Dinner at the Pinnacle

We decided to kick off the cruise with a dinner for the ten of us in the Pinnacle Grill. Brilliant choice, if I do say so myself. ;-)

Amuse bouche, lamb, and lava cake

The food was very good: If you like steak, you should not miss the Pinnacle Grill. Apart from using top-quality Sterling beef aged 21 days, they have a great clam-shell broiler that sears the meat to 1600 degrees F. I've had the steak before and it was always delicious. (In fact, it was the Pinnacle on Statendam that turned me into a steak eater, but that's another story!)

So, this time I had the lamb chop, and it was equally yummy. The scalloped potatoes were ridiculously good. One of my European friends thought the lava cake didn't have enough cocoa, but I thought it tasty if a little blah.

If I had two wishes for the PG, though, the first would be a tasting menu. With three courses plus a nice amuse bouche, we certainly did not leave hungry. But I like the theater and variety of a larger number of smaller dishes. It's also a nice excuse to have wine pairings, which would be my second wish. By-the-glass pairings are a great way to try something different. (This is one area where I think the specialty restaurants on Celebrity and Azamara edge out Pinnacle Grill ... but they are all worth dining at.) 

The setting was exceptional: If you've read my wine entry, you know we're wine snobs. So we appreciated the Riedel crystal, in varietal-appropriate shapes. The china was also lovely, with nice Bulgari charger plates and Rosenthal china. The soft, candle-accented lighting and the more intimate setting was perfect for our first family dinner together.

We had a nice, quiet table for 10 in the back. There are up to two tables for ten in the Lido, and plenty of tables for 2 or 4. Reservations are generally available for any evening and most lunchtimes (if the ship is in port I think they may not bother as many people go ashore).

Excellent service: As always on HAL, the service was excellent. The waiters were attentive and friendly, but completely appropriate. (Something that freaked me out in RCI's specialty restaurant on Freedom of the Seas 7/06: a waiter insisted on spoon-feeding us our first bite of dessert! Aaagh!)

I heard that lunch in the Pinnacle is excellent. That will have to wait until next time.