Giovanni’s Table vs Italian Kitchen

[Doug_Texas]

We’ve noticed the RCL transition from Giovanni’s Table to Giovanni’s Italian Kitchen and Wine Bar.  We always liked “Table” but it looks like their “reimagined” restaurant has pared the food menu down considerably and leans towards pizza and wine pairings.  We don’t do the UDP and in that light what opinions do you have of the new version of Italian dining?

[OCSC Mike]

1 hour ago, Doug_Texas said:

We’ve noticed the RCL transition from Giovanni’s Table to Giovanni’s Italian Kitchen and Wine Bar.  We always liked “Table” but it looks like their “reimagined” restaurant has pared the food menu down considerably and leans towards pizza and wine pairings.  We don’t do the UDP and in that light what opinions do you have of the new version of Italian dining?

Above all, food will always be incredibly subjective, so I'd say try it as long as it looks appealing to you no matter what responses you get.

That said, and this isn't going to help a ton, but... We've always been big fans of Table as well and haven't tried Kitchen (yet). It wasn't as appealing to us at first glance either but after talking to a few people I think we're going to give it a shot in the near future. We'll likely be ordering almost the exact same items we always get at Table, filet and a pasta, and then I need to try the pizza of course.

One caveat... we're very frugal and don't do much specialty dining. We're about to turn D+ after our next cruise though so if we try it, it will be with our newly acquired BOGO perk. I'll feel better about disliking our meal if I pay half price for it, lol.

[JustMeJoe]

21 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

Above all, food will always be incredibly subjective

^^This^^

We've had both; GT will always be our favorite.  Will not visit Kitchen again, the upcharge is not worth it IMO.

[OCSC Mike]

7 minutes ago, JustMeJoe said:

GT will always be our favorite.  Will not visit Kitchen again

Having already acknowledged the subjectivity, and since we both love GT, what was the huge difference for you?

[JustMeJoe]

28 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

what was the huge difference for you

Overall ambience and taste / portion size.  The Kitchen has more of a "pizza place" vibe.  For dinner we usually have Osso Bucco and for me it was much better at GT (white tablecloth Italian feel).  Having said all that, I found the wait staff at GT to be way more attentive (just my experience, YMMV, only had the Kitchen twice for dinner, GT many times). 

[Doug_Texas]

10 minutes ago, JustMeJoe said:

Overall ambience and taste / portion size.  The Kitchen has more of a "pizza place" vibe.  For dinner we usually have Osso Bucco and for me it was much better at GT (white tablecloth Italian feel).  Having said all that, I found the wait staff at GT to be way more attentive (just my experience, YMMV, only had the Kitchen twice for dinner, GT many times). 

Thanks for the feedback.  It affirms some of the concerns I had about "Kitchen".  Besides pizza the main courses look like fried lasagna, Truffle & Pancetta Arancini, and meatballs.  I kept looking at the menu on the cruise planner for the rest of the food.  At $100+ for two people including gratuity I have a hard time understanding the value.  For us this restaurant would only make sense with the UDP.

[OCSC Mike]

40 minutes ago, Doug_Texas said:

Thanks for the feedback.  It affirms some of the concerns I had about "Kitchen".  Besides pizza the main courses look like fried lasagna, Truffle & Pancetta Arancini, and meatballs.  I kept looking at the menu on the cruise planner for the rest of the food.  At $100+ for two people including gratuity I have a hard time understanding the value.  For us this restaurant would only make sense with the UDP.

Are you only looking at the lunch menu or perhaps the apps? The main courses we would likely order for dinner would be some combination of filet, carbonara, chicken parm, etc.

BTW, not trying to convince you that it's worth it. I already mentioned we're only trying it for half price. I just wanted to make sure you were using the correct info to make your decision.

[Doug_Texas]

7 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

Are you only looking at the lunch menu or perhaps the apps? The main courses we would likely order for dinner would be some combination of filet, carbonara, chicken parm, etc.

