Best Specialty Restaurant Food 2024

[poona1]

Hey cruisers..I'll be sailing on the Getaway to Bermuda soon. To those who have eaten at the Specialty restaurants, what particular food item was really appetizing given how much ncl has cut back...

 

I have booked Le Bistro and I have 2 more platinum rewards specialty restaurants yet to book so I was wondering which is truly worth it for the taste!!

 

Not too crazy for the meat quality in Moderno and not interested in Teppanyaki as I'm solo...any further recommendations, Thanks!

[dbrown84]

13 minutes ago, poona1 said:

Hey cruisers..I'll be sailing on the Getaway to Bermuda soon. To those who have eaten at the Specialty restaurants, what particular food item was really appetizing given how much ncl has cut back...

 

I have booked Le Bistro and I have 2 more platinum rewards specialty restaurants yet to book so I was wondering which is truly worth it for the taste!!

 

Not too crazy for the meat quality in Moderno and not interested in Teppanyaki as I'm solo...any further recommendations, Thanks!

I will say not to let being solo stop you from going to Teppanyaki.  You will still have a great time.  Other than that, I was on the Getaway last month, and had a wonderful ribeye in Cagney's.  I order medium steaks and it was cooked perfectly.  It was my birthday dinner.  Of course, I had the 7 layer chocolate cake for desert 

[poona1]

Hey D...Belated Happy Birthday...glad u celebrated on a cruise...I had my wedding anniversary on a cruise and they decorated my cabin well but for a price, of course 😉

 

been thinking about Cagneys as well...esp. the steak value one would get onboard than pay full price in the city...But from past reviews, I've heard the meat has gotten worse in quality, esp. at Modernos...sure would love a good filet mignon though..

 

I've heard good things about Teppanyaki, esp. the food volume but not much of a food show guy..

 

Personally, seeing the 2024 menus is a travesty...Higher prices, smaller sides and poor quality of meat from past reviews...given how much hype the cruising industry getting now, literally a floating city coming out every year, sadly it gets worse..

 

[BirdTravels]

1 hour ago, poona1 said:

Hey cruisers..I'll be sailing on the Getaway to Bermuda soon. To those who have eaten at the Specialty restaurants, what particular food item was really appetizing given how much ncl has cut back...

 

I have booked Le Bistro and I have 2 more platinum rewards specialty restaurants yet to book so I was wondering which is truly worth it for the taste!!

 

Not too crazy for the meat quality in Moderno and not interested in Teppanyaki as I'm solo...any further recommendations, Thanks!

 

Food is subjective. It is totally up to your tastes. 

 

Personally, I book Le Bistro on every cruise and pay the upcharge for the Filet and Foie Gras. I would also book Teppanyaki (totally fine as a solo) and Ocean Blue. 

 

I am not a big Italian fan, so I would not normally book La Cucina, but there are those who make La Cucina their first-to-book restaurant. 

 

Most people would go to Cagney's Steakhouse. Cagney's is actually at the bottom of my list because the food and service across the fleet. 

 

People like to complain about "cut backs", but food comes and goes. After the pandemic, NCL made a big attempt to upscale and simplify their menus. You can't image the uproar when the mac-n-cheese left the menu at Hudson's. Some consider the evolution of the menus to be good (we do). Some consider it as being cheap. A few years pre-pandemic, there was a similar uproar with fish fingers were removed from the MDR lunch menu and was replaced with poached salmon. Or when chicken noodle soup was removed and replaced with pho. Today's uproar is the removal of cookies and replacement with brownies. And the uproar over the removal of hash brown (which are made from the cheapest of left over potatoes not good enough to be sold as spuds) and replacement with hand-cut country potatoes. 

[complawyer]

the lobster thermidor in le bistro is to die for. worth the extra $25.00 upcharge. french onion soup and escargo are both great. 

 

teppanyaki has downgraded from filet mignon to new york. used to be my favorite but now so-so. salad bar in moderno more than compensates for the meat choices. cagney's is and always will be cagney's. in over 25 ncl cruises, i can safely say ive never really had a bad meal there, contrary to other posters comments

 

not really crazy about cucina. ive had better meals in olive garden restaurants. more choices also

[CptJLMcCrea]

41 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

And the uproar over the removal of hash brown (which are made from the cheapest of left over potatoes not good enough to be sold as spuds) and replacement with hand-cut country potatoes. 

 

In 40-years of cooking, I have not yet been able to come remotely close to decent, restaurant-style hashbrowns at home. And the one time I tried the frozen, McDonalds-style in hot oil, I burned the bejesus out of them and made a huge mess. My wife has nixed any future attempts. I can, however, make roasted diced potatoes anytime I want. Nothing special about those.

