Osteria d'Ovidio

[Txcotn]

1 hour ago, skybluewaters said:

 

...or their turkey tetrazinni 🦃

They still have it, we get it often!

[crickette]

5 hours ago, KenzSailing said:

 

I sympathize. I mean, once you've had Stouffer's frozen everything else is just lasagna on a fancy plate.

 

Really, I'm not kidding.  Stouffer's lasagna is a minor miracle of frozen food.  ....

Bioengineered, eh?  Interesting

[BWIVince]

4 hours ago, crickette said:

Bioengineered, eh?  Interesting

A huge percentage of products in the US contain bioengineered food these days.  You see the raw products in the produce section these days, but almost any products made with US grown corn, soy bean products or sugar beet products contain bioengineered foods almost by default now…. That pretty much covers any frozen meal, as you see here.

 

Vince

[Keith1010]

Well in an effort to get this thread back on topic I thought I would share my thought. No spin.My thoughts.

 

 I liked the couches. But it was just Anne Marie and myself on a couch and we both liked it. We went with a large group the first evening but we all had chairs.  These days I wouldn't sit with three on the couch just because I would feel we are too close and that has to do with germs.  Vince, I like the look of the room and I believe in person it looks better.  The one issue I saw the first night and have been told this will be addressed is the lighting is way to bright.  When they went to dim them on the prior voyage evidently the light flickered so that is something they will get corrected and same goes for Umi Uma. 

 

NWX I normally avoid Risotto but it has more to do with the calories but I made an exception on our second visit as I wanted to do my best to try each item.  I enjoyed it but not something I would have very often for the reason I mentioned. But for those who enjoy Risotto I highly recommend trying it.

 

Sauce. I am a funny eater. Surprise? I like to taste the food. Sashimi. I eat it without the sauce  other than the Nobu ones. Caviar. Don’t use other items other than the blinis. baked potato. No butter. Same is true for a roll. I didn’t have to eat all the sauce you saw and didn’t. But the sauce added to the items and just had some of it.  Easy peasy.  But others do like sauce and over the years it seems like they licked their plates. And full disclosure I usually eat one item at a time on my plate. So now you know.

 

Vince is correct. In Prego some (some is keyword) of the dishes had a lot of sauce. Not knocking Prego but it’s not like there were no sauces.

 

As to Lasagna and Eggplant Parmesan I was spoiled with Anne Marie’s cooking, and she makes the best meatball I have ever had.  So for me having Lasagne or Eggplant at a specialty restaurant is not very special.  One of her keys is not drenching them in Tomato Sauce. In my opinion one of the keys to pizza is not drenching it in tomato sauce which when we've eaten it in Italy or in a Pizza Parlor in NYC they know not to drench it either.

 

A couple of people who posted said not all of the items thye liked. I get it.  Many I liked but not all but I will tell you that is the same on land or at sea. With that said I loved the lamb the first time and it is a more expensive cut than what was in Prego  but the next time it fell short. Sometimes even at home when making something multiple times and it doesn’t come out the same way all the time.  Likewise, whether it was planned or not a few items in Tastes which were the same names as items served there a few years ago fell short of what they were like a few years ago. Same recipe but something off? Possible. Or maybe a different recipe. And we took same approach in Tastes. Tried to try different items on our two visits as well as ordering a few we enjoyed at the first visit.

 

Might seem trivial but I really enjoyed the rolls.  I enjoyed the diversity of them and their taste.  I thought the rolls in Prego on the ocean vessels were so so. Ironically, when we had the roll on Mozart I thought it was wonderful. We saw Josef Lumetsberger while on Mozart and he said same recipe. Maybe as some of the Europeans told us the local ingredients are better in Europe than other places. Very good on Endeavor to.

 

I also avoid dessert but made an exception to try a little bit of it. Something light but excellent.

 

There is no spin here. Just my opinion. My only recommendation is to try it yourselves and see what you think.

 

OK I'll close with an item not on the menu although I've seen it on prior Waterside menus and that is liver.  Patty...Growing up we always had to eat whatever was on our plates or no dinner but thankfully my parents made liver an exception. With that said they would fry onions to go with the liver and I loved them so since I got an exemption for the liver it was OK when they made it because that meant I'd get the onions. I don't have them anymore but truly loved them including on a steak n' cheese sandwich back in the day. But again no more of that either.

