La petite chef?

[PinkSandGirl]

Hi!  We did Le Petit Chef for the first time in October on the Equinox.   As others have stated, there are three different shows/menus now, depending on what the ship offers.  On a 9-night, the Equinox offered all three throughout the cruise.  There are two seatings each night.  Same menu each seating that day. 

 

Between the four of us, we had every dish (except the Sea Bass) from the main menu and the 'other' menu.   Everyone gets to see the main show.  We were able to mix and match.  For example I had the French Onion Soup, Roast Chicken, Filet & Sorbet.  

 

We liked it.  The food was good and it was enjoyable.  Something different.  Even though I saw videos of it online, it's unique being there in person experiencing it. 

 

Here are pictures of the menu and food.   I won't post pictures of the 'show' so you can be more surprised.  😉

 

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French Onion Soup 

 

Bouillabaise

 

Poached Lobster

 

Sautéed Chicken 

 

Filet

 

Guava Sorbet

 

Ice Cream Sundae

[abbydancer2003]

I tried it first on the Edge in 2018, when the Edge was new.  It was the first ship to have Le Petit Chef and Friends - I liked the food on that, thought it was amusing, but glad I didn't have to pay for it.  I thought it was fun but I'm in the once and done crowd.

 

Or so I thought.

 

On the Eclipse with friends in 2019, they wanted to see it so we did.  It was the original menu, and I wasn't fond of it.  On the Equinox later in 2019, with different friends and my sister, all of whom had never seen it, so we went to the Friends again (at least I like the food).  

 

Next time was 2021 and the Family version was out.  We were given a free dinner, so we used it for that.  That's the best in my opinion.  I liked the menu, and there was an actual cute story.  I might consider that again.

 

So much for once and done.  I do wish they'd bring Q'sine back once in a while.

 

[swjumbo]

Done it once and very average.

It’s an easy way to train the chefs and waiting staff!

Think about it.
They pre prepare everything and charge a speciality price. Every table starts and ends at the same time. A restaurant manager’s dream.

No one drinking late or given much time to complain that their order was wrong.

It would be perfect for Carnival.

Also, we prefer to have an animated conversation at our table rather than have animation on our table.

 

 

[followyourheart]

We enjoyed this unique and fun experience and also thought the food was good.  We would do again. 

[jagoffee]

We enjoyed the food and the show.  We were disappointed that our Apex TA only had the one version of the show.

it is a once a cruise experience for us.

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

7 hours ago, abbydancer said:

...

 

So much for once and done.  I do wish they'd bring Q'sine back once in a while.

 

 

Agreed (and we have yet to try Le Petit Chef)!

 

For those who have tried it - have you found the pre-cruise app to accurately reflect the menus on various nights? (not only for Le Petit Chef, but for Luminae)

 

For our 2/26 Reflection sailing, they're showing one menu for nights 1-4, and another for nights 5-7.

 

Thanks,

 

Tom

[Vagabond Knight]

Suggestion:  If you haven't been, I suggest NOT looking at any YouTube videos of the presentation and ruining it for yourself.  If you're going for the first time, you'll want to be surprised.

[lkj1301]

The 1st time we went to Le Petit Chef was on the Summit 2/2020 just before cruising stopped.

We got a 1st night discount.  Food was very good, but we really enjoyed the animation/show.

We were at a resort in Mexico in Oct 2021 & they had it there also.  Enjoyed the food and show much better on the Summit.

We'll be on the Silhouette in a couple of weeks.  Planning on going again. Would prefer not to pay full price so...we'll see.

[JamieLogical]

4 minutes ago, lkj1301 said:

The 1st time we went to Le Petit Chef was on the Summit 2/2020 just before cruising stopped.

We got a 1st night discount.  Food was very good, but we really enjoyed the animation/show.

We were at a resort in Mexico in Oct 2021 & they had it there also.  Enjoyed the food and show much better on the Summit.

We'll be on the Silhouette in a couple of weeks.  Planning on going again. Would prefer not to pay full price so...we'll see.

