What are your favorite "off menu" items to order?

[MunFam]

My kiddo ordered a plate of prosciutto one evening as an app...and then only ate the prosciutto. The next day, they had a HUGE pile of it on a dessert plate. She gobbled it up. Every night following, there was a mountain...3-4 inches high of it on a salad plate. She ate every last drop every night.

 

[Dug720]

My kiddo ordered a plate of prosciutto one evening as an app...and then only ate the prosciutto. The next day, they had a HUGE pile of it on a dessert plate. She gobbled it up. Every night following, there was a mountain...3-4 inches high of it on a salad plate. She ate every last drop every night.

OMG, I'm going to have to remember this!! I love prosciutto but despise melon.

 

[Trera]

Good information but I guess I haven't had to venture off the menu because I normally find things I really like. Truffle pursettes, shrimp and grits, french onion soup, chateau briand, etc.

I never leave the table still hungry, that is for sure.

 

[MickeyEarrings]

How do you know if they share a kitchen? Is it the ones on the same deck - so Lumiere's/Carioca's on the Magic or Tiana's/Triton's on the Wonder?

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Exactly!

 

[Dug720]

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Exactly!

Thanks!

 

[NZMUM]

My teenage DS had a burger every night. Not a kids one or from Flo's. He'd tell our server the night before so that it could be pre-ordered and made in the kitchen.

 

[MunFam]

How do you know if they share a kitchen? Is it the ones on the same deck - so Lumiere's/Carioca's on the Magic or Tiana's/Triton's on the Wonder?

I can confirm this. We did a kitchen tour on the Wonder...we started in Tritons and ended on the other end of the kitchen in Carioca's

 

[carriemp]

My kids love mozzarella sticks. Our last cruise they had them as an appetizer every night.

 

[monkeybird]

My daughter is vegetarian and we have had a couple of curry dishes that are not on the menu. Both are delicious. In fact, I'm not veggie and I order the curry when my daughter gets it. This needs to be ordered the night before.

This vegan appreciates your tip!

 

[jiminy14]

Our family has been able to order several food items in addition to what was being offered on the menu. My DD loves cheese and she was able to get a cheese plate every night at the start of her meal. The same DD loves the truffle pursettes and was able to order them every night as her entree. Another DD loves spicy food and finds the MDR entrees to be bland. Our servers have brought her several different types of curries and biryani along with rice and "naan". On our final night on a recent Magic cruise, our server surprised my spice loving DDs with a huge plate of jalapeno poppers. On the Fantasy, i remarked to our head server about the wonderful brussels sprouts I had in Remy the night before. Every night after that, I had a side plate of brussels sprouts with my meal.
If you are interested in trying another entree but don't want an entire meal, you can request a side dish serving of that entree. You can also swap sides with other entrees if there is one you would rather have. My DH does this all the time especially with his potatoes.

 

[jiminy14]

As for the type of curries, we have had chicken, lamb, fish and cauliflower. We have also had butter chicken and channa masala which is a chickpea dish. The "naan" is actually tortilla shells. One thing to keep in mind is that they bring enough for the entire table so if only one person is eating the dish you need to inform the server of that.
As long as you inform your server on the first night, it will show up on all the other nights unless you tell them you don't want it.

 

[Cackyschmackers]

As for the type of curries, we have had chicken, lamb, fish and cauliflower. We have also had butter chicken and channa masala which is a chickpea dish. The "naan" is actually tortilla shells. One thing to keep n mind is that they bring enough for the entire table so if only one person is eating the dish you need to inform the server of that.
As long as you inform your server on the first night, it will show up on all the other nights unless you tell them you don't want it.

Oh, my. We need to try this!

 

[monkeybird]

Good to know. Thanks, Jiminy14.

 

[AngelDisney]

How much more tips would you give for the extra items off the menu? I really love spicy curry and I may try to request it this time on the Fantasy. I saw the curry on my next table last time on the Wonder and I was so envy. We are a party of 2 and will be requesting a private table. Thanks in advance and thanks for sharing your experiences!

 

[Flossbolna]

On my last cruise I was so over the DCL desserts (I have no idea why, but I think most of their desserts are bland and just not very good) and I asked if they had any fresh fruit as an dessert option. I was expecting the standard fruit salad with melon and pineapple and grapes. Instead I got a bowl with fresh berries that were delicious. Second best MDR dessert ever (the top spot still goes to the Grand Marnier soufflee).

