MDR food, the good, the bad and the ugly

[ehfl]

It's all banquet food (what else would you expect when trying to feed thousands of people at the same time?)

If you're expecting anything more than banquet food, then you'll be dissaointed. If you want cooked to order food, there are venues for that. If you want buffet food, there are venues for that. If you want banquet food, go to the MDR.

[Trainman-2]

[quote name='Merion_Mom']
DO NOT ORDER THE LOBSTER BISQUE. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.[/quote]


DANG! :eek:

I like the Lobster Bisque!

Everyone at our table last week on the Allure ordered it and liked it.

GOLLY!

[Liztoybiz]

I definitely don't want to micromanage or plan this thing to death, it has just been a few years since we cruised and I was wondering what the favorites are. My FIL loves fish so he will be pleased with all the fish reviews. He orders a bottle of tabasco the minute he sits down anyway so he knows what it will taste like in the end.
Reminds me of our last cruise with them, first night in the MDR and he gets the tabasco, goes to shake it up...
The sweet waiter had unscrewed the top for him, the top and tabasco went flying, and soaked two people at the large table behind us. He said "Whoops!" and so I did what needed to be done. Got up, introduced myself, apologized profusely, and tried to have them send me the dry cleaning bill. Their numbers dwindled during the week...
It is always an adventure...
Love the tips, thanks for sharing your food faves!
Liz in Kingwood

[Merion_Mom]

[quote name='chef_christoph']This is fantastic advice M_M!


As for the food, there are several items I look forward to. The chilled soups almost always appeal to me as well as the onion tart and any beef selection. The flourless chocolate cake is also a favorite.

I can only remember being disappointed with two meals in the MDR. One was the turkey dinner I had on Oasis in Dec 2009 (and I know lots of people on CC have said they enjoy it but the one I had was terrible) and the second was a pork chop I had on Serenade in 2006 that was waaaaay too salty. On both occasions my waiter was more than happy to bring me something else.[/QUOTE]

I always loved the chilled fruit soups.

I don't want to upset anyone, but.................

I loved the fruit soups until I read the recipes.

OMG, they have SO MUCH sugar in them! :eek: :eek:

[BroncosFan2010]

[quote name='Merion_Mom']I always loved the chilled fruit soups.

I don't want to upset anyone, but.................

I loved the fruit soups until I read the recipes.

OMG, they have SO MUCH sugar in them! :eek: :eek:[/quote]

I have the RCCL cookbooks, and I have found that you can alter the recipies by using fresh fruit that is in season to help reduce some of that sugar. Let the fruit's natural sugars come through.

[FLSteve11]

[quote name='BroncosFan2010']I love the escargot, the butter sauce is great to dip the bread in.[/quote]

Agreed, I love that escargot AND the sauce. Even my 6yo DD loves it, she orders a serving for herself, although she doesn't want to eat the "icky" part in there, just wants the sauce to dip bread in (ok for me, I get double in mine then, and still get to dip my bread in my own)

[marci22]

Regarding the escargot sauce: I can't believe it really is butter because they pour it on so generously. Butter is just too expensive; they don't even give you very much to use on your bread, we are always asking for refills. I wouldn't be surprised if it is some kind of mixture they order by the 5 gallon bucket.

[chef_christoph]

[quote name='Merion_Mom']I always loved the chilled fruit soups.

I don't want to upset anyone, but.................

I loved the fruit soups until I read the recipes.

OMG, they have SO MUCH sugar in them! :eek: :eek:[/QUOTE]

I have noticed that as well. Some of the recipes not only contain up to 1 cup of sugar per batch (not per serving mind you but it is still pretty bad), they can also contain up to a cup of ginger ale which can add as much as 36g of sugar as well.

I remember looking around for some of the recipes and I actually stumbled across one that contained vanilla ice cream (I don't think it was an RCI recipe). If this recipe were served in a glass I'd call it a very loose milkshake but I guess as soon as it gets served in a bowl it becomes "soup".

Even knowing all of this I still love the chilled soups but for those on a reduced sugar/carb diet they are probably worth skipping. The way I look at it is that I don't eat enough of it to cause a problem in the long run so I enjoy them while aboard.

It's funny, I don't eat a lot of bread at home either but put me on a ship and I can't get enough of the bread selections at dinner topped with a good helping of butter :)

[Jtd724]

[quote name='Trainman-2']DANG! :eek:

I like the Lobster Bisque!

Everyone at our table last week on the Allure ordered it and liked it.

GOLLY![/QUOTE]

As of 2008 the lobster bisque didn't let me down either. Every cruise I order it. Will order it in November too. Hope it's still as good as I remember it.

[MyrtleBeachRCIcruiser]

[quote name='earn']Chocolate melting cake on the menu every night with Carnival was one of the reasons I preferred their food.[/quote]

That thing is absolutely horrifying. One night it was actually served to us completely uncooked. It was literally chocolate cake batter in a ceramic ramekin. Terrible.

The upcharge filet mignon is very good. It is closer to Ruth's Chris than it is to Outback. Either way, its very good. The specialty restaurants on Oasis are very good, and worth the extra charge, IMO.

[JeffersonSea]

Agree with Myrtle, on Oasis, we didn't have one bad meal at any of the specialty restaurants, and only ate in the MDR twice. Vintages was superb, loved the sushi at Izumi.

My only bad dish was at Giovanni's, the shrimp scampi. Horrendous. Very dry, almost no sauce whatsoever, just a bunch of poorly seasoned dry shrimp that you had to scrape out of the shell. It's the exact same dish served in the MDR, sadly. Avoid at all costs.

And I'll agree with a few other posters, the prime rib was completely bland and tasteless.

Didn't have a pasta dish in the MDR or Giovanni's that wasn't very good, at least. And let's not forget those roast beef sandwiches.....

[Cantor]

We just returned from a cruise on Oasis of the Seas. I don't recall having any "bad" food at the MDR. Husband always gets the rolls and even has the assistant waitress going to look for those little ones with the seeds. He tends to get ice cream for dessert with the exception of the night they had pie a la mode. He ordered beef on several nights and always cleaned his plate. I tend to do the fish dishes, didn't have anything bad there. I don't order the chicken. I did have the pork loin, it was good but too big for me. You can alway have salmon which is on the alternate offerings every day as well as a chicken dish and NY Strip. Our waiter, Paul was very helpful and steered us away from some of the menu items.

We also enjoyed their onion soup, cream of mushroom soup, and lobster bisque. I also had no complaints about the crab cake or their salads.

The dessert sampler has the flourless chocolate cake on it. A very small piece since it is way too rich for anything larger.

The night with lobster we ordered 4 extra lobsters for our table. So some had the prime rib and a lobster tail and some of us had 2 lobster tails. Yummm.

[Jimnbigd]

Obviously opinions vary. I say, try it and if you don't like it, order something else. Heck, if you really like it, order seconds! That's the beauty of a cruise. I know, we are taught not to waste food, but the ship will have to throw out most of the un-ordered food anyway. I have had good and bad lobster bisque, baked potato (one Voyager of the Seas cruise it was always cold; last time it was hot and mealy as it should be), steak (one cruise most of the beef was tough; another time on the same ship it was tender and great), and so on.

Fillet mignon steak: Every time we have ordered the extra-charge fillet steak, it has been excellent. Not quite Ruth Chris, but better than Sizzler.

Tip: The first night order the fruit and cheese plate (no charge), and ask your waiter to have it on the table each night. This way the first to arrive will have something to munch on.