 

So, I take issue with this statement. The rest of the post is sound.

 

 

 

 

Edited February 22 by CptJLMcCrea

[valleyvillage]

If you would like to try something different, and don't mind going vegetarian for a meal or two,

check out the Cauliflower Steak in Ocean Blue and the Napoleon de Legumes in Le Bistro.

They are really special!

[Grandmafreddie]

Agree paying 70$ for salad bar is not worth it. Maderno meat was so bad got my dinning voucher back even manager couldnt cut it. La bistro good. La Cachino fair.  Tepanaki not bad abd you can ask for udon noodles if you dont want rice. Scallops decent chicken and meat fair. Shrimp good. Fyi ask for icecream with desert. Wasabi cocktail yum.

[RocketMan275]

13 hours ago, poona1 said:

I have booked Le Bistro and I have 2 more platinum rewards specialty restaurants yet to book so I was wondering which is truly worth it for the taste!!

Wife and I think the Lobster Thermidor in Le bistro is the best specialy dining.  It has an upcharge but we think it well worth it.  Wife insists on that.

[bkrickles1]

14 hours ago, dbrown84 said:

I will say not to let being solo stop you from going to Teppanyaki.  You will still have a great time.  Other than that, I was on the Getaway last month, and had a wonderful ribeye in Cagney's.  I order medium steaks and it was cooked perfectly.  It was my birthday dinner.  Of course, I had the 7 layer chocolate cake for desert 

I didn't love my ribeye at Cagney's on Joy this past July. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't great.

It may have been because I just had the best ribeye of my life in Vegas a couple of months prior.

With that being said, we're sailing Getaway in April and my daughter has requested that we dine the first night at Cagney's, as it's her birthday.

I may try the ribeye again or maybe I'll try the prime rib. Either way, my daughter and I will be getting the 7 layer Chocolate cake.

BTW I believe (but not 100%) that the 7 layer chocolate cake described on the all day room service menu, may be the same one as at Cagney's.

With plenty of obc and a 10 day sailing, I'll be checking it out. Lol!!

[dbrown84]

1 hour ago, bkrickles1 said:

I didn't love my ribeye at Cagney's on Joy this past July. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't great.

It may have been because I just had the best ribeye of my life in Vegas a couple of months prior.

With that being said, we're sailing Getaway in April and my daughter has requested that we dine the first night at Cagney's, as it's her birthday.

I may try the ribeye again or maybe I'll try the prime rib. Either way, my daughter and I will be getting the 7 layer Chocolate cake.

BTW I believe (but not 100%) that the 7 layer chocolate cake described on the all day room service menu, may be the same one as at Cagney's.

With plenty of obc and a 10 day sailing, I'll be checking it out. Lol!!

Happy Birthday to your daughter.  I have always gotten the prime rib before, and was never disappointed.  I just decided to try something different this time.  I was going to go with the lamb chops, but when it came time to order the beef in me came out and I said ribeye 🙂 After eating the chocolate cake, they came out with a birthday cake and sang to me.  I was so stuffed.  I took a bite out of it and left the rest there.  It was like a quarter cake

[cruiser2015]

16 hours ago, poona1 said:

Hey cruisers..I'll be sailing on the Getaway to Bermuda soon. To those who have eaten at the Specialty restaurants, what particular food item was really appetizing given how much ncl has cut back...

 

I have booked Le Bistro and I have 2 more platinum rewards specialty restaurants yet to book so I was wondering which is truly worth it for the taste!!

 

Not too crazy for the meat quality in Moderno and not interested in Teppanyaki as I'm solo...any further recommendations, Thanks!

I agree with other posters that there's no reason to skip Teppanyaki as a solo - there's no sharing between individuals.

Also, I've seen a number of posts saying that the steak there has gone down hill. I had it last month and it was great. I have no comparison to the past cuts used; and, no doubt, the beef could vary from one cruise to the next in quality.

There's also a number of comments on Cagney's talking about decreased beef quality. Maybe so. But we ate there twice recently and had the filet mignon - quite good.

[cruiser2015]

14 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

 

Food is subjective. It is totally up to your tastes. 

 

Personally, I book Le Bistro on every cruise and pay the upcharge for the Filet and Foie Gras. I would also book Teppanyaki (totally fine as a solo) and Ocean Blue. 

 

I am not a big Italian fan, so I would not normally book La Cucina, but there are those who make La Cucina their first-to-book restaurant. 

 

Most people would go to Cagney's Steakhouse. Cagney's is actually at the bottom of my list because the food and service across the fleet. 

