Solis Restaurant

[Bonbeak]

Any reviews or comments about the new restaurant Solis. Food, service, decor, etc.?

[NWintheSW]

We’re on the Quest now, and have been to Solis twice, so far.  The decor is TK at its core, with a change in light fixtures, signage and some furniture.  The service has been friendly and competent, if a little unpolished…understandable as the concept is new.  We’ve enjoyed both meals, the Branzino and delicious steak.  Additionally, the signature cocktails are interesting and properly prepared.  All in all, we feel Solis is an enjoyable experience, but we’d just as soon stayed with TK.  

[BasandSyb]

Sounds like a good result given the difference in turnaround times and training - TK implementation and decor vs Solis commencement.

The difference is valuing in-house expertise rather than spending multi-millions on “celebrity” contracts. Nothing wrong with the decor I’m glad they weren’t wasteful in doing a total refit. If I were a shareholder this would seem prudent.

 

Thanks for your honest feedback. Fingers crossed the concept will do well.

[Bonbeak]

Thank you for your feedback.  Hopefully we will get more responses soon as the roll out continues.

[ara.Senna]

We are very excited about Solis as we have asked repeatedly that Seabourn have a restaurant featuring fresh, local flavors.  We sail on Encore beginning May 2024 and believe that Solis will be opened.  The TK "new steakhouse" concept seemed a bit tired.  (Why not feature the Thomas Keller offerings similar to Bouchon or French Laundry?)  Anyhow, TK has faded away.  A little bit of a shame that there isn't also a dining room refresh in keeping with the new Solis concept.  Any information about the lovely al fresco seating that we see in the pix?  And is a reservation required?  Finally, any comments about the service?  We observed on a Seabourn Caribbean cruise in spring 2023 that the dining room staff seemed very lost.  A marked decline in service levels among all dining venues.  Thank you.  

[Kane]

It's been a few years since we have sailed on Seabourn.  When we did, having been to French Laundry, why would we want to eat chicken at the on board Keller restaurant?  We ended up trying it and were amazed!

 

We will be on board Quest soon and now look forward to be amazed at the new Solis.

[Katsings01]

Just off of the Ovation on Sunday. Solis had its grand opening on March 3, 2023. Had 2 reservations for Solis ( 2 weeks on board). Additional days were not really available as we were told they limit capacity to 90 guests per evening (their capacity is far more than this with the outside deck but they sometimes have to move guests back inside due to wind and weather so they keep extra inside table available). The first visit the food was good and as noted above, the cocktail menu elaborate and inventive. Sadly the service was disjointed and slow. They had many team members involved in service and, at times, no one seemed responsible. Cocktails took 1/2 an hour.

The wine steward came by to describe the wine list and the elaborate pairings, etc. When I asked for the "included" wine list to make comparisons so I could make good choices, he went to inquire and returned telling me that they did not have it but it could be sent to my cabin (which was of no help and btw none ever showed up at the cabin). We then were served our cocktails and he never returned to inquire about wine. Clearly he was focused on upselling revenue wines and not the overall satisfaction of the guests or the experience- he did stop us on the way out and asked if we enjoyed our dinner (it took all of my control to not tell him it might have been better with wine...). 

I provided constructive criticism on the Source feedback app per guest services suggestion (they said they were glad to take the comments but using the app worked the best). I had calls from guest services but was never able to connect with them. I heard from other guests that their experience at Solis that first week was much the same.

I was happy to say that on the second visit, the service was much improved, included wines were offered (as in the Restaurant), and the upsell of wines was not present. The food was still great and the service much closer to the mark. The host came by to express his gratitude for  the feedback and acknowledge the short comings of the prior week. We thanked him and siad we understood that it was a new concept that needed refinement. He said that was no excuse. We were very impressed that they responded so quickly to address these issues. Other guests that second week also had a similar positive experience

So all in all Solis was a good experience and Seabourn's responsiveness to constructive criticism was impressive.

[lincslady]

That sounds like the early days of TK.  The wine staff had obviously been told to just mention the extra charge wines, which did not go down well with many patrons.  No really their fault, and it soon got rectified.

[jjs217]

The food is good.  Portions too large.  The menu is a jumbled mess.  It needs to be pared down or rearranged.  I found it very odd.

[skybluewaters]

56 minutes ago, jjs217 said:

The menu is a jumbled mess.

 

And while they're at it, they could make the Solis menu more comprehensible.  The haughty descriptions of the food require multiple internet searches to figure out what the heck you're ordering.  Apparently every vegetable needs to be annotated with the name of the farm that grew it, and you need to have a working knowledge of multiple languages to interpret the menu. 

