Best dish in the MDR?

[Wishing on a star]

We were on the Regal Dec. 2019.  Food was good!  Not outstanding, but good.

The time before that, on the Regal, with a different person in charge of all food and dining, was NOT good.

 

[cruzysuzy]

3 hours ago, Wishing on a star said:

We were on the Regal Dec. 2019.  Food was good!  Not outstanding, but good.

The time before that, on the Regal, with a different person in charge of all food and dining, was NOT good.

 

It's been my theory that the head chef of each ship is meddling too much with the dishes.  If I were running Princess I would have a master chef at Princess headquarters determining which and how dishes are to be prepared with leeway to tweak them if it is determined they are not being well received by cruisers.  Then the head chef of each ship must be rigorously trained in duplicating what the master chef has determined and be responsible for training the staff to do the same.

 

As a customer I prefer quality control over some individual's sense of 'artistry'.

[kluv2cruz]

Just off the Caribbean Pr and they had crème brûlée. Not every night. But it was pretty good. Also ice cream at lunch in MDR and at dinner it was sorbet. TBGCS very good. Love their whole wheat or grainy bread rolls with butter. Normally, I avoid bread and especially butter, but theirs are so yummy it’s worth it. Had bacon wrapped meatloaf on both Royal in June and Caribbean in November (last night menu) and it was good!

Edited November 13, 2022 by kluv2cruz

[brisalta]

7 hours ago, cruzysuzy said:

It's been my theory that the head chef of each ship is meddling too much with the dishes.  If I were running Princess I would have a master chef at Princess headquarters determining which and how dishes are to be prepared with leeway to tweak them if it is determined they are not being well received by cruisers.  Then the head chef of each ship must be rigorously trained in duplicating what the master chef has determined and be responsible for training the staff to do the same.

 

As a customer I prefer quality control over some individual's sense of 'artistry'.

 

Princess does have a master chef at HQ and he is relatively new to the line.  I have seen his cooking demonstrations on Youtube and do not look forward to sampling food that is prepared in his style as he takes great pride in those videos of serving burnt food.

[Kay S]

14 hours ago, brisalta said:

 

Princess does have a master chef at HQ and he is relatively new to the line.  I have seen his cooking demonstrations on Youtube and do not look forward to sampling food that is prepared in his style as he takes great pride in those videos of serving burnt food.

So why the scarcity of creme brulee? 🤣

[JimmyVWine]

We were on Regal in October and there was crème brûlée every night. Rotating flavors. But every night. 
 

My favorite MDR dish is

 

We call it the Viking Ship. 

[Wishing on a star]

Yes, this new chef is not really new.  His entire claim to fame seems to be cruise ships.

He has been with HAL cruise line, and now is just 'adopted' by Princess.

I expect the same old cruise fare.  ( aka: fancy plated cafeteria )

 

Kluv... I am glad that you enjoyed the bacon wrapped meatloaf!!! 

Thanks for the great photo.

Food, of course, is very subjective.

But, for me, meatloaf...  bacon wrapped meatloaf...  and the presentation.  Was there an accident and all the vegetable sides got spilled all on top of each other.

 

While I am glad it was enjoyed, and that is great!!!  I just wouldn't call bacon wrapped  meatloaf with mashed potatoes and basic (canned?) corn and some green beans to be finer dining.

At least it was served with a decent amount of gravy/sauce.  

That is often where the flavor is.

 

Nothing worse than food that is plated dry, as necessary with mass service to control drips and spills, and then kept under hot heat lamps before serving.

I can remember those 'potato coquettes' that were fancy squirted mashed potatoes that were then toasted/braised under a boiler, and then kept under heat lamps.  HOCKEY PUCK!!!!  

 

So, yes, that meatloaf and mashed potatoes dish is a huge mile better than that was!!!!

 

[Wishing on a star]

One viking ship, please!!!!

[brisalta]

9 hours ago, Kay S said:

So why the scarcity of creme brulee? 🤣

 

Is creme brulee a thing in Austria?

[brisalta]

7 hours ago, Wishing on a star said:

Yes, this new chef is not really new.  His entire claim to fame seems to be cruise ships.

He has been with HAL cruise line, and now is just 'adopted' by Princess.

I expect the same old cruise fare.  ( aka: fancy plated cafeteria )

 

Kluv... I am glad that you enjoyed the bacon wrapped meatloaf!!! 

Thanks for the great photo.

Food, of course, is very subjective.

But, for me, meatloaf...  bacon wrapped meatloaf...  and the presentation.  Was there an accident and all the vegetable sides got spilled all on top of each other.

