Main Dinning Room Menus

[Lanic24]

Hi there, I have read that main dining menus are always the same.. and then I have read that they change. I am traveling on the Encore and was wondering if anyone can comment. I was looking to see what was offered each night to influence my speciality dining days. Thank you! 

Edited January 24, 2020 by Lanic24

[Megalyn]

It's actually a bit of both.  There is a section of the menu that remains each day - maybe titled Classics?  And then there is a different section that rotates each day.  The menu will be posted outside the restaurant so you can decide in advance whether you wish to eat there, but it only goes up a few hours before the meal.  It is likely too late to get a specialty menu reservation by the time they are posted.  Your options would be buffet, O'Sheehans/Local, or room service instead.  The dessert  menus also rotate, but they are not posted.  

[Paul Bogle]

It can seem confusing but the reference to being the same can be as Megalyn has explained. Another way the menus are the same is when people reference the fact that all three main dining rooms; Savor, Taste and the Manhattan Room serve the same menu each day so which venue you choose doesn't effect which menu items are available.

 

The main dining room menus are divided into two pages of entrees. One page is as Megalyn explains, available every day. The other page offers items available that day only. NCL has many different menus which number somewhere between 14 and 21 as best I can tell from posts I have read. How many there actually are I do not know. This makes it impossible to say which menus will be offered on your sailing much less which nights.

 

I suggest you book specialty dining at times and days that work best for you and not be too concerned about what you will miss in the free venues.

[ColeThornton]

There are no meals in the MDR's that would preclude me from making my specialty restaurant reservations.   Not to say the food isn't good, for the most part it's perfectly adequate.  Just nothing that your average person would rave about.

[mking8288]

On our last BTS ship tour below deck, walking thru the Gallery area, we saw the entire set of MDR menus posted - there are 14 of them, to be rotated by the chefs and based on, mainly, provisioning - FIFO principles.  There is a little bit of daily changes nowadays for the Breakfast menu (good) but still one Lunch menu for the MDR (report of a 2nd. one introduced, per those currently just disembarked the Gem on its Panama crossing)

 

There is no way of knowing which one will be selected or chosen for which day.  If you book your Specialty dining early, you still have plenty of time to join the queue for the MDR to get that striploin steak (years ago, before FDR & the convenience "cutback" - it was a sirloin cut)   

 

Agreed with Cole above, just make your upscale dinner reservations.  No more prime ribs, lamp chops or warm water lobster tail in the MDR.  Free AYCE shrimps in the buffet - on select day(s) - with no upcharge. 

Edited January 24, 2020 by mking8288

[poohdreaming]

You can choose whatever you want to do. You can reserve for a specialty restaurant and can also go to MDR for a late dinner.

At MDR dinners - you can choose to only have 1 entree or as many as you want including desserts. No one will say anything. If the selection of dinner you chosen came and you did not like it - you can order something else.

 

As for the menu - the dinner ones will be posted a few hours before on that specific day. As for specialty restaurant menus - you can google online to have an idea of what to order.

[BirdTravels]

10 hours ago, Lanic24 said:

Hi there, I have read that main dining menus are always the same.. and then I have read that they change. I am traveling on the Encore and was wondering if anyone can comment. I was looking to see what was offered each night to influence my speciality dining days. Thank you! 

You will not know what is being served in the MDR on any given night. NCL has 14 different MDR menus that the executive chef chooses from. 
 

Examples of MDR menus From the Encore can be found on my live post. Which has seven MDR menus. 

 

 

[Turtles06]

12 hours ago, ColeThornton said:

There are no meals in the MDR's that would preclude me from making my specialty restaurant reservations.   Not to say the food isn't good, for the most part it's perfectly adequate.  Just nothing that your average person would rave about.

We just got off the Gem’s 20-night Panama Canal cruise. The food in the MDRs was quite good, the best we’ve ever had on an NCL cruise. We remarked about this several times. And the service was consistently excellent. In sharp contrast, we found that the specialty restaurants had really gone downhill, in terms of both food and service. 

[cloud7cruise]

You can check out my recent YouTube video for menus in the MDR of the NCL Getaway.  The menus are the same fleet wide.  Like BirdTravels said, they pick from 14 menus, so my video has 7 of those menus.