Navigator Portofino Restaurant

[AWED23]

Can someone on this board tell me what the Portofino menu is ????...Are there a good selection of main courses ?...Veal? Osso Bucco? Chicken? Various pastas and sauces? Thanks to all resonders!:D

[Travelcat2]

As I recall, it was a set menu. About a half hour prior to being seated, there is the wine tasting with cheese, proscuitto (probablly misspelled) and other tasty items. We were there two nights (if the ship is full, it can be difficult to get reservations unless they were made in advance). Both nights they had a delicious risotto. Although I was there 5 months ago, I don't remember the exact menu -- someone will probably give you a better idea of the specific items. The food was very good.

 

We enjoyed the entertainment the first night -- but, found it repetitive the second time (and a bit loud -- wanted to be able to chat with others at our table).

[JoAnne B]

Typically it is a set menu that changes nightly. Sometimes there is a choice of main course, but not always. There is usually an appetizer course, several pastas and risotto, a salad, main course and dessert. They aren't set up to handle special requests, but even though I don't eat meat, I still never leave hungry. I have, at times, declined a meat course or meat pasta, only to have a meatless version appear at the table thanks to the maitre'ds oversight. Unless it's a full ship you can check the menu then make reservations over lunch.

 

Unfortunately Don Vito's was more successful on the Diamond and never really fit ioto the expectations of pasengers on the Navigator. The casual checked-tablecloth setting, never successfuly translated in the white table-clooth venue. It was casual and fun, and always more about the sing-alongs and dancing and less about the food. Now, many passengers expect a more reserved setting, and others struggle with the watered-down concept.

 

On the spring crossing there were a couple of nights of fusion cuisine instead of Italian. The food was good, not spectacular, but the service was spotty at best. Don't know if this was a one-time experiment or is still offered.

 

Personally, I still enjoy the Italian with Jerry singing his corny songs best of all!

 

JoAnne B

Houston

[atlgacruisers]

The last two weeks you basically had a pre set choice of appetizer, salad and pasta (ie. lobster ravioli one night) followed by a choice of main course which you had three options. Typically it was a meat, fish and chicken option. We really enjoyed.

[lildan]

We were in the Portofino on Aug 27th.....first time experience....I quite liked the pre-half hour when you could sample different wines from all over Italy but take care not to overindulge in the nibbles or it will spoil your dinner.

 

The menu was as follows:

assorted focaccia breads

antipasto: jumbo shrimps with garlic and ricotta cheese zucchini (both)

primi piatti: ravioli, fettuccine and mixed green salad (all)

secondi: fillet of beef with roast potatoes and mixed veg or red snapper with mushrooms and leeks or roasted veal shank braised in red wine (choice)

dolce: tiramisu

coffee

white wine: Gavi

red wine: Chianti (or it should have been but they didn't have any so offered Valpolicella)

 

no I don't have a superb memory ....I brought the menu home as a momento...

 

entertainment was surprisingly good....girl singer who was excellent and one of the head waiters....nicknamed Frank....sang a Frank Sinatra song that was brilliant...but only the one as he was busy serving...pity..!!

 

obviously not to everyone's taste as several people left half way through the meal but we enjoyed it as a "one off".

 

for us the downside was the early start...either 7.00pm or 7.30pm if you didn't bother with the "tasting"....as we usually eat about 8.15pm...but well worth a try for something different.

 

hope this helps.

 

xxH

[Wendy The Wanderer]

That menu sounds very familiar to me from last December. I don't remember risotto being on the menu, but I could be wrong (I love risotto.)

 

The entertainment to me is just too over the top. Yes, the singers have some talent, but when they start making noises and getting people up out of the audience, I just cringe. Not sure I would ever do it again, which kind of limits the alternative dining on this ship. I guess I'm just not enough of a party animal!

 

The wine and cheese pre-dinner time was very nice, I would rather just have done that, on a night where I wasn't ravenous.

[DoctorTom]

We were on the Navigator three weeks ago. Portofino's was my one disappointment. Like Wendy, I'm not into "dinnertainment." We really enjoyed the wine tasting before, and talking to the staff about the different wines, but I thought the dinner concept just didn't work. Apparently the usual host was on vacation during our cruise, so maybe we didn't see it at it's best. I would have much preferred a concept like La Veranda on the Mariner and Voyager, with the Italian steakhouse.

