Diamond Princess--Sabatini's--Disappointed

I just returned with three friends on the Diamond Princess Mexican Riviera cruise. Having dined at Celebrity's upscale specialty restaurants, we were looking forward to dining at Sabatini's. What a disappointment! The service was at first slow, and after requesting vegetable side dishes which came with the same entree as another guest at our table, we were then treated with arrogance, and notably missed by the maitre'd as he made the rounds inquiring about the experience at every table but ours. Even had the service been adequate, the menu itself consists of various small plates, all prepared well in advance, not fresh. The veal chop was nothing but fat. I recommend that no one waste his money, especially when the food and service at the non-surcharge dining rooms is far superior and enjoyable.

I love the food in the Princess dining rooms, but I must admit that I didn't really like Sabitini's. It was a good "one-time-experience" but I probably won't go back again.

oh man.............................................................................did you eat the fat veal chop?

Ahhhh Sabatini's....the Olympics of Eating!....always been pleased everytime we crusie, we usually go once to Sabatini's. However I have discovered that there brunch menu which is usually offered only once while at sea is much better and the service is condensed that it only takes about 2 hours max to get through it all.

The only thing that makes it Sabatini's difficult to include in every cruise is the sheer volume of food. It is a tasting menu consisting of many marinated items, perhaps that is the reason for the "not fresh" comments.

I must say that the food was good when we were there but certainly there is alot of it. Right now I am like Dreamer333 in that it is probably a one time experience for me too. What really made it an experience was the people who were at our table. Bunch of very good friends.

Marilyn

I have to admit that I am not a Sabitini's fan either. I felt the same as you after dining there on the Star a few years ago and would not recommend it to anyone as a result.

I do hope your cruise was wonderful aside from that one meal. :)

We also just returned from the Diamond, and we had an enjoyable meal at Sabatini's. While I wouldn't spend the money to go there more than one night during the week, I'm glad that we experienced it once. We felt the service and food were excellent.

Jean

I went once on the Diamond and would never do it again. Did not care for most of the "odd" selections but happy I tried it once.

It wasn't what we expected either....very unusual food...and you don't realize that it's all served to you whether or not you want it...menu doesn't explain that you don't choose anything but the main course.

certainly wouldn't go again.

I miss the old brunch menu. We had it on the Golden in October 2002. By the time we sailed on the Star Princess in July 2003, they had discontinued the special brunch menu and served the same menu for brunch on sea days that they do regularly at night. One of the added bonuses of the old brunch menu was it included champagne, mimosas, and wine. There was a great seafood and sushi buffet. Then you could order several other courses and finish with a great creme brulee.

I agree with avid1. I was recently on the Diamond Princess and had a meal at Sabatini's. The servers treated us with arrogance. The food was indeed not freshly prepared and I suppose much of it could be described as "marinated" as a previous reply suggests. Marinated? Soggy? However you'd like to describe these dishes they were not fresh. The other restaurants on the ship were far superior in service! Our favorite was Pacific Moon. Great service! Our cruise overall was fantastic.

I've never eaten there because I travel with my 10 year old but I guess I didn't miss much. I've always thought about trying it but I guess I won't wonder anymore.Thanks everyone... one less thing to do on the ship:)

We ate at Sabatini's on the Sapphire. We enjoyed the meal, but echo the feeling that it is too much food.

Our biggest complaint was that our waiter kept trying to shove a $60.00 bottle of wine down our throats after we made it perfectly clear we had no intention of spending that much on a bottle of wine.

well this post was certainly an eye opener as i just booked my first Princess cruise on the Golden and was definitely intending to try Sabatini's. now im having second thoughts, can someone tell me what is available as choices for the main entree? that might make a difference, i could just taste all the other side dishes.

Just returned from the Grand. We liked Sabatini's on the Sapphire in Novembere so one of the first things we did was make a reservation when we boarded the Grand. We agree that the type of food served may not be some folks 'personal choice' - be we liked all of the marinated veggies, etc, and one does NOT have to eat everything! My wife doesn't like eggplant, caviar, etc, but found that she DOES like mussels!

Entry choices consist of 4-6 items. I've had the Tiger Prawns (great) and the scallops (just ok) - wish I'd had the Veal Chop - looked great. Wife had the Langostino (sp?) once - not what she expected, but good anyway. Also offer a chicken and fish dish, but can't remember the other choice(s).

I'd say try it - a lot of variety, and we found service / quality to be excellent. We WILL book it again!

Much too much food for my wife and I - we both have small appetites.

On the other hand, Sterling Steak House serves a delicious filet mignon, and the prime rib is also very good.

well this post was certainly an eye opener as i just booked my first Princess cruise on the Golden and was definitely intending to try Sabatini's. now im having second thoughts, can someone tell me what is available as choices for the main entree? that might make a difference, i could just taste all the other side dishes.

All you really get is a taste of the many dishes. The problem is, there are so many of them (marinated vegetables, marinated seafood items, small portions of pasta, etc.) that it all adds up to a lot of food. Lobster tail is one of the main course items. These are much larger than what are served in the dining room. Our waiter saw fit to bring us two more lobster tails - and darn, my wife doesn't like lobster. :D She had langoustines.

I'm careful in recommending whether or not people should try Sabatini's. It definitely is not for everyone. It is more fun when you have a group of people and don't notice the time quite so much.

I enjoyed our dinner at Sabatini's on the Sapphire last summer, but wouldn't be in a big rush to do it again. The food was excellent, but we didn't enjoy sitting their in our formal wear for 2.5 hours and missing the show we had planned on attending. If on the the Diamond/Sapphire and you want italian try Vivaldi, the food is just as good and you can get in and out of there in a reasonable amount of time. Only issue we ran into on our Diamond cruise last week was that Vivaldi doesn't open until 8:00pm so we had to eat later than usual. Of course the best italian dish they serve in my opinion is the fettuccini from the always available menu.

As I was reading the post I started to get a deva vuu....well ok so it was posted a couple of weeks ago and just now revived.

What I can not understand on so many threads are comments such as "this is an eye opener" or "not exactly a ringing endorsment" . I hope none of the folks think I am "picking" on them, I just wonder why it seems when something may have 50 positive reports and 2 or 3 negative ones, some folks key in on the negative ones?

I am no food expert, that's for sure but we have sampled Sabatini's twice. On Star they served three very nice lobster tails as the entree' and we were just as pleasently suprised on Sapphire. There were 9 of us and I didn't hear anyone complain. They do offer many different "samples" of things, and yes artichoke hearts are marinated, along with some other things that may need an aquired taste?

Don't let a few negatives keep you from at least trying this food experience, you may not get back for a long while.

We tried Sabatini on Island Princess . We would not do it again. Sterling Steakhouse was a little better on Caribbean Princess , but I dont think either of them are worth the extra money.