Serenade Speciality Restaurants

[DebJef]

It's a long time since I've travelled on Royal Caribbean and I'd like to book up a couple of the speciality restaurants. The information held on RC website doesn't give much away. I realise it's very much a matter of personal preference but any comments on any of the SRs on Serenade please? The good, bad and the not worth bothering with? And by the way, what happened to Portofino that is mentioned on CC review?

[Clarea]

Portofino was replaced by Giovanni's Table.

Edited March 14, 2016 by clarea

[Janet524]

IMO, the best specialty dining experience is the Chef's Table. No more than 12 guests, 5 or 6 courses paired with wines, each presented by the chef with sommelier giving some info on the wines. Great dining experience, especially if Bento is the sommelier/server.

 

Chops is okay, but I can make a good steak any day of the week, and while Giovanni's is good it's no better than any Italian restaurant I can dine at here at home.

 

Had lunch at Izumi with a friend (DH is not into Asian/Fusion) and really enjoyed it. I'm sure I would have liked dinner too, but would not go without DH.

[cathykb]

We enjoyed both Giovanni's Table and Chops on a recent cruise. The food is good, and I think the service is just a step up. We got a deal for 5 dinners for $100 onboard.

 

Cathy

[ARCruisinNana]

Chef's Table is the best in the fleet. The CT Dining Room is beautiful and Bento does a great job. Giovanni's Table has an excellent filet, IMO, it's better than Chops and less money.

[BILL-WI]

IMO, the best specialty dining experience is the Chef's Table. No more than 12 guests, 5 or 6 courses paired with wines, each presented by the chef with sommelier giving some info on the wines. Great dining experience, especially if Bento is the sommelier/server.

 

Chops is okay, but I can make a good steak any day of the week, and while Giovanni's is good it's no better than any Italian restaurant I can dine at here at home.

 

Had lunch at Izumi with a friend (DH is not into Asian/Fusion) and really enjoyed it. I'm sure I would have liked dinner too, but would not go without DH.

 

Chef's Table is the best in the fleet. The CT Dining Room is beautiful and Bento does a great job. Giovanni's Table has an excellent filet, IMO, it's better than Chops and less money.

 

The Chef's table is a GREAT value if you are a wine drinker....Bento is the best. He is the employee of the year and will soon be on vacation. After his vacation, he will be going to the Harmony.

 

BILL

[ravensbad]

We really enjoyed our dinner at Chops in December. The food was delicious (and we knew ahead of time portions for sides/apps were small so we knew to order extras) and service was absolutely impeccable. Well, actually service on the whole ship was impeccable and Chops was no different.

 

We did want to try Giovanni's so we opted for lunch. Once again service was superb, but the food just wasn't as good as we were expecting. I mean it was good, it just wasn't worth the extra cost to us over the free dining options available. Obviously this is personal taste and YMMV. Maybe our expectations were too high, we had read a lot of bad things about Chops and good things about GT before the cruise. Or maybe it had something to do with the difference in the lunch and dinner menus, I don't know.

 

That being said, we will be purchasing a package when we cruise again this coming December since we enjoyed Chops so much and want to give Giovanni's a try for dinner.

[papaflamingo]

The Chef's table is a GREAT value if you are a wine drinker....Bento is the best. He is the employee of the year and will soon be on vacation. After his vacation, he will be going to the Harmony.

 

BILL

 

Do you know when Bento is going on vacation? We are on Serenade on Friday and have the Chef's Table booked. Really looking forward to it, especially after all the great reviews. We have done 3 other Chef's Table and enjoyed every one.

[island lady]

Do you know when Bento is going on vacation? We are on Serenade on Friday and have the Chef's Table booked. Really looking forward to it, especially after all the great reviews. We have done 3 other Chef's Table and enjoyed every one.

 

We were on Serenade the second week of February, and totally enjoyed the way Bento took

care of everything. He made us feel special and the Chef's table experience on Serenade

was the best of any of the ships we have been on, IMHO. :)

 

I would also run into him every morning in the CL, as he was the one in charge of setting

up the breakfast in there.

Edited March 14, 2016 by island lady

[Janet524]

The Chef's table is a GREAT value if you are a wine drinker....Bento is the best. He is the employee of the year and will soon be on vacation. After his vacation, he will be going to the Harmony.

 

BILL

 

Bummer!

[DebJef]

I am delighted to hear that Chef's Table is good. I have booked it for my daughter's 21st birthday. Is there any point speaking with them beforehand for an extra special bit of fuss? She doesn't drink alcohol so a special birthday mocktail would be good fun.

[island lady]

I am delighted to hear that Chef's Table is good. I have booked it for my daughter's 21st birthday. Is there any point speaking with them beforehand for an extra special bit of fuss? She doesn't drink alcohol so a special birthday mocktail would be good fun.

 

Does not hurt to ask! And happy birthday in advance to your daughter. :)

[cruising_family]

We're booked on Serenade in June for a 11 night cruise. I am thinking of booking for the Chef's table one night to break up the restaurants/meals. I do drink wine, but my husband doesn't and never has. I know the standard is wine pairings with dinners. Has anyone done a special booking without the alcohol for him or not as part of the dinner but where I can just order glasses on my own. There's no way I can drink all the wine for both of us.

 

I would think there are people that don't drink and that RC would make exceptions. Thoughts or input?

 

Thanks.

Edited March 15, 2017 by cruising_family
Put wrong month in post.

[Ski-Lady]

Do you know when Bento is going on vacation? We are on Serenade on Friday and have the Chef's Table booked. Really looking forward to it, especially after all the great reviews. We have done 3 other Chef's Table and enjoyed every one.

 

We are on the same cruise and have already booked Chef's Table. Hoping Bento is still on for this cruise.

 

Please join our Roll Call, you can find it here: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2217698

We have a lot of activities and "action" happening on this cruise and would be happy to have you join the fun.

Edited March 15, 2017 by Ski-Lady

[gagirl7143]

Bento retired recently. He was not there this past Jan. Miss him terribly.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[hannibal54]

Do you know when Bento is going on vacation? We are on Serenade on Friday and have the Chef's Table booked. Really looking forward to it, especially after all the great reviews. We have done 3 other Chef's Table and enjoyed every one.

 

I am also on this sailing, as someone else said, we have a very active roll call with many activities. You are more than welcome to join us.

[Basil Lee]

We enjoyed both Giovanni's Table and Chops on a recent cruise. The food is good, and I think the service is just a step up. We got a deal for 5 dinners for $100 onboard.

 

Cathy

 

Yes, as mentioned you can get deals once onboard. I believe they had similar deals for 7 nights, 5 nights and 3 nights (which we used). All will save you $. Both Chops and Giovanni's were great.

 

Note - if you pre-book and pre-pay specialty dinning it seemed to add some confusion when switching to one of these deals. They worked it out eventually.:)