disappointed in Palo

[mackymaddyconnorsmom]

OK. I know many people will not agree BUT my husband and I were disappointed in Palo's. We booked a table as soon as we could. We got the night and time we wanted which made us very happy. The food was not what we expected. We were happy with the experience but the food was nothing . We loved the cruise and rebooked another one but we will not go to Palo's again.

 

[lbgraves]

Sorry that you didn't have a good experience. We were very excited to be able to go this time & completely enjoyed both dinner with Sasha and brunch with Gemma. I couldn't believe all of the food that we ate during those meals! May I ask what you ate? I'm just wondering if I should avoid trying something else next time.

 

[mackymaddyconnorsmom]

We had the Pizza Margharita. Which was the best part. Buff. Mozzarella and tomatoes. The tomatoes were horrible. I love jersey tomatoes and these tomatoes were like the kind we get in the winter sometimes. My husband had Grilled Filet Mignon and I had a special. It was spaghetti with chicken. We were not impressed. Neither of us. We had the choc. souffle. It was not what I was expecting. I loved everything about the cruise, but Palo's was not what I was expecting . We have a lot of excellent Italian Rest. around here so maybe I was comparing it to Lambertis and Guiseppis

 

[missmulan]

if you have a native tongue for the native food then yes, you can taste the difference. that's why i chose international night to go to palos because i have high expectations for asian dishes. i'm sure we would have been disappointed with their asian dishes if we stayed with our regular dining rotation. we were very happy with palos! i ordered the seafood pasta which was one of their specials (not on the menu) and it was delicious!

 

[WDWLVR]

I think some people build up Palo so much that when others go it doesn't live up to their expectations. We went for the first time on cruise #5 and really enjoyed it. We'll be going again on cruise #6. Having said that I don't regret for one minute that we missed it the first 4 times we sailed. It was good but it isn't what I classify as a "not to be missed".

 

[natdencro]

Sorry to hear you were disappointed in PALO. I assume that, as you have re-booked, you were not disappointed in the rest of the meals? PALO menus do change periodically, so dont rule out going again on your next cruise. Perhaps you should contact PALO and explain just what sort of food you were expecting.Nat :

 

[MarkLem]

We dine out quite a bit. Palos is for sure the best restaurant on the boat and a nice restaurant experience, especially if you get a table looking out off the stern of the ship. But if you want to compare the food to a big city's top dining restaurants, it's a bit below. I'm not saying it's bad, it isn't, but certainly not 4 or 5 star, and in fairness to Disney, they don't market it as such either. I would for sure make a dinner reservation there, though.

 

[antmaril]

We are taking our first Disney cruise in February. Since we eat out quite a bit, I'm not going to worry about getting reservations at Palo. If I can make a brunch reservation, I might do that, but I'm not going to rush to get onboard just so I can get a restaurant reservation. I'm sure it's very nice, but it's still just a meal.

Just my two cents, of course.

 

[jel0511]

Palo isn't what most people consider an Italian restaurant. Most Americanized Italian restaurants are heavy on red sauce and heavy on garlic. Most true Italian restaurants are far from that, and Palo is like that. Especially Northern Italian restaurants, which Palo is modeled after. True Italian cooking isn't heavy on red sauce and garlic, but more earthy and pride on fresh ingredients. Palo definately pulls out that style of cooking very well. Those of you expecting tons of chicken parm and other "usual" Italian dishes will be very disappointed in Palo. I'm one who thinks Palo is excellent and will definately be returning.

Edited to add: Palo's chocolate souffle is a textbook souffle, so I don't know what the OP was expecting, but maybe she has never had souffle before.

 

[christinou]

On our first cruise, I was disapointed in the food at Palo's however I loved the atmosphere, and being in a quite restaurant for 1 night, on our last cruise, the food was great, for both dinner and the brunch, it was fun to do something completely different for 1 night.

 

[webray]

Were you on the Wonder. We found huge differences in Palo on the wonder and magic. The wonder Palo didn't even come close to being a top notch restaurant..while on the Magic..all we could say was WOW!

 

[castlegazer]

My husband and I dine out a lot in Boston at very high calibre restaurants. I am handling my expectations for Palo as such: it is a very nice way to dine intimately with my husband sans kids. It will probably not be, nor will much of the food on DCL, up to the calibre we sometime will have at home, nor will it have the level of choice we are used to.

I have not set my expectations very high, but I am looking forward to it immensely as I love the windows and the ability to eat in a nice restaurant by ourselves while cruising. It will be above and beyond the food I will eat in the dining rooms of the ship I hope.

You will find that many people who have cruised different lines will tell you that the specialty restaurants of those lines will outperform Palos.

