Tuscan Grill on Summit???

[bigreckster]

Have always enjoyed all our dinners in Normandie over past cruises. Wondering what the experiences are with the transformation into Tuscan Grill. Anyone have menu from that venue? Thanks in advance for any updated info.:)

[threeputt101]

Our group of eight had dinner at Tuscan Grill on the Summit last week.

Both food and service were very, very good.

See Volcan (waiter in Tuscan), outside the buffet area in the mornings

to get a great deal.

 

He is a spectacular waiter !!

[Iamthesea]

We have dined Normandie, etc. in the past. Tuscan doesn't hold a candle to Normandie IMHO! :rolleyes:

 

We have dined in the Tuscan Grill on the Solstice class ships and loved it. Our experience in the NEW Tuscan Grill, on Summit, was not as good as other experiences have been. We did not see much difference in the menu from the original, but the crabcakes and goat cheese salad were not the same and we missed the old dishes. :(

 

Oh, and we were practically the only passengers (along with friends) that dined in Tuscan the evening we were there. It also appears that there are now only two seatings for reservations. An early and a later time. We could not get a 7:00-7:30 reservation, and had to dine earlier than normal...for us. Yet, there were plenty of seats when we left at 8:00pm. :confused:

[DrivesLikeMario]

We ate in the Summit's Tuscan Grille last week also. We have more of a mixed experience. DH loved his grilled swordfish and said it was the best he had ever had and his filet mignon was very good too. He said the calamari was delicious as well.

 

I, OTOH, had spaghetti with meatballs and a wedge salad. The salad was good, spaghetti was only so-so. I feel my meal was worth about $11, not $45 plus tip. So, for me, it's not worth going there.

 

What bugged us more than anything was the wedding group that we were in the elevator with as we headed down to TG. They basically told us "sorry ahead of time, but we're going to be loud, obnoxious, drunk and noisy but it's our wedding and we don't care if it bothers you." That kind of put a damper on our experience.

 

The wait staff was nervous because of all the noise they were creating. Luckily, we sat within another very large group of people (not sure if it was a second wedding group or what) and they were nice, polite, considerate of their neighbors and respectful. ;)

 

There are links to the menus if you google it or go to Celebrity's website. It's pretty basic, but has many good options.

[Iamthesea]

DH's filet was very good, and my fish (not swordfish, but cannot remember the name) was excellent! Still was not as good as Normandie.

 

It was the two favorite's... appetizer and salad that we were disappointed in. And the atmosphere just isn't as good as the other Tuscan Grills.

 

Sorry about the wedding parties. Celebrity should have given you a discount, IMO.

 

Yes, I would never pay $45 for spaghetti as a main course. :eek:

[bigreckster]

It's interesting that they are actually doing two "seating" times in the specialty restaurant as opposed to individually staggered times as in the past. We could schedule Normandie for whatever time we desired and the food was always impeccable. Sounds like we'll be eating in Luminae instead...we were impressed by the food at the lunch and breakfast we had there last year...it was the close seating that was a "turn-off" for us. We like a dining experience without others within arms-length of you. Thanks for the responses!

[SusieV]

We were there on the Oct 16 sailing. Our service was excellent but I must say that I felt that the food quality was not as good as it was prior to the menu change, and I was disappointed. I don't care for the options on the new menu and just generally felt that it wasn't worth the additional charge.

 

With the exception of the limoncello cheesecake, which is to die for :)

 

I'm not sure what is this comment about two seatings, because we got to book at the time we requested. It's just that they stagger dining times so that the waitstaff aren't overwhelmed. There are likely very few tables starting at 7 or 7:30 because there would not be time to turn the table over twice.

[Iamthesea]

On our sailing, the Traditional dining times were 5:30 :eek: and 8:30. So I assume that the seating times in Tuscan were in line with those times. DH says that our reservation was at 6:00. We asked for the 7:00-7:30 time and also had our Butler ask. We were given 6:00 and 8:30 for the only times available. And as I said, we were one of only two tables in the entire dining room until close to our leaving when another couple of tables were seated. So strange when the other Tuscan Grills have every table reserved most nights.

 

Limoncello cheesecake? I'll have to try that on the Reflection!

