Westerdam Pinnacle Lunch Review

[Hojo's redbeard]

Background before reading my review, a little bit about me. My job requires me to entertain clients, so I DINE out quite frequently. Between work and family, usually a minimum of 8 sit down dinners in restaurants per week (none of them in fast food or sports bars, usually mid to high end). My employment history includes nearly ten years in retail and restaurant management managing servers. I also was hired by a high end national chain to mystery shop their local establishment. I know what to expect, and more importantly, know what it's like to be on the other side of the service.

 

Last week we were on the Westerdam. We had originally had a reservation booked on Thursday night, which turned out to be the Gala dinner. Being that it was formal night and gala dinner, DW decided we should try to go to the Pinnacle another night and enjoy dinner in the Vista with DD. Glad we did.

 

We were unable to book the Pinnacle for dinner another night because they were wait listed. We did however get an unexpected gift from our TA for free lunch in the Pinnacle (certificate was delivered on Thursday, so Saturday was only option).

 

We had a 1:15 reservation for 3. DW bowed out at the last minute due to woozy feeling (10 foot seas). DD (7) and I decided to go ahead and eat in the Pinnacle.

 

My first impression was that none of the other guests were talking to each other and looked truly miserable...odd. After what seemed to be some confusion from the wait staff as to who's table it was, we were presented with menus.

 

The wine steward came by to take our drink order. Ordered a coke for DD and a coffee for myself. She asked for my drink card, which I presented to her. (You'd think that soda would be included with the meal in the Pinnacle since there is a charge to eat there). She returned with the coke and informed me that my waiter would bring my coffee.

 

A few minutes later our waiter returned to take our order. DD wanted the pasta dish, but with butter sauce. The waiter (ALEX), was not sure if they could do that. He said he would ask the chef if he could do that.

 

We had the onion soup and a prawn bruschetta for starters. The onion soup was pretty bland. The prawns were pretty good. Presentation on both is excellent.

 

After our starters, Alex returned with menus to get our dessert order (which I had placed with the food order). At that time I asked him for some coffee, as the wine steward had not relayed my order.

 

Our main dishes arrived. Pinnacle Burger for me. Pasta dish as ordered for DD. Pasta dish was acceptable to DD, who is not much of an eater. My burger was really bad. I tried to eat it, but it was SO overcooked. You could tell that it had been good quality meat, but it had been murdered. The burger was delivered without any condiments, or offer of any. The fries were cold.

 

I sat the burger across from me in hopes that an attentive server would notice. By this time it was nearly 1:45 (or later as I do not wear a watch on cruises) and the waiters were nowhere in sight. It was nearly ten minutes before any staff member passed by the table. He asked if I was done. I told him that actually I wanted to send it back because it was dry and the fries were cold. He told me that it was probably dry because they are well done. I really couldn't believe they would say that for one, and the other thing is, it was way past well done.

 

He returned in a couple of minutes with a menu and stood by while I decided on my replacement dish. I ordered the crab cakes. Which turned out to be incredible.

 

What ever happened to my server? Well. At one point he visited the other two tables he had, expecting him to stop by ours as well, I did not flag him down. Well, he disappeared without visiting us. I did watch as tore down all of the place settings and started setting up for dinner service. Never once stopping by our table, or even looking in our direction.

 

My water and coffee had both sat empty for several minutes. I even had time to drink all of DD's water and have it sit empty as we watched Alex continue to set up for dinner, never once glancing in our direction.

 

Eventually, IMOM passed our table and noticed that our drinks were empty and re-filled the water and coffee for us.

