Restaurant 1 & 2 difference?

[CLOU]

We have always found the premium wine push in TK to be off putting.  When they hand you the menu, it i open to the premium wine list and not the food.  The last time, we brought our own bottle of wine, better than many on the wine list, and the sommelier looked askance and somewhat put out about opening it. We ignored the attitude and just headed right for the food menu.

[Mahogany]

3 hours ago, marazul said:

That's on every night at TK.  It's good.

But as I recall, it's not what I think of when ordering Lobster Thermidor: in the shell (it was not), so presumably they only have lobster meat onboard, not whole lobsters.

 

I am about to join an O ship for the first time and am bemoaning no TK bar which I love on Ovation and Encore. But from postings, it sounds like the loss of the bar is made up with the intimacy of the Grill space. As a solo, I am always made to feel "cheap" for ordering included wines, but I refuse to be intimidated. Perhaps if enough loyal Seabourn passengers complain, the F&B honcho will persuade the TKG wine staff to be a bit more welcoming. Whom do they report to, a Seabourn manager or Thomas Keller?

 

I did read that Keller also has say on the music volume, but enough patrons complained that it's not screaming loud now. Must check next month when I board Odyssey.

[brittany12]

"Made to feel cheap," Mahogany, is the right term for the special treatment inflicted on us. TK must have gotten the best of SB when the prior president made that deal years ago. Apparently, and from what we've been told on board,  pretty solid walls exist between TK Grill operations and the rest of the F and B operations. He even maneuvered himself into taking over the caviar concession on the ship a number of years ago from the old, reliable supplier from Uruguay, SA. We found that product preferable. This music volume thing within his four walls is new to my ears. But too loud being objectionable would not surprise me. He has a lot of influence, and staying power. As does on the entertainment side Andrew Lloyd Webber,  if his special show, as reported a few months back, is still playing routinely after all these years. Tiresome then and more so now.

[lincslady]

Er ..... for Lloyd Webber, read Tim Rice.

[brittany12]

Yes, Sorry. Thanks for correcting me. I had my Brits confused. Rice it is.

[twodjs]

9 hours ago, Mahogany said:

I did read that Keller also has say on the music volume, but enough patrons complained that it's not screaming loud now. Must check next month when I board Odyssey.

Interesting music comment. When we were on Odyssey back in Oct., the pre-recorded music choices in TK were very odd - not at all appropriate and detracted from the ambiance we expected from a high end venue. I have been in the music industry for 40 years. If Keller had a hand in the music, he really needs to stop it and stick to food. Even our food options were disappointing. We are vegetarians and every dish was WAY OVER SALTED. Sorry to not rave about TK. We won't go back. The rest of the music around the ship was fine. 

[amusea]

A few times in the past we commented on the TK Grill music which is so inappropriate for the venue.  We were told emphatically each time that the music choices come directly from TK.

Perhaps itis a great steak house but we don't eat beef and our entrees the last three times have been disappointing.  The only thing we can always depend on is the Caesar Salad prepared at the table.

[mcondition]

I agree with most of the comments. Firstly its not considered fine dinning as is a restaurant with michelin star but I think it doesn't try to be one. Especially with these huge steaks. Moreover I have eaten better meat even at non michelin star awarded restaurants and indeed the main courses were oversalted. It was described to us as the old school American dining experience, but there are better quality American steaks in Mykonos, lol. 

Last summer during covid at Ovation, we could dine there daily if we wanted but visited only once and bought a bottle of special red wine that the sommelier let us taste first. 

[hoosier74]

Yes to the lobster...very good.  I also like the Grill on the smaller ships, although the space on the Ovation was lovely and as has been said the bar is great.

 

[cruiseej]

We at at TK Grill last week on Odyssey and did not find the music loud or obtrusive. (I cannot say the same about a woman at a nearby table who didn't stop talking loudly at her husband until they left; fortunately they were at the end of their early seating and we had a late seating, so we had only about 20 minutes to marvel at whatever was going on at their table! 😉 )

 

We were also not pressured in the slightest to order a premium wine, although I experienced that on a previous cruise. 

 

And yes, the lobster thermidor is not the traditional style, but more of a "deconstructed" lobster thermidor. Still quite good, but it's definitely not a portion size that matches the large steaks and chops. (But the best lobster offering onboard, should you have the opportunity, is the grilled lobster tails at the caviar in the surf beach parties: simple grilled lobster tails with butter. And you can go back for as many as you want. Yum!)

[johng75370]

On 2/28/2022 at 4:50 AM, brittany12 said:

This was pre-Covid the I last sailed so I cannot say what marketing presently exists in TK.

 

We did three sailings on Seabourn last year, and did a good number of visits to the TK Grill….had no pushing of paid wines - quite the opposite. A few years ago I think we felt that, but more recently there was no upsell to us. The staff at TK Grill work at other venues on the ship, and do get to know your tastes and what you enjoy.  The chef at TK Grill is part of the overall Keller organization; was surprised that on a recent visit to one of his 3 star venues the staff there knew of (and thought highly of) a TK Grill chef we got to know onboard.  It’s certainly not the highest end of TK’s empire, but the onboard restaurants are part of his organization and seem respected.  

[brittany12]

Were you handed the TK premium wine list when you first sat down? Someone said it happened  even before they got the menus. Was it sitting there on the table or part of the menu itself?

[CLOU]

It was me who mentioned getting the premium wine list first.  The food menu and the premium list are in the same menu folder.  The menus were handed to us open to the wine list page instead of the food page.  At least on our last two cruises.