NCL Dawn Bamboo A Taste of Asia

[Biffire]

We are going on the Dawn in about 7 weeks.

I have never been to the complimentary Bamboo Taste of Asia restaurant.

I read this forum frequently and never hear much about it.

Does anyone have any experience with the Bamboo?

Just wondering when it is open, what they have , is it good?

 

[shof515]

when i was on the dawn a few months, it was very crowded with long waits and the service was very very slow. took about 2 hours to finish the meal

[Biffire]

Well, that does not sound good !

Thanks for the rapid reply

[mking8288]

Just going to toss in our two cents, FWIW about the Dawn ... that we sailed last May, out of NY.  We just came back about 2 weeks ago on her newer sibling ship in the similar class, the Gem & ate in Orchid Garden also ... food/menu is virtually identical. 

 

Review w. pix is here - 

 

 

The free/complimentary food served is mostly Chinese, probably comparable to what you might find in a small town, upstate NY.  However, I should note that we're in Clifton Park area, just north of Albany last Fall & found some of the Chinese food there to be pretty good - much to our surprise; and, superior to those served onboard.  

 

Menu included - the dishes that we've ordered, were fine & reasonable good - in line with expectations ... be careful with sodium level and doses of MSG, if allegic or sensitive.  Spring rolls (fried) was good, pot stickers (opt for the pan fried, avoid the steamed ones).  Seafood w. udon noodles soup was spicy/hot but I like the roast pork in noodles soup better - portion size are smallish, order an extra one if you like them.  Better yet, sample other entrees like the orange beef & kung pao chicken ... no upcharge for the shrimps - leave room for the dessert.  Overall, it's a nice change from O'Sheehan's and the MDR nightly's.  

 

Unlike the Gem, the Dawn's dining was popular and require a reservation - it was busy & full nightly (opened only for dinner) and service was a bit slow but not horrible (unlike Cagney's recently ...)  If you are on a clock, like trying to catch the shows (they're good, go see them - again) - tell the server to rush; and they can do it.  Otherwise, they will take their sweet (and sour) time about it.   

 

 

[Biffire]

31 minutes ago, mking8288 said:

Just going to toss in our two cents, FWIW about the Dawn ... that we sailed last May, out of NY.  We just came back about 2 weeks ago on her newer sibling ship in the similar class, the Gem & ate in Orchid Garden also ... food/menu is virtually identical. 

 

Review w. pix is here - 

 

 

The free/complimentary food served is mostly Chinese, probably comparable to what you might find in a small town, upstate NY.  However, I should note that we're in Clifton Park area, just north of Albany last Fall & found some of the Chinese food there to be pretty good - much to our surprise; and, superior to those served onboard.  

 

Menu included - the dishes that we've ordered, were fine & reasonable good - in line with expectations ... be careful with sodium level and doses of MSG, if allegic or sensitive.  Spring rolls (fried) was good, pot stickers (opt for the pan fried, avoid the steamed ones).  Seafood w. udon noodles soup was spicy/hot but I like the roast pork in noodles soup better - portion size are smallish, order an extra one if you like them.  Better yet, sample other entrees like the orange beef & kung pao chicken ... no upcharge for the shrimps - leave room for the dessert.  Overall, it's a nice change from O'Sheehan's and the MDR nightly's.  

 

Unlike the Gem, the Dawn's dining was popular and require a reservation - it was busy & full nightly (opened only for dinner) and service was a bit slow but not horrible (unlike Cagney's recently ...)  If you are on a clock, like trying to catch the shows (they're good, go see them - again) - tell the server to rush; and they can do it.  Otherwise, they will take their sweet (and sour) time about it.   

 

 

Thanks I was going to try a lunch. I guess I will try to see a menu and see if I can get a dinner reservation.

[fstuff1]

 

2 hours ago, Biffire said:

We are going on the Dawn in about 7 weeks.

I have never been to the complimentary Bamboo Taste of Asia restaurant.

I read this forum frequently and never hear much about it.

Does anyone have any experience with the Bamboo?

Just wondering when it is open, what they have , is it good?

 

 

50 minutes ago, Biffire said:

Thanks I was going to try a lunch. I guess I will try to see a menu and see if I can get a dinner reservation.

 

i was on the Dawn a couple of months ago.

you need reservations for dinner. 

book them your 1st day. heck, book speciality restaurants the 1st day as well!

anytime before 8:30p gets filled up fast!

