Independence - rate the food!

[italianblend]

Okay! I am going on my very first cruise in little more than a week! Getting excited. Let's talk food.

 

If you have sailed on the independence of the seas before, please give your rating for each of the following food items with a scale of 1-10!

 

If you feel inspired, please leave comments as well! You can copy and paste the list so that you can answer more easily. Have fun!

 

Breakfast - Main Dining Room

 

Breakfast Pastries -

Pancakes -

French Toast -

Kippered Herring -

Smoked Salmon Plate -

Waffles -

Omelette-

 

Windjammer Buffet

Breakfast rating

Lunch/dinner rating-

(Sorry but I don't have a menu for here)

 

Sorrento's

Pizza-

Panini-

 

Coffee on the promenade- espresso, cappuccino, etc

 

Ice cream on the promenade (not Ben and Jerry)

 

Johnny Rockets

Burgers-

 

Giovanni

General pasta quality-

 

Chops grille

General steak quality-

 

Anything else I've missed, feel free to add. Thanks!

[Clarea]

Chops steak quality: mediocre.

[cb at sea]

Okay! I am going on my very first cruise in little more than a week! Getting excited. Let's talk food.

 

If you have sailed on the independence of the seas before, please give your rating for each of the following food items with a scale of 1-10!

 

If you feel inspired, please leave comments as well! You can copy and paste the list so that you can answer more easily. Have fun!

 

Breakfast - Main Dining Room

 

Breakfast Pastries - Ok...same as anywhere

Pancakes -never had them...hubby thought they were ok

French Toast -I like the French toast!

Kippered Herring -Yuck

Smoked Salmon Plate -Yuck

Waffles - never had waffles..frozen variety

Omelette-no omelets

 

Windjammer Buffet

Breakfast rating NEVER!

Lunch/dinner rating-Decent sandwiches or pizza

(Sorry but I don't have a menu for here)

 

Sorrento's

Pizza-

Panini-

 

Coffee on the promenade- espresso, cappuccino, etc I don't pay for coffee

 

Ice cream on the promenade (not Ben and Jerry) Nope

 

Johnny Rockets

Burgers- Not as good as on land...not a full menu, either

 

Giovanni

General pasta quality-

 

Chops grille

General steak quality- Mediocre, but lots of it.

 

Anything else I've missed, feel free to add. Thanks!

 

That's my story!!!

[italianblend]

When you say yuck, does that mean you didn't like it or it's something you wouldn't order?

 

Are the waffles seriously frozen?

Edited July 18, 2015 by italianblend

[mcatmcat]

French toasts? Cross that out, no French toast the whole week :-(

[riclop]

Food is too subjective.

[tinkr2]

The waffles are not frozen on any other rccl cruise so I am pretty sure they are not here either. The salmon plate is great. Their are def omelettes. You have to stand in line and wait or go to the MDR. Giovannis was nice, good quality. Chops is all over the place...from great quality to sub par.

[JPEvans]

I spent 13 nights on the Independence last year for a Transatlantic. I would

Rate the food pretty good. The only gripes were breakfast the last morning

In the Windjammer was not up to par as the rest of the week, they didn't

Refill a lot of the food. Next time I would do the main dining room for the

Last breakfast. Sorrento's pizza was awful. Only ate it once. The only

Meal I paid extra for was lunch one sea day in The Iltalian restaurant. It

Was excellent.

[cruiseclues]

Thanks for the info. :):):):)

[Big Beer Gut]

I won't argue with anyone's rating, but I don't think it is Oasis food or Independence food, it's RCL food. Everyone works to the same menus with the same ingredients. I have never seen a significant variation between ships.

Edited July 18, 2015 by Big Beer Gut

[celly]

We were not impressed with the food in the main dining room on our recent april cruise. Found it bland, tasteless or too salty. But food is subjective. Did not use Windjammer for breakfast so can not compare but lunch was good. We went to Giovanni's twice, the first night the lentil soup was extremely salty and the lamb chops were big chunks of meat, not what we have been used to on other ships. Pasta was good. The next time we went to Giovanni's everything was good to excellent, service and quality as we have found on Allure and Oasis. Chops was good but the filet mignon used to be of better quality when they had the old menu. You can ask for a discount at the specialty restaurants, they sometimes give 20% discount or more. Ben & Jerry's icecream was good. Snacks at Cafe Promenade were OK to good. We did not eat pizza or go to Johnny Rockets.

[italianblend]

I am disappointed to hear that some people don't like the pizza at sorrento's.

[setsail]

I am disappointed to hear that some people don't like the pizza at sorrento's.

 

Why, you should try it yourself and make up your own mind as with the rest of the food.

Edited July 18, 2015 by setsail

[italianblend]

I will try it of course. Just asking opinions.

[joge107]

Okay! I am going on my very first cruise in little more than a week! Getting excited. Let's talk food.

 

If you have sailed on the independence of the seas before, please give your rating for each of the following food items with a scale of 1-10!

 

If you feel inspired, please leave comments as well! You can copy and paste the list so that you can answer more easily. Have fun!

