All Aboard for Teppanyaki: A Review of Norwegian Getaway's Tableside Cooking Delight

You've booked your cruise on Norwegian Getaway and you're ready to set sail. As you explore the dining options on board, one experience catches your eye: Teppanyaki. If you've never tried a hibachi-style dining before, you're in for a real treat.

At Teppanyaki, you'll gather around a large steel grill as a chef puts on an interactive show, slicing and dicing ingredients with precision and flair as you watch in amazement. The aroma of sizzling meats and vegetables fills the air as the chef engages you with humor and skill. And let's not forget the singing!

For a unique culinary adventure at sea that you'll be talking about for years to come, grab your family and head to Teppanyaki on board the Norwegian Getaway. An unforgettable evening of food, fun and entertainment awaits.

6 Things to Know about Dining At Teppanyaki

• Teppanyaki is a specialty dining option aboard Norwegian Cruise Line and not a part of the complementary dining line-up

• Teppanyaki does have a cover charge; as of this writing there is a $59 per person fee for dining at this restaurant

• While a children's menu is available, if possible we suggest that your little eat off of the main menu to get the full value of the meal

• Your meal will come with a soup, salad, your choice of entree and dessert

• If you family is a group less than 8; you will be seated with other cruisers

• Make reservations to ensure your spot, seating is limited

NCL Freestyle Dining

Welcome to freestyle dining! NCL was the first in the industry to offer the option of dining whenever and where ever you want. And in most cases, dressing however you'd like for dinner.

In case you're not familiar, there was a point in time where every cruise line required you to pick a dining time; usually an early or a late option. You were then expected to show up at the appointed time, in your Sunday best to eat in the one dining room available for dinner.

Well no more of that, thank you very much! On NCL, you have multiple dining rooms to choose from. For instance, from the list of restaurants below, Taste, Savor and the Tropicana Room serve as the main dining room where yes, the same menu is served.

However, the atmosphere is very different in the way of decor. The Tropicana Room also has a stage and dance floor so that you can literally have dinner and a see a floor show.

Savor Dining Room on the Norwegian Getaway

The other complimentary options listed below offer slightly different cuisines and there is not a formal dress code.

The other really nice thing about free style dining is that you get to decide what time you show up to dinner. You may have to wait if you show up at a busy time but you have the flexibility of setting your own schedule.

NCL Getaway Complimentary Dining Options

Before we dive into our experience at Teppanyaki, let's take a moment to review your dining options aboard the newer Norwegian Cruise Line vessels.

If you've never cruised before you should know that there specific restaurants that are complementary. Meaning, the cost of eating at the restaurants has been baked into your cruise fare.

The names of the restaurants will vary depending on which ship you're sailing on. On the Getaway the complimentary dining options are:

Shanghai’s on the Norwegian Getaway

• On deck 15 you'll find the Garden Cafe Buffet. This is usually the busiest location for breakfast, lunch and dinner, located off of the main pool deck

• O'Sheehan's Bar & Grill is located on deck 7. This restaurant is typically open all day and serves a variety of bar food and as a bonus they have arcade games available (for a fee), along with a full bar and a view of the goings on in the atrium

• Shanghai's Noodle Bar is located off of the Casino on deck 7 and is home to one of the hardest restaurants to get into due to its limited seating and the quality of the Asian food served here

• The Tropicana Room is on deck 7 and is the largest of the man dining rooms. It has a full dance floor if you're interested as well as a stage for a band to play

• Savor is located on deck 6 and is open for breakfast, and dinner. This serves as the second of the "main" dining rooms

• Located right across the hall from Savor, Taste is of a comparable size to Savor and serves the same meals as the other two "main" dining rooms for dinner. It is also open for breakfast

NCL Specialty Dining Options

Similar to the complimentary restaurants, the specialty dining option names, theme and cuisine will vary depending on the ship you're aboard.

The cost of specialty dining options as well as the cuisine will vary depending on the venue. Listed below you'll find the specialty dining options aboard the NCL Getaway and the current pricing structure.