 

While I am glad it was enjoyed, and that is great!!!  I just wouldn't call bacon wrapped  meatloaf with mashed potatoes and basic (canned?) corn and some green beans to be finer dining.

At least it was served with a decent amount of gravy/sauce.  

That is often where the flavor is.

 

Nothing worse than food that is plated dry, as necessary with mass service to control drips and spills, and then kept under hot heat lamps before serving.

I can remember those 'potato coquettes' that were fancy squirted mashed potatoes that were then toasted/braised under a boiler, and then kept under heat lamps.  HOCKEY PUCK!!!!  

 

So, yes, that meatloaf and mashed potatoes dish is a huge mile better than that was!!!!

 

 

Meatloaf the food of the cheap.

[Kay S]

9 hours ago, brisalta said:

 

Is creme brulee a thing in Austria?

Little joke.  Brulee is French for "burnt" .  They "burn" the sugar on the top of the custard with a flame.

[Kay S]

9 hours ago, brisalta said:

 

Meatloaf the food of the cheap.

Have you priced ground beef lately? 🙂

[Wishing on a star]

No,  it's the BACON....  anybody priced bacon lately!!!  Hahaha!!!

They actually had limited bacon on some cruise lines for a while!

 

[XBGuy]

On 11/12/2022 at 4:10 PM, cruzysuzy said:

It's been my theory that the head chef of each ship is meddling too much with the dishes.  If I were running Princess I would have a master chef at Princess headquarters determining which and how dishes are to be prepared with leeway to tweak them if it is determined they are not being well received by cruisers.  Then the head chef of each ship must be rigorously trained in duplicating what the master chef has determined and be responsible for training the staff to do the same.

 

As a customer I prefer quality control over some individual's sense of 'artistry'.

 

I would like to offer another opinion.

 

It sounds like you using "quality control" to mean consistency. 

 

While I am OK with consistency, I also enjoy "variation on a theme."  Let the executive chef demonstrate his own creativity.  If not, then why have an Executive Chef?  It would not take much talent for somebody to check off boxes to make sure that every plate meets every corporate specification.

 

The other thing to remember is that there is no guarantee that every ingredient for every dish is available on the ship.  Sometimes deliveries are not made, or they are short, or the delivered product is of unacceptable quality. If seven days into a 15-day cruise the last of the Romaine Lettuce is used up, and the dinner menu for the eighth day calls for Caesar Salad, the galley will substitute a different green and Caesar Salads made with Iceberg Lettuce, or Frisee or Kale will be delivered to the dining room patrons.  To me this seems like reasonable workaround to a difficult situation.

[tonit964]

The Pistachio Dome is one of my favorites.

[rbtan]

On 10/27/2022 at 6:24 PM, martinitime1 said:

Can't believe this has gone unmentioned, obvious answer is the Fettuccine Alfredo.

Too much like going to Olive Garden.

[HaveDogWillTravel]

I’m currently on the Sapphire. 15 day RT LA to HA. We’ve had lobster tails twice and both nights they were large, sweet, tender and not salted to death. I’ve never had lobster this good on princess. It wasn’t Camden Maine pulled from the ocean cooked 5 minutes later good but it was seriously not an embarrassment to the company for once. 
 

okay and the cheesecake tonight.  I had stopped ordering the “New York cheesecake” a while ago bc it was just Philadelphia cream cheese cake. But tonight it was an actual ricotta cheese Sardi’’s restaurant good cheese cake.  I have 2 more days on board and I will be eating this a lot. Lol 

[Mike45LC]

On 10/27/2022 at 3:22 PM, Thrak said:

Oddly enough there was also no ice cream offered at dinner in MDR. My wife was terribly disappointed.) Given that I couldn't order the dessert I wanted I did a "fall back" to the good old standby or the Love Boat Dream. I was appalled when it was delivered and bore no real resemblance to the dessert that has been served for years. Not only was it completely different it wasn't nearly as good.

I was unhappy with the “gelato” that replaced ice cream, and the new Love Boat Dream.  Once and done!

 

Also, the dessert chef cannot do meringues.  Booth the Floating Islands and the Baked Alaska wee terrible, with the texture of granulated sugar.  Ugg!

 

The prime rib was the best item all week.

[Wishing on a star]

I think the Princess ice cream is history, given their new alliance with a 'celebrity' to sell their expensive ice cream. 

 

I am glad to hear of good food on the Sapphire!

I believe this is one ship where somebody in charge of dining with Princess was onboard, working on improving the food.

 

Hopefully, somebody there will master meringue.  This could be a staffing thing.  New person, or the experienced person is no longer onboard or (HOPE NOT!!!) quarantined.  

