Giovanni's menus - not the same on all ships?

[Cheryl H]

We usually skip Giovanni's...however I noticed a video of Giovanni's on Wonder of the Seas and it had garlic knots, chicken parm, etc.  Is that specific to just Wonder, or are they rolling this menu out to all the Giovanni's?   If so, I want to be sure to book it.   Thanks in advance.  PS:  We are booked on Serenade of the Seas and Radiance of the Seas. 

[Merion_Mom]

4 hours ago, Cheryl H said:

We usually skip Giovanni's...however I noticed a video of Giovanni's on Wonder of the Seas and it had garlic knots, chicken parm, etc.  Is that specific to just Wonder, or are they rolling this menu out to all the Giovanni's?   If so, I want to be sure to book it.   Thanks in advance.  PS:  We are booked on Serenade of the Seas and Radiance of the Seas. 

 

Just to confuse things, I just sailed on the Vision, and there is a  new menu at Giovanni's table, and it's not a good thing.  I can assure you that there were no garlic knots or chicken parmigiana.  

[OCSC Mike]

You’re likely confusing Giovanni’s Table (original version) with Giovanni’s Kitchen (new version on Wonder & other ships).

 

You can find all menus in the app.

[Surfguyxxx]

1 hour ago, OCSC Mike said:

You’re likely confusing Giovanni’s Table (original version) with Giovanni’s Kitchen (new version on Wonder & other ships).

 

You can find all menus in the app.

Thanks.  I didn't realize that there were 2 different restaurants with "almost" the same name.  I'll take a look.  

[orville99]

29 minutes ago, Surfguyxxx said:

Thanks.  I didn't realize that there were 2 different restaurants with "almost" the same name.  I'll take a look.  

The menus are quite different. Giovanni's Kitchen is more of a pizza joint that also has a few non pizza menu items, but virtually none of the items that were staples on the Giovanni's Table menu. We found the change quite disappointing as Gio's used to be one of our go to favorites.

[OCSC Mike]

5 minutes ago, orville99 said:

The menus are quite different. Giovanni's Kitchen is more of a pizza joint that also has a few non pizza menu items, but virtually none of the items that were staples on the Giovanni's Table menu. We found the change quite disappointing as Gio's used to be one of our go to favorites.

 

That was my impression as we loved GT and weren't interested in GK at first glance but some recent experiences from others have made me want to try GK in the future (likely with a D+ BOGO). Like you, I saw it as a pizza joint but they still have filet and someone said the chicken parm was large and very good. I may order a pizza on the side to try, but we'll be going there for the more substantial entrees if we try it. If we don't like it, oh well. At least we're using a coupon. 🤣

[lovesthebeach2]

As others have said, there’s two different Giovannis on royals ships:

Giovanni’s Italian Kitchen is like the average places we would go to for dinner in NY, like on a night after work. 

 

Giovanni’s Table is a bit more upscale in their selections with the entrees we would find in better restaurants that we would go to on the weekend.

 

We like the menus in both places, so depending on the ship we’re happy with either 😁

[lovesthebeach2]

48 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

 

That was my impression as we loved GT and weren't interested in GK at first glance but some recent experiences from others have made me want to try GK in the future (likely with a D+ BOGO). Like you, I saw it as a pizza joint but they still have filet and someone said the chicken parm was large and very good. I may order a pizza on the side to try, but we'll be going there for the more substantial entrees if we try it. If we don't like it, oh well. At least we're using a coupon. 🤣

their chicken Parm is very good, reminds me of what we used to get when we lived in NY… and yes we use our BOGO there 😁

Edited July 5, 2023 by lovesthebeach2

[orville99]

1 minute ago, lovesthebeach2 said:

their chicken Parm is very good, reminds me of what we used to get when we lived in NY… and yes we use our BOGO there 😁

The Kitchen menu significantly reduces the input costs for the venue compared to the Table menu, but the price you pay per meal has not gone down, so it is a financial win for RCL every time someone eats in the new Kitchen. 

[OCSC Mike]

5 minutes ago, orville99 said:

The Kitchen menu significantly reduces the input costs for the venue compared to the Table menu, but the price you pay per meal has not gone down, so it is a financial win for RCL every time someone eats in the new Kitchen. 

 

Wouldn't that depend on what your order? We always order the same thing at GT... app, filet, pasta, dessert. I'd likely order the exact same thing at GK (and possibly add on a pizza to try).

[lovesthebeach2]

19 minutes ago, orville99 said:

The Kitchen menu significantly reduces the input costs for the venue compared to the Table menu, but the price you pay per meal has not gone down, so it is a financial win for RCL every time someone eats in the new Kitchen. 

We use our BOGO for lunch and we’re ok with the price.

I’m not a meat lover - I eat mostly vegetarian at home, so Chops isn’t  worth it to us, but we do like Italian and on smaller ships it’s our only choice.

[colesc15]

2 minutes ago, lovesthebeach2 said:

We use our BOGO for lunch and we’re ok with the price.

I’m not a meat lover - I eat mostly vegetarian at home, so Chops isn’t  worth it to us, but we do like Italian and on smaller ships it’s our only choice.

I have a dumb question.. My wife and I turn d+ on our next cruise. After that sailing, how do you use the bogo specialty? 

[OCSC Mike]

14 minutes ago, colesc15 said:

I have a dumb question.. My wife and I turn d+ on our next cruise. After that sailing, how do you use the bogo specialty? 

 

Go to a restaurant once onboard and make a reservation, mentioning you would like to use your D+ BOGO. You have to make the reservation on day one or two (but it can be for later in the week from everything I've read). Also, keep in mind you each have a BOGO offer so you can eat twice if you want.

