Rank the Restaurants?

[WannaCruise08]

We'll be sailing on the Pearl--it is our 1st cruise--and are pondering which restaurants (fee or non-fee) to try out. Can you rank the favorites you've experienced with NCL??

 

Thanks!:)

[Grandpaul]

At least once every cruise I make it to Le Bistro.

[slk230]

Just sailed the Pearl and found the food in the Summer Palace main dining room was just as good as in Cagney's.

 

If you have enough time, eat at a different one each night.

I didn't hear a single complaint about food on the Pearl which is a beautiful ship.

Even the food in the buffet was better than most buffets.

[watchdiva]

Our favorite would have to be Cagney's - great food and great ambiance. A close second is Teppanyaki - again, great food and great fun! Probably LeBistro for the chocolate fondue and the romantic atmosphere.

 

As you can tell - we love the specialty restaurants!!!

[Terrafreaky]

I LOVED the fish & chips in the Blue Lagoon.

[elephant98]

I've been on 3 Jewel class ships (the Jewel, the Pearl and the Pride of Hawaii). They all have the same restaurants, but my favorite differs from ship to ship.

 

On the Pearl, here is how I rank my favorites:

(1) Cagney's -- love the crabcake appetizer, the ribeye steak entree, Cagney's fries and the banana-themed dessert. A fine dining experience that is worth the relatively high cover charge.

(2) La Cucina Italian Restaurant -- the pizzas are terrific as an appetizer or meal; good ceaser salad, the beef entrees are very good too. Well worth it.

(3) Teppanyaki -- shrimp and scallops were amazing; avoid the lobster as it is the same low quality, rubbery, frozen lobster that is served in the main dining room. Offers a comparable experience to most land based Teppanyaki restaurants -- broth soup, salad with ginger dressing, white rice, fried rice and green tea ice cream come with the entree. Very entertaining chefs too.

(4) Le Bistro -- nice ambience. Great desserts. (Though, unlike on our 2006 sailing on the Jewel, there was no chocolate fondue dessert). Good, but not great, food for the price. Be prepared to pay an extra fee on top of the normal surcharge if you want the traditional french onion soup appetizer, the filet mignon entree or a souffle for dessert.

(5) Summer Palace - main dining room food, but pretty good. (Try eating there for lunch too. Its surprisingly good.)

(6) Mambos/Tapas Latin Restaurant -- not high quality food, not as good as the main dining room, and not as good as most land based tex-mex restaurants. Nevertheless, the tex-mex menu has many creative offerings. A nice alternative. Have some chips and salsa, fajitas, the churro dessert and wash it down with a margarita. Its fun!

(7) Blue Lagoon - buffet type fare, but with table service. Wouldn't eat there for dinner, but would try it for lunch. Fish and Chips, cheese fries, chili dog, and the like are decent.

(8) Lotus Garden - my favorite restaurant on the Jewel, but not on the Pearl. The menu options are the same -- a nice selection at that -- but something was missing in terms of taste on our particular cruise.

 

The buffet is buffet quality. But, I must say that the daily ice cream offerings are wonderful, the bread selection is terrific, and the pizza is good too.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

[CanadianTwosome]

Out of all the restaurants we've tried over two NCL cruises, we enjoyed the food at every one. My personal list, starting with my favourite is:

 

Teppanyaki

Ginza (on the Star - main asian fusion restaurant)

Main dining rooms (all of them)

Cagney's

La Trattoria

 

The Blue Lagoon, room service and the buffet are all good - for what they are. I just don't consider any of them to be restaurants for a list like this. :)

[electricron]

My favorite restaurant is the Le Bistro. I love French cuisine. Living in Texas, there aren't that many French restaurants, although there's more Tex-Mex restaurants than McDonalds.

 

My second favorite aboard a NCL ship really isn't a restaurant. It's Henry's Pub on the Spirit, which makes great fish & chips on sea days. The knauts at the Biergarten on the Spirit weren't bad either.

[WannaCruise08]

Wow, thanks for the great input! I'm getting hungry reading your responses!:D Keep 'em coming!

 

We are SO excited to go on our first cruise. I know it will be so much fun!

 

:)

[WinterSky]

#1 - Le Bistro - Romantic fine dining at its best! Tip: Chocolate fondue is not on the menu but you can ask for it - delicious! (Allow lots of time)

 

#2 - Asian - Extremely good food with stellar presentation! (Allow lots of time)

 

#3 - Garden Cafe - Quick convenient access to great food!

[cubfan60004]

Le Bistro. We won ours on the free spin in the casino. We would of gone anyway though.... The food was fantastic and the service was top notch.

[2tnts]

Our Favorites:

Cagney's

Mambos

[Aloha Gal]

Hi WannaCruise08, the Pearl to Alaska (7/07) was also our first cruise. You will love it. This is the order of our restaurant preferences:

 

#1 Le Bistro - absolutely fabulous and we don't even like French food!

 

Tied for #2 Mambo's - 4 of us ate there twice and everything was yummy

 

Tied for #2 Teppanyaki - loved the show and food

 

#3 - Garden Buffet/Great Outdoors - this is buffet food, but it was convenient, lots of variety, and good selection of ice cream flavors

 

#5 - Summer Palace - gorgeous views; above average food

 

#6 - Cagney's - we are big meat eaters and this was a disappointment

 

#7 - Sushi - eh, I would skip this. I'm Japanese - perhaps I'm too picky.

 

#8 - Blue Lagoon - limited menu; mediocre fast food

 

So many restaurants, so little time. Did not get to try Indigo and La Cucina.

 

On the evening we were in Victoria, we came back to the ship around 10 pm-ish and there was a bbq going on pool-side. Long lines, but worth the wait. - ribs, chicken, corn on the cob - finger lickin' good.

 

Chocolate buffet - we went on the late side to avoid the lines. If you aren't doing anything better, check this out. Otherwise, I'd pass on it.

 

Just my opinion; food tastes run the gamut. Whether you agree or disagree, the Pearl and Alaska are sure to please, and you will become a cruise convert!:)

 

Aloha

[pajammies]

I don't think I could really rank the restaurants, but the late night snack that stands out in my mind is the fried rice at Blue Lagoon. My husband and I and the other couple we cruised with got this a couple times. We all thought it was great.

[garycarla]

Ranking will change based on your tastes and desires. To be honest, the buffet would rank high in food quality and variety based on our recent 19 day Pearl cruise.

 

Never did Cagneys because all the other food was so great, really.