 

While we were waiting for our dessert, the manager came to see me about the hamburger. Now, there were only three other tables of two sat in the entire restaurant at the time, and a good 30 minutes had passed. Why on earth did it take that long? When he did approach, he approached me from the rear (we were in the last table in the row along the windows aft), so I had to turn and look up at him (who trained this guy?). As he was asking about the burger, Alex had arrived with our Chocolate dessert. As he sat down DD's, the plate caught her straw and sprayed me in the face with coke. I stopped mid sentance, started blinking, grabbed my napkin to wipe my face and said "you got me". After wiping my face, I looked up and Alex had a confused look on his face. I tried to explain to him that as he sat down the plate it caught her straw and sprayed me. He still looked confused. I told him "never mind". Then I turned to finish telling the manager about the burger, and he was gone.

 

After we got done, and waited a few minutes for Alex to return with the check, I got up to find him. He seemed surprised that we were done :confused: . I asked him if he had our check for me, he said something about me having a thing. I asked him if he meant the gift certificate? He said yes. Handed it to him and left.

 

Food: With the exception of the crab cakes, it is no better than in the Vista Dining Room.

 

Service: Totally lacking. Worst service I have received in memory. Alex was more interested in getting his side work done and getting the restaurant torn down from lunch and set up for dinner. He paid no mind to us at all. He ignored us.

 

Management: Did not know how to approach a table, NEVER should a manager approach from the rear. Having to turn around and look up is not acceptable. He did not seem to have a clue how to handle food being sent back. He seemed confused about the situation, and then just walked away.

 

Overall: They have Bulgari and Reidel...SO!? Worst service, management and burger I've had in years. My cruise experience would have been much better had I not experienced this.

[bepsf]

Sounds like the Pinnacle manager on Westerdam needs some urgent retraining (or replacing)...

 

...as well as his staff.

:cool:

[SHayesShip]

I call HAL's hamburgers hockey pucks. I love HAL but absolutely refuse ordering their hamburgers. Your situation with the hamburger is not an aberration. Their hamburgers are cooked way past the well-done stage.

 

The service you received was unduly poor and should not have happened.

 

Fortunately, I have received nothing but excellent service in the Pinnacle and hopefully will in the future.

[LolaWiz]

that is so upsetting you had such a bad experience. I am not sure if it was just for lunch or not but i am sorry.

 

I know its been almost a year since we have sailed her, but our pinnicle experience was tops. The waitstaff was wonderfully attentive and everything was supurb. I am very critical when it comes to presentation and taste and it was always great.

 

OP, i am sorry you did have this negitive experience though.

[happy cruzer]

Thank you for taking the time to report on this situation. If it happened to DH and I, it would be very bad. I would have taken it personally and been very upset and DH would just let it roll off and not bother him. then he and I would argue and yuk. this kind of bad service can ruin a portion of your cruise. that's Off topic but just trying to relate how important these experiences can be. I bet these things are so major that the Westerdam PG will get "fixed" quickly.

 

Hojo, I see you are booked on RCI for the future, I hope you have good luck with them. They have given me acceptable dining service in the past but they really are all about the ship and your family should really like that!

 

again thanks for the information.

[jtl513]

Food: With the exception of the crab cakes' date=' it is no better than in the Vista Dining Room.

 

Service: Totally lacking. Worst service I have received in memory. Alex was more interested in getting his side work done and getting the restaurant torn down from lunch and set up for dinner. He paid no mind to us at all. He ignored us.

[/quote']

 

We've only tried the PG twice - dinner on the Westerdam in Sep 05 and lunch or the Noordam June 06. (Same Maitre d', though ... he moved!) Both times our experience was far less than stellar.

 

DW and I agree with you that the food was not much better, if any, than the dining room. The service, though adequate, was cold and aloof. We much prefer the friendly interaction with the wait staff in the dining room.

 

Now that the price has increaased to $30 pp we definitely won't go back for dinner on our upcoming cruises, but may give lunch another shot just in case we were just not too lucky on the first two visits.

[Roz]

When I think of all the great hamburgers I've had from the grill near the Lido pool, it kinda stinks that you had to pay extra for an overcooked hockey puck.

 

People laugh when I tell them I eat burgers on a cruise, but one of my favorite quick lunches is a burger without a bun and a salad from the Lido salad bar.

