La Cucina Italian Restaurant Question

[Southerngal410]

From looking at the online menu I found this appears to be a "fancier" Italian restaurant. Do they not have stuff like chicken alfredo, spaghetti & meatballs, chicken parmesan, etc?

 

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[esm54687]

From looking at the online menu I found this appears to be a "fancier" Italian restaurant. Do they not have stuff like chicken alfredo, spaghetti & meatballs, chicken parmesan, etc?

 

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The menu is typically what the restaurant will serve..... in rare instances you can order off menu but they are usually reserved for special dietary needs that you have previously submitted during your reservation.

 

If "stuff like chicken alfredo, spaghetti & meatballs, chicken parmesan, etc" are not on the menu than chances are they will not serve it.

[Cubechick]

Hmm. Too bad. It does look like they got rid of the chicken parm, which was one of the more consistent dishes. They also got rid of the pizzas too. :(

 

They do have a rigatoni and meatballs, and a couple of lasagnas for more basic fare.

[SuiteTraveler]

Chicken Alfredo, Spaghetti and Meatballs and Chicken Parmesan are all American dishes - they are not Italian at all. In Italy you have Fettuccine Alfredo, meatballs are always served alone with sauce - not with pasta, Chicken Parmesan is just an American dish - you would never find that in Italy except in a restaurant that only caters to American tourists.

 

However, I wouldn't really call the dishes served in La Cucina fancy. The 20 different cuisines of Italy are all based on home cooking using regional ingredients and the La Cucina menu reflects that. These are all traditional and rather ordinary Italian foods on the menu. The question to me is more about how well NCL manages to execute these recipes where the highest quality and freshness of ingredients is all important.

[jpcdds6]

Chicken Alfredo, Spaghetti and Meatballs and Chicken Parmesan are all American dishes - they are not Italian at all. In Italy you have Fettuccine Alfredo, meatballs are always served alone with sauce - not with pasta, Chicken Parmesan is just an American dish - you would never find that in Italy except in a restaurant that only caters to American tourists.

 

However, I wouldn't really call the dishes served in La Cucina fancy. The 20 different cuisines of Italy are all based on home cooking using regional ingredients and the La Cucina menu reflects that. These are all traditional and rather ordinary Italian foods on the menu. The question to me is more about how well NCL manages to execute these recipes where the highest quality and freshness of ingredients is all important.

Agree 100% with your post.

[Bubba54]

I just got of the Jewel, yes they have Chicken parm, I order it almost everytime. My wife gets oso buco. I do not remember all the pasta dishes. My favorite is Carbonara.

[KeithJenner]

I just got of the Jewel, yes they have Chicken parm, I order it almost everytime. My wife gets oso buco. I do not remember all the pasta dishes. My favorite is Carbonara.

 

 

 

Sounds like the Jewel still has the old menus then.

[meglet]

And if you live in a state with a great Italian neighborhood, Federal Hill in RI or the North End of Boston, La Cucina's fare will disappoint you. Maybe try a different specialty restaurant?

[Cruiser Who Knows Nothing]

And if you live in a state with a great Italian neighborhood, Federal Hill in RI or the North End of Boston, La Cucina's fare will disappoint you. Maybe try a different specialty restaurant?

 

 

This. Or if you live in THE Italian neighborhood of Chicago, LaCucina most definitely will disappoint.

 

 

 

 

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[numberguy]

Sounds like the Jewel still has the old menus then.

 

And maybe the Jade does too. I was on the Jade last week, and I saw lasagne and Chicken Parm. Thought I'd try something unique, got the grilled shrimp, and regretted it. If I'd've dropped one of those shrimp on the floor, they'd've bounced.

 

--Michael

[laurabegorrah]

After a meh first experience with it on my first NCL cruise, I stayed away b/c there were so many other, better IMO, options. But I went on both of my last trips on the Escape and was very pleasantly surprised by the quality. We didn't get any pasta dishes though....

[NancyL2]

As of last week the Pearl still has the old menu...we had the Chicken Parm.

I wan't impressed with the restaurant or the servers. Or I should say the server we had.

[jpcdds6]

This. Or if you live in THE Italian neighborhood of Chicago, LaCucina most definitely will disappoint.

 

 

 

 

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I'll take Arthur Ave in the Bronx.

[hhalliv]

And if you live in a state with a great Italian neighborhood, Federal Hill in RI or the North End of Boston, La Cucina's fare will disappoint you. Maybe try a different specialty restaurant?

 

I love that you mentioned Federal Hill! As a Rhode Islander, it's hard to describe to people I meet on cruises why I'm never blown away by the Italian food on cruises...even in the specialty restaurants. They just don't understand!

