Mangia! Mangia! Time for some included Italian food!

If you know me, then you know Italian food is considered like another food group in my world. I may have a slight scampi and carbonara addiction and think garlic bread is simply a way of life. I was excited to be on a ship this time with an included Italian themed restaurant. Unlike "The Restaurant", Manfredi's on Viking Octantis does not change their menu at all. Keep that in mind when making your reservations pre-cruise so you can decide whether there is enough variety for your tastes to want to visit more than once. We chose to visit twice during this seven day cruise.

Our first visit to Manfredi's on night two was delightful. I only wish I could remember the name of our waitress because she was fantastic! Very personable, funny, and amazing service! 

It should come as no surprise that my first dish, ordered from the Qualcosina (A Little Something) section of the menu, was the Calamari Fritti - crispy parsley, bottarga, and balsamic aioli. I would rank this calamari as one of my top favorites on a cruise. Lightly breaded without being too crispy and the calamari itself was fresh and not overly chewy.

From the Un Po Di Pasta E Risotto (A Bit of Pasta & Risotto) section, between us we shared the Spaghetti con Lardo di Colonnata - fresh spaghetti with lardo from Tuscany region and the Gnocchi Freschi di Patate con Crema di Tartufo - hand rolled potato gnocchi with a black truffle sauce. I appreciated our waitress' patience and kind way of explaining to Dad that this spaghetti would not have his preferred red tomato sauce but simply an oil based sauce. I think it helped him be more willing to try something different and we enjoyed both options.

And you know I wasn't leaving an Italian restaurant without sampling the carbonara item on the menu right? Bucatini Freschi alla Carbonara - fresh bucatini pasta, smoked pancetta, creamy parmigiano reggiano sauce, and Italian parsley. Is bucatini the new spaghetti when it comes to carbonara? Virgin Voyages also used bucatini pasta in their carbonara dish from Extra Virgin. The taste and flavor was there but I miss the ease of twirling spaghetti around my fork. 

From the Piatti Unici category, Dad went with the Parmigiana di Pollo - lightly breaded chicken breast topped with tomato sauce and mozzarella. I joked that Dad finally got his red tomato sauce after all. He enjoyed this dish as meat covered in cheese and sauce is definitely right up his alley. Also right up his alley was pushing off and ignoring the pile of leafy greens they added on top.

For dessert we both enjoyed scoops of gelato. Each ice cream order came with a half sized Pepperidge Farm style pirouette cookie stuck in the scoop. Dad loved it when we both ordered gelato because he got to enjoy both of our cookies. Pictured below is my Cookies & Cream gelato after the cookie had been passed over.

Our second visit to Manfredi's did not go as nicely with service. We were seated at a two top table around a partition that was next to a large booth. This time I questioned whether our waiter doubled as a magician because he had a habit of disappearing when we needed something and reappearing at the large booth next to us chatting and socializing. We'd try to catch his eye and call him over but he'd turn his back to us and walk off. Courses took a lot longer to arrive and be cleared and we sat waiting for drinks and drink refills for ages. At one point we did get his attention to ask about a drink refill and he cut us off to insist that the food would be out soon and scurried off before we could say anything else.

Tonight's choices were Insalata Caprese - buffalo mozzarella, vine ripened tomatoes, basil, and extra virgin olive oil; some sort of pasta that I remember thinking looked nothing like it did last time; Lasagne al Forno alla Bolognese - handmade pasta layered with minced beef, Béchamel sauce, and parmigiano reggiano; Bistecca Fiorentina - thick cut ribeye coated in garlic oil and rubbed with porcini mushroom powder, kosher salt, brown sugar, and red chili flakes; and of course gelato for dessert. 

Insalata Caprese

Mystery Pasta?

Lasagna al Forno alla Bolognese

Bistecca Fiorentina

Vanilla Gelato with pirouette cookie

Is Manfredi's worth a visit on your Viking cruise? Absolutely! Is it worth multiple visits? Maybe not as our second menu choices weren't as good as the first visit. The nice thing though is that as long as you can get a reservation (and we did change a few while onboard), it's similar to specialty dining on other cruise lines but without the fee. I will leave you with this pro tip: The bread offered in Manfredi's is these soft pull apart popover style rolls. If you're dining in The Restaurant and don't care for the crusty bread assortment they offer, kindly ask your wait staff for the rolls from Manfredi's instead. So much nicer and tastier for someone like me and perhaps more detrimental to me because they kept bringing us more! Several tablemates and neighboring tables would ask how to get bread like ours so I think we started a trend. As the saying goes, it never hurts to ask!