Am I the only one who thinks the Master Chef dinner was AWFUL?

[DVCNuts]

I have a new no-brainer for Sunday night on your 7-day cruise: go to Palo, or Topsiders, or Pinnocchio's, or get room service. It's not about formal night. It's the food. I have never been more disgusted with a menu on DCL.

Our server did the best he could-- saying "I'm not going to reccomend anything, since these dishes were designed by the Master Chefs..." or something like that. Interpretation: I wouldn't reccomend this food for your dog.

DCL has GOT to change this menu! It is AWFUL. I actually left hungry. Had to get some pizza afterwards. Add to that that I was cranky and uncomfortable in my tux. I must have been no fun at all that night.

Anybody have a similar experience?

 

[Michelle]

What did you have for that meal, Jerry? Just curious!

 

[Werner Weiss]

Please explain what was awful about the food at Master Chefs Series dinner. Are you someone who likes basic meat and potato dishes, and you found the menu selections to be too weird? Or are you someone who likes imaginative recipes, but you found the execution to be lacking? Which menu items did you order? Was everyone at your table disappointed or just you?

Do you find a description such as "Pan-roasted Mahi Mahi served with fragrant Basmati rice and Coconut Red Curry Sauce" to be appetizing or revolting? (It sounds promising to me, but I know people who would much rather have a Big Mac.)

I'm honestly interested in your opinion. I haven't been on a Disney Cruise yet, so I don't have any experience from which to offer my own opinion of the Master Chef Series.

The reason that I ask is that I recently read a posting on another board by someone who hated the Coral Reef restaurant at Epcot, and strongly advised people to avoid it. But in reading through the post, it turned out the author just hated seafood, and thus found almost nothing on the menu to order. (I happen to think the Coral Reef is great -- pricey, but great -- because I really like imaginatively prepared seafood dishes made from fresh, high quality ingredients.)

 

[Scott5150]

Well DVCnuts, the menu looks good to me. I will be on in 6 days and I will give you a full report from a fairly picky eater. It looks like there are several entrees that I will eat.

Scott

 

[dylan'smom]

but then I always like a good salad w/ blue cheese crumbles, seared scallops as an appetizer, & rack of lamb... not to mention the yummy cheese cake for dessert. Maybe I chose well or lucked out because I like those things, don't know. Can't remember what everyone else had but I don't remember complaints...

Now, in Parrot Cay I couldn't find much to go in between the coconut shrimp appetizer & the dessert -- that was more of a challenge for me.

 

[RellingTwin]

DH had the Scallops appitiser, MaiMai main course, and cheesescake for dessert. He loved it all!
I had the scallops, Rack of Lamb, and struddle. I loved all but the struddle! The struddle was horrible!Sorry but the crust was thick and chewey, the apples were tastless! I should have listened to our server. This was the ONLY time I did not take his reccommendation, and I learned my lesson.

 

[DVCNuts]

I am anything but a strictly meat and potatoes guy. I like steak and potatoes, but love to try everything.

I had the scallops (OK) and the lobster/shrimp roll (YUCK) for starters, and the pork tenderloin main course (very dry and tasteless). I intentionally avoided the turkey entree-- which I am sure is very good, but is also very ordinary. My wife got the mahi mahi, and it too was very average. And she points out (looking over my shoulder) that once you've had the lamb at Palo, anything else pales in comparison.

Perhaps it was the execution more than the recipe. I don't buy the arguement that they're cooking for 2000 people-- other cruise lines do it, and they do it very well. In fact, there were other menus that were wonderful: Parrot Cay, Lumiere's, Captain's Gala (Semi formal Thursday) and Small World (Friday) were my favorites (and of course, Palo). I also found Animators and Tropical night food to be average, but they get points for the entertainment factor.

By the way-- they no longer do the International flag parade on Small World night. It was discontinued after September 11. The explanation being that they didn't want to run the risk of offending anyone. I don't quite get it, but Disney is the most PC company I know of.

I like a lot of different foods-- from steak to sushi. In fact one of my favorite things to do is to try a little bit of everything. I guess I might have tried the wrong things that night. But I heard comments from some of the dining staff (not our servers) that echoed the "disappointment" with some of the menu choices. Like any good restaurant, they need to keep tabs on what's good and what isn't, and fix what's broken.

 

[NJSKI&CRUISEGUY]

Personally, I thought the seared scallops appetizer were the best scallops I've ever eaten. Next time I order 2 or 3 portions!