 

Roz

[twiceblessed]

I had Alex also in July on one of his first Cruises on the Westerdam. As a waiter, he was only fair, but he did warm up some when we engaged him in conversation. His English is not very good. :rolleyes: The food at the time was very good, and we had a fun evening. I don't know if I would want to go back for $30 per person. Our dinner was free. He also served tea in the afternoon.

[cruznon]

The past few days the Pinnacle Grill on Westerdam has received quite a few bad reviews--mediorce food and poor service. If I were sailing on Westerdam anytime soon, I think I'd pass on the PG! If I had a coupon, think I'd have it converted to OBC.

[AAAAmerican]

So sorry to hear of your experiences as well there lack of experience..traing is vital in that Profession.

Did you contact the Culinary Operations Manager as well the Hotel Manager aboard?

 

With your experience that is vital to show the C Line how they have flawed and make it better for the next ..victim..ooops Cruise Guest eating in the Steak House..

 

 

The more which express themselves the quicker and better results are achieved and recieved...

 

Being constructive is an imporant gain for all, a mutual benefit...

:cool:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Background before reading my review' date=' a little bit about me. My job requires me to entertain clients, so I DINE out quite frequently. Between work and family, usually a minimum of 8 sit down dinners in restaurants per week (none of them in fast food or sports bars, usually mid to high end). My employment history includes nearly ten years in retail and restaurant management managing servers. I also was hired by a high end national chain to mystery shop their local establishment. I know what to expect, and more importantly, know what it's like to be on the other side of the service.

 

Last week we were on the Westerdam. We had originally had a reservation booked on Thursday night, which turned out to be the Gala dinner. Being that it was formal night and gala dinner, DW decided we should try to go to the Pinnacle another night and enjoy dinner in the Vista with DD. Glad we did.

 

We were unable to book the Pinnacle for dinner another night because they were wait listed. We did however get an unexpected gift from our TA for free lunch in the Pinnacle (certificate was delivered on Thursday, so Saturday was only option).

 

We had a 1:15 reservation for 3. DW bowed out at the last minute due to woozy feeling (10 foot seas). DD (7) and I decided to go ahead and eat in the Pinnacle.

 

My first impression was that none of the other guests were talking to each other and looked truly miserable...odd. After what seemed to be some confusion from the wait staff as to who's table it was, we were presented with menus.

 

The wine steward came by to take our drink order. Ordered a coke for DD and a coffee for myself. She asked for my drink card, which I presented to her. (You'd think that soda would be included with the meal in the Pinnacle since there is a charge to eat there). She returned with the coke and informed me that my waiter would bring my coffee.

 

A few minutes later our waiter returned to take our order. DD wanted the pasta dish, but with butter sauce. The waiter (ALEX), was not sure if they could do that. He said he would ask the chef if he could do that.

 

We had the onion soup and a prawn bruschetta for starters. The onion soup was pretty bland. The prawns were pretty good. Presentation on both is excellent.

 

After our starters, Alex returned with menus to get our dessert order (which I had placed with the food order). At that time I asked him for some coffee, as the wine steward had not relayed my order.

 

Our main dishes arrived. Pinnacle Burger for me. Pasta dish as ordered for DD. Pasta dish was acceptable to DD, who is not much of an eater. My burger was really bad. I tried to eat it, but it was SO overcooked. You could tell that it had been good quality meat, but it had been murdered. The burger was delivered without any condiments, or offer of any. The fries were cold.

 

I sat the burger across from me in hopes that an attentive server would notice. By this time it was nearly 1:45 (or later as I do not wear a watch on cruises) and the waiters were nowhere in sight. It was nearly ten minutes before any staff member passed by the table. He asked if I was done. I told him that actually I wanted to send it back because it was dry and the fries were cold. He told me that it was probably dry because they are well done. I really couldn't believe they would say that for one, and the other thing is, it was way past well done.