 

But there do appear to be some intriguing items on the menu.

[2SailingNomads]

We never, until after C19 cruises, found anyone trying to upsell wines TK or anywhere else on the ship.  On our last 2 cruises, people were pushing papers in front us to sign up for something, which given we buy a lot off the revenue list I found to be off putting.  Last cruise on Regent was the same, this lunch, that tasting, etc.

[Katsings01]

We found the paper pushers most prevalent on embarkation days when new guests arrived. They had many events (champagne tastings, McCallan tastings, retreat dinners, etc.). All seemed quite expensive. We passed. After the first day, they had a few flyers out in Seabourn Square but they were not pushed on guests. 

[jjs217]

Those special events are made obvious to everyone (because there are those who book them), but I have never experienced hard sell with anything - including wine upsells.  The only hard sell I've ever had on Seabourn was at the Spa to buy products.  I've not been back to a Seabourn Spa since - a shame - as they lost a customer.

[Kane]

We just returned from the Quest.  In our experience the Solis cuisine is the best on the ship but, in fact, does have drawbacks.  The main drawback is that it is of a size that will only permit one meal per week because of the size of the venue.

 

The Solis menu is poorly organized overly complex.  It's probably done that way to make it seem special, but the diner has difficulty determining where each of the meal classifications are;  e.g., appetizers, types of mains, sides, etc.  Too foo-foo and confusing.

 

Comments about wine upsells are true.  No mention of included wines are made unless asked.

 

With Solis being the best, cuisine in Restaurant and Colonnade are somewhat meh.  The transition from what is on the menu to what appears on the plate somehow gets lost.  There are, of course, some very good exceptions but generally, a high level of consistency is not there.

 

It takes about a week to learn to read the menus in the morning and select the best options for the day.  We, of course, were never hungry and left the ship having eaten more than we should have. 

 

[Mauzac]

We have just returned from Quest too, and loved Solis.  It is 'mediterranean' food at its best as far as we're concerned.

It does take one visit to understand the menu but by our second visit we knew our way round more.  We went four times on our 35 day cruise, but even then I was just checking I wasn't ordering a main course as a starter.  Salads were really good as were all vegetable dishes.  

 

The cocktails were superb as was the Afogato Ursula at the end (Pic attached, I might have the name wrong).  I had it each time I went but had it decaf to ensure sleep that night! 

We really enjoyed Solis.  

 

Edited March 29 by Mauzac
Wrong pic!

[Mauzac]

Try again.  Here is the pic.

[claranda]

Is there a menu anywhere on the board? If not, can someone post, please?

[Tallante]

2 hours ago, claranda said:

Is there a menu anywhere on the board? If not, can someone post, please?

 

2 hours ago, claranda said:

Is there a menu anywhere on the board? If not, can someone post, please?

 

2 hours ago, claranda said:

Is there a menu anywhere on the board? If not, can someone post, please?

The Solis menus are posted daily on Source along with the other restaurant menus..  Log onto your booking and you can explore all the menus for that day.

[claranda]

Thanks! Mine is still showing TK with no content…I’ll re-boot!

[skybluewaters]

5 hours ago, claranda said:

Thanks! Mine is still showing TK with no content…I’ll re-boot!

 

If your next cruise is on Odyssey (or on a ship that doesn't have Solis yet), your app will still show TK Grill.

 

Otherwise, if you open the app and then click on the "Experiences" tab at the bottom of the page, and then go to "Dining & Drinks," it should re-populate with Solis instead of TK Grill (key word here is "should").

[claranda]

Thanks all, have got it now….I like the cocktail blurb!

[Jaq66]

On 3/29/2024 at 4:25 PM, Tallante said:

 

 

The Solis menus are posted daily on Source along with the other restaurant menus..  Log onto your booking and you can explore all the menus for that day.

We are booked on a cruise on the Encore in 7 weeks and I check the menu intermittently but source has had the same menu for the last 2 weeks since it added Solis and removed TK ☹️

[Tallante]

3 hours ago, Jaq66 said:

We are booked on a cruise on the Encore in 7 weeks and I check the menu intermittently but source has had the same menu for the last 2 weeks since it added Solis and removed TK ☹️

Only a few items change daily, not the whole menu.

[stan01]

5 hours ago, Jaq66 said:

We are booked on a cruise on the Encore in 7 weeks and I check the menu intermittently but source has had the same menu for the last 2 weeks since it added Solis and removed TK ☹️

 

Try logging out of your Seabourn account on the source app, then log back in again.  I've seen this before and doing this step helped fix it.

[Jaq66]

I tried that and now it does not give any menus just fining venues. Technology glitches.