The Sabatini's Experience?

[Nicole721]

I've heard from a few people, and read a few reviews, on how dining at Sabatini's is a different kind of dining experience...getting to try a lot of the stuff on the menu, etc. This may be a stupid question, but how exactly does it work there? Do you order the one appitizer/salad/entree/dessert kind of thing? Do they bring you multiple things to try, etc? And if it works that way, would it be worth it for a non seafood eater to try it (that would be me LOL...everyone else in my family loves seafood...I can't stand the sight of it LOL).

 

TIA to anyone who can answer...and to anyone who understands my rambling LOL

[RSGS315]

To the best of my recollection you only order the entree, and the various appetizers are passed around by the waiter. There were so many different things to try, that eventually I just past, as I didn't want to totally ruin my appetit for the main course. I do love seafood, and can't remember the different items they offered, but I'm certain that they served meat dishes as well as seafood.

We enjoyed it immensely!

Ginnie

[Mike2131]

I've heard from a few people, and read a few reviews, on how dining at Sabatini's is a different kind of dining experience...getting to try a lot of the stuff on the menu, etc. This may be a stupid question, but how exactly does it work there? Do you order the one appitizer/salad/entree/dessert kind of thing? Do they bring you multiple things to try, etc? And if it works that way, would it be worth it for a non seafood eater to try it (that would be me LOL...everyone else in my family loves seafood...I can't stand the sight of it LOL).

 

TIA to anyone who can answer...and to anyone who understands my rambling LOL

 

The only thing you actually order is your entree and dessert. Everything else is a tasting menu with the waiters circulating with platters of food for the current course. Unfortunately, this moving buffet resulted in food that ranged from extremely good (my veal chop and tiramisu) to OK (most everything else) to disappointing (the pastas). IMHO, they would be better served by having the diner order every course individually

 

I don't mind investing 2 1/2 hours or so in a nice meal, but there were lapses in the service that could not be attributed to pacing. In addition, they charged for the capuccino. I expected to pay for it elsewhere on the ship, but not in the specialty restaurant.

 

Was it an off night? Perhaps. I suggest you judge for yourself. Overall, I would rate the experience was only so-so and we will not return.

[crusdiva]

I've heard from a few people, and read a few reviews, on how dining at Sabatini's is a different kind of dining experience...getting to try a lot of the stuff on the menu, etc. This may be a stupid question, but how exactly does it work there? Do you order the one appitizer/salad/entree/dessert kind of thing? Do they bring you multiple things to try, etc? And if it works that way, would it be worth it for a non seafood eater to try it (that would be me LOL...everyone else in my family loves seafood...I can't stand the sight of it LOL). TIA to anyone who can answer...and to anyone who understands my rambling LOL

 

Nicole721,

As the others have stated, you will choose your main course and dessert and

they will bring a "tasting" of everything thing else on the menu. I do not eat seafood either and highly recommend the veal entree. For all the seafood lovers in your family, they will offer ALL of the seafood entrees on one plate.

I don't know if you've seen a menu, but I have one in my photo link.

DH and I have dined twice at Sabatini's on the CB and found the entire experience wonderful in every way and the food to be excellent.

Hope I've helped.

[sfbear]

I don't mind investing 2 1/2 hours or so in a nice meal, but there were lapses in the service that could not be attributed to pacing. In addition, they charged for the capuccino. I expected to pay for it elsewhere on the ship, but not in the specialty restaurant.

 

Was it an off night? Perhaps. I suggest you judge for yourself. Overall, I would rate the experience was only so-so and we will not return.

 

Maybe we were there on the same "off" night. Four of us all agreed that the experience was less than satisfactory. All of the servers had their individual case of "attitude." Not so in the regular dining room which we enjoyed very much. Finally after the prolonged Sabitini appetizer, pasta, salad courses when the main course arrived (in this case lobster which was highly touted by the servers) it was a big disappointment. The following evening we went to the Bayou and found the same case of "attitude" in each of the servers. We are a pretty easy going bunch. At Bayou we asked that a bottle of wine be retrieved from the cellar (from a previous nights dining) and almost had to insist that the waiter get it. This was one of several instances that evening where we were given the impression that we were imposing. I do admit that the food was much better (a great steak) than the previous evening in Sabatini's. So, our rating doesn't even approach a "so-so" for both restaurants. We happily returned to our favorite waiter and waitress and excellent cuisine in the Bordeaux Dining room. Go on the ship again? You bet! We won't return to either of the specialty restaurants.

[kendon]

I've dined at Sabatini's twice and loved it. But your bad experience was on the CB, which in my opinion explains it. I thought the service in all areas suffered on this ship, especially in the dining areas. The ship is just too damn big!