 

He returned in a couple of minutes with a menu and stood by while I decided on my replacement dish. I ordered the crab cakes. Which turned out to be incredible.

 

What ever happened to my server? Well. At one point he visited the other two tables he had, expecting him to stop by ours as well, I did not flag him down. Well, he disappeared without visiting us. I did watch as tore down all of the place settings and started setting up for dinner service. Never once stopping by our table, or even looking in our direction.

 

My water and coffee had both sat empty for several minutes. I even had time to drink all of DD's water and have it sit empty as we watched Alex continue to set up for dinner, never once glancing in our direction.

 

Eventually, IMOM passed our table and noticed that our drinks were empty and re-filled the water and coffee for us.

 

While we were waiting for our dessert, the manager came to see me about the hamburger. Now, there were only three other tables of two sat in the entire restaurant at the time, and a good 30 minutes had passed. Why on earth did it take that long? When he did approach, he approached me from the rear (we were in the last table in the row along the windows aft), so I had to turn and look up at him (who trained this guy?). As he was asking about the burger, Alex had arrived with our Chocolate dessert. As he sat down DD's, the plate caught her straw and sprayed me in the face with coke. I stopped mid sentance, started blinking, grabbed my napkin to wipe my face and said "you got me". After wiping my face, I looked up and Alex had a confused look on his face. I tried to explain to him that as he sat down the plate it caught her straw and sprayed me. He still looked confused. I told him "never mind". Then I turned to finish telling the manager about the burger, and he was gone.

 

After we got done, and waited a few minutes for Alex to return with the check, I got up to find him. He seemed surprised that we were done :confused: . I asked him if he had our check for me, he said something about me having a thing. I asked him if he meant the gift certificate? He said yes. Handed it to him and left.

 

Food: With the exception of the crab cakes, it is no better than in the Vista Dining Room.

 

Service: Totally lacking. Worst service I have received in memory. Alex was more interested in getting his side work done and getting the restaurant torn down from lunch and set up for dinner. He paid no mind to us at all. He ignored us.

 

Management: Did not know how to approach a table, NEVER should a manager approach from the rear. Having to turn around and look up is not acceptable. He did not seem to have a clue how to handle food being sent back. He seemed confused about the situation, and then just walked away.

 

Overall: They have Bulgari and Reidel...SO!? Worst service, management and burger I've had in years. My cruise experience would have been much better had I not experienced this.[/quote']

[anley]

My DW and I ate dinner at the pinnacle grill on the Amsterdam Ocr 19. It was a gift from TA and a letter was in the cabin saying they made a RES for us on Oct 27. Since that was not suitable we asked for a switch which was handled easily . I had heard great things about the steaks they served and in particular about the Porterhouse quote being the best and largest they ever had. They actually bring the raw meat to your table so you can chose what type of steak you want. The Porterhouse was not very large and cut so thin

that at one end was less than 1/2 inch thick. I asked the waiter if I could get a thicker steak and he said thats how they came. So we both order the rib eye which was more to my liking in size. My steak was marvelous but the one my wife had was on the tough side . The sides I ordered were mushrooms and

creamed spinach. I did not finish the spinach and mentioned to the waiter who cleared the plate with half of the small button sized mushrooms uneaten before he could walk away that they could have something to them to make them taste. I've eaten in steakhouses in various areas and the steaks and sides are always consistently good. I was also surprised that they didn't have Escargots on the menu and the crab cakes were miniscule. Certainly the dining room which serves many more people is as good or superior in many ways.

I hope HAL takes notice of these comments and does something to remedy the situation. Certainlly in any good restaurant my comment about the mushrooms or the fact that food was partially eaten would have brought the Maitre D to the table. My wife is a slow eater and twice at dinner in the dining room our Maitre D stopped to ask if she would prefer something else.So much for better service at the Pinnacle.

Stan:confused::confused:

[anley]

You cannot get an OBC for your Pinnacle Grill Dinner if it came from your TA.

