Restaurant Review - The Test Kitchen: Virgin Voyages
Where is it?
This restaurant is on each of the Virgin Voyages ships at sea currently tucked away on the starboard (left) side of deck 6. It is not quite midship but you must go through High Street (the shops - which are midship) to get to it. Make sure you go starboard and not port or you will end up at Extra Virgin.
Menu
This restaurant provides a pre-fixe six course menu. They have a vegetarian option for those that would like to try it. They also offer matching beverage menus; a cocktail pairing, beer pairing, wine pairing, or mocktail pairing.
Type of Restaurant
This restaurant is a experimental and social experiment. It pushes molecular gastronomy and food experimentation to a whole new level. It is not a quick bite. You will be here for at least 2-3 hours for dinner.
What’s It Gonna Cost Me?
It is included in the cost of your cruise fare. Virgin Voyages does not have any specialty restaurant. What you do have to pay for is the drink pairing, if you choose to have it. It is an additional $35 for 6 beverages to go with each course of the meal. For this, you can use your Bar Tab (onboard beverage credit).
Who Eats Here…
The type of person that is going to eat at The Test Kitchen is a straight up foodie. Someone that absolutely loves food. Do NOT eat at this restaurant if you have to know what every single ingredient is in your meal. Do NOT eat at this restaurant if you are a picky eater. Do NOT eat at this restaurant if you are not adventurous or like to experiment with your food.
What’s the Vibe?
The vibe in this restaurant is almost like walking into a fancy diner that is mashed up with a science lab. There are some tables but most of the seating is at a bar type area where you can watch someone preparing food.
The only caveat with this type of sitting is that it isn’t very private. This is not a date night spot as you will be sitting next to someone else. But that is part of the social vibe that Virgin Voyages encourages. They WANT you to talk to a complete stranger about the crazy dish that you just ate.
The servers where really cool uniforms that look like a dress shirt/lab coat. All of the servers and bartenders know their stuff! If you have any questions about the meal, they can answer.
It is a bright atmosphere with comfortable lighting. Even at night when the large porthole windows are blacked out because of the night sky. The noise level is moderate but that is because everyone is sitting next to each other. You don’t have to yell to talk to your dinner partner but you can hear other conversations.
How’s the food?
The food is really good quality food. This is one restaurant that I (Addy) was actually very nervous about eating. But it turned out to be one of our favorite restaurants. Every restaurant on this ship uses quality ingredients and the chefs/servers/bartenders actually care about presentation and flavor.
How’s the Service?
The service in this restaurant is immaculate. They pay really close attention to your dining experience to make sure that you are enjoying it. If there is something in the pre-fixe menu that you don’t like (Heaven Forbid!), they quickly find a substitution or offer you another course that you have already eaten.
They also are crazy thorough when it comes to allergies. You will NOT have any cross contamination or ingest an allergen on their watch.
The servers are very attentive and curate the experience to make sure that you are learning as well as eating a gourmet meal. They explain the course as well as the beverage pairing and why the two work together.
The Experience…
The Test Kitchen was our first restaurant choice when we made all of our reservations. This was a two-fold reasoning. One, we were both nervous about eating there because we didn’t know what to expect. And two, if we didn’t like it, we had so many other restaurants to try out in the remainder of the cruise that we could forget the “bad” experience if we needed to.
When you first meet with the host to confirm your reservation, they greet you with a introductory non-alcoholic beverage. It is SO GOOD! It is more a palate cleanser to get you ready for the meal.
Then you get led to your seats and your server comes to introduce themselves and explain the menu to you. This is also when they offer you the beverage pairing.
Terry and I both opted for the cocktail pairing but I chose the venison as my main course and he chose the beef.
As each course and cocktail came out, we were pleasantly surprised and intrigued. One, that a restaurant of this caliber was on a cruise ship and that it was included in the cost of the cruise. And two, because everything we ate tasted DELICIOUS.
Mind you, we were not fans of the blue cheese course. But we determined that it was edible but maybe in a smaller portion.
Overall, we thoroughly enjoyed the experience and it became one of our highly recommended restaurants on Virgin Voyages Scarlet Lady.
To see our experience at The Test Kitchen, watch the video below.