In my experiences changing sauces and dressings is easy, swapping out sides never has really worked for me. Either it caused quite a delay or I ended up with the original side and the alternate side.

 

[Quellman]

How much more tips would you give for the extra items off the menu? I really love spicy curry and I may try to request it this time on the Fantasy. I saw the curry on my next table last time on the Wonder and I was so envy. We are a party of 2 and will be requesting a private table. Thanks in advance and thanks for sharing your experiences!

I'll try not to get into the tipping conversation. But the minimum amount is suggested for each position for the work that is expected of your serving team. Their work is providing you drinks at your table in advance of you sitting down, providing you with the food, clearing it away, and providing other Disney standard customer service.

When you request off items, you throw off their timing in terms of grabbing your meal from the 'order up' station. Disney makes a lot of its dinners at once, and when you have something that isn't already plated, that takes time. Or if you order something from another dining room, your staff needs to go to that location to pick it up. I don't know how the chefs and food prep folks get paid so not sure what 'good will' some of the servers need with the back of the house cast members. So, in my opinion you should tip what you think it is worth. I personally would think a couple of bucks for each request sounds reasonable for most people. I always plus up my standard tips anyway.

 

[Deb T.]

When you request off items, you throw off their timing in terms of grabbing your meal from the 'order up' station. Disney makes a lot of its dinners at once, and when you have something that isn't already plated, that takes time. Or if you order something from another dining room, your staff needs to go to that location to pick it up. I don't know how the chefs and food prep folks get paid so not sure what 'good will' some of the servers need with the back of the house cast members.

Years ago on one of our first galley tours, we learned that everything is plated ahead of time according to how it's listed on the menu. Makes sense when you consider how they're trying to serve half of the ship's guests all at the same time! They said anytime a special request or swap is requested, it has to be submitted as a separate order and takes extra time to plate, slowing down the entire dining process for that table. It was mentioned that it's much easier and faster for the server to just pull two different (already plated) entrees to meet a swap request than it is to have a new plate made with the substitutions. I definitely gained a new understanding and appreciation of all the extra work our servers do to please guests in order to earn an "exceeded expectations" check on the comment card.

 

[mammacaryn]

My kids were pretty little and still picky about vegetables. Our server brought my son baby carrots and ranch with every meal I know, nothing fancy but if you have kiddos it's nice to know they will do what they can to accommodate everyone.

 

[Dug720]

I'll try not to get into the tipping conversation. But the minimum amount is suggested for each position for the work that is expected of your serving team. Their work is providing you drinks at your table in advance of you sitting down, providing you with the food, clearing it away, and providing other Disney standard customer service.

When you request off items, you throw off their timing in terms of grabbing your meal from the 'order up' station. Disney makes a lot of its dinners at once, and when you have something that isn't already plated, that takes time. Or if you order something from another dining room, your staff needs to go to that location to pick it up. I don't know how the chefs and food prep folks get paid so not sure what 'good will' some of the servers need with the back of the house cast members. So, in my opinion you should tip what you think it is worth. I personally would think a couple of bucks for each request sounds reasonable for most people. I always plus up my standard tips anyway.

And that has a domino effect on all the other tables in their section. We has a VERY demanding table in our section on my 2/22 Magic cruise - I got the "pleasure" of watching them in action our night in Lumiere's. Literally every single time they saw our server or assistant, even if they had food or drink in their hand for another table, large-and-demanding table would grab them for something else. That night everything was exacerbated by our regular server being sick so there was a substitute server meaning the rhythm was already going to be off a little. And then add this constant high "needs" (in quotes because more often than not it was another adult beverage) table and that dinner took a lot longer than any of the others. The head server was doing his best to help speed things along, but what he really needed was to snap his fingers and materialize another serving team just for that table.

 

[M<3'sMickey]

My sister would order a Caesar salad a lot of nights and that never seemed like a big deal. I think it was the Prince and Princess menu where they had the "Thanksgiving dinner" as an option and my mother and I wanted regular mashed potatoes as opposed to the mashed sweet potatoes that came with it. That was no big deal either.

Like others have said, I generally find something I like to eat on the menu on the Disney ships. But I'm also not one at a restaurant to ask for a lot of changes to my order either.