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Dinner at a Carnival steakhouse is much more than a meal; it's an event. For the nominal charge of $38 adult / $12 child (12 and under), steaks grilled to perfection, broiled lobster tails and all of your other mouth-watering favorites are always on the menu. So for a night of dinner and a while lot of fun, request a table for any time between 5:30 PM and 9:30 PM. In order to best accommodate your party, we strongly recommend making your table request at least two weeks prior to your date.
Our menu is modeled after New York steakhouses serving the finest aged beef, cut, weighed and charbroiled to your exact specifications. In addition to mouth-watering steaks, a variety of other delectable entrees like double-cut lamb chops, lobster tail and grilled fish fillet are also available. The intimate atmosphere and extensive menu includes 17 gourmet appetizers, salads, soups and side dishes. These do more than delight; they complement the season's freshest produce and the best wine lists afloat, and are handpicked by our chefs to perfectly match the wide-ranging cuisine.
*Please note: Request dates and times will be honored on a first-come, first-served basis. Dress Code is Cruise Elegant. Dress jeans are allowed on Cruise Casual evenings. The fee includes an appetizer, entree, dessert. Gratuities are optional and may be extended in cash or to the guest's Sail & Sign Account, at the guest's discretion. The reservation fee does not include any beverage that is normally ordered through the bar service such as wine, liquor, soda and bottled water. All dining rooms are smoke-free. Please allow 1 to 1 1/2 hours for dining experience.
We asked to look at the Al fresco menu to decide if we might be interested in booking this dining experience some other day. We looked over the items and weren't tempted to book this dining experience.
The ambiance of the Pinnacle Steakhouse is very nice. It is more luxurious with softer lighting than the other restaurants and much quieter. I've never understood why the steakhouse in any of the Carnival ships has bar stools at the bar. Every Carnival cruise ship we have ever been on where we ate in the steakhouse there was never anyone sitting at the bar. I don't think you are allowed to just come into the steakhouse and go to the bar. I think you need to have a reservation for the steakhouse to enter, and then they seat you at a table. If you are allowed to just come in and sit at the bar, they don't make that clear in any Carnival documents or daily guides. The only purpose for the bar seems to be to prepare drinks for the waiters to bring to your table. They don't need bar stools for that and the bar stools actually get in the way for the waiters placing orders and picking up drinks.
It was raining outside when we first arrived but it stopped before we finished our meal. We saw many people outside walking the 11th deck for exercise after is stopped raining. The outside deck was very wet and I was wondering if it was slippery. It did not seem to be so from the pace that the walkers would pass by.
Left: I'm not sure what this was that came compliments of the chef. It was not on the menu. I think the server said it was a tomato shooter. Right: Two types of butter to go with our bread. The yellow is the usual butter. I'm not sure what the right one was. It seemed to be just the same old yellow butter covered in green stuff. We tried both but they seemed about the same.
We selected to do the wine pairing for $18 per person. The wine pairing provides 1/2 glass with each of the 4 courses. Barbara selected the Iced & Smoked Fresh Oysters for her starter which came with the Domaine Chandon, Brut, Sparkling Wine, California. I selected the Stuffed Mushrooms which came with the Cave De Lugny, 'Les Charmes', Burgundy, France. Both of those white wines were good. They also showed us a selection of salts as the rub for our steaks. We both picked the Chipotle Salt as we both like our foods to be spicier.
Iced & Smoked Fresh Oysters - Apple Mignonette, Butter & Mace. As you can see they made a big production of this bringing the dish with a cover to contain the smoke. The removed the cover at the table allowing the smoke to rise in front of us.
My starters. Stuffed Mushrooms - Spinach, Four Cheese, Mushroom Tea & Parmesan Pearl. For my soup I ordered the Baked Onion Soup - Gruyere & Swiss Melt, Sour Dough Crouton.