 

the lunch menu is a smaller subset of the dinner menu.

dont remember if its open during port days or not.

 

when i was there, Bamboo suffered from NCL's war on seafood.

there used to be a dish called lemon pepper shrimp. it got changed to lemon pepper chicken and was horrible.

(mking8288's dawn review was from May)

 

Edited January 4, 2020 by fstuff1

[fstuff1]

hm.. i forgot about this thread:

 

so apparently NCL's war on seafood started back in the Aug 2019. 

also, no shrimp in the seafood udon description.

 

Edited January 4, 2020 by fstuff1

[Love my butler]

5 hours ago, Biffire said:

We are going on the Dawn in about 7 weeks.

I have never been to the complimentary Bamboo Taste of Asia restaurant.

I read this forum frequently and never hear much about it.

Does anyone have any experience with the Bamboo?

Just wondering when it is open, what they have , is it good?

 

It is horrible.  There is a reason it is free.

[bedfordmom]

4 hours ago, fstuff1 said:

hm.. i forgot about this thread:

 

so apparently NCL's war on seafood started back in the Aug 2019. 

also, no shrimp in the seafood udon description.

 

One tip if you are in a suite you can get free delivery to your room from your butler. It was a lot of fun doing it that way.

[KateQ22003]

We ate there once a couple of years ago on the Dawn. Never again. Service was deplorable; I actually got up and went to the atrium bar to get a drink because we sat there for 20 minutes and nobody came near us. Food was so-so, but the service was remarkably bad.

[PortFees45]

Ate there on the Gem in December and the vegetable fried rice tasted like packing peanuts. 

 

The lemon pepper chicken actually wasn't bad. 

[ebseckar]

We were on the Dawn last month. After a number of NCL cruises, we decided to finally try Bamboo. We had not tried it before since we are generally very pleased with the food in the main dining room and the specialty restaurants. Since we enjoyed the Asian food during lunch in the buffet on the Dawn and other NCL ships,  we had hopes that the food in Bamboo would be just as tasty. 

 

Contrary to other comments above, we felt extremely rushed during our meal. We had 7:00 reservations and I think we were done in 30 minutes! Our soup and appetizers were all brought out at the same time (hard to eat two hot things at once) and our entrees were brought out quickly thereafter.  In addition, we found the Asian food served during the lunch buffet to be much more tasty.

 

At least we can say we tried it. However, I doubt we will return.

[NRWPA]

I'll be on the Dawn for the first time next month. I've been to the Asian restaurants several times on other ships. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the meal will be as good as we've experienced on those other ships. I always liked the pot stickers and hot and sour soup. The orange peel beef has sometimes been good, sometimes not as good. After the first time having all our food brought at once, we've learned to request that not to happen. Our server has always complied.

[mking8288]

Well, IMHO, Asian food/dining onboard NCL is not, never was, a gourmet experience, not even in the old days with upcharged items - more of the basics, comfort food (some of the items served them in "Blue Lagoon" ... old-timers, remember)   Consistency is the challenge ... it's sometimes, down to the skills of the chefs in charge, as well as the actual junior/asst. chefs responsible for directly cooking them.  

 

We do it for a nice change of venue, especially on sea days when all the MDR are packed & jammed full.  We just don't cruise for food and for a good to great meal, we are a short drive - as little as 15 minutes to get a great meal, in town here.  What these discussions also said, indirectly, is that our own expectations and yardsticks for sailing NCL has changed over 2 decades.  It is just not the same - nowadays - to see tuna fish, fried chicken, hot dog, sphaghetti & meatballs, and chicken noodles soup on the dining menu. 

 

Similar discussions and debates on other cruise lines forum - fair enough, someone else doing the provisioning, preparation & cooking, bringing it - for our conveninece - and cleaning up, disposing of the leftover, so what else can I say. 

 

[mantadiver]

We got off the Dawn a few weeks ago.  In the beginning of the cruise there was a long wait to get into Bamboo.  Not too long after, there was no wait and empty tables.  The reason, the food was not good.  We asked the server about why it seems unpopular and she said there are a lot of complaints.  Hopefully they turn that restaurant around.  

[Biffire]

Thanks for all of the replies, Sounds like a crap shoot. The pictures posted by Mking, sure made the soup look good.

Going in February, looking forward to it.

Happy new year to all.