ROYAL CARRIBBEAN - Chef's Table

Our big finale on this cruise was the CHEF’S TABLE dinner on our last night. It started of a little rocky because we kept asking around and were told to meet up at a bar on deck 5 but there were no signs and no indication of who we were supposed to meet so it was a little awkward figuring it out. Not the best system. Then when we did figure it out we learned it was less Chef’s Table and more food and wine paring. I’m not a big drinker and wine is definitely not my favorite but we already reserved the spot and I was hoping the food would make up for it. Also, Chef’s table is a dinner with 12 people total, so we were going to be eating with strangers and that’s not what I would call a fun time. Our group was a person short but half the diners were 1 family and my personality was not outgoing enough to mesh with theirs so it was a tiring experience. The upside was that the Chef’s Table took place in the main formal dining area which we had failed to make it to the whole cruise, so it was nice to be able to eat there with the giant chandelier and the white table cloths.

For some reason I can’t find a photo of the bread basket that started off the meal but it was a pull apart garlic roll that was about the size of a softball for each individual diner. It was sooooo buttery and warm and had us all very excited to eat. A couple of girls asked for the extra rolls to take with them after the dinner because they ate their whole serving and it was so delicious. I’m sad I didn’t take a photo to remember it by but it was so tasty I don’t think I’ll forget it.

(Excuse the sad lighting in the photos, it wasn’t the best but it is what is is.)

COURSE 1: SCALLOP CARPACCIO - Yuzu Vinaigrette, crispy quinoa

This was a great start to the meal; very light and delicate. The scallop just fell apart in my mouth and it wasn’t fishy or tough at all. The flavor was very mild and citrus-y from the yuzu and it was a good cold starter. It was a little tricky to eat because the scallop slices stuck to each other but it was enjoyable overall.

COURSE 2: SMOKED TOMATO SOUP - Garlic Focaccia croutons, Parmesan

This course started off with some showmanship but in the most basic sense. The waiter placed all our plates/bowls? then came back around and poured a warm tomato broth on top which helped keep the croutons crunchy. This was a perfect serving and even though I didn’t grow up eating tomato soup (or liking tomatoes for the majority of my childhood) I really enjoyed the smokey warmth of this course. I love soup in general and this was top tier.

COURSE 3: MAIN LOBSTER SALAD - Hearts of palm, pineapple, cilantro, vanilla dressing

This was a very surprising course and nothing that I’ve had before. I wasn’t a huge fan of a cold lobster in general but overall it was a unique take on a salad. The lobster was cooked perfectly and wasn’t tough and it had a great flavor to it that was surprisingly well balanced with the pop of flavor from the pineapple and the texture from the hearts of palm. I wasn’t in love with the little greenery on the plate and ate it just to clear my dish but it didn’t add much to the overall course.

COURSE 4: ROASTED BRANZINO - Grilled Zucchini, peppers, lemon confit, pesto, black olives

Apparently, I also failed to take a photo of the branzino which might also be an indicator of how I felt about a fish course. Fish is alright to me but I’m not a huge fan of branzino and while it was still a good course, having to eat around bones starts making me frustrated and takes me out of the experience of eating a ‘fine dining’ meal. This was also the course that had the most items that I’m not a fan of including the peppers and black olives. Add to this that I felt very rushed eating this course and spend a majority of my time trying to pick around the things I didn’t like and making sure I didn’t swallow a fish bone, this was my least favorite course of the night.

COURSE 5: GRILLED FILET MIGNON - Truffle Potato purée, asparagus, bordelaise sauce

Redemption! I’ve gotten my second steak of this trip, the downside is that while I was hungry at the start of this experience, by course 5 I was absolutely stuffed. So, once again, my poor filet, which I never get to eat at home, was partially wasted by a full stomach. I was beyond disappointed in myself. This was such a delicious course that was cooked so perfectly. The purée and the veggies were just right and helped me balance out the richness of the steak. I’m not great at eating meat because I hit my quota of how much protein I want pretty quickly but I’ve always been a huge fan of vegetables and no matter how full I am I can always eat another piece of asparagus.

I’m so sad this course came so late but this is a traditional course setting it the meal overall was good up to that point that it was bound to happen that I would be stuffed by the time the meat came out.

DESSERT - THE WORLD - Peanut Butter ganache, valrhona chocolate mousse, salted caramel gelato.

Let me start off this course by saying that I am not a dessert person, so I wasn’t terribly sad that I was full for dessert especially when I realized it was heavily chocolate based - I’m not a big chocolate fan and will take a bite or so of chocolate sometimes but I don’t typically crave it and I never what THIS much of it. It’s also quite lofty to name a dessert “the world” just because it resembles a sphere.

