Epic- Specialty restaurants worth it?

[tanyajon]

Hi-

We are going on the Epic in December and I am wondering if the specialty restaurants are worth the extra cost? What can I expect from eating at a specialty restaurant vs. the regular ones? If you do think they are worth it, which ones are best?

 

Thanks much- Tanya

[Medtech2]

Hi-

We are going on the Epic in December and I am wondering if the specialty restaurants are worth the extra cost? What can I expect from eating at a specialty restaurant vs. the regular ones? If you do think they are worth it, which ones are best?

 

Thanks much- Tanya

It depends on what types of restaurants are available to you at home. We have great Teppanyaki and Chinese at home so that was not a draw for us but we do not have a Churascarria so we did try that...Money is relative and a very different scenario for everyone. We personally felt the extra charge restaurants weren't worth it for us, considering the cost of the cruise and the cost of outstanding meals in our hometown. We did try Le Bistro and Cagney's also and just were not that impressed. While they were a bit better than the MDR, they weren't worth the extra money to us...

[sdmike]

We only did Moderno for the reasons stated above, and we loved it. It was worth the extra $18 IMO

[KandJCruising]

The only ones we tried last week were the noodle bar (so-so) and Moderno, which we really liked. We like the atmosphere and the options of the different restaurants, so for us it's worth it.

[MMastell]

My opinion based on my Epic cruise:

 

Cagney's: Definitely. Great prime steaks and good service.

 

Moderno: Yes. Just be careful about the salad bar. It's so good you'll fill up and not have room for the great meats.

 

Le Bistro: A wonderful French restaurant. A great place for a romantic dinner and excellent service.

 

Noodle Bar: Yes. Perfect for lunch but watch out about how much you order the portions are large.

 

Sushi Restaurant: A good place if you love sushi and for $20 you can eat the equivalent of $150 on land.

 

Cirque: The show, after the first 20 minutes, is great but the food was the worst on board.

 

Murder Mystery Lunch: Good show and the food, while basic, was quite good.

 

In Moderno, Cagney's and Le Bistro you will usually receive a bit more personalized service than you receive in the main dining rooms but overall the service in Taste and Manhattan were fine. One night in Manhattan they did get everything messed up and caused us to miss the Legends show.

 

Definitely try one or two of the alternative restaurants. You won't regret it.

 

Take care,

Mike

[sjbdtz]

Hi-

We are going on the Epic in December and I am wondering if the specialty restaurants are worth the extra cost? What can I expect from eating at a specialty restaurant vs. the regular ones? If you do think they are worth it, which ones are best?

 

Thanks much- Tanya

 

 

There are approximately 18,000 restaurants in Toronto and I live right in the middle of downtown.

 

I don't dine at speciality restaurants because we don't have them at home.... I dine there because the ones at home charge MUCH more than $10/person.

 

 

It's a great way to get variety, and a 4-star meal at a 2-star price. I've found Le Bistro to be as good as my favorite local French restaurant, yet there I would pay $200+ for a couple, and Le Bistro is about $50 including a bottle of wine.

 

So I saved $150 over the land-based price for the same experience. Would the Main Dining Room meal have been a $150/couple experience?

 

Unlikely....therefore the return on investment of the extra $50 at Le Bistro is a positive.

 

 

I apply the same logic to the other restaurants as well.

 

On the EPIC, although I intended to, I didn't eat a single meal in the MDRs... there was just too much OTHER choice.

[coffeebean]

We dine in the specialty restaurants most nights if not all, on our NCL cruises. On Epic we dined in specialty restaurants five of the seven nights...one night in The Manhattan Club and one night in Cirque Dreams.

 

The one night we dined in The Manhattan Club MDR, the food was not comparable to the food quality in the specialty restaurants. An example of this would be the lobster in Cagney's and Le Bistro vs the lobster in the MDR. Same goes for the Filet Mignon. Well, actually, the MDRs do not offer Filet Mignon.

 

The service in the MDRs is quite good but not nearly as good as the attentive service offered in the specialty restaurants. The atmosphere in the specialty restaurants is more intimate and certainly much quieter than the large MDRs.

 

The deserts in the specialty restaurants are worth the surcharge alone. My favorite desert on the ship was the Chocolate Napoleon in Le Bistro. Their Chocolate Fondue is another decedent desert which deserves the highest praise. Moderno's signature desert...the puff pastries with vanilla hard dipping sauce is excellent too. La Cuccina offers a Tira Misu (sp?) which doesn't resemble anything I've ever had in a MDR...the presentation and the taste is so much better.

 

My top three specialty restaurants on Epic are Le Bistro, Moderno and Cagney's although all of them are wonderful.

 

That is just a few examples why we prefer to dine in the specialty restaurants. Bottom line is "you get what you pay for".

[dznymom]

I think it's nice to do one or two specialties but certainly not necessary. I wouldn't go out for fine dining every night if I were at home, and I don't feel the need to do specialties every night on the ship but I do enjoy variety. I think we had a nice mix and we really didn't spend much extra.

 

This is what we did for dinners:

 

Sat - Kicked back & enjoyed the buffet because we had early Blue Man res

Sun - Cirque - went for the show but the food was decent

Mon - Moderno - GREAT food & service. Best meal of the week!

Tues - Manhattan Room - Enjoyed the band and had a nice meal

Wed - O'Sheehans - we were lazy :p

Thurs - Taste - Fabulous service and nice meal

Fri - La Cuccina - needed our Italian fix but it was sub-par

 

Anyway, I highly recommend Moderno and I would toss in another one that especially appeals to you. I can say that the best meals I have had on the other ships were at Le Bistro & I will be eating there on the Jewel next week :)

[scfa99]

Moderno was worth it. LaCuccina not worth it.

[tanyajon]

Thanks so much for the feedback. It helps!

[swtpnk]

We only did Circ Dreams, because of the show..AWESOME SHOW too!! otherwise, we enjoyed Taste and Manhatten Room, O'Sheehans and the buffet we were on a budget, and didnt spend any more on food because we enjoyed what the free restaurants had... why pay again when you paid for decent food when you purchased your cruise?? I always go middle of the road with everything I do.. food is no exception. it all goes in the belly. nothing to show for it.. LOL have a GREAT time deciding where you will eat!! :) its all good. If it wasnt, there would be no one in those restaurants!!!