Cagney’s on the Norwegian Getaway

• Cagney's is the Steakhouse and is an NCL staple that is available fleet-wide. This is an a la carte dining options and you will be charged based upon the items you choose to order

• La Cucina is an Italian restaurant that is also an NCL staple and tends to be available fleet-wide. This is also an a la carte dining option where you will be charged based on the items you order

• Le Bistro is a French restaurant that is another NCL staple that is available across the fleet. This is an a la carte dining option and you will be charged per item order from the menu

• Moderno is a Churrascaria that is available fleet-wide on NCL and has a $59 cover charge. The twist here is that this restaurant is all you care to enjoy for the single price

• Ocean Blue is one of the Seafood options that is available across the fleet as an a la carte option. Similar to some of the other specialty dining options your bill will reflect each item that you order

• Raw Bar usually is located right near the full service seafood option and is an a la carte option. Typically, this restaurant has a smaller footprint and a focused seafood based on a small bites menu

• Teppanyaki is the Japanese or hibachi style restaurant that is available with a $59 cover charge. We'll dive into this one in more detail in a moment

• Wasabi Sushi is located near Teppanyaki and offers a small sushi based menu that is charge a la carte

NCL Specialty Dining Dress Code

Dress code? What dress code? This is freestyle dining after all. Isn't it?

Well, yes and no. While most people tend to ''clean-up' for dinner especially if they are going to any of the main dining rooms for a meal. There is no pressure or an official formal night.

Taste Dining Room on the Norwegian Getaway

You can dress up or not to use the NCL phrase. Most cruisers tend to pick a night or two where they will dress up so that they can have the formal family portraits taken around the ship.

Officially, on the NCL Getaway the dress code requires resort casual attire in all dining rooms with the exception of two specialty dining locations. Ocean Blue and Le Bistro. In these two venues, Long pants, shoes and a collard shirt are required.

Dress Code for Teppanyaki on Norwegian Getaway

It was our experience that no one really dressed up for dinner here. Most stuck to the resort casual look and feel for dinner, which to us strikes the right note for this venue

Do you Need Reservations for NCL Specialty Dining Restaurants?

Here again the answer is yes and no. We can hear you all saying, freestyle dining. It's freestyle dining. Do I really need a reservation?

To land the optimal dining time for you and your family at a specialty dining restaurant we suggest that you book those reservations in advance. We found that some dining rooms seemed to be wide open while others were harder to get into during the cruise.

For instance, La Cucina always seemed to be an easy reservation while restaurants like Teppanyaki were a little harder to come by.

NCL Free at Sea Dining Options

If you happen to grab a promotion for your NCL cruise on the Getaway or any of their other ships, you will likely also be offered a 'Free at Sea' option that includes 2 "free" meals at a speciality dining restaurant for each person in your cabin.

Honestly, they run this promotion so frequently at the moment, we would suggest only booking if you can grab this special.

On our last cruise we booked two cabins allowing each person in the staterooms to receive 2 free meals at the specialty dining venues.

The Dining Experience: What to Expect at Teppanyaki on the Norwegian Getaway

When you book a reservation at Teppanyaki on the Norwegian Getaway, get ready for an entertaining dining experience. At this hibachi-style restaurant, your meal is prepared right in front of you on a large steel grill by a chef putting on a show.

As you're seated around the grill with other guests, the waiter or waitress will come around and take your drink and meal order. They'll ask if anyone has any dietary restrictions or preferences to keep in mind. Then they will serve the soup and salad.

Teppanyaki Dining Room on the Norwegian Getaway

You'll start with a small seaweed salad and a miso soup to whet your appetite. Then the main event begins. The chef will come out and introduce himself, confirm everyones orders and then the cooking begins.

The chef slices, dices, juggles and flips ingredients with precision (mostly), all while cracking jokes and engaging with everyone at the table. There are some impressive moments like "drawing" a flower with egg yoke and spelling a dinners name with the same egg. Keeping in mind that he does this upside down.

And of course, there are a few tricks and the occasional mishap along the way! Watch our video to see how the chef's routine went slightly off the rails.