[rbtan]

The Norman Love desserts were the best that Princess offered. That's because they had to properly follow his recipe. Not sure if they still have his desserts. Sometimes I'd order a nice Hot fudge Sundae for dessert. Hard to mess that up. We're spoiled by the outstanding food on Oceania, but chose the Circle the Caribbean cruise for it's itinerary. The last cruise, which was the Hawaiian cruise just as the Pandemic started, the food on the Star was mediocre to at times pretty awful. The Ultimate Balcony Dinner was outstanding. Outside of that I ordered items from Crown Grill on a regular basis. With Celebrity kicking up a notch in overall standards, Princess either needs to up their game or fall behind. We may start looking at HAL. Never tried them as yet.

[c-boy]

there's that Oceania word .... again.

[XBGuy]

2 hours ago, rbtan said:

 The last cruise, which was the Hawaiian cruise just as the Pandemic started, the food on the Star was mediocre to at times pretty awful. The Ultimate Balcony Dinner was outstanding. Outside of that I ordered items from Crown Grill on a regular basis.

 

Coincidentally, we were on the Star Princess Los Angeles-Hawaii itinerary departing Los Angeles mid-January 2020.  We had five dinners in Sabatini's and two in Crown Grill.  We made lots of friends in the front of both of those rooms by sharing some of our wine.

 

We had three or four dinners in Vines enjoying a couple servings of the Tapas and Sushi.  We ordered from room service a few times.  Mrs. XBGuy loves room service.  She enjoys Tuna Salad Sandwiches, and, then, a piece of Chocolate Cake for dessert.  Since we had a suite we ordered room service off the Dining Room menu once.  I have no idea what we ordered.  I visited the Dining Room four or five times for breakfast (Mrs. XBGuy sleeps in every morning), but we never visited for dinner.

 

I have often raved about the Ultimate Balcony Dinner here on Cruise Critic.  I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed it.

[tonit964]

12 hours ago, HaveDogWillTravel said:

I’m currently on the Sapphire. 15 day RT LA to HA. We’ve had lobster tails twice and both nights they were large, sweet, tender and not salted to death. I’ve never had lobster this good on princess. It wasn’t Camden Maine pulled from the ocean cooked 5 minutes later good but it was seriously not an embarrassment to the company for once. 
 

okay and the cheesecake tonight.  I had stopped ordering the “New York cheesecake” a while ago bc it was just Philadelphia cream cheese cake. But tonight it was an actual ricotta cheese Sardi’’s restaurant good cheese cake.  I have 2 more days on board and I will be eating this a lot. Lol 

The food on my Sapphire cruise last September was some of the best I can remember on Princess.

Enjoy your cruise!

[Steelers36]

On 10/27/2022 at 3:11 PM, kruzkraziness said:

What has been your favorite dish in the main dining room? The one you order every time you cruise.

After 5+ weeks on ships in the past 6+ weeks, I have the same answer I would have had before sailing.  Food is personal preference and people have a wide variety of interests and favorites, so it seems to me an impossible question.  It might have some relevance if you knew you were asking someone who has very similar taste in foods as you do. 

 

I have observations that confirm what some others have posted. 

 

REGAL - I found the quality of ingredients to be less than what it was pre-Covid (without going into specifics).  I found the large buffet this class of ships have to be lacking the variety I used to see.  I found that both in the buffet and DR that MANY proteins were over-cooked with the exception of beef items where you could request desired temperature.  I tried to advise my wife to NOT order her typical beef request of MW because you can end up with crummy ends or actually more like Well Done instead.  

 

ISLAND - It was remarkable the difference in variety at the buffet as well as the cooking of proteins was much better.  Many nights there were off-menu specials offered in the DR (kind of felt like being in Club Class).  Overall, a superior food experience in all meals (breakfast and dinner in DR).

 

[Steelers36]

On 11/11/2022 at 9:54 PM, PescadoAmarillo said:

My favorite lunch menu items have been the floret family (broccoli and cauliflower with a light tomato sauce and pine nuts] and chicken korma. For dinner, ciappino (fish stew), the twice baked goat cheese soufflé and the sorbets form dessert, which I’m not sure they still offer. 

We had the TBGCS as appetizer once on the Regal voyages among OCT 1, 8 & 15 (it was only on the latter 11-nighter).  Otherwise, one of the DR HW's (supervisors) was ready to have it made it for our table.  It was not exactly as I recalled, but then I was not all that impressed about the galley production on that ship.  It was not offered on ISLAND over 14 nights and I did not inquire.

 

The SF Cioppino was offered multiple times over 5 weeks of cruising, but I did not order.

 

They had a fruit sorbet on every dinner dessert menu that I recall as H ordered it a lot.