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Canaletto's New Menu?

canadarocks

By canadarocks,
in Holland America Line

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ArtsyCraftsy

ArtsyCraftsy

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I didn't take any pics of the Canaletto on my cruise in Mar/Apr, but this one definitely is different - more choices in both small and large plates sections, more desserts.  Daily specials are similar, but I don't remember seeing a "curry" dish on the earlier menu.  Canaletto is my favorite of the specialty restaurants, so I'm happy to see my favorite dishes are still on the menu.  🙂  

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Hlitner "Live from...." Rare

Hlitner

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The last time we decided to visit Canaletto was when we were on the Zuiderdam for a few weeks.  We had no problem getting a reservation and when we arrived at the dedicated part of the Lido we were surprised to find that there were only about 3 tables of diners.  We sat down and the waiter immediately came over to explain the menu.  We asked for the wine steward and said we did not want any food until we had our wine (we do this from experience).  At that point we waited over 20 minutes until the wine steward finally arrived (he was working in the nearby Lido).  We ordered one of the medium priced Italian wines and were quickly told there was none aboard.  We then ordered a 2nd Italian wine and the wine steward said they had none of that aboard.  We tired a third wine which also was not aboard.  At that point we asked the steward what he did have and he mentioned a couple of typical low priced wines (think Robert Mondavi)!  This was early in a long cruise and we were not happy that HAL gave us a faux wine list (most of the wines on the list were not on the ship).  So we politely thanked the wine steward and got up from our table.  At that point the Maitre'd approached us and asked if we had a problem and we explained that we were in an "Italian venue" that had no Italian wines on the menu.  We asked him to cancel our reservation and took the elevator down to the MDR where we went for the normal Anytime dinner.

 

We cruise many different lines and HAL has the saddest alternative restaurants in the industry (Princess is close).  Lines like Celebrity now charge over $50 for some of their alternative restaurants and get plenty of customers.  HAL has relatively low priced alternative restaurants (we get a 50% discount) and they are not even worth the low price!  That being said, we still like our lunches in the Pinnacle...although dinner is not impressive.

 

Hank

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sammiedawg

sammiedawg

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Caneletto is Olive Garden,  heavy on the garlic with no subtlety in flavor.   Then you taste like garlic for a day.  Total joke to charge money for this.   

Pinnacle was good years ago before they downgraded the meat cuts.   And dining room steaks are select grade, Kroger sells better best.  

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canadarocks

canadarocks

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6 hours ago, RocketMan275 said:

Crew News is on Westerdam to Alaska.  He posted this link to the new Canaletto Menu:

 

http://www.rogerjett-photography.com/specialty-2/hal-regular-and-specialty-restaurants/hal-specialty-restaurant-menus/canaletto

Thanks RocketMan275, I knew he was due to post it at some point. 🙂

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sailingdutchy

sailingdutchy

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We really enjoyed the new menu on the Prinsendam for the Canaletto they also had a couple of pop-up specialty dinners  the "La Doce Vita " and a week later the "Mamma Mia Dinner " Those were 3 coarse dinners , 2 choices for the Appetizer  and 3 or 4 choices for the Entree , and 2 for the desert . This also came if you chose to include a pre dinner drink and two different glasses of wine for  $19.95 . 

I wonder if they also have these on the other ships or if they were just trying it out on the Prinsendam ?

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KirkNC

KirkNC

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We actually found the Canaletto to be quite good on the Amsterdam.  The lamb chops were excellent, much better then Pinnacle.

 

Sorry Hank but you of all people know you have to roll with the punches!

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highland cruiser

highland cruiser

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Our last cruise was in January on the Westerdam.  We enjoyed the "old" menu and are looking forward to trying the "new" menu on the Amsterdam in September.  Thanks for sharing the menu.  We can always find something new and interesting to try and haven't been disappointed with Canaletto before.  Sometimes we have had better service there than in the Pinnacle!  Go figure!

 

Mary

5starMariner.gif

 

 

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Hlitner "Live from...." Rare

Hlitner

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9 hours ago, KirkNC said:

We actually found the Canaletto to be quite good on the Amsterdam.  The lamb chops were excellent, much better then Pinnacle.

 

Sorry Hank but you of all people know you have to roll with the punches!

Agree.  While our last Canaletto experience soured us on that particular Canaletto operation it did not turn us off to HAL.  And although the experience was annoying we did not miss a meal :).

 

Hank

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Taters

Taters

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DH and I were given a complimentary dinner in Canaletto on our Zuiderdam Transatlantic cruise in April/May.  We'd not been impressed with the venue when we'd tried it a couple of years prior, but since this one was free, we decided to give it a go.  We did not enjoy it.  The flavors of the food were only okay, but our shared sea bass entrée (large plate to share) was so miniscule that it would have easily passed for an appetizer for one in the MD.  The fish was dry, and I can say that it was NOT sea bass.  We felt like this "dinner" would have passed better as tapas.  We ate early, at 6 PM.  When 9 PM rolled around, we were both hungry again and ordered sandwiches from room service. 