The atmosphere is lively and loud, filled with the sizzle of the grill, laughter, and plenty of singing. It's all part of the experience, so go in expecting an entertaining meal. The food itself is simple but good.

By the end of the meal, you'll be full, happy, and probably have made some new friends at your table. Teppanyaki is a unique specialty dining experience that we suggest you've a try.

Teppanyaki Menu Options: Our Review

Now that you know what to expect, let's talk about the details of the meal.

Appetitzers

When it comes to the menu, you’re options are limited but good. Regardless of what you order for your main course, everyone is started off with Miso soup and a Seaweed salad.

Miso Soup at Teppanyaki on the Norwegian Getaway

While Miso soup is known to be on the salty side, we found the soup we were served this night to be overly salted. Our family usually enjoys a miso soup but decided to pass on this after a few spoonfuls.

On the other hand, the Seaweed salad was quite delicious. Unexpectedly, the salad was served on a bead of coleslaw. Interesting choice. But a good one. Everyone in our group would not consider themselves coleslaw fans but we all enjoyed this version of the salad. The crunch of the slaw was a nice complement to the salad and ginger dressing.

Seaweed Salad at Teppanyaki on the Norwegian Getaway

Entrees

For your Entree you can choose from Teppanyaki Classics or Teppanyaki Combinations that range from beef to chicken to seafood and vegetable options. Each Teppanyaki Classic or Combination does come with garlic fried rice, grilled vegetables onion and creamy mustard dipping sauces.

Teppanyaki Classics

Chicken Yaki Udon - chicken breast, udon noodles

Vegetable Yaki Udon - seasonal vegetables, udon noodles

Seafood - jumbo shrimp, sea scallops, calamari

New York strip - beef striploing

Vegetable Teriyaki - seasonal vegetables, teriyaki tofu

Teppanyaki Combinations

Yamato - chicken breast, jumbo shrimp,

Asuka- New York strip, jumbo shrimp

Kamakura- New York strip, chicken breast

Edo - sea scallops, jumbo shrimp

Dessert

Green Tea Cake - cashew nut brittle

Fresh Fruit Sashimi - sliced exotic fruits

New York Strip

For our mains, my mom chose the New York Strip. Honestly, this was wasted on her. Why might you ask? She came for the rice and boy did she have her fill of the rice. After two bowls she barely had room for her steak.

She did have a few pieces of the strip said it was excellent but had filled up on the rice and couldn't finish her steak. Enter my husband, the finisher who gave her a hand with her steak.

Edo

I had the Eco. The jumbo shrimp were excellent! I can not say enough about these, they were well seasoned, flavorful and cooked to perfection. On the other hand, I did not love my scallops. They didn't taste particularly fresh to me and lacked the flavor that the shrimp had.

Edo at Teppanyaki on the Norwegian Getaway

Enter the finisher who happily handled the scallops I'd left on my plate.

Asuka

My husband had the steak and shrimp combo. He enjoyed both items on his plate. The shrimp especially was a favorite, he also felt the shrimp were very well prepared with the right amount of seasoning and cooked so that they were still tender and juicy.

Asuka at Teppanyaki on the Norwegian Getaway

His tip on the steak is that he asked for his steak to be prepared rare even though he wanted it medium rare. He knew that the chef would keep the steak on longer than it needed to be for a rare temperature because he would be preparing multiple meals at once. When the steak was served, it came to him medium rare. He thoroughly enjoyed his steak and would order it again

Kid's Menu

The Kid's Menu is the same in all of the dining venues; which in our view is a little disappointing. Our son prefers chicken tenders and this is what he chose to go with this and every evening of the cruise.

The Kid’s Menu on the Norwegian Getaway

You can find the tenders, hot dog, chicken noodle soup, macaroni and cheese, peanut butter and jelly and pizza on the menu in every dining room. For dessert, they are offered, cookies, brownies, jello and ice cream. For drink on the menu you will find orange, cranberry or apple juices.

Each time he had the tenders he found them to be spicy which is surprising for a kids meal. That said, the spice was was manageable as he decided to have those most often at meal times.