 

Breakfast - Main Dining Room

 

Breakfast Pastries -

Pancakes -

French Toast -

Kippered Herring -

Smoked Salmon Plate -

Waffles -

Omelette-

 

Windjammer Buffet

Breakfast rating

Lunch/dinner rating-

(Sorry but I don't have a menu for here)

 

Sorrento's

Pizza-

Panini-

 

Coffee on the promenade- espresso, cappuccino, etc

 

Ice cream on the promenade (not Ben and Jerry)

 

Johnny Rockets

Burgers-

 

Giovanni

General pasta quality-

 

Chops grille

General steak quality-

 

Anything else I've missed, feel free to add. Thanks!

Dining room-adequate

Windjammer-adequate but boring

giovanni's-worst specialty dining ever experienced on any Line. Pastries almost unedible.

Chops/outback steakhouse quality

[north29]

People who say food is subjective are the best answer.

However, the food this week, this month or the last six months may be good, the next six months, month, week, cruise, could be just the opposite.

[mcatmcat]

I am disappointed to hear that some people don't like the pizza at sorrento's.

 

 

Is not that bad, but I wish they had the option on all the ship to create your own pizza like they do on allure

[italianblend]

Do they make the pizza dough fresh?

[marci22]

Do they make the pizza dough fresh?

 

I don't know, but judging by taste, it's not likely.

[swsf99a]

People who say food is subjective are the best answer.

However, the food this week, this month or the last six months may be good, the next six months, month, week, cruise, could be just the opposite.

 

I agree completely. For many people, not having to prepare, cook and clean (like at home) and have a variety of choices is great. Do not expect gourmet food every meal. Our last cruise , the watermelon and some of the other fruit was just awful, but great on other cruises ? Maybe hit or miss where some of their supplies come from.

We'll be on the Indy soon.......hope they have good suppliers in FFL.

[pixiestyx]

Do they make the pizza dough fresh?

 

 

Definitely not as the dough already comes with sauce. I found the sauce to have a very sweet and slightly off taste.

 

When we asked if they could prepare a pizza without sauce we were told that the dough already comes with sauce.

 

I personally think the pizza is something out of a school cafeteria and basically inedible.

[kimala]

I have a different take on cruise food myself. For me it's more of a "when in Rome.." Kind of thing. What I mean is take pizza for instance, all of us are probably partial to whatever regional pizza style they grew up with for me it's NY style. when I am on a cruise I don't expect that they will get anywhere near my beloved NY style pizza. I just take it for what it is and enjoy it not comparing it to "real pizza" I think it's an atmosphere thing heck I'm on a cruise yay it's all good!! When I lived in Dallas TX they were very big on Mexican food. Some of the restaurants were very authentic a real culinary delight. However there was one chain called Panchos. Panchos was a cheap cafeteria style Mexican restaurant, all u can eat. I could not compare it to the good sit down restaurants ay all! In fact when I ate at Panchos I just put it in a class all by itself...it's was tasty filling and Cheap! Basically it is what it is. Good, filling and the price is right.

[italianblend]

Okay, pizza not fresh. Check. Better than digiorno? :)

 

Don't hate me for pressing the pizza issue. I'm really just curious and will try it anyway. Fun to talk about.

[shellunderwater]

Okay, pizza not fresh. Check. Better than digiorno? :)

 

Don't hate me for pressing the pizza issue. I'm really just curious and will try it anyway. Fun to talk about.

 

In my opinion... Sorrentos pizza on other ships is similar to Red Baron frozen. Not saying good or bad. Comparing.

 

I've eaten it. Would I prefer different? Yes. But I ate it.

 

I would not call it inedible. I dont think Royal serves food that is inedible usually. Not to someone's liking? Maybe. But I doubt inedible.

[A2Mich]

I also think that food discussions are very subjective. Even at the WJ, I don't think there was anything that I tried that was "horrible" or "inedible" based on preparation or flavor. I do think that some of the foods were ruined by their holding methods and times. While I thought the pancakes and waffles had a great flavor, they tended to be dried out and hard at times, because of the hot plates that RCI uses and that they were being held too long. Bacon at the WJ had a good flavor - I always had to dig towards the bottom of the pan, as I prefer the crispy bacon over the limp, soggy pieces. Fried eggs at the WJ? Tasted just like homemade fried eggs - except they were ice cold. Breakfast in MDR was a bit better, but certainly nothing like a decent landside restaurant.

 

Pizza - it wasn't inedible, but wasn't great - I actually think Red Baron or DiGiorno are a bit better, but I am picky when it comes to pizza.

 

No ice cream on Royal Prom other than Ben and Jerry's (which actually wasn't priced terribly high - not as much as I was expecting, and certainly less than Disney-type pricing).

 

Giovanni's - thought it was the best meal all week - desserts were excellent - be sire to try the bleu cheese gnocchi. I'm not a fan of bleu cheese, but was very mild and worked very well in this dish. Lamb was excellent, as was the risotto.

 

Go in with reasonable, middle of the road expectations, and you should be pleased, or at least reasonably satisfied. If going in with 5 star expectations, you will likely return less than happy.