Allure of the Seas - Chops Review

[Giorgi-one]

Recently sailed on June 9:sailing.  Third time on Allure.  Thirty- fifth cruise overall  Received free dinner from TA and went to Chops. Remember you pay $50 per person EXTRA for an upscale meal. It wasn't even good for free. Lobster bisque was a brown watery liquid with no trace of lobster.  Shrimp cocktail was mushy - obviously frozen and defrosted before serving. Had ribeye steak for entree - my mouth still hurts from chewing.  I should have complained but didn't want to cause a scene.  I did complain to Maitre D in the dining room.  I can get a really fantastic meal for $50 per person in Philadelphia with really great lobster bisque, crisp shrimp and tender steak. Definitely the worst alternative restaurant experience in about fifty previous dinners!

[Merion_Mom]

I am very sorry to hear about your bad experience on the Allure at Chops.  I haven't been on Allure in a few years.  My most recent Chops experiences have been on Anthem and Jewel, and those meals were all EXCELLENT with none of the problems you described.

[Giorgi-one]

I also forgot to mention that my wife had the crab cake appetizer which was basically all filler - not quite as good as Mrs. Pauls crabcake!

[Merion_Mom]

I always get the filet mignon, and highly recommend that you stick to that.

 

By the way, where can you get lobster bisque, shrimp appetizer & steak for $50 in Philadelphia?

[Giorgi-one]

Plenty of places.  Figure $30 for steak, $10 for shrimp cocktail and $10 for soup!

[Giorgi-one]

I really don't like filet - find it tasteless.

[lowbass]

1 hour ago, Giorgi-one said:

Recently sailed on June 9:sailing.  Third time on Allure.  Thirty- fifth cruise overall  Received free dinner from TA and went to Chops. Remember you pay $50 per person EXTRA for an upscale meal. It wasn't even good for free. Lobster bisque was a brown watery liquid with no trace of lobster.  Shrimp cocktail was mushy - obviously frozen and defrosted before serving. Had ribeye steak for entree - my mouth still hurts from chewing.  I should have complained but didn't want to cause a scene.  I did complain to Maitre D in the dining room.  I can get a really fantastic meal for $50 per person in Philadelphia with really great lobster bisque, crisp shrimp and tender steak. Definitely the worst alternative restaurant experience in about fifty previous dinners!

We went on the March 24-31, Eastern sailing on Allure and we also tried Chops. I wasn't expecting a land based 4 star steakhouse steak. But I was expecting a better steak and meal than what I could get at the "Outback Steak house". Sadly I didn't get it.

 

My wife likes her steak well done. Ruth Chris, Mortons, Capital Grill, even Outback none of them have a problem preparing a good well done steak. The steak they brought to my wife was burnt to a crisp and dry as dust. My medium done steak was cooked properly but the steak was tough and tasteless.

 

My shrimp app was decent. My wifes black pepper bacon was a big disappointment(how can you mess up bacon?".

 

 Sides were just plain bad. We will probably never try Chops again.

[maggieq]

We are on Allure in September and will now probably book Giovanni’s for our bogo 

[maggieq]

2 hours ago, Giorgi-one said:

I also forgot to mention that my wife had the crab cake appetizer which was basically all filler - not quite as good as Mrs. Pauls crabcake!

I ordered the crab cake on our 5/23 anthem cruise and was very disappointed by the quality.  Also, the Caesar salad used to be one of the best parts of dining at chops.  This time, not so much. 

[Giorgi-one]

FORGET about the sides.  We ordered grilled asparagus and sauteed mushrooms.  Apparently they just ignore your request and bring everyone the same four sides in four little cups.  I think we got 4 soggy asparagus, a couple spoonfuls of mushrooms, some ice cold fries and soggy mashed potatoes.  

 

Glad to hear I'm not the only one with this experience.  It's not like one thing was bad.  We have diners in the aphilly / South Jersey area and Chops wasn't even close to quality of diner food.  We are not talking Michelin 5 star.

 

 

[Giorgi-one]

On two previous Allure cruises we really enjoyed the Brazilian restaurant!

[Mawelch]

9 hours ago, Giorgi-one said:

On two previous Allure cruises we really enjoyed the Brazilian restaurant!

What is the name of the Brazilian restaurant on the Allure? Never knew one existed.