 

Tom

[Travelcat2]

We enjoyed our first meal in Portofino, however, going there again was a bit too much in terms of the entertainment -- makes it almost impossible to hold a conversation. The only reason our next cruise is on the Mariner (then the Voyager) is the lack of dining options on the Navigator. We enjoy Compass Rose -- just appreciate having the options available to us on the other Regent Ships. It would seem that since the 700 passenger Mariner and Voyager have 4 dining options (plus the pool area), that the 490 passenger Navagitor could have 3. . . If that change were made, we would definitely be checking out Navigator itineraries -- we loved the ship! :D

[Charsie]

Portofinos always appears to be a very "black or white" subject...people don't sit on the fence. Love it, or hate it!

 

I love it, it's always my favourite meal and favourite night on the Navigator. Sometimes I do two nights there (definitely, while on a longer cruise). I love the "cheese and chat" preamble, with the bruschetta and other nibblies. And I must love "cheesy", because I love the show itself - listening to Jerry and Roberto and Vincenzo and Monaliza etc. sing. I love the wonderful Italian food, the ravioli and risotto are always particularly spectacular!

 

I was suprised to read the comment regarding the cringy "audience participation", as I've dined in Portofinos many times on the Navigator in the past couple of years (since The Diamond was pulled from the Fleet, sob, sniff, and I changed ships), and I've never seen passengers being pulled out of the audience to sing or dance or participate at all. No longer do passengers dance around with napkin hats on, or croon solo to "sleepwalk", etc. That was a Don Vitos concept, and was left there, and I'm o.k. with that. The whole restaurant sings a song or two together (or not, if you prefer), but that's fine with me, it's not singling anybody out.

 

Having said that - for everyone like me who loves Portofino's - there's someone who hates it. So they have to somehow come up with an alternative dining experience. Maybe using Portofinos half the cruise for that particular Italian kitchen experience, and half the time for something more elegant? I don't know what the answer is. But if people come up with a realistic alternative, Regent will probably listen. So, I'd put your thinking caps on!

[OSUFAN]

Awed....

Here is another Portofino menu from Navigator while we were docked in Venice on Saturday, August 25:

Focaccia Mista, Antipastos were Puff pastry case filled with fresh porcini sauce and Shrimp in Pesto Sauce. They served portions of two pastas...Homemade Roman Pappardelle pasta with lamb ragout, and Pasta ribbons with shrimp and zucchini in creamy garlic sauce. Next came mixed greens, arrugula, sliced tomatoes and cucumbers with balsamic dressing. We had a choice of three main entrees. On that night we could choose between Oven-baked lobster tails with orange crumbs and white wine sauce, Beef Tenderloin wrapped in crispy puff pastry with grain mustard sauce, oven-baked potatoes and garlic-sauteed butter spinach, or Broiled chicken breast with marsala sauce and mixed vegetables. The featured wines were Gavi Minaia, Nicola Bergaglio, Piemonte, Italy 2006 and Chianti Castiglioni D.O.C.G., Frescobaldi, Tuscany, 2005. After the main course they serve a generous shot of Limoncello! :p Dessert is Tiramisu Al Cappuccino.

 

I didn't bring home the menu from our other evening there, but I believe they have a choice of fish, chicken and beef each evening for the main course. The pastas change nightly but the limoncello and Tiramisu I believe are served nightly.

 

I feel the entertainment likely varies from evening to evening, depending upon how much time they have for entertainment. We were there two nights and never saw them draw anyone out of the audience.

 

The wine tasting before the meal was a nice touch...the cheeses are wonderful!:D

 

Hope this helps give you a feel for Portofino.

[rfb]

I agree with Charsie, Portofino's is one of our favorites and has been since we started cuising on the Diamond in 1996. My wife an I were delighted when they introduced the concept on the Navigator. Previously we thought Portofino's was a bland Italian dining alternative. We think the current concept is unique and fun. On the Diamond there was more interaction but the current mode is fine. I know in talking to Mark Conway that there are those who dislike he concept and would prefer the old Portofino's but there are many like us who were happy the reinstated the concept. Now if only they had a way of have a second alternative restaurant. Perhaps on longer voyages, 14 or more days, they could have a variety with some night using a different concept. During the world cruise Latitudes on the Voyager had different themes for different weeks. Some were great and other just good. But all were fun.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Charsie, the audience participation was much less than the original Diamond Don Vito's. But they did have one passenger up singing the chorus of some song the night I was there.

 

I know, this is a hot button. I'd rather this venue was like La Verandah on Voyager as well. Having no viable alternative dining makes Navigator much less appealing to me, which is too bad because I really liked the ship.