Garlic Fried Rice

What can I say about this rice. If you're a fan of Teppanyaki you already know. This is the reason to make the reservation. The rice is usually quite consistently good and some would say it's delicious.

Garlic Fried Rice at Teppanyaki on the Norwegian Getaway

You already now how my mom feels about it. We all enjoy this rice and look forward to it with each meal here. Be careful not to fill up on it or you won't have room to enjoy the other items on your plate.

The flavors here are evenly balanced. It would be easy to go overboard on one flavor or another here but they've managed to get the right combination of seasonings in this dish.

Grilled Vegetables and Sauces

It's hard to go wrong here. Grilled zucchini, carrots and onion are your veggies here and these are served up well seasoned with a nice snap when you bite into them.

Grilled Vegetable at Teppanyaki on the Norwegian Getaway

Your dipping sauces are solid as well. Each time we eat here they explain which sauce is for the vegetables and which is for the fish and I promptly confuse them as soon as they're done speaking.

Dipping Sauces at Teppanyaki on the Norwegian Getaway

That's because I find that both sauces work well no matter what I choose to dip in there. Seafood, vegetable or meat, these sauces work well with each.

Dessert

On this evening, we tried three different desserts.

Green Tea Cake

This was not a favorite of ours, it was just okay. The cashew nut brittle was a hit as well as the ice cream. We weren't expecting ice cream with this dish and since it's not on the menu we're not sure what flavor it was. However, it was fruit filled and enjoyable.

Green Tea Cake at Teppanyaki on the Norwegian Getaway

Fresh Fruit Sashimi

We had two plates of this on the table and left nothing behind. The fruits were watermelon, kiwi, pineapple, honey dew and cantaloupe. They came with two dipping sauces that were mango and coconut flavored.

Fresh Fruit Sashimi at Teppanyaki on the Norwegian Getaway

We found the fruits to be super fresh, light and refreshing and sweet. It was just the right finish to the what can be a heavy meal. I tried the mango sauce and found that it enhanced the sweetness of the fruit. I would definitely do this one again.

Jello

Our little guy had the jello and didn't love it. He wasn't sure but thought that it was a mango flavor. According to him, it started off sweet but had a bitter after taste. This was a miss for him.

Jello at Teppanyaki on the Norwegian Getaway

How Much does it Cost to Dine at Teppanyaki on the Getaway?

As one of the speciality dining options on the ship, Teppanyaki does come at an additional cost of $59 per person. Currently, the price is $59 per person for dinner. However, keep in mind that if you do grab a 'Free at Sea' promotion for your cruise, you can make this one of your "free" options.

Some Additional Tips for Dining at Teppanyaki on the Getaway

• Make reservations as soon in advance or you board to ensure you get a spot. Teppanyaki has limited seating and and can book up quickly

• Arrive a few minutes before your reservation time. If you’re late, you may miss part of the experience

• Sit back, relax and enjoy the entertainment! The chefs put on a fun show, so have your camera ready

• Join in the fun. The chefs make the experience fun. They’ll get you laughing and singing along to songs while preparing your meal on the grill in front of you. Be ready for lots of bad jokes and puns

• Come hungry! More food than you realize comes with this meal You could make a meal on the rice alone

Final Thoughts: Is Teppanyaki on Norwegian Getaway Worth the Splurge?

Worth the Splurge? Absolutely!

So, would we do Teppanyaki aboard an the NCL Getaway or any other NCL ship again? The answer is yes!

While the price tag may seem steep, the experience is unique and a lot of fun. This is a family favorite, particularly of my mom's and it's worth it just to see her reaction.

Even with the $59 per person cover charge we would do this again. Especially considering that we were able to use our free at sea dining credits here to pay for our meal.

After all, where else can you get a real dinner and a show anymore? Where else can you watch a chef juggle cooking utensils, telling jokes and getting the whole table singing? The food is tasty, but the entertainment and atmosphere are really what sets this dining experience apart.

Go in with an appetite and a sense of adventure. Chat with your fellow diners, and don't be afraid to engage in the show. This is dinner and a show, cruise ship style!

Until next time, enjoy the journey!

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