With Barbara's Maine lobster bisque soup they paired the Kendall-Jackson, 'Vintner's Reserve', Chardonnay, California. With my baked onion soup they paired the Layer Cake, Pinot Noir, California. Both of these wines were good. Nothing outstanding, but good.
Left is Barbara's main course: Australian Wagyu - The Highest Quality Beef, Unparalleled in Flavor & Tenderness. Right is my main course: Broiled Filet Mignon - 9 oz. Of Our Most Tender Cut. We both selected the Red Wine sauce. The wine paired with Australian Wagyu was the Layer Cake, Cabernet Sauvignon, California. The wine they paired with the Broiled Filet Mignon was the Mison Castel, Cotes Du Rhone, Rhone, France. Both wines were good.
The sides that we selected: Sauteed Medley Of Fresh Mushrooms, Garlic Rapini, and Baked Potatoes With Trimmings.
For dessert Barbara selected the Chocolate Sphere - Warm Cocao Custard Deconstructs This Treat Before Your Eyes. Served with Pear Confetti & Delicate Praline Pate. For dessert I chose the Selection Of Cheeses. I should have taken a photo of the Chocolate Sphere before they started to pour the Warm Cocao Custard on it. It was a perfect round Chocolate Sphere when the brought it to the table but it melted into a flat puddle by the time they finished pouring the Warm Cocao Custard over it. They brought to me a board with 6 huge wedges of cheese and told me that I was to select which I wanted. They said I could even have all 6. I'm not a big fan of soft cheese so I selected the only hard cheese they had and the blue cheese.
We both had the Graham's Six Grapes Port with our desserts. Our server was confused by this one. Barbara's Chocolate Sphere is only paired with the Port according to the Dessert Menu. But for my Cheese Plate Dessert, the menu gives me a choice of either the port or a Sweet Reisling. Our server kept insisting that I could only get the Sweet Riesling and even brought me a glass of the Sweet Riesling. English was not her first language and I don't think she understood the word "OR" on the menu. She kept insisting I could only get the "Riesling Port" of which there is no such thing (as far as I know). We had to call over the manager and finally get this straightened out so I good get my preference of the Port over the Riesling.
I know everyone has their own tastes and preferences, but for my wife and I, we would not repeat this dinning experience. For this entire cruise we found the food to be excellent, both in the Your Time Dining Black Pearl Restaurant and in the Lido Buffet at lunch and dinner, especially the Tandoor Indian Grill. All the food we had on this cruise was wonderful no matter what dining venue we went to, except for the Pinnacle Steakhouse. We did not find the food particularly good, especially the Australian Wagyu. It certainly did not live up to its menu description of being "Unparalleled in Flavor & Tenderness". It was tough, hard to cut and hard to chew. It was anything but tender. We did complain to the restaurant manager but he said that is the nature of that particular cut of meat. Fine, but then they should not describe it in the menu as being "unparalleled in flavor & tenderness". The Filet Mignon was quite good, but nothing better than one would get in any steakhouse.
Our opinion was that the starters, soups, and sides are all much better and more tasty in The Black Pearl Restaurant than in the Pinnacle Steakhouse and you don't have to pay an extra $38 per person. The desserts weren't anything better than the free ones in the other restaurants or even the desserts in the Lido Buffet. The wines certainly weren't better than those that we had been selecting to go with our dinners in The Black Pearl Restaurant. If it is just a steak that I wanted, I could purchase one in The Black Pearl Restaurant for $20 and then still have the better starters, sides, dessert and wine to go with it.
As I said above, everyone has their own tastes and opinions and many probably love the Pinnacle Steakhouse over the free dining venues on the Carnival Splendor. The one thing the Pinnacle Steakhouse does have going for it is that it is a more upscale venue for dinning. But for us, Barbara and I think it was a blessing that I mistakenly made this reservation on a day that was not her 70th birthday. It would have been quite a disappointment if this had been the special meal for that special day.
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If in this report you see any typos, misspellings, factual errors or other types of errors, please let me know.
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