disney cruise part 3 - palo!
Dinner at Palo
Originally uploaded by februarystar27
Night 1's dinner at Palo was definitely one of the highlights of the cruise. As I said before, Palo is the 18+ reservations-only restaurant on the ship, and I had been worried that the reservations would have all been taken since we'd booked so late. I definitely didn't expect to get reservations, especially for our ideal night, when we'd only be missing Parrot Cay, the least interesting of the normal rotation restaurants. Our reservation was for 6:30, so we headed up to deck 10 at around 6:15 and into the Palo lobby. It is instantly like being an another world entirely. You'd never know that right below you is a kids-only pool and rowdy buffet, or even that there were tons of little kids running around. It was quiet and had more of an elegance about it than the rest of the ship, and there was not even a hint of Disney in the decor (not that Disney is a bad thing, but it's nice to not have everything branded with mouse ears, and along the same line, I love kids, but it is also nice to have spots where you know you won't hear loud obnoxious families everywhere).
The restaurant wasn't even anywhere near crowded. I don't know if that's normal or if they just didn't completely book our timeslot. The reservations appear to be scattered, so there's never a big glut of people coming and going at once like in the normal restaurants. We got a small table right by a window with a view to the ocean, and the sun was setting right outside our window as the night wore on. They gave us sparkling water and a really cute bread bowl that came with a tray of different spreads for it. Even that alone would've been above and beyond for me. :P This was when I learned that on cruises, every sit-down meal consists of a personal appetizer, main course, and dessert. crazy. I'm not used to that much food just for myself. I think if I'd wanted I could've gotten an appetizer and a mini "pizzette" too, but I wasn't sure and I also wanted to be able to eat most of my main course since we couldn't really take anything to go.
We ordered appetizers and dinner (a salad and the "steak Palo" for Brian and fried calamari and the "penne Palo" special of the night for me), and in between the appetizer and dinner the dessert menu was brought out. I'd heard that the chocolate souffles were excellent, but I'd also wanted to try a second dessert, so I figured we could each order one and split both. When we told the guy that that's what our plan was, he said he wouldn't let us split a souffle because they're so good and can't be shared. :P So he ordered us each a souffle and then the second dessert to share. The food was great. Everything from the bread to the main course. The waiters were completely on top of refilling the water and completely attentive without seeming in-your-face. There would occasionally be a few people walking by outside the window, but it also didn't feel distracting. The calamari and pasta were amazing.
When they brought out the chocolate souffles, I was so happy I'd gotten my own. They set them down and then poured chocolate sauce over them, causing a little hole to form in the middle that the chocolate filled into. It was so good. The second dessert we'd gotten was also good, but nothing can match up to the souffle. After dessert, the waiter said he had one final little surprise for us. They apparently give you a complimentary tiny little lemony frozen mixed drink to end the meal. We hadn't been able to order the apple ice wine because they were out of the one that wasn't like $60, so the complimentary drink made up for it. They dropped off the check, which is only $15 per person for the whole thing, but we tipped them really well in addition to that. They were worth it. It was really one of the nicest dinners I've ever had. I knew none of the other dinners on the cruise would measure up after that, but it didn't matter.