HAL gives them to the TAS as an inducement to book and they want you to use them. If you pre booked it yourself and paid then you can get your money

back.

[Hojo's redbeard]

So sorry to hear of your experiences as well there lack of experience..traing is vital in that Profession.

Did you contact the Culinary Operations Manager as well the Hotel Manager aboard?

 

With your experience that is vital to show the C Line how they have flawed and make it better for the next ..victim..ooops Cruise Guest eating in the Steak House..

 

 

The more which express themselves the quicker and better results are achieved and recieved...

 

Being constructive is an imporant gain for all, a mutual benefit...

:cool:

 

Being that it was our last day on the cruise, I didn't want to dwell on it and have it be what I remembered from my cruise. Well, when we got back to the cabin...comment cards! Needless to say, the comment card went in to detail. Unfortunately the Pinnacle lunch experience was the first piece of a trifecta pulled off by the Westerdam on the final day, so a bad eight hours on the part of HAL is what I remember.

[AAAAmerican]

Yes thats very understandable as well also on HALS part, welcomed...

 

Sometimes the last memories will last a lifeime but at least you will be able to laugh about it too later on..

 

But surely Professionally, I do hope you write HAL in Seattle as well Miami as this is needed for input and constructive methods of raising the quality and service levels as you well know.

 

I like what you say and how you say so well too!

 

:cool:

 

Being that it was our last day on the cruise' date=' I didn't want to dwell on it and have it be what I remembered from my cruise. Well, when we got back to the cabin...comment cards! Needless to say, the comment card went in to detail. Unfortunately the Pinnacle lunch experience was the first piece of a trifecta pulled off by the Westerdam on the final day, so a bad eight hours on the part of HAL is what I remember.[/quote']

[scott in maine]

We had dinner in Volendam's PG some weeks ago and found the setting quite nice and inviting. Our food was quite good (not exceptional), but the service component was, frankly, all messed up. We were disappointed with the lack of polish and care.

 

This is positively a training and staffing issue!

 

Our other experiences on other lines' alternative upscale restaurants had been so overwhelmingly positive --- so, we had anticipated something along those lines on HAL. The experiences were vastly different and HAL needs to know they fall somewhat short here.

 

Both our salt and pepper grinders were empty -- which is ridiculous. Both had to be replaced, but first the server insisted that we weren't operating them correctly and we got a lesson...... then he realized that they were, indeed, empty.

 

Our meals were all quite good, but there was nothing exceptional about any of it. We had a second reservation for another evening, but cancelled it and had a delightful time in the main dining room instead.

 

Let's hope HAL can place some additional emphasis and $$$s on making the PGs really, truly exceptional.

[Hojo's redbeard]

We had dinner in Volendam's PG some weeks ago and found the setting quite nice and inviting. Our food was quite good (not exceptional), but the service component was, frankly, all messed up. We were disappointed with the lack of polish and care.

 

This is positively a training and staffing issue!

 

Our other experiences on other lines' alternative upscale restaurants had been so overwhelmingly positive --- so, we had anticipated something along those lines on HAL. The experiences were vastly different and HAL needs to know they fall somewhat short here.

 

Both our salt and pepper grinders were empty -- which is ridiculous. Both had to be replaced, but first the server insisted that we weren't operating them correctly and we got a lesson...... then he realized that they were, indeed, empty.

 

Our meals were all quite good, but there was nothing exceptional about any of it. We had a second reservation for another evening, but cancelled it and had a delightful time in the main dining room instead.

 

Let's hope HAL can place some additional emphasis and $$$s on making the PGs really, truly exceptional.

 

We had eaten in Nick & Nora's supper club on the Carnival Miracle a few months earlier, and had a superb experience. It was a testimonial to everything being done right. The Pinnacle experience was the exact opposite.

 

I have to agree with you, it's a training issue. HAL has better service in the Lido than in the Pinnacle...how odd is that!