BTW, not trying to convince you that it's worth it. I already mentioned we're only trying it for half price. I just wanted to make sure you were using the correct info to make your decision.

 

11 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

Are you only looking at the lunch menu or perhaps the apps? The main courses we would likely order for dinner would be some combination of filet, carbonara, chicken parm, etc.

BTW, not trying to convince you that it's worth it. I already mentioned we're only trying it for half price. I just wanted to make sure you were using the correct info to make your decision.

I don't see any of those items on the pdf menu in the Cruise Planner for my Icon sailing in January.  The name of the file provided my Royal is GIWBDINNER.PDF and I selected it under the dinner section.  Since I don't buy the multi-night packages I book ahead of time and rely on the planner menus supplied by Royal.  I'll stop by the restaurant on the ship and see if the menu is the one you reference.

 

[asquared17]

we actually avoided giovanni's while on board various sailings and partook of giovanni's kitchen while on odyssey last december.

i was not feeling super well (and yes, food is subjective), but we thought it was quite good. they even wrapped dessert for us to take back to our room. had i been feeling better, i think the meal would have been more memorable but it was definitely good enough that we'd return.

we are on oasis for our next two sailings and i am a bit bummed that it's the "older" giovanni's and not the kitchen.

i should also state that i'm italian and obviously it's nothing like the italian restaurants here in the NJ/NY area, but the laid back vibe was more in line with what we wanted, and we had a really great time. the food was delicious.

[Doug_Texas]

Certainly there can be no errors in the Cruise Planner, right?  

[OCSC Mike]

14 minutes ago, Doug_Texas said:

I don't see any of those items on the pdf menu in the Cruise Planner for my Icon sailing in January.

That's the Wine Bar menu not the actual Kitchen menu. Those are snacks you can get a la carte.

Check the app for the full Kitchen menu.

[Doug_Texas]

Just now, OCSC Mike said:

That's the Wine Bar menu not the actual Kitchen menu. Those are snacks you can get a la carte.

THANKS!  They list it as the dinner menu and it is the only one in the Cruise Planner.  Whew!

[OCSC Mike]

1 minute ago, Doug_Texas said:

THANKS!  They list it as the dinner menu and it is the only one in the Cruise Planner.  Whew!

It's understandable why you were confused, lol.

[Ampurp85]

 I absolutely love the Kitchen version, but I don't care for the pizza.

I actually really dislike the Table version. 

GT is a very poor representation of Italian food. The portions are small, the offering lackluster, and the taste is super bland. It was the worst carbonara I have ever had. I have had it on two ships and unfortunately because I am traveling with a group and the UDP, I will have it on Allure next month. 

I had GK on Odyssey and Freedom. The portions are a nice size like Italian food should be. The flavor was miles better and I like the atmosphere. Plus, you had a lot more to choose from even before you get to the pizza. 

The only thing they both have going for them is that the steak is better than Chops imho. 

[nferr]

2 hours ago, Doug_Texas said:

Thanks for the feedback.  It affirms some of the concerns I had about "Kitchen".  Besides pizza the main courses look like fried lasagna, Truffle & Pancetta Arancini, and meatballs.  I kept looking at the menu on the cruise planner for the rest of the food.  At $100+ for two people including gratuity I have a hard time understanding the value.  For us this restaurant would only make sense with the UDP.

I agree from just looking at the menus. I'm glad the Oasis still has GT for my cruise next month.

[OCSC Mike]

47 minutes ago, Ampurp85 said:

The only thing they both have going for them is that the steak is better than Chops imho. 

Good to hear you liked the filet at Kitchen... that's key to picky wife bothering to go there (GK actually has more options she likes than GT but as long as she has a pasta to go with her steak, which both have, it's overkill after that).

What else did you enjoy at GK?

[Ampurp85]

@OCSC MikeAt GK I liked the calamari and polenta app, the garlic knots they give you as complimentary bread. The meatball Gigante, which they made smaller for me on Freedom because I was solo. The chicken parm and uncles Alfredo were really good and of course the pannacotta.

