Manfredis

[SantaFe1]

14 hours ago, cmmaxwell03 said:

He told me he has no flexibility in cooking and he has to make it according to corporate’s recipe.

We have heard this from every chef in every restaurant on every cruise.  I have had a couple of the chefs ask us to come back and they would make the dish in question to our specifications, since they really did know how to  cook.  Peking duck in Chefs Table for the Asian Panorama comes to mind.  It was delicious the second time around!

[Mr. Baloo]

I find this discussion a little discouraging.  Something I would expect form the larger cruise lines but not what I am expecting on my first Viking cruise this fall.

 

Cooking is an art, not a science.  Baking, well, that is science.

 

[Frenchberet]

2 hours ago, formernuke said:

We had good luck just using the voyager app to book manfredis. Once we see all the menus we decide what days to do manfredis. 

With the exception of a “pasta of the day”, I didn’t realize that Manfredi’s menu changed.  On Octantis, we loved the various veal dishes with a half order of pasta.  Can’t wait till our next cruise!

[Jim Avery]

Mr. Baloo don't get discouraged.  Viking food is definitely better than on the larger ships.  Could some things be better? Sure.  We have been on two Viking world cruises with a third booked this winter and have enjoyed eating for months at a time.  The food changes with the Chef changes and the menus at the specialty restaurants change from time to time.  Main DR and World Cafe have new stuff daily to go along with the always available list.  Some of us on this board get a bit overly picky at times and all have our personal preferences.  Having just endured a Holland America cruise from h*ll, I'll take Viking any time.🍸

[formernuke]

46 minutes ago, Frenchberet said:

With the exception of a “pasta of the day”, I didn’t realize that Manfredi’s menu changed.  On Octantis, we loved the various veal dishes with a half order of pasta.  Can’t wait till our next cruise!

I didn’t mean to imply that manfredis changes; we look to see what other venues have that we might prefer as manfredis is the same any night you go 

[Jim Avery]

Manfredi's menus do rotate.  About three times on our last WC but most shorter cruises would not be noticed.  And when it does change it is not wholesale change but a few items in each section rotate in and out.  A welcome thing on a long cruise but not a big deal on our shorter ones.

[Squawkman]

2 hours ago, Jim Avery said:Having just endured a Holland America cruise from h*ll, I'll take Viking any time.🍸

Jim -

Did you write about your HAL experience on CC?

[cmmaxwell03]

Agreed!  Inquiring minds want to know, @Jim Avery 🙂

[Jim Avery]

28 minutes ago, Squawkman said:

Jim -

Did you write about your HAL experience on CC?

No.  This board is not the place and the HAL board is full of True Believers that would just flame me.  We will never again sail any Carnival brands ships.

[Clay Clayton]

3 hours ago, Squawkman said:

Jim -

Did you write about your HAL experience on CC?

FWIW, I did a live thread during our HAL b2b last October. It wasn’t a cruise from hell by any means but we did have food issues-mostly temperature related as well as being repetitive.  You can read the thread here:

 

[Jim Avery]

You are much more gentle than I would be.🍸

[Twitchly]

7 hours ago, Jim Avery said:

Having just endured a Holland America cruise from h*ll, I'll take Viking any time.

I wondered how that went. Now we know. 

[Clay Clayton]

1 hour ago, Jim Avery said:

You are much more gentle than I would be.🍸

I really enjoyed the music and the Indian menu which made up for other disappointments.  Trust me, it’s unlikely we will be sailing them again anytime soon but if the price is right #neversaynever

[island lady]

Add me to the camp of "one and done, never again"....pertaining to HAL.  Even sailing in one of their higher end suites...NOT!!  😕

[May B]

21 hours ago, Frenchberet said:

With the exception of a “pasta of the day”, I didn’t realize that Manfredi’s menu changed.  On Octantis, we loved the various veal dishes with a half order of pasta.  Can’t wait till our next cruise!

I think it’s the Restaurant menu that changes daily. From the post to which you are responding, I now have high hopes for all the Restaurant menus to show up for me on the app, on embarkation day.

 

At Shawshank, hope is a dangerous thing, but here, hopefully not!

[May B]

2 hours ago, island lady said:

 

LOL...those daily change plates (actually removable plates that fit into the floor) are on RCI ships as well.  

And at the very upscale hotel (Pan Pacific) at the Vancouver cruise dock. Hotel that’s designed to evoke a feeling of being on an ocean liner!

Edited June 15, 2023 by May B

[uktog]

4 minutes ago, May B said:

And at the very upscale hotel (Pan Pacific) at the Vancouver cruise dock. Hotel that’s designed to evoke a feeling of being on an ocean liner!

And in every elevator in Universities in China. It’s how they check if the caretaker has cleaned the floor 😂😂

[formernuke]

2 hours ago, May B said:

I think it’s the Restaurant menu that changes daily. From the post to which you are responding, I now have high hopes for all the Restaurant menus to show up for me on the app, on embarkation day.

 

At Shawshank, hope is a dangerous thing, but here, hopefully not!

Not just the Restaurant, but the World Cafe Menus as well are available on the App on board. (there are sometimes small changes from what is posted). Makes it easy to plan where you want to eat.

[TiiiSailor]

On 6/14/2023 at 12:36 PM, Clay Clayton said:

Good to hear that the app again has all the menus for the entire cruise. Some had said that wasn’t the case post Covid. 

Clay,

 

Have you heard of the pistachio muffins resurrecting again on any ships?

[Clay Clayton]

56 minutes ago, TiiiSailor said:

Clay,

 

Have you heard of the pistachio muffins resurrecting again on any ships?

LOL, no, but there is a live thread where that is the topic of discussion.

Edited June 15, 2023 by Clay Clayton

[onlyslightlymad]

On 5/31/2023 at 10:34 AM, Fieldofdreams said:

On our recent Australian/New Zealand cruise I was told by the Executive Chef and other officers the reason that is not as good is because they could only get New Zealand beef and not American imported beef. Not certain if that is correct, but several onboard shared the same information, regardless all four of us could not eat the steaks we were served. 

Um, I prefer NZ beef, being from NZ and all.  Not overly fond of American beef.  I guess it depends what one is used to.

[Twitchly]

1 hour ago, onlyslightlymad said:

Um, I prefer NZ beef, being from NZ and all.  Not overly fond of American beef.  I guess it depends what one is used to.

How do they differ? 

[duquephart]

Grass fed/grazed vs. feed lot grain fed.

[FetaCheese]

Just noticed on MVJ -- Onboard Experiences -- Dining

 

Bold copy added to Chef's Table, Manfredi's, and Restaurant Descriptions:

 

In case reservations are fully booked, they can be made directly onboard the ship.

[DGHOC]

Just got off Jupiter, we ate multiple times at Manfredi's and The Chef's Table. We'd booked our two each ahead but changed them according to the menus on offer. Honestly, if you go down around 8 they will always fit you in though I do understand some folk like to eat very early.

 

Fish specials were good - halibut and salmon in sauces, bistecca was as before -good, hubby wasn't overwhelmed with the sauce with the lamb but still munched merrily. Spaghetti carbonara was so so but other pasta dishes we tried were good.

 

Have to say, the World Cafe is definitely my fav. I love the fact that you can serve yourself small portions and try lots of different dishes. This past two weeks up there were outstanding, lots of shellfish/fish/steak type special events and the sun was shining so we ate outside until v late. Absolutely brilliant service from a very happy, upbeat team.