 

[crisi]

I think some people build up Palo so much that when others go it doesn't live up to their expectations. We went for the first time on cruise #5 and really enjoyed it. We'll be going again on cruise #6. Having said that I don't regret for one minute that we missed it the first 4 times we sailed. It was good but it isn't what I classify as a "not to be missed".

We haven't been to Palo, but I've found this to be very true with a lot of things on this board. There will be a huge buildup for something and the reality simply can't measure up. The one we got caught by is Boma - had I had reasonable expectations, I'd have had a nice meal. Keep your expectations of anything Disney reasonable, and you will likely be thrilled. Expect the best meal of your life, and you may get it. But you may be setting yourself up for disappointment - particularly if your tastes are different, or your experiences broader and more "top tier" than most posters on this board, or you've had the bad fortune to get the "not as wonderful" servers, the medium rare steak that turned out more medium and perhaps not as tender as most, or a room that is a little worn around the edges.

Once in a while I have really high expectations and Disney manages to blow those out of the water. The decor of the ship - I'd seen photos, heard stories, had high expectations and was still wowed! But I'm really trying to keep my expectations reasonable - the wow still happens, but I'm less likely to be disappointed.

 

[dbm20th]

Palo is GREAT!!! Every good place has a bad dinner now and again, and not every dish pleases everyone. If you are on a 4+ night cruise, do not miss it. It is a pleasent change to the others. The service is more personal. The table is your own. It's much quieter. Love it!

 

[Limmer]

I'm sure it's very nice, but it's still just a meal.

I would agree with you except for the souffle! I had never had chocolate souffle before and with the vanillia ice cream it was to die for!

We enjoyed our dinner very much, however, and loved being able to dine just the two of us. We would definitely do it again. Also the service was great.

 

[natsmom125]

Mack...I think you were on the same cruise as we were.

All I can say is that we went to one Palo brunch and dinner twice. I can guarantee you that if the food had not been to our liking, we wouldn't have
continued to go back and PJ, the manager, would have known about it. We would have eaten there every night if we could have....

We had some of the same foods that you listed and well, I don't want to get into it too deep...

but I surely do wish I was sitting at Palo right now, with my pizza, my salad, my calamari, my steak, my souffle and my buddies Kristian, Gemma, Kristoff and PJ........

Not only do we love the food, but since I don't get "waited" on much...well, not really at all....being treated like a "queen" by Kristian and the guys...makes it that much better for me personally.

Just MHO.....
Phyllis

 

[faireygod mother]

I think the brunch is the best! I would do that again.

 

[pearlieq]

I also wasn't all that impressed with Palo. We did the brunch as we knew we wouldn't really care for the dinner menu. The food was all right, but it was no better than a niceish restaurant at home, and not that much better than the food in the main dining rooms.

I won't worry about getting in there again, but I'm glad we tried it once.

 

[Bella2000]

Palo isn't what most people consider an Italian restaurant. Most Americanized Italian restaurants are heavy on red sauce and heavy on garlic. Most true Italian restaurants are far from that, and Palo is like that. Especially Northern Italian restaurants, which Palo is modeled after. True Italian cooking isn't heavy on red sauce and garlic, but more earthy and pride on fresh ingredients. Palo definately pulls out that style of cooking very well. Those of you expecting tons of chicken parm and other "usual" Italian dishes will be very disappointed in Palo. I'm one who thinks Palo is excellent and will definately be returning.

Edited to add: Palo's chocolate souffle is a textbook souffle, so I don't know what the OP was expecting, but maybe she has never had souffle before.

I was very concerned about our dinner at Palo because we also have many nice restaurants and I was really concerned that my husband would say that he (his mother etc) could have prepared a better meal or dessert. Also the fact that it is talked up so much I thought "oh man what if it stinks?!". I have to tell you, Palo was a fantastic dining experience for us and I really agree with jel0511's post. We were extremely fortunate to have Dragan from Croatia as our server. He was in a word - wonderful. We trusted him to give us some dishes after we'd had a conversation on background, likes etc. He had me trying things that I typically dislike. I hate polenta and unless it's fried - eggplant texture is gross to me. There was a dish with polenta that was incredible. I don't recall what was in it but - wow! They also marinated the eggplant (sliced) with truffle - the taste? - well I ate it all. His love (and my husbands) for cooking made it so enjoyable. We had a reservation for brunch which we ended up canceling because we didn't think it could compare. Dragan told us their brunch was terrific however we didn't want to chance marring our wonderful memory so perhaps next cruise brunch. Sorry OP didn't enjoy Palo.

 

[Footnotegirl]

The food the two times I went to Palo's (brunch and dinner) was off-the-scales wonderful. I would say that the Brunch was even better than the dinner. The only thing that paled in our experience was that the service at dinner was execrable. Everyone in our party wrote complaint letters. I've had better service at Denny's.