NCL Escape food review from wannabe-hipster foodie

[UnorigionalName]

Wife and I went on the Escape in 1/2018. Our first cruise so I can't really compare the food to the other cruise lines. I tried not to read too many reviews of the Escape before the cruise, and now that I've been perusing some reviews after the fact, I feel like I need tochime in on the food portion. I feel like it's hard to get a feel for the food reviews since people have such different tastes, especially from all overthe country, and after reading a lot of reviews, not many of the reviews match our experience and preferences. Food is really important for us and was a big factor in our choice of cruise lines. I hope my perspective can help some other future younger big city-dwellers.

 

So from the perspective of a big city west coast view, where unique is the most important criteria and everything is salty and acidic:

 

The only decent restaurants inorder are Pincho, then Food Republic (incidentally, those were the only 2 places where I saw some ship's officers eat). some notes:

 

Pincho - the chese servings are pretty generous. I think we got the boquerones and morrones which ended up being really similar. The calamari was really good. I forgot what else we ordered. In general everything was cooked well, seasoned well, and nice and bright. I was really surprised, maybe we were eating too early, but there was like no one at Pincho when we ate there.

 

Food republic - standard hipster fusion fare. Nothing too new or unique. Didn't try the sushi, didn't trust it. I feel like the flavor profile is very middle ofthe road for modern food and safe, maybe a little on the heavy oily side. Like I'm not from miami and have never eaten at that or any of that group's restaurants before, but I feel like those combination of flavors in their dishes are very familiar. I don't think I would ever go back there if itwere in the middle of my city, but it is a nice oasis of modern food where your options are limited.

 

For the rest, that we tried:

 

Le Bistro: Not that great of a french bistro. The bread, though, was the best bread we had on theship. It was somewhat decent where in general, the bread elsewhere wasreally not that good. Other than that, the fish I think was slightly overdone. The other dishes in general were not that memorable.

 

La Cucina: Not great italian food. Some appetizers were okay. The pasta was way overcooked and soggy, not that tasty. Better than olive garden but that's not saying much.

 

The old Bayamo: It was trying to be interesting, and the presentation was kind of modern (not that modern, didn't the foam on food craze die like over 5 years ago already?). But didn't really have the flavors or cooking/quality of ingredients to support it. I can see why they are changing the concept. The food probably was not tasty enough for hipsters, but too weird for most people.

 

While we didn't really like these 3, they were still better than main dining room. Didn't try teppanyaki, moderno, or cagney's. Not really things that interest us. If we were to go on the Escape again, might go to cagney's and moerno out of lack of other places to use the dining meals on and now having tried the other restaurants.

 

Ended up eating a lot(breakfast, snacks, lunches) at the buffet. Not super great food, but large enough and good variety that at least you can keep yourself busy trying things. I was really sad, though, at the lack of gravlax/lox at breakfast. Isn't that a norwegian (as in country) thing? Oh yeah, the pizza is terrible. I'm wondering if they started out with a more european style pizza and slowly tried to make it like american pizza by making the crust thicker and softer and ended up with this weird inedible thing.

 

O'sheehan's: Wings weren't bad. But how can you go wrong with beer and wings.

 

The main dining room experiences were more or less what I was expecting out of cruise food. Nothing terrible, nothing exciting.

Edited March 27, 2018 by UnorigionalName
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[Mistizoom]

I have heard you can ask for lox at breakfast. I agree with you on the buffet pizza. Not sure if room service pizza is better.

[havanadaydreaming]

cruise food is a difficult topic. I'm a semi foodie but I temper expectations at sea.

 

that said, ncl buffet head and shoulders above CCL. I liked MSC buffet more than a bit more but I thought the ncl escape specialty restasurants were best food I've had at sea. really liked teppanyaki and cagneys.

 

o'sheehans is a hidden gem for comfort food. I had no issues with MDR either.

 

 

 

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[ColeThornton]

" I forgot what else we ordered."

 

There goes your career as a professional food reviewer. ;p

 

Overall, how did you find the portion sizes in the restaurants?

Thanks.

 

[DMH15]

One must remember that you are dealing with venues, even specialties, who cater to a huge amount of people in small windows of time. There is not the customization you find on land. You can get that more on luxury lines or smaller ships where the ratios differ. So, if you are a foodie who is not willing to lower expectations NCL and other mass lines might be a disappointment.

 

BTW, I do have culinary credentials. I do not like buffets on land or sea so I avoid. I find NCL fine, with the dedicated Haven restaurant a step above.

 

 

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Edited March 27, 2018 by DMH15

[UnorigionalName]

" I forgot what else we ordered."

 

There goes your career as a professional food reviewer. ;p

 

Overall, how did you find the portion sizes in the restaurants?

Thanks.

 

 

i blame the booze package... i thought we had more pictures of the food that i could reference, but we were in general unimpreased and forgot to take pictures like we normally do of what we eat.

 

the portions were kind of normal fancy restaurant sizes? like less than most US chain restaurants. so 3 course appetizer, main, dessert is about expected. pincho and food republic are pretty standard small plate sizes. like 3ish per person?

[BostonGal35]

clearly, you didnt have the escargot at lebistro. its the only thing worth going there for!