What are your favorite specialty restaurants

Will be on the Reflection Oct 11 in the med and planning on trying the specialty restaurants. What are the differences and is there any particular one that is better value, better food. Not sure the lawn club grill appeals. Any opinions welcome. Thanks

I am very curious about the answers you will get since we are cruising with Celebrity in March 2014!

on the website they all seem very interesting ....;)

Will be on the Reflection Oct 11 in the med and planning on trying the specialty restaurants. What are the differences and is there any particular one that is better value, better food. Not sure the lawn club grill appeals. Any opinions welcome. Thanks

We loved them all, including the Lawn Club. :)

Murano's was wonderful! Elegant, quiet, unobtrusive service, food presented in a very picturesque presentation, i.e. the Turbot entree.

Tuscan Grille was just as good. At the stern of the Eclipse, a window table provided a view that complimented the excellent service and cuisine. My veal scallopine was equal to or better than any veal dish I have ever enjoyed.

We did not try Qsine or Blu.

On the newer S class ships, our favorites are Tuscan Grill and Lawn Club Grill. Service in all restaurants is wonderful, it is a menu preference and environment. The Tuscan is in the aft of the ship with great water views!!!

We liked both Normandie (similar to Murano) and Qsine on the Summit this past May. We also did Bistro on 5 on embarkation day and enjoyed that too.

Will be on the Reflection Oct 11 in the med and planning on trying the specialty restaurants. What are the differences and is there any particular one that is better value, better food. Not sure the lawn club grill appeals. Any opinions welcome. Thanks

Okay everyone, I'll do my best to give you the info on the package. Just got off Reflection. In a nutshell, you pay $29 per person per day. This gets you unlimited dinners at any specialty restaurant. We chose 2 at Murano, 2 at Qsine, 2 at Tuscan Grill and 1 at Lawn Club Grill. You can mix that up to any number of times at any restaurant. If you want to eat all 7 nights at Murano you can. You also get unlimited breakfast, lunch or dinner at Bistro on 5 and The Porch (The Porch was great, more later,) access to the Champagne High Tea in Murano, and lunch on the final sea day in either Murano or Tuscan Grill (sorry didn't get a pic of those menus.) We chose Murano for the lunch. Here is the kicker, you can only get this package on the ship on the first day. When we got onboard at around 11:45 a.m., I went straight to Murano to make my reservations. That's the other kicker, no pre-cruise reservations for this package. With that said, we had a FULL ship during spring break, yet I was able to get EVERY reservation time I wanted on every day. I do have to say I was a little stressed about getting the times I wanted, but making a beeline for Murano helped! Staight from Murano for reservations, we went up to The Porch to get some lunch ($5 cover without our package,) There were 2 other tables and us. No crazy mob scene like at Ocean View. The Porch has a great panini menu (breakfast and lunch paninis,) as well as some great salads. They also offer a nice wine list and regular beverages (we had the premium alcohol package.) Dinner that night was at Tuscan Grill. A table for 2 by the window for sunset: Awesome. Service from Sasha was perfect (she also serves at The Porch during lunch). Start to finish the food was great, only issue I had was the Rib eye was very thin, the pic you see of the rib eye on Celebrity's website is not accurate. Day 2 breakfast/lunch at Bistro on 5, a crepe restaurant. They have a nice selection of salads, beverages and wine. Service and food were great from start to finish. Oh, BTW, it was just us initially, then 1 other table the entire time we were in the restaurant. I guess that $5 cover charge was too much for some folks...LOL. Dinner at Murano (formal night). Don't know what else to say except INCREDIBLE!!! Imagine the best 5 star restaurant you've eaten at. This is Murano, I'll say the best restaurant at sea, bar none. Did not get any of the waiters names because it seemed like the entire staff was taking care of every table--just fantastic! We ate breakfast and lunch at The Porch and Bistro on 5 the entire cruise, except for debarkation day. Then we ate at The Oceanview Cafe, which had a very nice selection and presentation for that last day. The Lawn Club Grill is basically what it says: a grill. Good selection of meat and fish which you can pick out yourself and cook if you wish. I chose not to! The flatbread pizzas are very good. They have a salad bar which has limited offerings but is fresh and well maintained. The steaks here are a nice size, I got a Filet (cooked perfectly) and a side of Red Snapper (very moist and tender). Service from Oscar was perfect (Oscar also works lunch at The Porch). Qsine the following night. This place is a nice change from any restaurant where I've eaten. The food is very good, however the dining experience within Qsine focuses on the presentation-- ESPECIALLY if you have Arthur as your waiter. :D He made the entire evening fun and enjoyable. Becasue we were Concierge Class, we were not allowed to eat in Blu :mad:...LOL . I was told by some folks it was good, but always crowded and noise level was very high. Sort of like General Mess as you Navy folks mentioned! I'll leave the ship review to someone else. All in all a fantastic cruise for a Foodie and Winey like me! Any questions on the package just give a shout back and I'll try to answer them in a timely manner. As they say in Murano while lifting the cover to reveal your entree...VOILA!!!..Bon Appetit! :)