 

If HAL gives us another one of these complimentary dinners, well - No, thank you.

Edited by Taters
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SilvertoGold

SilvertoGold

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Taters:  you can order as much or as little as you like.  We aren't crazy about the starters, but like 2 of them so share those and order 3 entrees.  Most of the entrees plated for 2 are small so it works well.  Desserts are so-so, normally we pass on those.

 

One thing we like about Canaletto is the service is usually exceptional, better than the Pinnacle.

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Taters

Taters

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1 minute ago, SilvertoGold said:

Taters:  you can order as much or as little as you like.  We aren't crazy about the starters, but like 2 of them so share those and order 3 entrees.  Most of the entrees plated for 2 are small so it works well.  Desserts are so-so, normally we pass on those.

 

One thing we like about Canaletto is the service is usually exceptional, better than the Pinnacle.

Hi Silver - What really irks me is when they try to pass off one type of fish for another.  I LOVE sea bass and was looking forward to this.  So nah, I am not going to bother.  Like I said, we didn't enjoy Canaletto the first time around.

 

I wasn't aware that you are able to order more than one entrée.  Thanks for letting me know!  The menu suggests that one entrée is for two people, and the server also mentioned this when we were looking over our menus. 

 

Actually, this would have been our third time in Cantaletto.  The first time we tried it was on our first HAL cruise in 2011...  We were on Statendam and Canaletto was free for everyone at that time.  Dinner was just blah.  So this was 3 for 3 of a ho-hum, never mind experience for us.

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SilvertoGold

SilvertoGold

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9 minutes ago, Taters said:

Hi Silver - What really irks me is when they try to pass off one type of fish for another.  I LOVE sea bass and was looking forward to this.  So nah, I am not going to bother.  Like I said, we didn't enjoy Canaletto the first time around.

 

I wasn't aware that you are able to order more than one entrée.  Thanks for letting me know!  The menu suggests that one entrée is for two people, and the server also mentioned this when we were looking over our menus. 

 

Actually, this would have been our third time in Cantaletto.  The first time we tried it was on our first HAL cruise in 2011...  We were on Statendam and Canaletto was free for everyone at that time.  Dinner was just blah.  So this was 3 for 3 of a ho-hum, never mind experience for us.

 

 I thought  you might not be aware!  Just a normal total amount of food and they are OK with whatever you want. 

 

Passing off one fish for another: Yes, this happens and in the Pinnacle!  One lunch there on last cruise was halibut and I got cod of some type.  Really, I order halibut every cruise and I know how different it is from cod!  To top things off, it was lukewarm!

 

We'll go with our trusty 50% discount, only to try out the new menu which doesn't strike me as a big improvement.

Edited by SilvertoGold
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Taters

Taters

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44 minutes ago, SilvertoGold said:

 

 I thought  you might not be aware!  Just a normal total amount of food and they are OK with whatever you want. 

 

Passing off one fish for another: Yes, this happens and in the Pinnacle!  One lunch there on last cruise was halibut and I got cod of some type.  Really, I order halibut every cruise and I know how different it is from cod!  To top things off, it was lukewarm!

 

We'll go with our trusty 50% discount, only to try out the new menu which doesn't strike me as a big improvement.

This!  Restaurants all over the world state one fish and serve another.  It's a thing!  Check out this article:https://www.wired.com/story/the-fish-on-your-plate-may-not-be-what-you-ordered/  

 

Halibut is my very favorite!  We've been served something else many times...  One time (I forget which ship we were on), they even served our "halibut" and kept insisting it was halibut!  Hello - The meat of the fish they gave us was a pale YELLOW color, small muscle layers.  NOT halibut.  The waiter kept insisting that it was, and I actually think it was due to lack of training and felt sorry for the guy - They take the chefs' word for it. As an Alaskan, I know my halibut and this kind of thing is ridiculous.

 

I love grouper, too!  I've been served something else in its place in Florida (where there is plenty of grouper!) and it just sends me over the edge.

 

Sorry for the rant, but fish fraud is ridiculous.  Grrrrr...

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SilvertoGold

SilvertoGold

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Tater: we've been sailing HAL for a long time and it is only lately that the fish is forced to masquerade as something it is not!  

I read in the paper about supermarkets substituting anything at all (cheaper) for some fish (expensive).  Makes you want to go out and catch your own!

 

Off to your Great Land soon: will enjoy it all including whatever HAL serves up!!!

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