 

We also turn D+ after our next cruise, so I haven't actually used it yet, just planning ahead. 😁

Edited July 5, 2023 by OCSC Mike

[lovesthebeach2]

21 minutes ago, colesc15 said:

I have a dumb question.. My wife and I turn d+ on our next cruise. After that sailing, how do you use the bogo specialty? 

 

8 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

 

Go to a restaurant once onboard and make a reservation, mentioning you would like to use your D+ BOGO. You have to make the reservation on day one or two (but it can be for later in the week from everything I've read). Also, keep in mind you each have a BOGO offer so you can eat twice if you want.

 

We also turn D+ after our next cruise, so I haven't actually used it yet, just planning ahead. 😁

Also, you don’t have to go to the restaurant that you want the BOGO.. You can sign up anywhere…..we’ve actually done it even while sitting in Schooner having our embarkation drink 😁

[OCSC Mike]

2 minutes ago, lovesthebeach2 said:

 

Also, you don’t have to go to the restaurant that you want the BOGO.. You can sign up anywhere…..we’ve actually done it even while sitting in Schooner having our embarkation drink 😁

 

Via the app and it automatically takes off the BOGO like when you use the internet discount?

[lovesthebeach2]

6 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

 

Via the app and it automatically takes off the BOGO like when you use the internet discount?

No, not sure that would work….someone from one of the restaurants comes around looking for people to make reservations, we sign up for the BOGO with them. They also have tables everywhere, like outside WJ.  Or you could go directly to the place you want to eat

[orville99]

40 minutes ago, lovesthebeach2 said:

We use our BOGO for lunch and we’re ok with the price.

I’m not a meat lover - I eat mostly vegetarian at home, so Chops isn’t  worth it to us, but we do like Italian and on smaller ships it’s our only choice.

On the smaller ships they still have the old menu with about 3X the main entre' choices, with proteins other than chicken and pork belly (the least expensive of all the animal proteins), and all of their classic dishes that have been featured in the various RCL cookbooks. We will dine at Giovanni's on Serenade (or any of the other ships that have the old menu or still have Portofino's) at least twice during a 7 night cruise. We are on Wonder for the next two weeks, and have no desire to eat at Gio's at all.

Edited July 5, 2023 by orville99

[lovesthebeach2]

44 minutes ago, orville99 said:

On the smaller ships they still have the old menu with about 3X the main entre' choices, with proteins other than chicken and pork belly (the least expensive of all the animal proteins), and all of their classic dishes that have been featured in the various RCL cookbooks. We will dine at Giovanni's on Serenade (or any of the other ships that have the old menu or still have Portofino's) at least twice during a 7 night cruise. We are on Wonder for the next two weeks, and have no desire to eat at Gio's at all.

We also always eat at Gios on all the radiance class ships and love the menu. 

[orville99]

6 minutes ago, lovesthebeach2 said:

We also always eat at Gios on all the radiance class ships and love the menu. 

Agree - hope they don't change it when we are on Serenade for the month of November. We plan on dining there a half dozen times on each leg over the 28 days.

[Cheryl H]

Thank you all!   I'll be sure to check the menus on the app.   The app is new to us.  Glad to know they post the menus.   That's a good point that it might still be a Portofinos.  That did not occur to me. 

[suzyluvs2cruise]

We had the UDP and ate 2x at Giovanni's Italian Kitchen on Wonder. It was very disappointing to say the least. Same menu as what we had on Odyssey in Oct '23 in their Giovanni's Italian Kitchen but preparation & presentation was very different. I loved the Carbonara on Odyssey....but what I had on Wonder was dry, flavorless and unappealing. One of my DH's favorite dishes is Chicken Parm. What he was served on Wonder...while having a large piece of chidken...was dry and flavorless. We talked with the Chef who offered to make me another Carbonara. It was OK but still missing something. The 2nd night we went I had Lasagna. I've never had Lasagna served in a shallow dish that contained only 1 noodle. I'm used to a square layered version. Pics and menu below

[pstone1]

1 hour ago, suzyluvs2cruise said:

We had the UDP and ate 2x at Giovanni's Italian Kitchen on Wonder. It was very disappointing to say the least. Same menu as what we had on Odyssey in Oct '23 in their Giovanni's Italian Kitchen but preparation & presentation was very different. I loved the Carbonara on Odyssey....but what I had on Wonder was dry, flavorless and unappealing. One of my DH's favorite dishes is Chicken Parm. What he was served on Wonder...while having a large piece of chidken...was dry and flavorless. We talked with the Chef who offered to make me another Carbonara. It was OK but still missing something. The 2nd night we went I had Lasagna. I've never had Lasagna served in a shallow dish that contained only 1 noodle. I'm used to a square layered version. Pics and menu below

There should never, ever be cottage cheese in lasagne at an Italian Restaurant.  They should be ashamed!

[suzyluvs2cruise]

10 minutes ago, pstone1 said:

There should never, ever be cottage cheese in lasagne at an Italian Restaurant.  They should be ashamed!

Nor should the Lasagna look like what I was served. 

[orville99]

34 minutes ago, pstone1 said:

There should never, ever be cottage cheese in lasagne at an Italian Restaurant.  They should be ashamed!

Ricotta is Italian cottage cheese.

[Ourusualbeach]

3 hours ago, Cheryl H said:

Thank you all!   I'll be sure to check the menus on the app.   The app is new to us.  Glad to know they post the menus.   That's a good point that it might still be a Portofinos.  That did not occur to me. 

Portofinos is not on any of the ships. Itbis long gone.