 

I suspect you will be able to get a discounted rate onboard. With the reduced passenger counts, they seem like they are discounting the specialty restaurants in order to fill them. We were about to do the second La Petit Chef menu for $35/person on our sailing a couple of weeks ago.

[jalves]

22 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

FYI there are 3 shows now. We’ll go if we haven’t seen a particular show yet AND have extra nonrefundable OBC to pay for it. But since we’ve seen all 3 shows now, it will probably be awhile before we go again since the show is the major draw for this SR.

They only run the 3rd show on sailings longer than 7 nights

[Jim_Iain]

We have done it twice and wouldn't be in a rush to go back.   It is a fun experience but there are some downsides. 

 

The biggest downside from my point of view was it is choreographed so everyone has to arrive at the same time and everything is based on the show and not whether you want a faster or more leisurely dinner.  I also noticed that due to having only one Sommelier and everyone arriving at the same time it was difficult to get drinks and refills.  

 

It's cute, it's quirky and it is entertaining,  but give me Murano any day.

[DrKoob]

Someone said you would get one of three answers: Love it, Liked it but not again or "meh." 

 

I will give you a fourth answer. I FREAKING HATE IT! Not because of what it is but because the replaced the best restaurant at sea with it. Qsine was one of the few places you could get imaginative and interesting food. They replaced with with a show. I was there for the food. Not the show. How I miss Qsine.

[hampshirelad]

If this was land based with an appropriate menu, its the sort of thing you would take the Grandchildren to for a birthday. Its pure theatre.

 

As for Quisne they never changed the menu for years .  Good old "Tombstone " turned up cruise after cruise .

[zitsky]

This is similar technology to a company called Reactrix that did this in shopping centers back in the 90's.  Think playing a soccer game with your foot, or another game with your hand.  Not sure what happened to them.  They may have sold their technology to someone else.  Not sure who is behind the technology at La Petite Chef.  Having seen this kind of thing, I'm not sure how much I'd enjoy it at dinner.

[5waldos]

Is there a way to discover which of the 3 shows are being shown on the Millenium in Alaska and which nights? Is there an issue with the venue being fully booked? Or is it possible to wait until I am onboard and sort it out? 

[PinkSandGirl]

27 minutes ago, 5waldos said:

Is there a way to discover which of the 3 shows are being shown on the Millenium in Alaska and which nights? Is there an issue with the venue being fully booked? Or is it possible to wait until I am onboard and sort it out? 

My experience,  I found the app, pre-sailing, was not accurate for the days offered.  It showed all 3 themes but the days were not correct.  We decided to wait until we boarded to see which days had what and then booked.  This was Equinox in October and the ship was not full.

 

Perhaps you can wait until the Millennium starts it's Alaska season and try to get a report from someone on board before you sail.   The app was correct for the themes, just not the correct days offered (pre-sailing).   It seems they do it blocks.   For example,  my sailing had the first 3 days as one,  the next 3 days another and then the last 3 days the next theme. 

 

I did find before I sailed that Celebrity's website under Le Petit Chef listed the ships and the theme(s) offered.  At that time, Equinox offered all 3 even though the website didn't reflect that and still doesn't.  Here is the current link:  https://www.celebritycruises.com/things-to-do-onboard/eat-and-drink/restaurants-and-cafes/le-petit-chef-at-qsine

 

 

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Edited February 8, 2022 by PinkSandGirl

[WonderMan3]

5 hours ago, DrKoob said:

Someone said you would get one of three answers: Love it, Liked it but not again or "meh." 

 

I will give you a fourth answer. I FREAKING HATE IT! Not because of what it is but because the replaced the best restaurant at sea with it. Qsine was one of the few places you could get imaginative and interesting food. They replaced with with a show. I was there for the food. Not the show. How I miss Qsine.

I was never a big fan of Qsine. I found the food to be generally mediocre compared to the other Celebrity specialty dining venues. BUT I thought it was a huge mistake to replace Qsine, a place where there was a wide variety of food options that could keep you coming back multiple times with a different experience each time, with La Petit Chef which is essentially a one and done gimmick. Now I appreciate that they finally started adding different LPC experiences so it gives you a reason to come back but it's still not the same. It's especially frustrating on the M class ships where you only have 2 specialty dining restaurants (and Sushi on 5).