I think GK is on Wonder, and I have another Freedom sailing in 2024 so I might try the pizza again. We had the mixed mushroom on Odyssey in 2022 and it was bad. But it was literally the first US sailing after the summer in the Med and the ingredients were off in all the food venues. 

[OCSC Mike]

23 minutes ago, Ampurp85 said:

@OCSC MikeAt GK I liked the calamari and polenta app, the garlic knots they give you as complimentary bread. The meatball Gigante, which they made smaller for me on Freedom because I was solo. The chicken parm and uncles Alfredo were really good and of course the pannacotta.

I think GK is on Wonder, and I have another Freedom sailing in 2024 so I might try the pizza again. We had the mixed mushroom on Odyssey in 2022 and it was bad. But it was literally the first US sailing after the summer in the Med and the ingredients were off in all the food venues. 

Thanks. Yes, it's on Wonder, that's why I've been asking about it.

Amazingly you hit on just about everything my picky wife would consider ordering, lol, and I wasn't aware of the garlic knots (she's down for any type of garlic bread). When we eat Italian at home, chicken parm and alfredo are basically the two entrees she would order.

I could probably try most of the menu but I'm not worried about myself. I don't know where the pizza would fit in but I'd feel obligated to try one.

[Ampurp85]

2 hours ago, OCSC Mike said:

Thanks. Yes, it's on Wonder, that's why I've been asking about it.

Amazingly you hit on just about everything my picky wife would consider ordering, lol, and I wasn't aware of the garlic knots (she's down for any type of garlic bread). When we eat Italian at home, chicken parm and alfredo are basically the two entrees she would order.

I could probably try most of the menu but I'm not worried about myself. I don't know where the pizza would fit in but I'd feel obligated to try one.

The knots are amazing. I had GK for lunch on Freedom in April and I asked for lunch portions of everything, and the Uncle's Alfredo was so good.

I too am a picky eater but when I travel, I endeavor to try new things. On a cruise ship it is easy because I can just order something I know I like to replace it. 

[OCSC Mike]

29 minutes ago, Ampurp85 said:

The knots are amazing. I had GK for lunch on Freedom in April and I asked for lunch portions of everything, and the Uncle's Alfredo was so good.

I too am a picky eater but when I travel, I endeavor to try new things. On a cruise ship it is easy because I can just order something I know I like to replace it. 

I appreciate the logic.

I'll try anything and I love variety but we have our set routines at home. I like trying new things on cruises and going out of my way to eat stuff I rarely do at home. I didn't know a thing about Indian food until I tried it on a cruise a long time ago (I like spicy so I wasn't worried about that). Now it's one of my favorite things when we cruise.

My wife's isn't interested in trying new things... but in her defense, when she does, there's a 90% chance she'll make a face and not like it, lol. We all have our quirks and preferences. That's a big reason we stopped going to the MDR much a long time ago. 4-5 out of 7 nights my wife would order a Caesar salad and grilled chicken from the nightly classic menu (before it went away). It's not like she was dying to eat grilled chicken every night, she just wouldn't eat anything else. We realized the WJ worked better for us b/c I got variety and she would mostly get something from the cook-to-order pasta/wok station. Nothing better for a picky eater than letting them create their own meal. The WJ used to be better but we make do. I think on the current MDR menu there's something she'll eat on 3 nights... whether it's good or not is another story, of course.

[PatsFanBrian]

I found this thread after trying to find an explanation for why Giovanni's on Odyssey was so different from our past experiences on other ships.

We just got off Odyssey and Giovanni's Kitchen was one of the bigger disappointments.  We are accustomed to Giovanni's Table and didn't realize the difference until we sat and looked at the menu.  We managed to find items that were a bit closer to what we wanted, but very few.  I didn't try the pizza because the ones I saw did not look very good.  I didn't want to use what is supposed to be a higher end experience on generic looking pizza.

I guess it's a live and learn experience.  I now know that there's a difference between Table vs Kitchen and we will not do Kitchen again.  It may have stuck out to us a bit more if they didn't reuse the name Giovanni's.  Next time, if we're on a ship where it's Kitchen, we'll pass and go to one of the others.