(A view of Karie’s dessert being melted)

Still, this was a fun course and the server again came around and poured a warm caramel sauce on top of the chocolate dome to melt it and reveal the inside. The idea was better than the execution and while the server was great all night, he decided to hold the pitcher of caramel sauce right in front of me while he poured it onto my dessert meaning I didn’t get a very good visual for my experience and the caramel sauce wasn’t warm enough or the chocolate dome was too thick that it didn’t melt impressively at all and was kind of anti-climactic. This is also a very rich chocolatey dessert and I kept checking the menu description because it wasn’t at all what I was expecting. The “salted caramel gelato” tasted more peanut butter-y than caramel and was so icy and chunky it wasn’t enjoyable. The wateriness of it did help cut through how much chocolate was in this dessert though and I did end up eating only the peanut butter/salted caramel. I was much happier with the desserts at the specialty restaurants the past few nights.

In general, I did feel pretty rushed for some of the courses and felt like I needed to eat everything quite quickly so I wish that it was paced a little slower so that I could really savor the food and not feel so stressed about the timing with 10 other people. As nice as people at the table were, I still didn’t have a great time eating with so many strangers and that always comes down to luck and chance. We had 2 couples on either side of us that I would’ve liked to talk to more but it just wasn’t the way the conversation went and that’s going to be different each time with a different group so I wouldn’t take that aspect into consideration. Overall, it was fine. I probably would’ve considered it differently if I knew it was more of a wine and food paring but it was still fun to get that experience and now I know.

ROYAL CARRIBBEAN - Izumi

It’s a full day at sea today and we’ve decided to spend it eating at IZUMI. They have a sushi bar that we want to eat for lunch and hibachi which we’ll do for dinner so we can wrap up our dining experience at all the restaurants on board. We made our reservation for closer to 1pm before lunch service ended which was good in the sense that it wasn’t too crazy and loud from the hibachi tables, but bad in the sense that you could tell the wait staff was ready to wrap things up and the service was just fine.

We started off with MISO SOUP and shared SHRIMP & VEGETABLE TEMPURA both of which were pretty standard. I decided I wanted to mix things up and try something special so I ordered their CHAMPAGNE LOBSTER ROLL which is blanched lobster, avocado, daikon sprouts, soy wrap, champagne sauce, and chili thread. It honestly tasted like sushi rice which was pretty boring and disappointing. I was full though just from all the eating so I didn’t order anything for dessert especially since it was just lunch and we had leftover key lime pie and cheesecake in our room hanging out in the cooler to snack on later. Not to mention all the dining areas on board the ship that were free if we wanted something to eat before we came back for Hibachi dinner.

HIBACHI: I was a little disappointed in Izumi for lunch but was hoping dinner would be more fun/better. It was not great. I forget that in terms of food, hibachi isn’t that good. It’s about the fun of the show but we didn’t have an amazing group of people at our station, our chef was a little awkward (though very nice and he tried very hard) and the food ended up being just salty and oily which is the norm for hibachi.

Overall, Izumi was the worst on board restaurant and while it wasn’t bad it wasn’t good either. Also, even with our dining package, Izumi is and extra $10ish to go to so we would’ve been better off going back to any of the other restaurants or getting food that was open to the whole ship at the buffet or at El Loco Fresh on the pool deck. At least we tried it though and it would’ve been a question mark for us if we didn’t go everywhere so it was good to go to in that respect. Would not go again or recommend that one to other people though.

ROYAL CARRIBBEAN - Chops Grille

It’s night two and we’ve had a nice day at Coco Cay but we ate lunch late so we’re not super hungry 4 hours later. This is the danger of having to make reservations before knowing what our day would be like. I wish I was more hungry because tonight is dinner at CHOPS GRILLE and I’ve been dreaming of steak for the past week so it’s so sad that I’m not more hungry to really savor it.

STILL! We started off our dinner splitting the COLOSSAL SHRIMP COCKTAIL and a CAESAR SALAD. Nothing out of the ordinary but they were both pretty good and it was a nice start. The shrimp was a little sad to share seeing as there were so few pieces but it didn’t taste so amazing that I wanted more.

For my entree I, of course, had to order a steak and went with the 6oz PETITE FILET the perfect amount for how full I already was from the late lunch. It looked a little sad on the plate but it tasted great and our server offered various sauces that sat in the nice little ridge of the plate to dip with our meat. I did have a bite or two left at the end but if I had been properly hungry at the start of dinner it would’ve been a great amount. Karie ordered a larger regular filet and it was way too much food. Super sad to see quality meat like this go to waste. Sorry steak.

At Chops, apparently the sides come in little dishes for the table to share so we ended up getting GRILLED JUMBO ASPARAGUS, YUKON GOLD MASHED POTATOES, and SAUTEÉD MUSHROOMS. Everything was good so it was really sad we were so full we couldn’t finish everything.

Our waiter was nice too, and he kept trying to get us to order more so we would get our money’s worth so when we ordered the NEW YORK CHEESECAKE to share he offered to pack up two more desserts to take back to our room so we got another slice of cheesecake and some KEY LIME PIE. Both good choices but so rich when we ate it later.