[time4u2go]

16 hours ago, Giorgi-one said:

Plenty of places.  Figure $30 for steak, $10 for shrimp cocktail and $10 for soup!

Not to mention the fact that it's not just $50 you're paying.  You've also paid for the food in the MDR!

[Giorgi-one]

6 hours ago, Mawelch said:

What is the name of the Brazilian restaurant on the Allure? Never knew one existed.

Samba Grill.   

[Clarea]

6 hours ago, Mawelch said:

What is the name of the Brazilian restaurant on the Allure? Never knew one existed.

 

It's located in the Solarium.  The Solarium restaurant becomes Samba Grill in the evenings.

[mac66]

We had the filet Mignon in Chops on the Allure in April. It was just 'meh'... Won't try that again.  Fortunately we were comped a meal by our TA so didn't  pay for it (directly).

Edited June 22, 2019 by mac66

[crusinthrough]

Wasn't very good on Harmony either. Oddly when Chops was first introduced and the cost was no more than $30, it was a lot better.  There has been a progressive downgrade in food quality and options over the years.  The result is that Chops is not worth an up-charge of $50. 

[forgotmyCCname]

We were on the same sailing and I must cheerfully disagree.

The  pork belly appetizer was outstanding .

I had the crispy goat cheese appetizer and my husband has the bisque.

i don’t like bisque but DH enjoyed it.

We both had a filet which was very tasty and cooked to perfection. 

We had a cheesecake and a red velvet cake for dessert.

We cancelled Giovannis to eat at Chops again, this time we both had surf and turf 

again the filet was perfect and the lobster tender.

 

We were Star class so it was not charged,

The dinners we had there were great BUT

unless I had purchased the ultimate eating plan or whatever it’s called I would not pay the insane up-charge. 

 

We are in Baltimore and eat great steak in Baltimore and DC; this was up there in quality.

 

But the dinner and the added lobster would have come to 71 bucks each if it were not included. 

 

RE Samba-‘this was nasty! We ate there in the 3rd night and the meat was awful.Fatty, over cooked filet, bloody lamb and 

the salad bar was skimpy. Not impressed at all. 

 

 

 

 

[BermudaBound2014]

So- a bit ironic but our experience was different. Ate at chops on anthem last month and wasn’t impressed. Thought the menu and service had really gone downhill. On allure now and found chops significantly better. Our shrimp did not appear frozen and my filet could be cut with a fork. I do agree that the sides were a bit of a miss, but allure chops gave me hope that chops is still worth a visit. I suppose it goes to show that experiences can vary greatly depending on the evening. 

[ejfritz]

We were on Allure in March 2018 and Chops was our favorite restaurant. Food and service were excellent. We will be on Allure again in February 2020 and have been looking forward to a return trip to Chops. I really hope that any of these issues some of you mentioned are isolated incidents.

[grandgeezer]

We were on the Allure for a B2B last October. Our travel agent comped us a dinner in Chops for each week. The first week we both ordered the filet. Disappointed, it was pretty good but not near as good as what we get at home, and surely not worth the price on the menu. Service was slow, even though they were only a little over half full, it still took almost 1 1/2 hours. Our other dinners were in the Coastal Kitchen and were out of there in less than an hour everyday. The filet was better there too.

We never even went back the second week, even though it was free.

[Esprit]

On both my behind the scene tours of Celebrity's Reflection and Edge the lobsters were defrosted aboard as too were the shrimps. The meats stored in the fridges for the 7 day cruises were mostly not. 

[HBE4]

On 6/21/2019 at 9:41 PM, Giorgi-one said:

On two previous Allure cruises we really enjoyed the Brazilian restaurant!

 

Love the Samba grill. Sadly, I think it's days are numbered.  Maybe I'll spend the rest of the morning looking at

pre-amp Allure cruises. And I'll just ignore the itinerary as we all know it's not realistic.

[HBE4]

 

I ate in Chops 3 times on various ships over the years. First time, it was excellent at $25 PP. Second time, at $35 PP it was good but nothing to write home about. Last time, at $42 PP (list price, it was cheaper as I had the 3-night dining package) , it was rather plain and forgettable....both the food and service.

 

Surprisingly, Chops is the one specialty restaurant that has staying power. All other the others - Italian, Mexican, Seafood - have gone thru at least 3 iterations over the past decade.

Edited July 30, 2019 by HBE4

[rockwallroses]

Giovanni's on Allure had the best Filet we tried