But I do agree with "RellingTwin" that the apple strudle was a BIG disappointment.

 

[inkkognito]

Hubby and I like our meat and potatoes, but we also like to be adventurous and often do a WDW package that includes meals in order to do fine dining "around the World." We loved Master Chefs night. I can't remember what I ate except the scallops, and they were superb. It was one of my favorite meals on the 7-day cruise. Thankfully, I did not have the apple strudel for dessert. I had some sort of lava cake that was divine.
Barb
Visit the Platinum Castaway Club at: www.disneycruiser.com

 

[papa]

DVC NUTS we also had the lobster roll and the pork tenderloin. Tenderloin was very dry. I am not a picky eater as my fellow dis'ers can attest to. After dinner went topside and grabbed some chicken tenders. Wish they would put them on the adult menu in the dining rooms. It would not hurt to kind of tinker a little with the menu. Just my two cents.

 

[DVCNuts]

Barb--

It looks like the menus on your website still have the Captain's Gala Dinner as the formal night menu. That's when they served the lava cake-- and I would absolutely agree with you. It is ALMOST as good as the chocolate souflee in Palo.

They changed the Master Chefs to the Sunday formal night, and the Captain's Gala to Thursday-- which has one of the best menus of the week.

 

["Ginger"]

Sorry to hear that the food wasn't good. I agree it's time for a menu change. Tell if you can, how was Palo's? Did they offer the tenderlion?

papa you could have gotten the chicken tenders every night for or with your meal. My DH loves them also and he did order them every night on our last cruise 1/20/01.

I guess we'll be eating alot at Palo's on our next cruise coming up real soon.

 

[NboroGirl]

I can't comment on the dinner, since after seeing the menu for Master Chef's posted on line, we chose that night to be our Palo's night. Seriously! Sounds like it was a wise choice.

 

[DVCNuts]

MMMMMMMMmmmmm.... Palo. I can't say enough about it! We had dinner for about 3 hours Wednesday night. I had the tenderloin. Take this advice: request Carita (from Finland) to be your server. She is friendly and knowledgable, and will make excellent suggestions. For example, I never would have ordered the Portobella mushroom appetizer, but the way she described it made it sound wonderful-- and it was! And she will never even ask if you want the chocolate souflee.

 

[Mop]

Regarding the strudel...my wife said it was very chewy and not very good as someone above mentioned. However, my father-in-law said it was very good and not chewy at all. Then he had a second piece...and it was bad like my wifes. So, for at least this dessert, there seems to be a range. Some slices are very good and some taste like yesterday's leftovers. Ask for another piece (or another dessert altogether) if your piece isn't any good. My favorite substitute was just a couple of scoops of vanilla ice cream. Always very good--they use high quality ice cream.

 

[inkkognito]

I'm glad you got to taste that lava cake. It's been so long since we were on the 7-day that I'm mixing up the menus in my mind! I fully agree...that cake is almost as good as the souffle. They have something similar in Epcot at the Living Seas, just in case you ever get a taste for it again and are at the World. It is a little bit difference, but close enough to meet those "Disney chcolate yummy" urges.
Barb
Visit the Platinum Castaway Club at: www.disneycruiser.com

 

[jazzbran]

Last year, I remember my husband was disgusted with the food on Tropical night, therefore this vacation we'll skip Tropical night and head over to Palos.

Sailing on 10/6.

Jackie

 

[Whatley trio]

There were some nights that appeared to be not as good as others. We will agree that the lobster/shrimp rolls was not that good. With our servers, Cristian/Fredric, anytime we did not like something, they would replace it.

 

[DuncanLL]

The Turkey entree on Master Chef's night was the best turkey I'd ever had...and it was anything but ordinary. It reminded me of the turkey they serve at O'Hana's at the Polynesian. Yum! I'm a picky eater, but our server always accomodated my requests for no sauce or no vegetables, etc.

Linda

 

[miksicnarf]

Taste in food is such a subjective thing The grilled pork tenderloin from the Master Chefs menu was my favorite entree on the cruise, and I thought the warm chocolate lava cake was way better than Palo's souffle. The lava cake is also available at the Flying Fish Cafe on the Boardwalk at WDW, as well as at many non-Disney restaurants everywhere.


kim, whose birthday is today and who's looking forward to warm chocolate lava cake from the Charthouse