Carnival Cruise Lines Carnival Magic

Venue Overview (7.00)

Prime Steakhouse is a small, stylish restaurant with dark wood tables, red covered chairs, white tablecloths, and a more sophisticated ambiance than the other restaurants on the ship. From its location on deck 5, it offers a panoramic view onto the ocean. Families will have just as much fun as a couple on a romantic dinner.

Starters include beef carpaccio, tuna tartar, shrimp cocktail, crab cake, lobster bisque, and several salads. Being a steakhouse, the choices for entrées are meat, meat, and meat. Broiled New York loin steak, prime rib chop, classic porterhouse steak, surf & turf, filet mignon, lamb chops, chicken. You can also get sea bass and lobster ravioli. Sauces are served separately and there are plenty of side dishes to choose from.

The restaurant is definitely worth a try, even with a $25 cover charge. The food is definitely one of the best on the ship, and early reservations are highly recommended.

Note: In June 2012, Carnival increased the surcharge on all its steakhouses, to $35 per person.

Lunch / Dinner

As an amuse bouche, Prime Steakhouse serves a cold tomato soup with balsamic and a rosemary foccacia with a delicious tomato and rosemary salsa. The mushroom cappuccino with five types of mushrooms and cream, truffle oil and thyme is among the best mushroom soups we’ve ever had. A refreshing and tasty appetizer is the baby leaf spinach with mushrooms, blue cheese, and parmesan cheese — a light and healthy appetizer. However, if you like raw fish, the ahi tuna tartar should be the perfect appetizer for you. It has a pleasant and not overpowering acidic taste. The seaweed and the avocado and cream paste compliment the tuna perfectly, as does the fried and crunchy apple ring.

Prime Steakhouse also serves an excellent macaroni-and-cheese side dish, prepared with five different types of cheese. The surf and turf is a classic, including filet Mignon and two king prawns along with with Yukon gold mashed potatoes and wasabi horseradish. The filet Mignon was perfectly cooked as ordered, medium rare, and the lime on the prawns gave it a nice acidic tinge. However, the mashed potatoes were not spicy at all, despite the wasabi horseradish.

Dessert

For dessert, you have the choice of cheesecake, caramelized Washington apples, fresh fruits, sherbets, and ice creams, as well as a cheese plate. Chocolate aficionados will be in heaven with the chocolate sampler, which comes with four chocolate desserts including a bittersweet chocolate cake, banana panna cotta, tiramisu, and a chocolate marquise – a dense and rich chocolate mousse-like cake with ice cream. Each one is better than the previous.