Riviera Live! March 8 from a food lover and O newbie

[kjbacon]

22 hours ago, jonthomas said:

We sail O for the food. This is disturbing. Yes it occurs on all lines, when staff is just being trained, they will not be up to par for a while.

Dont be too concerned because we feel like the food is overall outstanding, best we’ve had on a ship. Yes, some staff in training but our service has been fabulous. We just booked another one this morning 👍😊

[jonthomas]

Thank you kj.

 

 

[Twiga]

We were on the Marina last month.  Toscana was fabulous!  We ate there twice and everything was delicious.  Paolo, the extraordinary barista in Baristas, was in charge of the cart of olive oils and balsamic vinegars.  He took time to explain each to us and make recommendations.

[jonthomas]

Will be on the Marina in Dec. 

 

Always hope for no change/training in staff. That is the biggest determinant of quality.

[clairol]

We have never had any luck at Toscana and we love Italian food. Our last cruise in Oct 2021 was no exception - food was average. However, we had very attentive service AND we got the olive oil cart! 

 

I am sorry to hear about your two disappointing meals at Jacques - especially as you were looking forward to it so much! Jacques and Red Ginger are by far our favorites. In Jacques, the foie gras, dover sole and the pot de crème trio are particular favorites (in fact, we would have a pot de crème trio sent to our suite every night - pure decadence!). And then don't even get me started on the cheese cart! Ok, now I am hungry... but only 6 months and 4 weeks until we board again.😁

[jonthomas]

Well I still hope to try the Veal Marsala, if not good, will try something else.

 

Its not too exotic, so should be decent. But you never know, especially if you are fussy like me. 

[njhorseman]

1 hour ago, jonthomas said:

Will be on the Marina in Dec. 

 

Always hope for no change/training in staff. That is the biggest determinant of quality.

Hoping for  no change/training in staff is unrealistic. Crew come and go continually as contracts expire and crew return home and new contracts for new crew or rejoining crew begin.

[jonthomas]

25 minutes ago, njhorseman said:

Hoping for  no change/training in staff is unrealistic. Crew come and go continually as contracts expire and crew return home and new contracts for new crew or rejoining crew begin.

 

 

Yes of course you are right.

[Hawaiidan]

On 3/12/2022 at 2:31 AM, kjbacon said:

Thank you all for having fun along with me! Yesterday, we were not able to go to St Barts but we did sub with St Maarten. St Barts continues to elude me 🤣 no matter how many times I try!! Enjoy these wild goats in the hills of St Maarten.

 

Dinner in Red Ginger was terrific! We loved many of the touches from the open air kitchen area, the lovely dresses on the staff, the gorgeous plates, to getting to choose our chopsticks. We thought that was cool! 

 

 

The menu is very creative and full of so many good choices that it was hard to decide. Our appetizers were Tuna Tataki and Salmon Scallop Ceviche, both excellent.

 

 

We also split the chef’s choice sushi plate and it was outstanding!

 

We had a salad course and both salads were fabulous… Duck with Watermelon and Lobster Avocado.

 

 

 

Our main courses were also delicious! We had the Miso Bass and the Twice Cooked Chicken, extra spicy 🌶 

 

 

Desserts were a split with the Chocolate Lemongrass Crème Brûlée that Jack liked better than I did and the Togarashi Chili Spiced Ice Cream that had wonderful flavor but a chalky texture that was off putting.

 

 

A fine meal!

 

Today, we are in St Kitts instead of Martinique and the weather is still windy and is rainy this morning. 
 

We are hearing about an artwork scavenger hunt and we are on that today! Dinner tonight is Toscana.

As  a cuisine aficionado    I do appreciate the quality of the presentation as much as the dish...   nice brigade they have .....

  

[Hawaiidan]

1 hour ago, njhorseman said:

Hoping for  no change/training in staff is unrealistic. Crew come and go continually as contracts expire and crew return home and new contracts for new crew or rejoining crew begin.

Not entirely....in a quality kitchen the Sous keeps all  stations,  new or old up to snuff   and the sr kitchen staff is more stable than the  rest.    Consistent is what the kitchen brigade  produces and strives for.    I have found over many many a cruise over the years this to be the case. Rotation through the kitchen thus is done in small bits... not en masse    In a past life  worked in that world

[Hawaiidan]

On 3/13/2022 at 10:38 AM, jonthomas said:

I was looking forward to having Veal Marsala one night in Toscana and the lasagna the next. But I am very picky. Have tasted very few really good veal marsala and lasagnas. Will risk it and if I dont like it, will get something else but will give it a try.

