RCI's Anthem of the Seas Main Dining Room

This is a nonconventional review, but I just got back from a cruise, so I have to review it!!! We (see QT boyf at left) took a 5 day cruise to Bermuda on Anthem of the Seas. It was very fun, and one of the funnest parts for me is the dining room because they take allergy info down and make sure your food is safe. In the past I've had some amazing meals, but sadly this time the quality of both the food and the service was down a bit. There were still some highlights, though! I'll just give a brief overview of all my dinner choices and tell you that overall I definitely recommend cruising RCI. But I do suddenly understand people who pay extra for the fancy restos, too.

Night 1: I had the fruit plate - some melons, a little kiwi, and some grapes, and it was big and fresh (7/10), the chicken marsala - good taste, good sides (I think potato and asparagus), a little spongy texture but I'd repeat it I think (7/10), and the sugar-free pear and blueberry compote - so gross, what happened here? Terrible texture, taste, and temperature, with weird oat crumble on top, ack (3/10). No drinks tonight either, we were rushed a little.

Night 2: Formal night! I had the mushroom soup - really good, great size and taste and nice and warm (8/10), the duck - quack! duck is always fun, but it comes with bad sides for me - 2 peapods and weird purple pickled cabbage, plus two tater tots (those are fine). This was OK but I might go elsewhere in the future (6/10), and the apple pie - I was so excited for apple pie, but mine was literally the worst pie I've ever had. It was not hot OR cold, it was chewy crust, tiny squishy inside, no sugar or seasoning or anything. It tasted like a sugar free, gluten free pie that was sitting out for a few weeks. I was so sad because I love pie. I think this can't be the regular people pie (2/10). I got a glass of champagne though!

Night 3: Italian night! I had the french onion soup - my first time, but I enjoyed it! There's nice warm onion broth, and lots of it, plus a ton of gruyere cheese which is hard to eat but I forked my way through. There's also brown soggy bread at the bottom which I was scared to eat, but I didn't die from the adjacent soup so perhaps it was fine (8/10), the eggplant parm - not what I expected, this was essentially a rectangle of eggplant lasagna, with eggplant as the noodle and then red sauce and ricotta/mozz on top. It was rather small but ultimately tasted good and was satisfying, though it could use a breadstick or something (8/10) and then strawberry cheesecake, which was also bad although sadly the best dessert so far - but very warm and fake, like a bad oreo cheesecake mix but with no oreo and also worse than that (4/10). I got a glass of white wine though!

Night 4: Random secret other formal night, AKA lobster night! I had the strawberry soup, yessssssss! I love fruit soup and this is a great one, basically like a melty strawberry ice cream. There's mint swirl they say but you can't taste that. It's great (9/10). I got the prime rib which I usually like, but the fat on this one had a weird chemical/storage taste that I didn't love. The meat itself was OK but a little bit cold. The sides were mostly good (gravy, potato, carrot) but there were also weirdly bitter broccos, which my BF also noticed tasted super off and weird. So not the greatest but hopefully just a bad night (5/10). Then the dessert was the saving grace, it was the molten chocolate cake and it was supposed to have caramel sauce but mine didn't, I guess 'cause I'm allergic, but OMG the cakie was like a real cruise ship dessert - dense, sweet, choco, so good (9/10). And I had some noice red wine!

Night 5: A bad finish for both my and bf, topped off by the fact that the waiter was like "Oh, you didn't finish it.....but it was good though right??? Yes" but it wasn't, though, waiter! Anyway, I got the french onion soup again, that was still good, and then the pappardelle carbonara - much worse than any carbonara I've had, like they just dumped old cream and bacon bits into a large, large portion of soggy noodle. A very sad finish (4/10) and then the dessert was creme brulee, which I either hate or they royally fucked up, the inside was cold cold chunky "cream" that was of no discernable flavor, and the top was like charred ember. WTF? (2/10). More white wine though! And the wine guy is super friendly.

Other comments: they put bread baskets on the table, but there was always a weird dark seedy/nutty bread so I never got to have any, and I didn't feel comfortable eating the bread and they didn't make me comfortable about it either. Especially because when they noticed I wasn't eating it they were like "Oh, do you need gluten free bread?" - what!? Anyway, a little weird.

Other food on the ship: the dog house and the pizza were both solid but not amazing. The buffet was really variable, I liked the mac and cheese and breakfast grapefruit. The drinks were strong and plentiful, and bartenders never fucked you over on pricing. I liked the starbucks lattes.

Overall
Cost: 8/10 (Great deal on food, honestly you can eat as much as you want)
Taste: 7/10 (If you pick right)