 

Keith

 

[LouChamp]

Aloha. Learning from my mother and grandmother and grandfather from Sicily I have adapted some of their recipes. My meatballs have veal, beef and pork and I use Grana Padano as I find it less salty and of course San Marzano tomatoes although in the states there are knockoffs sad to say. Prepared Baked Ziti, a Sunday Gravy and Chicken Parmigiana per my daughter’s request for her birthday with inlaws also over. Cooked for three days and now I need a cruise!

[SnoBirdCruiser]

On 9/24/2023 at 4:19 PM, Noggins said:

That was quite a lunch. Did you really have two courses of the pasta dish.....?

 

On 9/24/2023 at 4:19 PM, Noggins said:

This is my lunch today at the Splendido Hotel Portofino.

This is what Italian food should look like.

We celebrated our 40th Anniversary on the Terrace with my Maid of Honer and her husband.

Our 60th will e in 2024...who knows where we will be on that date.

 

[travelberlin]

2 hours ago, SnoBirdCruiser said:

 

We celebrated our 40th Anniversary on the Terrace with my Maid of Honer and her husband.

Our 60th will e in 2024...who knows where we will be on that date.

 

How lovely 😊, Maybe also in Italy?

Ivi

[rock detective]

On 9/24/2023 at 3:42 PM, travelberlin said:

 

I might enjoy studying this, but I'd rather consume something creamier for dessert.

 

And in any event, Oreos double stuffs and milk before bedtime deserves all the stars there are to give.

 

 

[travelberlin]

23 minutes ago, rock detective said:

 

I might enjoy studying this, but I'd rather consume something creamier for dessert.

 

And in any event, Oreos double stuffs and milk before bedtime deserves all the stars there are to give.

 

 

There were not oreos. Those that look like stones were filled with something creamy like ice cream. And it was at lunch time. It was wonderful. The restaurant is called Facil, in case anyone wants to try it in Berlin. 
 

I have more pictures of that lunch, but I would be very off topic if I post them 😁

Ivi

[Keith1010]

1 hour ago, travelberlin said:

There were not oreos. Those that look like stones were filled with something creamy like ice cream. And it was at lunch time. It was wonderful. The restaurant is called Facil, in case anyone wants to try it in Berlin. 
 

I have more pictures of that lunch, but I would be very off topic if I post them 😁

Ivi

Maybe on on The Bistro thread you can post them. 
 

Keith

[vistaman]

3 hours ago, travelberlin said:

There were not oreos. Those that look like stones were filled with something creamy like ice cream. And it was at lunch time. It was wonderful. The restaurant is called Facil, in case anyone wants to try it in Berlin. 
 

I have more pictures of that lunch, but I would be very off topic if I post them 😁

Ivi

i know that restaurant - one of the few with a star open for lunch in Berlin

[rock detective]

5 hours ago, travelberlin said:

I have more pictures of that lunch, but I would be very off topic if I post them 😁

 

Whether here or there, I hope you do post them. Even though I had no idea what I was viewing, I still liked the image. And I think it makes a good contrast to the down home images from Osteria.

 

There was a movie recently called "The Menu" which was a satire on foo-foo cuisine, not that there is anything wrong with foo-foo. 😀

[Gregrat]

Keith I think you nailed it.

From the pics of Osteria d’Ovidio that I’ve seen it looks like the lighting Is too bright.

I’m hoping they add dimmer switches to give it some warmth.

[Roland4]

13 minutes ago, Gregrat said:

Keith I think you nailed it.

From the pics of Osteria d’Ovidio that I’ve seen it looks like the lighting Is too bright.

I’m hoping they add dimmer switches to give it some warmth.

I suspect the mistake they made, and to some extent it is inexcusable, was to install non-dimable LED bulbs. We have this problem in our dining room fixture, if you dim them too far they begin to flash on and off, but it was installed seven years ago, and we know how to deal with it. To make that mistake in 2023............. 😮 😮 

[BWIVince]

I know that was probably meant to be a joke, but did someone at Crystal actually say that the lighting in Osteria d’Ovidio can’t be dimmed?  Tillberg has designed public spaces and restaurants for Crystal for over 35 years and this would be the first and only restaurant or lounge that lighting can’t be dimmed, randomly, which seems impossible.  