Edited November 5, 2016 by Iamthesea

[JMG]

We were on the Summit for the last Bermuda run on August 28. We tried to get a reservation for Summit but they only had a few tables for 2 and they were all booked for the night that we wanted.We could have gotten a table for 4 or larger but had not met enough people at that point. Having lots of OBC, we booked another night and went to Qsine that night. Qsine was a huge disappointment because the waiter gave us the ipads, described the various options and we our choices. However the waiter brought us what he felt was good and never looked at our choices.

 

After some thought and having seen the Tuscan Grille menu, we cancelled our reservation and went to the spa to use our OBC. We definitely missed not having the Normadie on that sailing!

[Iamthesea]

We were a table of 4. They also told us they were all booked...and we know that wasn't true. I don't know what the deal was.

 

We had two many staff waiting on us. At times, they were hovering over us as we took a bite. Funny!

 

Now, Qsine was also practically empty. We had a wonderful waitress and her assistant. We loved it! Food was great and we had a prime table at the windows overlooking what we could see of the outside. :)

Edited November 5, 2016 by Iamthesea

[imapost2003]

Just off summit on October 29. I never ate in the Normandie, but i did think tuscan was great. My rib eye was fantastic! Calamari, flatbread pizza, Chicken Parm, and Filet were also excellent. Limoncello cheesecake was amazing as well. Service was so-so. I agree with other people in saying the restaurant was not that full, which is surprising seeing as how i called for reservations the first night of the cruise for the 5th night, and they only gave me a 930 slot. We showed up at 745 and were seated immediately and there were plenty of empty tables. In order to get your $45 worth, show up hungry and order as much as you can handle and then some. We had our leftover pizza and chicken parm delivered to our room for late night snacking.:)

[DrivesLikeMario]

I was shocked at how full TG was on our chic night on 10/24. Almost every table was full. We booked our reservation for 6pm months in advance and I believe everyone else was supposed to be there at about that time too because everyone seemed to get seated at the same time. Not sure if that was just a coincidence though. I'm glad we tried it but for me being the picky eater I am, it's not worth $45pp + tip.

[jmfdr]

We were on the October 2 sailing. Perhaps, just what we ordered, which I don't even remember now, but the Tuscan Grill was the biggest disappointment of the entire cruise. I do remember that I ordered some kind of gnocchi, which was pretty awful. The antipasto platter for two was good, but not the rest of our meal. We have enjoyed dining in Tuscan Grills on other ships, but the Summit experience is not recommendable. We were looking forward to some fairly authentic Italian cuisine, which this was not.

 

The service was fine. We were not aware of any standardized seating times, but were able to select a time we wished to arrive, about 6:30, and it was not busy.

 

Our meals and wine service in Blu on this cruise was far superior to the Tuscan Grill.

[Brittany C]

Hi there,

 

I sailed Summit in July and dined at Tuscan Grille -- thought it was a nice experience. Please see our article about the venue: Tuscan Grille on Celebrity Cruises

 

Happy Cruising!

 

~Brittany Chrusciel, Associate Editor, Cruise Critic

[hancock]

We were on the Oct.16 sailing. Went to Tuscan Grill twice. Thought the ribeye was fantastic. Have never had a better, flavorful steak. Calamari was lovely. Shared a half portion of pasta with seafood. Was not impressed. Glad we didn't order it as a main course.

Service was good.

[ChucktownSteve]

We dined in TG the first evening of our August Summit cruise. We got BOGO free. Our reservation was at 7:30.

 

The service was excellent. The ambiance was good. The food was ok. One of our steaks was a little over cooked based upon temperature ordered. We ate it anyway.

 

My DW and I decided it was worth 2for1 but our meal would not have been worth the regular full charge.

[conquesodor]

I agree with the negative reviews of TG on Summit. My fiancé and I dined there back in April and it was the one experience on board that was truly disappointing. If I had to summarize the experience in one word, it would be "underwhelming." The food was fine, but nothing special either. If it cost a little less, had better service, nicer ambiance, and hadn't replaced Normandie, I might give it a more favorable review. I've commented on it in more detail elsewhere, so I won't do that again here.

 

Just my two cents, as some others report having a fine experience there.

Edited November 7, 2016 by conquesodor