La Terrazza

[rojaan19]

So we have just had our last meal in La Terrazza !  I ordered the  osso bucco  -  it was tough and  inedible  !

Edited November 2, 2023 by rojaan19
Typo

[Observer]

What ship?  Did you complain to server or maitre d'?  What was their reaction?

[Fletcher]

17 minutes ago, rojaan19 said:

So we have just had our last meal in La Terrazza !  I ordered the  osso bucco  -  it was tough and  inedible  !

Yes, totally disgusting on the Spirit a week or so ago.  Like a gloopy boil-in-the-bag job. Nothing like the classic dish, and served with vile polenta cakes that were rock hard.  No idea.  We left almost all of it.  The wait staff just shrugged.

Edited November 2, 2023 by Fletcher

[rojaan19]

We are on the Muse,  and yes the maitre'd  came and talked  to me,  he  could see I could not cut it with a knife  !!   He said he would talk to the  " CHEF"  !

[canderson]

From @Fletcher 's description, I wonder if it's a botched (rushed) sous vide preparation problem?  Shame to hear this as it's something we'd likely order.

[drron29]

And once again no gorgonzola in La Terrazza but they did source some from Atlantide. Presented like this.

 

It is not the gorgonzola of past cruises which was much creamier. Sorry despite the denials this seems to be cost cutting.

[turtlemichael]

2 hours ago, drron29 said:

And once again no gorgonzola in La Terrazza but they did source some from Atlantide. Presented like this.

 

It is not the gorgonzola of past cruises which was much creamier. Sorry despite the denials this seems to be cost cutting.

 I grimace every time I see their cheese selection and presentation these days. Even the crackers are cheap and nasty.

[gofish]

Just off Muse last week. A pork chop and a veal scallopini were uneatable.

i think the menu said pork was from U K and the veal was Denmark. 

Both were junk but I think they already know that.

 

[Fletcher]

I believe the problem is right across the fleet because, like airline food, it mostly comes from a single 'food factory' and sent via containers out to the ships.  So an inedible dish on one ship will probably be inedible on another ship.  I came to this view after I did a month on the Cloud and thought the food was perhaps the worst I have ever been served on a cruise.  I thought it might be a glitch, peculiar to that ship.  Then last month on the Spirit I found the food to be roughly identical.  I lost four pounds on that trip.  One of the major problems is that the staff have no idea about the food they are serving.  And there do seem to be a lot of happy customers who wouldn't know a bordelaise from a béarnaise.  

 

I am teetering now on cancelling our next cruise - 35 days on the Wind - because I cannot stand the thought of eating badly for that long.

Edited November 3, 2023 by Fletcher

[Port Power]

22 hours ago, rojaan19 said:

So we have just had our last meal in La Terrazza !  I ordered the  osso bucco  -  it was tough and  inedible  !

That is so sad.  I had osso bucco twice on the Muse on the two legs before yours.  The meat was tender and delicious.  I wonder if the meat came from a different source?  Or, more likely, the chefs went on leave and the new lot were not as careful.

[drron29]

We have since had 2 other passengers say that the Osso Buco on this leg was inedible. 

Edited November 3, 2023 by drron29

[CruzinFeraBruzin]

1 hour ago, drron29 said:

the Osso Buco on this leg was inedible

It doesn't take a trained chef to know how to cook osso bucco.  A simple web search will produce countless recipes showing osso bucco needs to be seared, then slow braised for at least 2 hours in liquid (typically wine and stock) to tenderize it.  Based on the comments in this thread, the kitchen staff just seared it and topped it with sauce.  Even the best quality osso bucco needs to be slow cooked or it will be tough and inedible.  

[Fletcher]

1 hour ago, CruzinFeraBruzin said:

It doesn't take a trained chef to know how to cook osso bucco.  A simple web search will produce countless recipes showing osso bucco needs to be seared, then slow braised for at least 2 hours in liquid (typically wine and stock) to tenderize it.  Based on the comments in this thread, the kitchen staff just seared it and topped it with sauce.  Even the best quality osso bucco needs to be slow cooked or it will be tough and inedible.  

And to the stock start with soffrito.  I usually deglaze with marsala before adding the stock.  The classic accompaniment is risotto Milanese, creamy with butter and parmesan and perfumed with saffron.  Sometimes a very loose, buttery polenta is just as nice. 

[difranco]

The cheese biscuit selection has been appalling since we first sailed on Silversea back in 2005. Over the past two decades we have moved onto artisanal biscuits infused with a multitude of ingredients which are found in most top end restaurants and widely available in your local deli. Therefore, why are we served Ritz snacks and cream crackers usually found in the budget aisle of Poundland. Countless feedback forms have been completed with recommendations on where and how to procure such fine partners for their cheese boards, alas to no avail. In conclusion, they either have no taste or most likely, they do it on purpose. It’s harder to fail than it is to succeed. The only positive is the nostalgia it brings when we reminisce how we felt as children on Christmas Day with those biscuits. That was back in 1969 !

[FlyerTalker]

Assume you are talking about what are known as crackers or cookies on the west side of the pond.

 

As opposed to these kind of "cheese biscuit":

 

 

[Lois R]

8 minutes ago, FlyerTalker said:

Assume you are talking about what are known as crackers or cookies on the west side of the pond.

 

As opposed to these kind of "cheese biscuit":

 

 

OMG......those look fantastic and I am glad you posted this reply. SS has never served anything close to these before. I am guessing the biscuit the previous poster was talking about was definitely a cracker (to us here in the states).

[FlyerTalker]

43 minutes ago, Lois R said:

OMG......those look fantastic

 

Hope I am not breaking any unwritten law by saying the words "Red Lobster".

 

And no, they do not have a dress code.  😀

 

 

[Lois R]

12 minutes ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

Hope I am not breaking any unwritten law by saying the words "Red Lobster".

 

And no, they do not have a dress code.  😀

 

 

No, you are not....I have been there plenty of times when I was growing up and even after that LOL..and those biscuits? DELICIOUS😃

[difranco]

Yes, it’s cheese biscuits in the UK not crackers. The only crackers I know are Christmas crackers or when you go crackers. Either way Ritz are totally unacceptable in any dining venue.

[ggo85]

We at at La T on Muse last night for the second time on this cruise.  Service was excellent - personal and efficient.  Food was good.  No complaints but IMHO not standout Italian food. The main courses are not what one usually sees at an Italian place.  No basic veal or chicken dishes (piccata, parmigiana).  I had tuna.  It was fine.  Slightly overcooked (ordered medium rare and got medium) but nothing about it screamed Italian.  DH had lasagna - it was fine but he’s had better.  

Our first visit was generally the same.  Great service, ok food.  
 

 

[gofish]

i agree great service only ok food.

 

 

[Tothesunset]

7 hours ago, difranco said:

Yes, it’s cheese biscuits in the UK not crackers. The only crackers I know are Christmas crackers... 

Jacob's Cream Crackers? 

[difranco]

I was trying to forget those. They take up too much space on the plate depriving customers of cheese.

Bath Oliver’s for me.

 

[lincslady]

The best known biscuits for cheese in the UK used to be Cream Crackers or the more elegant 'water biscuits', I think by Carrs) and Bath Olivers.    The photo looks to me like cheese scones.   Lovely, but surely not biscuits for cheese?

[turtlemichael]

Carr's water biscuits would do me. But the problem is not only the biscuits, it's the cheese as several recent photos have shown. A cheese course has become AWD - anything will do.  I suspect that Silversea is not alone here.