing! And we may eat another evening in the buffet if our early dining time conflicts with something on the schedule that we want to do. But for the most part we are very pleased with the food in the MDR. And don't forget if you order something you don't like there is no problem getting something else. You can also order multiple appetizers which I've done before, especially the crab cake!! Yummy! And the soups are delish...Oh noooo I'm getting hungry.

[davekathy]

Me too. We eat there every night

 

So do we.

[mek]

The food in the MDR is fine. We occasionally eat at the extra charge restaurants, but honestly it's just too much food. When we go to upscale restaurants at home, we can split an entree or take left overs home to enjoy later. That's not possible to do on a ship, so we either eat way too much and feel awful or don't eat it all and it gets thrown away. Either option isn't good for us. I do like being able to order the Chops steak in the MDR. I can have a great steak without all of the extra dishes.

Edited July 9, 2015 by mek

[JamesEM]

Was on the Allure this past Oct., I ate in MDR the first night after that decided to cut out middleman and had rest of my meals in the Windjammer which had a greater selection of eats and the hot food was hot and the cold food was cold.

[emerald444]

On my upcoming cruise on Allure I'm eating one dinner in main dining room.I find the food in the main dining room a step above cafeteria food. I don't understand that RC can't get the main dining food better. It is usually served cold and lacks flavor, maybe it's a cheaper grade of beef, fish and veal.

 

We are just leaving Allure I srongly disagree

We ate in Chops ,save your money I sent mine back it was truly the worst meat I have ever eaten all the steaks were gray and cooked terrible I asked for medium mine was one half rare and the side of the steak was well done and pure grissle

I like Rita's cantina much better than Sabor

Giovanni's table was good but everything was stuffed with cheese felt so bloated

The best meals we had were in the dining room

What a waste of time and money

I worked in the best restarants in Vancouver and I know good food so go to the dining room and enjoy

[Philly Steve]

During our May cruise aboard Grandeur, we probably enjoyed more meals in the MDR than we had on recent cruises. Service was excellent, selection better than adequate and the food temperature was just fine. We also opted for more MDR breakfasts this cruise.

 

The lobster in the MDR was a highlight of the week and rivaled the filet mignon we enjoyed in Chops.

[pattle66]

We really enjoy the MDR. We love the service and the food. I don't remember ever being disappointed with our experience (but that may be because I didn't have to cook or do the dishes).

Edited July 9, 2015 by pattle66

[bigque]

We like eating dinner in the MDR. We will usually have breakfast and lunch in the Windjammer but we rather have something different than the buffet for dinner and also like to sit and talk with other folks that we are seated with at dinner. We usually book a night or two in whatever specialty restaurant is on board but not because we don't like the MDR but just to do something different a couple of nights. Also as far as the MDR is concerned I think the DW and I both on all our cruises have only asked for something different once because we didn't like what we ordered and they were happy to accommodate. Actually when we ordered the entrée, our waiter actually asked us if we are sure we wanted that as he was hinting for us to order something different so we ordered an alternate entrée and he immediately brought that out to us when we told him we didn't like what we ordered. We also have never received any cold meals in the MDR. If we did get something cold, we would just tell the waiter and I'm sure they would be all too happy to replace it! :cool: