Celebrity: Eastern Mediterranean & Rome - Very Detailed - Part 3: Food!

[CaribbeanBound]

Part III - Food!

Celebrity has a good reputation for their cuisine. The meals met our expectations. Not only was it good, it was downright outstanding on many nights. There was excellent variety throughout the ship.

 

A. Our Favorite Items

 

• The Best Breakfast Items: Made-to-order eggs and omelets, fresh fruit, oatmeal with choice of toppings, and smoked salmon in the Oceanview Cafe; and the donuts and pastries at Cafe al Bacio.
  
• The Best Dinner Appetizers: Escargot, dill salmon, anything with goat cheese, roasted beets, and meats in puff pasties. There were at least 6 appetizers each night. All appetizers were well presented. You can't go wrong.
  
• The Best Soups: Butternut squash, French onion, and Mushroom.
  
• The Best Lunch Items in the Oceanview Cafe: Fresh fish and chips, a buratta station, grilled colossal shrimp, salad bar, caesar salad, fruits, pasta bar, and daily grilled special.
  
• The Best Entrées in the Main Dining Room: Prime rib, Portabella mushroom with spinach and goat cheese, Lamb chops, Veal, Roasted trout, Australian Sea Bass, Lamb shank, Braised beef ribs, Seared Salmon, Mediterranean seafood with orzo.
  
• The Best Desserts: Baked Alaska, cheesecake, ice creams and sorbet; and the coconut macaroons.
  

B. Opus Restaurant

Opus Restaurant is the main dining room (MDR), located on Decks 3 and 4. Passengers with assigned dining times (Early or Late) ate on Deck 3 while passengers with anytime dining at upstairs on Deck 4 (opposite the dedicated dining room for suites). The Opus dining room is beautiful with nicely plated presentations at dinner.

 

Meats were cooked to order, including Medium Rare upon request. We never needed to send back an undercooked or overcooked item. Our Waiter (Noel), our Assistant Waiter (Roger), and our Sommelier were all very friendly, efficient, and offered good guidance.

 

In addition to the daily menu, the following items are available every night: shrimp cocktail, escargot, seasonal fruit, French onion soup, Caesar salad, chicken, salmon, NY sirloin steak, NY Cheesecake, creme brulee, apple pie, and chocolate cake.

 

C. Specialty Restaurants and Premium Casual Dining

Reflection has four premium "dressy" specialty dinner restaurants for which a cover charge applies. Murano is very fancy and serves a "blend of Classic and modern continental cuisine, freshly prepared in multi-course meals, as exquisite European-style service attends to your every need". Qsine is now exclusively featuring Le Petit Chef, an animated character that appears beside your plate via an immersive table display technology and prepares each course you’ll be enjoying right in front of you before you’re served the actual dish.

 

Tuscan Grille is an italian-themed steakhouse that serves pastas, seafood, steaks and salads. Lawn Club Grill is a casual outdoor grill with an expansive salad bar, build your own flatbread pizza, and several grill specialties, including USDA Choice Beef, poultry, seafood, and vegetables.

 

We ate at Lawn Club Grill twice. Both times my wife ordered a beautiful, huge, filet mignon; and both times I ordered the milk-fed veal chop (essentially a bone-in veal ribeye). Both are really good. The veal chop is simply incredible --- very tender and flavorful. A secret gem of the Lawn Club Grill. We did not visit any of the other three venues, though fellow passengers gave especially high praise to Murano.

 

There are also two premium "casual" restaurants on Reflection that charge a cover. Sushi on Five (formerly Bistro on Five) offers freshly prepared sushi and Japanese favorites; while The Porch features fresh seafood and raw bar.

 

We enjoyed a meal at The Porch while watching Greek islands pass by. We enjoyed the Seafood Tower (cold lobster, mussels, shrimp, scallops, and seafood salad) as an appetizer followed by lobster bisque and a lobster roll. The mussels are the tastiest I've ever had and everything else was also quite good. Most passengers never find The Porch which is hidden on Deck 15 next door to The Lawn Grill Club. Seek it out if you like seafood. For just $30, you'll be glad you did.

 

Most of the restaurants are located on Deck 5. Lawn Club Grill and The Porch are on Deck 15. While the food in the Main Dining Room was quite good, we ate at the Lawn Club Grill and The Porch as a change of pace. The cover charges run $15 to $50, but discounts of 10% to 50% can be found most nights at one or more of the venues --- depending upon the current bookings. You'll find representatives from the restaurants each morning outside of the Oceanview Cafe on deck 14 at breakfast and sometimes at lunch. Ask them about any available discounts.

 

D. Oceanview Cafe

Found on Deck 14 aft, Oceanview has several hot, cold, and carved meat buffet stations which change daily; as well as a salad bar, pasta bar and pizza station. Be sure to wonder around to check out all of the offerings before plating. Surprises abound. The food was generally quite good. Hint: at breakfast, check both grill areas. Although both offer omelets, one seemed to always be busier.

 

E. Cafe al Bacio

Hit up Cafe al Bacio on Deck 5 for a variety of espresso, cappuccino, latte, mocha and macchiatos; as well as a dozen premium hot teas and premium iced teas. My wife fell in love with the Cafe Mocha and the Caramel Machiatta on a prior cruise. Once I discovered the Raspberry iced tea I would pick one up as soon as we got back from each day's port excursions. Very refreshing! It is also a great place to stop in the morning on the way to breakfast. If you want a quick bite to eat, they offer free croissants, brioche, fresh muffins, berliners (great jelly doughnuts) and apple turnovers in the morning; light lunch items; and desserts at night. The baristas at this cafe are very friendly and efficient.

 

F. Gelateria

Located next to Cafe al Bacio, the Gelateria offers 12 flavors of Italian gelato. We enjoyed a refreshing gelato after one of our day's excursions. The mint chocolate chip is a winner.

 

G. Mast Grill

Located midship on Deck 15, Mast Grill offers limited bar service, hamburgers (beef, turkey or vegetable), chicken breast, hot dogs and french fries --- along with favorite toppings like sauerkraut, grilled onions, grilled mushrooms, American cheese, bacon, lettuce, and tomato. Yes, you can ask for just a BLT. Hint: there is a softserve ice cream station here and the flavor changes daily, and almost nobody knows it exits. My wife loved the fudge brownie ice cream.

 

H. Aqua Spa Cafe

The Aqua Spa Cafe is open for lunch and is located midship in the Solarium on Deck 14. They only have about 7 tables which is usually plenty since most folks either don't know it's here or think it's only for Aqua Class passengers. Hint: The food is free but it's no longer the gem it once was when they offered poached salmon. There is only a surcharge for fruit juices, smoothies and parfaits. They offer grains, fruit plates, and salads. The food is good but very limited.

 

I. Room Service

You can order from morning to late night. We didn't order anything from room service this trip. From past experience, they are generally punctual and they don't just drop the order off at your door --- they come in and set it up for you. Be sure to tip!

 

J. Classic Drink Package

We had the Classic drink package on this trip. Bars are plentiful and the bartenders and service staff (looking at you Alexandra) did a great job of getting drinks out to everyone. We enjoyed wine each night at dinner. Plenty of red and white wine choices. If you have a package (or not) you won't go thirsty.

 

The Classic Drink Package includes an array of beers, spirits, cocktails, liquors, frozen drinks, wines (up to $9 per serving), sodas, basic bottled water, and premium coffees and teas from Cafe al Bacio. Although it was never necessary, we could have simply paid the price difference to upgrade to any premium beer, wine or liquor selection on an as needed basis.

 

Complete review, parts 1 -12: http://www.lavasurfer.com/info/eastern-mediterranean.html