 

People like to complain about "cut backs", but food comes and goes. After the pandemic, NCL made a big attempt to upscale and simplify their menus. You can't image the uproar when the mac-n-cheese left the menu at Hudson's. Some consider the evolution of the menus to be good (we do). Some consider it as being cheap. A few years pre-pandemic, there was a similar uproar with fish fingers were removed from the MDR lunch menu and was replaced with poached salmon. Or when chicken noodle soup was removed and replaced with pho. Today's uproar is the removal of cookies and replacement with brownies. And the uproar over the removal of hash brown (which are made from the cheapest of left over potatoes not good enough to be sold as spuds) and replacement with hand-cut country potatoes. 

Brownies for cookies? Sounds like a good swap for my taste.

But, they took away our cookies on the Bliss and I don't remember seeing a single brownie in 15 days.

I guess the fleet is scattered regarding these modifications.

[vacation44]

2 hours ago, cruiser2015 said:

Brownies for cookies? Sounds like a good swap for my taste.

But, they took away our cookies on the Bliss and I don't remember seeing a single brownie in 15 days.

I guess the fleet is scattered regarding these modifications.

There were no brownies last week on the Encore.    

[DuckTollerFans]

I usually get the lamb at Cagney's and have been pleased with that. 

 

And some of the vegetarian options in Ocean Blue and Le Bistro sound very good....might have to give that a shot.

[CptJLMcCrea]

10 hours ago, dbrown84 said:

I was going to go with the lamb chops, but when it came time to order the beef in me came out and I said ribeye 🙂

 

I've done this exact same thing, every.single.time. I really need to get the lamb, someday.

 

[AllHandsAstern]

@poona1How far out were you able to make your reservation?

[zqvol]

57 minutes ago, AllHandsAstern said:

@poona1How far out were you able to make your reservation?

120 days unless you are in the haven, a suite or have status n

[poona1]

If sailing solo and on platinum level status, can you ask for 2 entrees in the specialty restaurants since the vouchers say dinner for 2?

 

Also, can you substitute the salad course and the dessert course for 2 more appetizers. My Personal cruise consultant says it's possibe

[ggTexasGal]

@poona1  NCL does not like to deviate very far from their "rules" when using the Latitudes perks.

While it might be possible, it actually is not very likely (short of a "medical" deviation... which would need to be pre-arranged).

[zqvol]

8 minutes ago, poona1 said:

If sailing solo and on platinum level status, can you ask for 2 entrees in the specialty restaurants since the vouchers say dinner for 2?

 

Also, can you substitute the salad course and the dessert course for 2 more appetizers. My Personal cruise consultant says it's possibe

You cannot get two entrees. The PCC is wrong. It is doubtful that they will allow the other substitutions 

[Pitzel]

2 hours ago, poona1 said:

If sailing solo and on platinum level status, can you ask for 2 entrees in the specialty restaurants since the vouchers say dinner for 2?

 

Also, can you substitute the salad course and the dessert course for 2 more appetizers. My Personal cruise consultant says it's possible

You likely cannot get 2 entrees, but you *can* bring someone as your guest to dine with you. Maybe you can invite another solo onboard?

As for swapping for more appetizers, YMMV. It is likely up to the discretion of the staff whether they will allow it. A few years ago, I would say "no problem!", but it seems like NCL has been enforcing their own rules a bit more strictly these days.

 

[AndyCapn]

On 2/21/2024 at 6:53 PM, poona1 said:

Hey cruisers..I'll be sailing on the Getaway to Bermuda soon. To those who have eaten at the Specialty restaurants, what particular food item was really appetizing given how much ncl has cut back...

I was on the Getaway earlier this month and really enjoyed my meal at Ocean Blue: Tuna/Avocado tower for the appetizer, clam chowder for the soup, cod for the entree and chocolate mousse cake for dessert. All of it was delicious (well honestly, I don't remember the chowder. Everything else was sensational.)

 

I had the lamb at Le Bistro, which was good, but the lamb shank in the MDR on night 6 was better (one of the best lamb dinners I've ever had.) Also had beef tartare (good) and the mushroom soup. (always good!). Had to look up what I ordered for dessert, which was the Marquis au Chocolat, and obviously wasn't very memorable either way.

[BirdTravels]

Cagney's Lamb Yummy

 

Le Bistro Moroccan Lamb - Just o.k. Better than the lamb medallions pre-pandemic. Not as good as "old" Bistro Lamb Chops. 

[knitlady037]

On 2/22/2024 at 9:59 PM, CptJLMcCrea said:

 

I've done this exact same thing, every.single.time. I really need to get the lamb, someday.

 

I thought the same way before, but didn't listen to my gut on the Getaway in January this time and ordered the lamb chops. Big disappointment. Left them on the plate. My rib eye on the first visit that trip was delicious!