 

Disappointing about bread. Yeah, love it crispy, no soft bun for me. 

Ah, one of the great food traps in our world  ordering  familiar dishes over and over again at different times and places.    I find it becomes not a dining experience but a court where your really  spending time judging and comparing this to that. 

  I try to order things I never had and like to be surprised by the results..

[njhorseman]

14 minutes ago, Hawaiidan said:

Not entirely....in a quality kitchen the Sous keeps all  stations,  new or old up to snuff   and the sr kitchen staff is more stable than the  rest.    Consistent is what the kitchen brigade  produces and strives for.    I have found over many many a cruise over the years this to be the case. Rotation through the kitchen thus is done in small bits... not en masse    In a past life  worked in that world

I wasn't suggesting that rotations were en masse . I was replying to a poster who said "Always hope for no change/training in staff" and "no change" simply isn't going to happen...and the longer the cruise the greater the change of crew due to contract expirations.

I've found over the years that a change in executive chef can quickly and visibly change the quality of the kitchen in either direction regardless of how stable the remainder of the kitchen staff is. I've seen the quality of a ship's food and service change almost instantly when a new executive chef arrives. Surely you know that from restaurants on land. A new executive chef can make or break a restaurant very quickly. Yes, the executive chef on land has a lot more power over menus and to fire and hire staff than a cruise ship executive chef, but I've seen "night and day'' reversals at sea too.

Edited March 15, 2022 by njhorseman

[jonthomas]

Hawaiidan,  you are right of course. But as a creature of habit and old habits are hard to break, alas I will be holding court again. 

[kjbacon]

Breakfast was very good again today with the egg special of the day, Huevos Rancheros and a side of fresh fruit.

 

 

Had a great walking tour of old San Juan. It’s a beautiful city full of warm, friendly people!

 

 

 

 

2 hours ago, jonthomas said:

Well I still hope to try the Veal Marsala, if not good, will try something else.

 

Its not too exotic, so should be decent. But you never know, especially if you are fussy like me. 

If that’s your favorite, you should order it as often as you like. The correct dish and the correct wine pairing is the one that you enjoy 😉

[Hawaiidan]

9 minutes ago, jonthomas said:

Hawaiidan,  you are right of course. But as a creature of habit and old habits are hard to break, alas I will be holding court again. 

True...my wife will go to the same place over and over again, study the menu  a long time and then order  exactly what she had last time.      I am reminded of the quote by the  great humorist Jean Sheppard..of his dad. > The old man said that people only like meat and potatoes and they only eat other stuff to impress each other"       Maybe I am no different, however I have eaten stuff  in places that I still do not know what I ate.... like out of a coconut shell "stew " in a back alley  in Bangkok !  

[Hawaiidan]

On 3/11/2022 at 8:02 AM, Muckyduckway said:

Really enjoying your review.  Our next O cruise is quite some time away but we are now considering including La Reserve in our plans.  Do you know whether there are options for non-meat eaters?  

ya.   2.......take it or leave it..... as a non meat eater I would not go   Wine paring will be off, and everything including tempo  will be greatly impacted...  By the way Mucky....  I loved the road and your name

[jonthomas]

1 hour ago, Hawaiidan said:

True...my wife will go to the same place over and over again, study the menu  a long time and then order  exactly what she had last time.      I am reminded of the quote by the  great humorist Jean Sheppard..of his dad. > The old man said that people only like meat and potatoes and they only eat other stuff to impress each other"       Maybe I am no different, however I have eaten stuff  in places that I still do not know what I ate.... like out of a coconut shell "stew " in a back alley  in Bangkok !  

 

You are brave...lol...

[Jancruz]

1 hour ago, Hawaiidan said:

Ah, one of the great food traps in our world  ordering  familiar dishes over and over again at different times and places.    I find it becomes not a dining experience but a court where your really  spending time judging and comparing this to that. 

  I try to order things I never had and like to be surprised by the results..

Plus 1

Jancruz1

[Muckyduckway]

1 hour ago, Hawaiidan said:

ya.   2.......take it or leave it..... as a non meat eater I would not go   Wine paring will be off, and everything including tempo  will be greatly impacted...  By the way Mucky....  I loved the road and your name

Yes, that's why we never considered it before. But that review looked so appealing and didn't have too much meat so t occurred to us that one or two substitutes might be possible. Just really mulling it over, I suppose.