So! Chops was pretty good. A classic steakhouse, again nothing too fantastical or amazing but it was a quality meal and worth it to me to get seated in a nice dining room instead of hustling through a buffet looking for free tables.

ROYAL CARRIBBEAN - Giovanni's Italian Kitchen

Andddddddd we’re cruising!!

It’s my first cruise and I’m here with my friend from college, Karie. Since it’s my first cruise, we’ve decided to splurge a little and we’ve gone in for the UNLIMITED DINING PACKAGE which comes as multiple entrees and multiple specialty restaurant visits every night of sailing, lunch at specialty restaurants on sea days plus discounts on wine at dinner. I’m not really a drinker but food is the reason for vacation so I’m all in. There are 3 specialty restaurants on the FREEDOM OF THE SEAS ship that we’re sailing on for our 4 night cruise so we can hit them all plus a CHEF’S TABLE dinner (for an extra $50 but more on that to come).

I’m so excited. We made our trip’s worth of dinner reservations as soon as we got settled onto the ship. We can still check out the buffet at breakfast tomorrow but let’s see what these specialty restaurants have in store.

Tonight is night 1 and we’ve decided on going to GIOVANNI’S ITALIAN KITCHEN and get filled with carbs to fuel our day at Coco Cay tomorrow. We got seated right away in the second room closer to the pizza oven and we were the only one in that dining area so it felt like a fun private dinner for most of the night. Our server, Clinton, was super sweet and was very chatty since he didn’t have too many tables. He told us that night 1 is usually quieter because people are still getting settled so it’s a fun night to eat because we get more attention from the staff and I’m so happy about it because Clinton was amazing. I want to go back there just to see him again. In terms of food, it was pretty basic Italian, nothing to write home about, but you really can’t go wrong.

Every meal is started off with their signature AMORE DELLA CUCINA which was the garlic cheese knots topped with parm. It came with pesto, tomato basil ragout and herb marinated olives. You can’t go wrong with garlic knots and they were so warm and soft. A great start to the meal.

Karie wanted to split the ASSORTED MEAT & CHEESE PLATTER which I was fine with but it honestly felt more like basic deli meat and felt kinda meh. It was supposed to be mortadella, porchetta, prosciutto, salame, ham, gorgonzola, mozzarella, olives, breadsticks, and focaccia. The focaccia was a letdown because it was just a toasted piece of whatever bread but the mozzarella helped it out at least. Overall, not a great option.

For our main, we both got the LINGUINE CON LE VONGLE which was just linguine, fresh clams, olive oil, parsley, and white wine. The portion looked small on the plate but it was actually filling (as an overall meal) and I finished all of the pasta and felt comfortably full. There was just enough clams to balance well with the amount of pasta and I was pretty happy with the choice.

I wanted to share one dessert but Karie ordered TIRAMISU CLASSICO AND PANNA COTTA ALLA ROMANA which was a pistachio panna cotta topped with blueberries and basil. Both were good, the panna cotta tasted odd but we figured it tasted like it was made with coconut milk. It was still a good balance to the coffee in the tiramisu though.

So, overall, this was a pretty good meal. Nothing amazing, but it didn’t disappoint (aside from the deli-meat-like board) and was perfectly filling. Clinton pushed it over the top with his great service and fun conversation the whole night and if I had to pick, I would go back just for him.

CORT - Dasher's Corner Pub

It’s my birthday and my parents have come to town to visit me for the day. We’ve just been driving around and spending time together but decided to go out for a birthday dinner. There aren’t a ton of choices in town and decided to go to Dasher’s Corner Pub since it’s right by our apartment.

LOCATION: 2 N Main Street, Homer, NY 13077

I’ve been to Dasher’s with Caleb before but we’ve only gone for lunch so their dinner menu is new to me. We got there a little before 6pm so my parents could go home after dinner and not have to drive back to Rochester too late and we were seated upstairs in an empty dining room. Caleb and I have only ever been seated downstairs in the back room which can be a little cramped and loud especially when there’s a big party at their long table. It was really nice to be in a quieter space upstairs that was more spacious. The building is pretty old though and you can feel the slanted floors more so upstairs which is kind of funny to eat in.

My parents treated me and I decided to order the Scallops Pépin which is seared scallops on fresh croutons and potato slices with lemons, capers, and a brown butter sauce. Clearly it came with a side of asparagus as well. I don’t typically get to order seared scallops in the area so I was so excited to get this and it came out looking really fun and unique. The scallops were perfectly cooked and the dish was so well portioned. The ‘croutons’ on the bottom were so rich and buttery though so I ended up leaving a few slices of that in the end but ate all of the scallops and potatoes as well as the asparagus. I was perfectly full at the end and it was really nice to have a ‘fancy’ meal like this which made the day feel special. While the food at Dasher’s isn’t mind-blowing, it’s still a nice place to go for dinner and the quality is worth the price (which isn’t unreasonable at all) and it feels fancy enough to be special and out of our ordinary. It was really great to spend the day with my parents too so it was a really good finish to a nice birthday.