[WonderMan3]

15 minutes ago, PinkSandGirl said:

My experience,  I found the app, pre-sailing, was not accurate for the days offered.  It showed all 3 themes but the days were not correct.  We decided to wait until we boarded to see which days had what and then booked.  This was Equinox in October and the ship was not full.

 

Perhaps you can wait until the Millennium starts it's Alaska season and try to get a report from someone on board before you sail.   The app was correct for the themes, just not the correct days offered (pre-sailing).   It seems they do it blocks.   For example,  my sailing had the first 3 days as one,  the next 3 days another and then the last 3 days the next theme. 

 

I did find before I sailed that Celebrity's website under Le Petit Chef listed the ships and the theme(s) offered.  At that time, Equinox offered all 3 even though the website didn't reflect that and still doesn't.  Here is the current link:  https://www.celebritycruises.com/things-to-do-onboard/eat-and-drink/restaurants-and-cafes/le-petit-chef-at-qsine

 

 

🍹

I looked at the app earlier and saw that the current Silhouette sailing has all 3 but the current Constellation sailing only has 2. Not sure if that is accurate onboard.

[jalves]

5 hours ago, DrKoob said:

Someone said you would get one of three answers: Love it, Liked it but not again or "meh." 

 

I will give you a fourth answer. I FREAKING HATE IT! Not because of what it is but because the replaced the best restaurant at sea with it. Qsine was one of the few places you could get imaginative and interesting food. They replaced with with a show. I was there for the food. Not the show. How I miss Qsine.

Did you actually dine at Le Petite Chef?  

[LGW59]

1 hour ago, 5waldos said:

Is there a way to discover which of the 3 shows are being shown on the Millenium in Alaska and which nights? Is there an issue with the venue being fully booked? Or is it possible to wait until I am onboard and sort it out? 

As we have only been once, on EDGE, had no idea that the "shows" were different, still would not entice us to go back.  Was fun(ish) and cute but found it distracting, the food very mediocre, though if I had kids with me I'd probably do it for them.

[5waldos]

PinkSandGirl- thanks for the link- and might indeed wait until we are onboard. There are 2 shows on the Millenium, and I would like to see the "..and friends" I think. But they may also give the menus which I would appreciate as one of the menus did not appeal a great deal. 

 

I didn't think I was that interested until I read that it was being tried out at some very good hotels and decided it would be worth a try- especially since it is close to $200 on land. Since it is my first time on Celebrity, I cannot mourn the loss of other restaurants, which is probably good. I will go into the experience with a fresh mind- a bit of silly is good for the soul. 

[DrKoob]

16 hours ago, jalves said:

Did you actually dine at Le Petite Chef?  

No I did not. And I did not say that I did. I lamented the removal of Qsine. The real Qsine. I have seen the menus and they are bland, typical food. I totally get that X is trying to appeal to middle America by going with bland food but couldn't they leave one decent restaurant. 

After 20+ X cruises just finished a 10 night on Holland America's Nieuw Statendam and I found food that is better than anything I have ever had on X since Qsine closed. Interesting, spicy (if I wanted it) food. No cartoon shows. It was about the food. 

[Eglesbrech]

Very entertaining… once.

 

We enjoyed the show but the food was just mediocre and the dessert really very poor.

 

I would certainly recommend it if you haven’t been before but for the price there are better speciality restaurants on onboard.

[zitsky]

58 minutes ago, Eglesbrech said:

Very entertaining… once.

 

We enjoyed the show but the food was just mediocre and the dessert really very poor.

 

I would certainly recommend it if you haven’t been before but for the price there are better speciality restaurants on onboard.

Is it always a scoop of ice cream for dessert?  That’s what I saw on this thread.

[JamieLogical]

9 minutes ago, zitsky said:

Is it always a scoop of ice cream for dessert?  That’s what I saw on this thread.

 

One of the shows there is an ice cream sundae for dessert. Another show has a green tea cake that I found to be delicious!