[WAAAYTOOO]

1 hour ago, PatsFanBrian said:

I found this thread after trying to find an explanation for why Giovanni's on Odyssey was so different from our past experiences on other ships.

We just got off Odyssey and Giovanni's Kitchen was one of the bigger disappointments.  We are accustomed to Giovanni's Table and didn't realize the difference until we sat and looked at the menu.  We managed to find items that were a bit closer to what we wanted, but very few.  I didn't try the pizza because the ones I saw did not look very good.  I didn't want to use what is supposed to be a higher end experience on generic looking pizza.

I guess it's a live and learn experience.  I now know that there's a difference between Table vs Kitchen and we will not do Kitchen again.  It may have stuck out to us a bit more if they didn't reuse the name Giovanni's.  Next time, if we're on a ship where it's Kitchen, we'll pass and go to one of the others.

I recently tried the pizza at GK and it was awful.  I ate the toppings off the top and left the crust.  Very disappointing.  Definitely like the Table better.

[Ampurp85]

I think I might have to amend my original stance. GK was very good on Freedom. But it was really bad on Wonder. We had pasta and pizza, which were straddling the line of being inedible. I dined at Giovanni's Table on Allure in October and it was really good. I'm on Allure right now and it was great.

I know specialty is ship dependent but the variance shouldn't be so high.

[JoeFan]

On 9/19/2023 at 1:09 PM, OCSC Mike said:

That's the Wine Bar menu not the actual Kitchen menu. Those are snacks you can get a la carte.

Check the app for the full Kitchen menu.

Does the unlimited dining cover the snacks at the bar?

[OCSC Mike]

Just now, JoeFan said:

Does the unlimited dining cover the snacks at the bar?

No clue, sorry, never gotten the UDP.

[JustMeJoe]

On 9/19/2023 at 11:02 AM, OCSC Mike said:

Having already acknowledged the subjectivity, and since we both love GT, what was the huge difference for you?

Remember our conversation about GT vs GK @OCSC Mike?  Ambience, taste, PORTION --- evidence from GT last night below.  She could only eat 1/3 of that but said it was great.  I had the garlic prawns - everything was outstanding!

[OCSC Mike]

34 minutes ago, JustMeJoe said:

Remember our conversation about GT vs GK @OCSC Mike?  Ambience, taste, PORTION --- evidence from GT last night below.  She could only eat 1/3 of that but said it was great.  I had the garlic prawns - everything was outstanding!

I post way too much to remember everything, lol, but I do now. We're still going to try GK in June with our first ever BOGO but thanks for the follow-up.

GT was always a big meal (which works for me) but I don't see how GK would be any smaller. I'm actually expecting it to be bigger b/c I will want to try a pizza (somehow) after ordering 1-2 apps, a filet, a pasta dish, and dessert. I may get the pizza to go. In any case, I'm not worried about portion. Ambience doesn't matter a ton to me. I can appreciate it but I'm there for the food. Taste... leads us back to subjectivity... and there's only one way to find out what our subjective opinion is.

Hope that didn't come off as argumentative or dismissive. I do appreciate you resurrecting this and we were already on the same subjectivity page. Enjoy the rest of your cruise! I've been following along when you pop into @WAAAYTOOO's live blog.

[JustMeJoe]

18 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

Hope that didn't come off as argumentative or dismissive. I do appreciate you resurrecting this

Not at all!   Do let me know how GK comes out; still adjusting my sails 

[OCSC Mike]

1 minute ago, JustMeJoe said:

Do let me know how GK comes out; still adjusting my sails 

The live blog I did last month was almost nothing but food and drink porn, lol, so unless I decide not to do one, you'll find my thoughts there. The plan is to go on night one... so my wife has already warned/ordered me in advance not to go nuts eating like I tend to do on embarkation day, lol.

[barjpoe]

Yes, I prefer GT over GK. Am doing GK on Freedom next month and we'll see??