[Cruiser Who Knows Nothing]

I'll take Arthur Ave in the Bronx.

 

 

And I'll take Taylor Street in Chicago. [emoji6]

 

 

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[jpcdds6]

And I'll take Taylor Street in Chicago. [emoji6]

 

 

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Wooster St. in New Haven ain't bad as well.

[AdoraBelle]

I've only experienced the "old" menu, on GA, and made the mistake of ordering their version of "carbonara", thinking I'd get the traditional style made with eggs. (What can I say, it was my first cruise.) The memory of that tasteless gloppy sauce has kept me away from La Cucina since then. Should I give the new menus a try?

 

Context; besides being good at cooking carbonara at home, I've never lived anywhere with access to good Italian food, just chains like Maggianos. So the bar would be fairly low. I'd also take dish recommendations if anyone's bored.

[KeithJenner]

I've only experienced the "old" menu, on GA, and made the mistake of ordering their version of "carbonara", thinking I'd get the traditional style made with eggs. (What can I say, it was my first cruise.) The memory of that tasteless gloppy sauce has kept me away from La Cucina since then. Should I give the new menus a try?

 

Context; besides being good at cooking carbonara at home, I've never lived anywhere with access to good Italian food, just chains like Maggianos. So the bar would be fairly low. I'd also take dish recommendations if anyone's bored.

 

Yes, give them a go.

 

I always used to think that La Cucina was just OK. We went a couple of times with the old menus and, whilst my food was not bad, my wife and son really didn't like theirs. I also had some really bad comments from friends about it. For example, last summer on the Spirit a few people we met onboard went there. One couple, who tried all the speciality restaurants onboard said it was the only meal they had that they disliked and another couple, when asked what they had, just said "salt".

 

The last three cruises, we have gone back to La Cucina, mainly because we can't use the latitudes meal in Moderno, and I have to say that all of them have been very good. In fact, it was probably our favourite meal on one of them. I think that the quality has improved significantly with the new menus. I would have no hesitation in going there now.

 

As for favourite dishes, I really like the Osso Bucco. It has changed recently. When I first had it, the meat was excellent, but the sauce was pretty appalling. The last couple of times though, the sauce has been excellent as well. It is one of my favourite dishes available on NCL ships.

 

This thread seems to have turned into a competition about who has the most authentic Italian restaurants near them. Putting that particular irrelevant p*****g contest aside for a second, I will say that, regardless of how authentic it is, in my opinion La Cucina used to be fairly poor quality, but is much improved now. It's worth trying again.

[dexddd]

Yes, there is some back and forth due to which menu they currently have on the ship - the old vs. the new. The new one moved (like many of the dishes on the new NCL menus) to seafood type items.

 

In Dec. on Spirit we had the old and had a great chicken parm and pizza. March on POA new menu and really nothing we liked but it may appeal to others.

 

They did have a similar chicken parm in the MDR one night on Spirit but again, that was with the old MDR menus of which they had 17 different ones. Not sure how many different versions they have with the new menus but based on BTS tour in March we got a quick glimpse and it appeared to be about 1/2 of the 17.

[craigvphillips]

chicken alfredo, spaghetti & meatballs, chicken parmesan, etc?

 

They don't really eat that stuff in Italy. Pasta, if anything, is just a course. If you find an Italian restaurant serving entire meals of pasta, run!

[detroitlions]

Agree 100% with your post.

 

Italians always serve the larger meat items on the side. They do make versions of what you would call meat balls, Italian sausage, veal and forms of sea food pasta but its all regional,

I am Sicilian and I have friends that are from northern Italy there are a lot of dishes that are quite different too many to list.

The prep is different here in USA everything is done for convince and mass quantity that is the real difference.

That and they use canned sauces and frozen meat which makes things taste not so good compared to the areas in the US some here have mentioned who do real well like in Boston Chicago and New York and some places in Detroit.

 

I have gone to all these places and there Italian is real close to authentic because the people that own these restaurants have a steep Italian heritage and stick to there recipes and tradition.

 

I live in Florida now the Sarasota area the Italian here is very bad they will charge you like it is authentic or close to the real thing but it is not close they use canned sauces, tons of garlic from a jar and the meat has no flavor and is frozen. Florida you can get a good steak and good seafood especially where I live forget about Italian.

 

NCL Italian is just like Olive Garden they could not do much better with the amount of people on the ships in there defense. I am irritated that they got rid of the pizza not that it was perfect but it was the only good pizza on the ship that was the main reason I took my son here he likes it.