When recently on Solstice, we thoroughly enjoyed everything about Murano. The ambience, the service and especially the wonderful food.

I would not bother with Tuscan Grille again afraid to say. The beef wellington was requested medium and it was overcooked and dry, not something I expected from a specialty restaurant.

Recently off Solstice,

We pre-booked two nights in Murano and one in Tuscan Grill. TG was the better food, also helped by the fact we could see what we were eating instead of having the lights really dim. Why anyone would build a restaurant looking at a lifeboat (Murano) then put up thick net curtains and turn down the lights defeats me.

I also object to being asked to make a $10 tip when I'm paying premium prices. No problem at Blu (where the food was excellent also) but not in Murano.

The real surpise was Silk Harvest. We hadn't planned to eat there and only went because there was a deal on. In the end we dined there twice. The staff were wonderful and the food was good.

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Having tried Murano, Silk Harvest and Tuscan Grille, DW and my favorite is hands-down Tuscan Grill. It's the only one of the three we want to go to again.

We love Murano and QSine. I'm not crazy about Tuscan Grill but the view is so fantastic that we will book it again. The Lawn Club Grill was fun but in the Adriatic @ 7:00 PM was not a good idea. It was too hot!! And, if it counts we love Bistro on Five, it is our favorite place to have lunch and sometimes the children go there after dinner for dessert. :):)

The specialty restaurants are all good for different reasons but our favorite restaurants are Qsine and The Lawn Club Grill.

The concept in Qsine is very refreshing as I love new ways of presenting food. They are throwing all the standards of how things are supposed to be overboard and creates something new.

I enjoyed the location of the The Lawn Club Grill. Its beautiful to dine there at sunset:) The steaks was better than at the Tuscan Grill. Its fun, its very unpretentious.

The service and food in Murano is very pompous. I have eaten to many times in restaurants like this so prefer my experience more real.

We also enjoy Blu and the Bistro on 5.

We think the specialty restaurants are great, but not great enough to really support the ever increasing prices. When they were $15-$25 each you could make a good case for the experience when compared to home. But, we can go to the best restaurant in town for less than $45ea and they are not that much better than the MDR in our opinion.If we get a good deal we usually take it and enjoy it, but there just isn't that "I can't believe what a great deal this is...!" feeling like we used to get. On top of it, we're usually expected to tip extra, even though it's not required we always feel like we should. That pushes the $45ea to $55ea or more. The meals and service are typically very good so I'm not trying to criticize that by any means.

Tom

Will be on the Reflection Oct 11 in the med and planning on trying the specialty restaurants. What are the differences and is there any particular one that is better value, better food. Not sure the lawn club grill appeals. Any opinions welcome. Thanks