La Cucina Restaurant Review on Norwegian Escape
This is our La Cucina Restaurant review on Norwegian Escape. La Cucina is an Italian style restaurant but not your average pizza & pasta place.
La Cucina
(UDP) (Extra charge)
La Cucina Restaurant on Escape
How much is La Cucina?
The meals here are a la carte meaning each plate is individually priced. Our three course dinner for the two of us would have cost $68.93 plus 18% service charge.
Depending on what dining package you buy you could be in for a huge saving in La Cucina with packages for meals around the $20 USD mark. Tonight we saved over $30 by having the ultimate dining package.
Our dining experience
Our reservation was for 7.30 pm and we were shown to a nice table along the wall inside. Some tables are located near the entrance and opposite the ‘5 o’clock somewhere bar’ where it was noisy from the karaoke singing in there.
Inside La Cucina restaurant on Norwegian Escape
La Cucina is an Italian restaurant serving some classic dishes among others, like I said this is not a pizza, pasta joint. Think risotto, carpaccio, tomato mozzarella salad, osso bucco, involtini etc.
La Cucina menu from NCL Escape
Menu from La Cucina
We chose a bottle of Carmenere wine at $46.02 inc service charge that we enjoyed with dinner.
Our starters were…
La Cucina starters
Mozzarella di Bufala Caprese tomato and Mozzarella salad (left photo) and Carpaccio di Manzo thinly sliced beef with rocket and Parmesan (middle photo) and Risotto agli Asparagi Asparagus risotto with Provolone cheese and black truffle (right photo). You would find these classic starters on many Italian menus and each of them was very nice.
Don’t worry, the menu is written in Italian and English. For our main meals we enjoyed…
La Cucina main meals on Escape
Costolette d’Agnello Avvolte in Pancetta Toscana, Pancetta wrapped rack of lamb, garlic & rosemary potatoes (left photo) and Aragosta Fra Diavolo, Lobster, fettuccini spicy tomato sauce (center photo) with a selection of sides.
The lamb was perfectly cooked and tasted wonderful, the lobster was tender and juicy. Each of the sides were great as well.
For dessert we chose…
Dessert menu at La Cucina on Norwegian Escape
Tiramisu and Affogato.
Desserts in the Italian restaurant on Escape
In my professional opinion this was certainly not the best Tiramisu I’ve had but also not the worst. Not much to say about the affogato, the coffee was hot and the biscuit a nice touch.
Our second evening that we dined here was almost the same as the first visit except for different meals and another waiter team. The food and service were excellent.
Our chosen starters were
La Cucina starters on Norwegian Escape
On the left is Involtini di melanzane which is, stuffed eggplant with roasted veal and tomato sauce. This was divine.
The other dish is Vulcano di capelli de angelo ala sorentina which is Angel hair pasta, mozarella and tomato herb sauce. The angel hair were perfectly cooked and the sauce full of flavour.
La Cucina main meals
For our main meals we decided on; Filetto di branzino Dorato con limoni e caperii which is pan-seared sea bass, lemon caper emulsion, grilled vegetables & potatoes. The fish was moist and tender with a crispy skin, wonderful.
The other dish was filetto di manzo ala florentina con crosta ala gorgonzola which is filet mignon with gorgonzola crust, red wine sauce, garlic spinach and grilled polenta. The flavours here were amazing, the beef was a little over cooked.
La Cucina dessert
This dessert was delicate and smooth just like a panacotta should be.
La Cucina restaurant review
The ambiance in La Cucina is relaxed yet attentive. We never waited or were rushed during the evening, in fact we were made to feel very welcome. I can’t say the same for Le Bistro, be sure to check out that review.
Overall, the meals were full of flavour and nicely presented. Our starters were most enjoyable as were the main meals that followed. I would say that service this evening was very good considering that the restaurant was busy.
Bear in mind that the meals here are rather large so be sure to have a good appetite. I didn’t get a photo of the delicious warm bread with dipping oil and balsamic vinegar which would fill you up even before ordering!!
Our score was 9/10 based over two visits.
Which makes La Cucina one of the best restaurants on the Norwegian Escape in our opinion. We had two evenings here thanks to the Ultimate Dining Package which allowed us unlimited visits to 6 out of the 9 dining venues that have a cover charge. And I’d like to add that the second evening was as good as the first and we had a different waiter and enjoyed other items from the menu.
Comment below and tell us
Have you dined at La Cucina speciality restaurant on the Norwegian Escape? How would you rate the dining options on Norwegian cruise ships? Be sure to tell us about your favourite dining venue of any ship in the comments below.
Why not take a look at the review of the Savor & Taste dining rooms below.
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
[…] Our score 9/10. You can read more details with photos of the meals in my La Cucina restaurant review […]