[sueandkent]

Maybe we were there on the same "off" night. Four of us all agreed that the experience was less than satisfactory. All of the servers had their individual case of "attitude." Not so in the regular dining room which we enjoyed very much. Finally after the prolonged Sabitini appetizer, pasta, salad courses when the main course arrived (in this case lobster which was highly touted by the servers) it was a big disappointment. The following evening we went to the Bayou and found the same case of "attitude" in each of the servers. We are a pretty easy going bunch. At Bayou we asked that a bottle of wine be retrieved from the cellar (from a previous nights dining) and almost had to insist that the waiter get it. This was one of several instances that evening where we were given the impression that we were imposing. I do admit that the food was much better (a great steak) than the previous evening in Sabatini's. So, our rating doesn't even approach a "so-so" for both restaurants. We happily returned to our favorite waiter and waitress and excellent cuisine in the Bordeaux Dining room. Go on the ship again? You bet! We won't return to either of the specialty restaurants.

 

 

We tried it on the Diamond last year and share your feelings. Although I would not blame it totally on the service, we found the food not nearly as good as many had touted it to be and the service slow, slower than it should have been and it wasn't even a busy night with many open tables. We feel our money would be better spent towards the Ultimate Balcony Dinner. Also, DH is alergic to seafood and there were many of the appetizer items he couldn't eat. We won't ever do it again.

[gambit57]

Do you have to tip separately at Sabatini's? If so, cash only, or can you charge it to your shipboard account?

[ssabaste]

My husband and I, and the friends we traveled with (including there 17, and 15 year old kids) did Sabatini's on the Star in March of this year. IT WAS FABULOUS. The food was great, better than in other parts of the ship; felt bad that we couldn't finish dessert because we were so full, but oh well...didn't need the extra calories after having a 2nd bowl of soup, and the extra slice of pizza.

 

Everything was served with a smile, enthusiam, and with great care. One of the bottles of wine that we ordered was "corked", and it was exchanged without any question by the sommelier, and with an apology.

 

Our friends were hesitant about it before hand (the extra $20 fee pp), but afterwards it became one of the highlights of the trip for all of us.

 

Had a wonderful experience and looking forward to the same meal on our upcoming trip on the CB in September.

[AliceS]

It was good, but doesn't compare to the speciality restaurants on Celebrity. That is a true experience. We had fun wait staff and way too much food and had fun, but we were stuffed and didn't do it justice. Celebrity is more quality than quantity. I'd probably go again if friends wanted to try, but wouldn't initiate the idea.

[lv2cruiseanywhere]

We ate at Sabatini's on the Diamond in 02-05 and I have to agree with some of the above, it was just okay. I would not return to Sabatini's on the Diamond.

Our service and most of the food in the other restaurants was better. But we had been told you "must" try it, so we did.

[kryos]

It was good, but doesn't compare to the speciality restaurants on Celebrity. That is a true experience. We had fun wait staff and way too much food and had fun, but we were stuffed and didn't do it justice. Celebrity is more quality than quantity. I'd probably go again if friends wanted to try, but wouldn't initiate the idea.

It doesn't compare to the Pinnacle Grill on HAL either.

 

I ate at Sabatini's on the Island Princess this past spring. You order only your main entree and dessert. Everything else is brought to you in courses ... sampler sizes.

 

Personally, I didn't much enjoy it ... but that's probably a matter of personal tastes more than anything else. I don't like a lot of those foods and thus did not partake of most of the courses. I also find that the specialty restaurants usually give you too much food ... no matter what the ship. I can't eat that much and I hate like hell to see all that good food go to waste. Even on HAL, the last time I ate in the Pinnacle Grill, I made it a point to emphasize to my waiter "Petite cut" ... as in REALLY petite. Didn't I get a cut that was way too big, causing me to leave most of it? At home, that's no big deal. I just get my leftovers wrapped and take them home to enjoy later. But onboard ship, there really is nothing you can do but let the food go to waste. And ... that's a shame.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[tomcarson]

I wish Princess would vary the restaurants from ship to ship. I don't care for Sabitini's ---too much fish-- and wish there were some other type of restaruants on other ships.

[Lynda90]

I tried on the Diamond last year. There were 10 of us and no one thought it was anything great. Very odd items and also very mediocre. Would no go back which was the sentiments of all in our group.

[totallynewtocruising]

Wow. We were on the Coral this summer and loved Sabatini's. We made a reservation for when it first opened, arrived about 5 minutes early. We asked if we could have one of the few window curved booths for our party of three. He went to check and we had a drink at one of the bar tables. We got the impression perhaps it was to see whether we were going to be cheap and not have a cocktail or what but we didn't mind. We then were shown the perfect booth. We enjoyed the food but mostly it was the quiet and calm atmosphere. The restaurant was not full this early so that helped. We found the service to be excellent. We also went to the steak/cajun restaurant and felt the same way. We tipped the waiter and the maitre di when we left because we felt the daily tip is shared by many people and we like having good service.

 

We wished we had booked these restaurants earlier in the trip because we would have returned. The madhouse that was the dining room combined with the hit or miss food there made dining not the most relaxing experience. I also hated the way so many tables are by a clearing station. It's just not appetizing to see plates scraped of food near you. Teatime was awful. Pasta was excellent - usually. We thought that might be because we had an Italian captain.