Bravo on the name - one of our favourite road trip experiences. Photo brings back good memories.

[pilgrimage]

11 hours ago, kjbacon said:

Another mixed bag at Jacques. Overall, it was very good with a couple misses.

 

We had a similar experience with Jacques on our 12/23 cruise - we only had one opportunity (it was a full boat), and it was a late seating on debarkation evening.  Overall, everything was good, but not great.  I'm sure my expectations were too high.  The exceptions were the Sautéed Scallops over Fondant Potatoes and Morel Sauce - which I ordered in an appetizer size, but really wish I had ordered as an entree, and the Foie Gras with Pineapple (the pineapple really makes that dish).  The lump crab meat salad, while beautifully presented, tasted like tuna salad to my (probably highly uneducated) palate.  If you get another dinner at Jacques, I would really recommend the scallops.

[travelbug2225]

On 3/14/2022 at 2:53 AM, kjbacon said:

We had our second wine pairing dinner at La Reserve and to answer the most pressing question … the first (French) meal was the better of the two. This one, the Odyssey, was still very good and well worth doing.

 

First, the menu and the executive chef.

 

 

 

 

Delicious Amuse Bouche, raspberry panna cotta, and the beautiful table set.

 

 

My favorite dish of the night was the scallop seared on the river stone. That scallop was one of the best bites I’ve ever had and the sizzling presentation was fabulous. Jack’s favorite dish was the Foie Gras.

 

 

The Veal Wellington was only good and the Floating Island dessert was too sweet for us. To be fair, I don’t know if that is a reflection of the dish or of our taste. Everything was so beautifully presented and the service was impeccable.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Other especially nice touches were the finishing salts and that awesome wine decanter. Juni, the wine guy, is an absolute gem!

 

 

We still have very windy conditions and this is the bounciest Caribbean cruise I’ve ever been on.

 

Today, Antigua by day and Jacques by night!

 

 
We are thinking about doing Odyssey menu but you said you like the French menu better. Can you please give me the comparison and why you like the French one better?  
 

Edited March 15, 2022 by travelbug2225

[ronrick1943]

2 hours ago, pilgrimage said:

 

We had a similar experience with Jacques on our 12/23 cruise - we only had one opportunity (it was a full boat), and it was a late seating on debarkation evening.  Overall, everything was good, but not great.  I'm sure my expectations were too high.  The exceptions were the Sautéed Scallops over Fondant Potatoes and Morel Sauce - which I ordered in an appetizer size, but really wish I had ordered as an entree, and the Foie Gras with Pineapple (the pineapple really makes that dish).  The lump crab meat salad, while beautifully presented, tasted like tuna salad to my (probably highly uneducated) palate.  If you get another dinner at Jacques, I would really recommend the scallops.

👍

[chloemonkey]

On 3/11/2022 at 2:48 AM, Eloise4Ever said:

I so appreciate you taking the time to do this live review kjbacon, thank you so much. We are boarding Riviera in a week for the transatlantic crossing and your postings are adding to my excitement. We are also doing the French menu in La Reserve and thanks to your photos I can tell it will be amazing.

We had that menu last week and the photos brought it all back to me!  I loved everything.....and next trip will book all three of the Le Reserve options.

[kjbacon]

Last night was Polo Grill and we had another wonderful meal.

 

 

My pictures aren’t great for this dinner, maybe it was a little dark but here goes anyway. Jack had the oysters Rockefeller again and I had the lettuce and tomato salad with tangy dressing. He loved his different take on the Rockefeller again and my salad was very good. The greens were perfect and the bacon beautifully cooked but I still would have preferred blue cheese or even a vinaigrette.

 

 

We both had the Lobster Bisque as recommended by other posters and glad we did! It was rich and delicious, even better with that splash of cognac.

 

Jack had the Rack of Lamb and said it was perfectly cooked and delicious. I had the whole lobster with drawn butter, also delicious. The server removed the lobster from the shell table side and placed it in the shape of a heart, a really nice touch.

 

 

I just realized that I don’t have a picture of the Creamed Spinach that we shared but just a mistake because it was especially good. 
 

We don’t usually order dessert and are happy with one more glass of wine. Service was perfect.

 

Today is Puerto Plata and tonight is Red Ginger.

 

Edited March 16, 2022 by kjbacon

[ToxM]

Thank you for continuing to report your experiences with us, am enjoying them very much!