Vince

[Keith1010]

1 hour ago, BWIVince said:

I know that was probably meant to be a joke, but did someone at Crystal actually say that the lighting in Osteria d’Ovidio can’t be dimmed?  Tillberg has designed public spaces and restaurants for Crystal for over 35 years and this would be the first and only restaurant or lounge that lighting can’t be dimmed, randomly, which seems impossible.  

Vince

Vince, I was told that they do flicker when the were dimmed as they tried to adjust it during the TA/News Media Shakedown Cruise.  One thing people forget is how quickly all of this was planned and executed.  Things happen. If they could have a few do overs they would. There was also no time to do true mock ups of the rooms as they would normally do and will do for the new ships.

 

Keith

[BWIVince]

2 hours ago, Keith1010 said:

Vince, I was told that they do flicker when the were dimmed as they tried to adjust it during the TA/News Media Shakedown Cruise.  One thing people forget is how quickly all of this was planned and executed.  Things happen. If they could have a few do overs they would. There was also no time to do true mock ups of the rooms as they would normally do and will do for the new ships.

 

Keith

 

Thanks for the clarification Keith, that makes a lot more sense and is easily correctable in the future (when they can take the room out of service long enough)…. I thought the implication was that it was intentionally designed to be at the 100% level, which would have been impossible based on my knowledge of the designers.  Was this the case in all of the redesigned public areas, assuming they use the same basic control components?

 

Noted about the refit time…. I think people forget that Crystal has normally had 2.5 to 3 years for the normal design, fabrication and installation cycle their refits in the past.  Most people only think of the final 8-12 days at the very end for final installation, but this was a actually a much, much shorter cycle than any previous Crystal refit.

 

Vince

[Keith1010]

45 minutes ago, BWIVince said:

 

Thanks for the clarification Keith, that makes a lot more sense and is easily correctable in the future (when they can take the room out of service long enough)…. I thought the implication was that it was intentionally designed to be at the 100% level, which would have been impossible based on my knowledge of the designers.  Was this the case in all of the redesigned public areas, assuming they use the same basic control components?

 

Noted about the refit time…. I think people forget that Crystal has normally had 2.5 to 3 years for the normal design, fabrication and installation cycle their refits in the past.  Most people only think of the final 8-12 days at the very end for final installation, but this was a actually a much, much shorter cycle than any previous Crystal refit.

 

Vince

Vince, I think Umi Uma has a similar issue but the lightning doesn't appear as bright  but that could be do to eh layout and color scheme of the room.  The Bistro seemed fine and of course much of the lighting comes from its location and that it is open to the adjoining area.

 

Excellent information by you about the normal intervals for something like this.  I do suspect if they had those mock up rooms they would have caught the issue with the closet.  I know from one of the homes we had built as much as one tries to anticipate things without a mock up there are just some things you can't catch just from drawings and even artist renditions.

 

Keith

[BWIVince]

28 minutes ago, Keith1010 said:

Vince, I think Umi Uma has a similar issue but the lightning doesn't appear as bright  but that could be do to eh layout and color scheme of the room.  The Bistro seemed fine and of course much of the lighting comes from its location and that it is open to the adjoining area.

 

Excellent information by you about the normal intervals for something like this.  I do suspect if they had those mock up rooms they would have caught the issue with the closet.  I know from one of the homes we had built as much as one tries to anticipate things without a mock up there are just some things you can't catch just from drawings and even artist renditions.

 

Keith

I totally agree about the mock up process, though nothing is foolproof.  Haha  I can think of three design elements that were all mocked up with sample cabins that evaluators stayed in, and still made it to production:

 

1 - All kinds of misses in Harmony’s original cabins, especially the windowed models with the angular entry…. The lack of storage space (while wasting square feet on unusable closet depth), the tubs you had to step into for the bathroom doors to swing in, etc…

2 - The glass vessel sinks from Symphony’s first standard cabin refit…. Then a second glass replacement in an oval design that also passed a trial, before they went with the third design (the upright plastic ones).

3 - …and of course, The Chair.  Nuff said.

 

All of those got the green light in actual mock up tests.  😊. Stuff happens.

 

Vince