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Specialty restaurants on Harmony


Kingk92

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10 hours ago, Kingk92 said:

What are some of the specialty places we NEED to go eat at? Love any kind of food but don't want to waste money on somewhere that people didn't find good.

Thanks!

That restaurant atmosphere depends upon the ship (Central Park is different from venues on a smaller ship).  The specialty restaurants are smaller than the MDR, but sometimes tables are jammed together.  There is a difference between lunch and dinner.  It really depends upon what you really want to eat.  But you can eat at the MDR and still order steak from Chops (for an upcharge), or you can eat in a specialty restaurant on "lobster night" and order the lobster tails from MDR.  Our conclusion is that we'll eat in specialty restaurants when we have a free coupon, but otherwise they are not worth the extra $$.  However, if you simply want the environment of the specialty restaurant, then the best deal is the unlimited dining package.  This brings down the 'surcharge" significantly - you are paying only a $20-$25 per person premium for better menu quality and sometimes a nicer ambience.  Overall, we've found the service in specialty restaurants equal to or better than the MDR, even when the waiter is a complete stranger to us.  Specialty restaurants have the same issue as the MDR -- too many casually dressed guests for a "special" night out.  So you pretty much need to be tolerant about dress code wherever you eat.   There are many veteran cruisers who really love the specialty restaurants, but I don't have an unlimited budget when I cruise.  Therefore, no suites and no pricey packages.  So think of my comments as "economy class", and whatever you choose, enjoy your cruise!

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10 hours ago, Kingk92 said:

What are some of the specialty places we NEED to go eat at? Love any kind of food but don't want to waste money on somewhere that people didn't find good.

Thanks!

PS.  My favorite is Sabor on the Boardwalk, which is casual but serves the Mexican food I like.  For a romantic night, we are trying Central Park 150 next (with a voucher, of course!)

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12 minutes ago, ChessE4 said:

best deal is the unlimited dining package.  This brings down the 'surcharge" significantly - you are paying only a $20-$25 per person premium for better menu quality and sometimes a nicer ambience.

So much this..especially if you haven't sampled any of the specialty restaurants before.  You can catch the specialty dining package regularly on sale on the Cruise Planner for $175 per person.  It includes lunch when the restaurants are open as well and gives you the chance to try them all that way.  Makes it a little less of a disappointment if you end up going to a restaurant that you didn't enjoy so much..you won't walk out and feel like you blew $39.99 or $49.99 per person.

Take Sabor for example..I enjoyed the food but to me it isn't worth the full price cover charge to visit.  Wonderland is very, very different seems to be hit or miss with folks.  I enjoyed the experience or what it was -- an experience, but wouldn't want to pay the full cover price for it.  Izumi hibachi is your typical hibachi experience you can get cheaper on land, but with the ultimate dining package the cost is similar.  I love sushi and with the ultimate plan I can order up to $35 worth of that as my meal/snack when they are open.  Plus you can also get into Johnny Rockets with the package and not be paying an additional $9.95 for burgers and fries.

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1. Chops Grill  
2. Jamie's Italian  
3. Sabor  
4. Chefs table
5. Izumi Hibachi
6. 150 CP  
7. Coastal Kitchen
8. Vintages
9. Izumi Sushi
10. Solarium Bistro

11. Wonderland

These are the Specialty restaurants I have documented for my Harmony cruise.

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We have enjoyed the specialty restaurants we have visited.  We are steak fans and loved the steak in Chops and have dinner there a couple of nights per cruise.  I love the truffle pasta at Jamies and totally enjoyed the salmon there as well.  The burgers at lunch are huge and really good.

 

Hibachi is a fun place and even though we have Hibachi restaurants near our home, none of them serve steak and lobster or steak and scallops or scallops and lobster.  That's one of the reasons we go there for dinner.

 

We only did 150 once and it was a fail but that's because the Lobster Thermidor was overcooked, dry and was one tiny lobster tail.  The tail was the same size as that served in the dining room.  I have seen that on other ships when the Thermidor was ordered, it wasn't dry and there were 2 tails.  I did have a taste of the tenderloin for 2, even though it was ordered for one and was not sliced table side, it was quite good, so I will consider going there again on our next Harmony cruise.

 

We have done Sabor for lunch and dinner.  I would not consider it for dinner again as I don't think it's worth the price.  One of our lunches took forever as the restaurant was very busy and when the food came out, it wasn't what I ordered for me, but I tasted it because I didn't want to have to wait longer for them to correct the order.  I had ordered a steak quesadilla and got a chicken taco instead.  Big difference!  The taco was more like a pancake in that it was thick and the size of a pancake from IHOP.  The chicken was stringy and in some broth and it wasn't something I enjoyed.

 

I couldn't get anyone to go to Wonderland as the food is a bit out there and my family is more into regular food. When we go on Harmony again, we will get the UDP again but even without having breakfast and ordering burgers or a salad for lunch, and then having a dinner, there was too much food.  We ended up skipping a couple of the lunches because the food was too heavy and we went to lunch at Noon, dinner at 7:30,  we still weren't hungry at dinner.

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