Review of Main Dining Room on Utopia of the Seas

We recently took a 4 night cruise on Utopia of the Seas and this was one of the first cruises that we went to the main dining room every night of the cruise. We shared a table with family from another cabin and was a full party of 7 with 4 adults and 3 kids. I wanted to share our experience as some people feel very strongly about the main dining room, people either love it or hate it, but I usually fall right in the middle. I have had some amazing meals and then some head scratching meals.

For people that have never been on a cruise or a cruise with Royal Caribbean, the main dining room is where you can have a sit down included meal for most times of the day and for dinner you are assigned a time, usually early (5ish), late (8ish) and my time dining (which is theory sounds great and flexible but in practice I wouldn't advise it). This review is for dinner only.

Some dinner background. Usually after drinks are ordered, you waiter will ask you to order all three courses at once. So when you are looking at the menu you have to think of all courses at once. You aren't limited to just on on each course, a practice that my wife and I like to do is to each get an individual item and an item to share because we like multiple picks for each course.

If you go every day to the main dining room every day, you will have the same wait staff, which is great because they get to know you and will have your favorite drink already on order and remember things that you like so that you don't have to ask for the same thing every night. For example, our kids basically devoured the bread service every night and our staff came the second night with three baskets so the adults could have some bread as well.

On that topic, we have been to the main dining room on a bunch of Royal ships and this was by far the best overall experience that we had. The staff was friendly and engaging but not in a forced way that you sometimes feel. Our waiter and assistant waiter were so nice and friendly that our kids genuinely missed them when we got home. Another thing that was apparent on this cruise was that they made an effort to have fun and celebrate whatever they could. We went in February and two of our kids had birthday's close (March and May) and they were both sung happy birthday to at dessert time. They were multiple times that the staff had mini dance parties in between courses, the overall vibe was to have fun.

Ok so now the food. Overall I would give the food a solid B. There were some standouts and misses but the overall sentiment was that we enjoyed it and would return on another trip.

Day 1:

Day 1 is usually the worst day, and we try to avoid it on other sailings. The staff is scrambling and getting to know everyone and that hit us on this cruise as well. I didn't get to take pictures of the apps and mains but I remember them very well. In theory, this would have been my favorite night menu wise but the food was the worst of the cruise. We love crab cakes and most of us got them, but they were under fried and didn't have any crust. And the Southern fried chicken was bland, and just my pet peeve, but we only got one thigh and one drumstick. I felt that was a little lacking, and was hoping to have a bone in chicken breast at least.

The highlights were dessert. In my opinion the Royal Cheesecake never disappoints and the key lime pie was a good version of that dessert. Though others at the table got the Boston cream pie and that look and tasted very bland.

Day 2:

Day 2 things started getting better. The coconut shrimp were actually crispy and the sauce was very lively. You cannot go wrong with the French onion soup as well, very tasty. I don't know why I do this to myself because every time I get steak in the main dining room I'm disappointed, I think they don't want to take away from Chops so they give you mediocre cuts in the main dining room. The peppercorn sauce made up for it but I probably wouldn't get that again.

The Pesto Tagliatelle was the show stopper, and might have been the best thing we ate on the cruise. Also the vegan stuffed eggplant was very good and unique. The desserts were low point on this day. The Pineapple sunshine cake looked good but was very bland, the carrot cake looked bad but tasted pretty good and the cobbler was very bland. My wife, who isn't a dessert person, got the cheese plate and we all agreed that was probably the best dessert option for day 2.

Day 3:

Day 3 was very enjoyable. The Iceberg Wedge Salad was very good and both the Chicken Cordon Bleu and Spring Pea Risotto were delicious. I must say that I am a sucker for Chicken Cordon Bleu and grew up eating the frozen home equivalent, so I usually get it wherever it is on the menu. Although the plate desperately needed some color, the flavors popped and that cheese sauce was delectable. My wife, who loves veggies said the Pea Risotto had very good flavor as well.

As for the desserts, the Crème Brulee was good, but it didn't have much of a sugar crust top, so I was bummed about that. The Toasted Almond Cream Puffs were amazing though. We actually asked and received additional orders because there were so good.

Day 4:

Day 4, we were pretty wiped out from Coco Cay, but this day was a middle of the road day. I got all of the Chef's recommendations and for the most part was not disappointed. On the Tapas app, the pita bread could have been warmed or toasted but the dips and salad was very good. The Lamb was good, but compared to the Coastal Kitchen version of this that I've had multiple times this was a step below that, good but not great. I don't get the peas side on this one, maybe one too many things on the plate. The Crema Catalana, was a better Spanish version of the crème brulee from the previous night. I would have that again.

The Vegan Moussaka was a hit with my wife, and she said the flavor was very nice. The Indian Chicked was very delightful as well. Royal does Indian food amazingly. The other desserts were hit or mess. The apple cobbler, just like the blueberry version, needed some spice or salt, the Dark Chocolate Brownie was a bit of a puck, a tasty puck but must have been a bit over baked and the tart was mostly a hard shell that again was a bit overdone.

All in all, the main dining room was good, we did have brunch on our

sea day and that was a bit of a mess. The food was good but we all got food at different times. That was not with our normal wait staff either so it's hard to say what was the cause.

For dinner, the Main Dining Room is the easiest complementary option on a cruise and you don't have to fight for a table at the windjammer or wait in any long line for lesser quality food at the other complementary venues.

Let me know what your experience was at the main dining room. Or shoot me a comment with any questions you might have. Thanks for reading.