If you are taking a Costa cruise, you may be wondering about the food.
Breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks are all included at no extra cost.
I sailed on Costa Smeralda, and in this post, we will look at everything I ate in the main dining room, buffet and room service. Menus are also provided.
Costa Cruises is an Italian cruise line that was founded in 1948. It has been owned by Carnival Cruise Line since 2000.
Italian food still features heavily onboard, think pasta, pizza and wonderful bread.
I took my first Costa cruise in 2018, and the food quality has increased dramatically in my opinion.
Main Dining Room – Il Meneghino – Included in the Cruise Fare
There was more than one main restaurant. We were assigned Il Meneghino Restaurant on deck 6.
My parents and I had separate cruise bookings, so we ended up with separate tables in the same restaurant at the same time. We asked if we could sit together, and they were very accommodating.
We were given a temporary table for the first night, then they sent a letter to our cabin with a permanent table number on the next day.
We ate at 5.45 pm – the earliest time available. This suited us, as we rarely eat late at home.
There are no fixed breakfast or lunch dining times. Guests can eat in the main dining room whenever it is open.
Menus can be viewed in advance on the Costa Cruises App.
| Starter #1 | Eggplant Rolls stuffed with Mozzarella |
| First Course #1 | Vegetarian Baked Lasagne |
| Dessert #1 | Strawberry Roll with Lemon |
| Starter #1 | Smoked swordfish |
| Starter #2 | Bresaola with Cream Cheese and Walnuts |
| Main #1 | Quinoa Salad with Broccoli Tartare |
| First Course # 1 | Trofiette with Basil Pesto |
| First Course # 2 | Rigatoni with Napolitan Ragu |
| Main Course #1 | Pan Fried Tuna with Cherry Tomatoes |
| Dessert # 1 | Double Strawberry Cheesecake |
| Main Course# 2 | Spicy Vegetable Couscous |
| Starter#1 | Home Made Buffalo Mozzarella with Cherry Tomatoes |
| Starter#2 | Salmon Bites with Lemon and Turmeric |
| First course#1 | Gratinated Vegetable Lasagne |
| Main#1 | Beef Steak with spice and honey crust |
| Starter #1 | Smoked Turkey with Semi Dried Tomatoes |
| Starter #2 | Roasted Pumpkin with Sweet and Sour Sauce |
| Main#1 | Boneless Oven Roasted Turkey |
| Dessert #1 | Black Forest Cake |
From The Main Restaurants Lunch Time Menu
The main restaurant on Deck 5, The Colombina Restaurant, was sometimes open for lunch.
The menu below shows a typical lunchtime selection:
| Starter #1 | Mediterranean Salad with Feta Cheese and Piadina Puff Pastry |
| Main Course#1 | Fried Arancini with Spiced Rice and Curry Sauce |
Buffet – Included In the Cruise Fare
The buffet on the Costa Smeralda was open for breakfast, lunch, afternoon snacks and dinner. It was shut in-between times, so consult your daily schedule or Costa Cruise App to check it is open before you visit.
The buffet is called La Sagra dei Sapori, and can be found towards the back of deck 8.
The buffet at dinner time consisted of:
- Mini Pizzas
- Pasta
- Rotisserie
- Cold Meats
- Cheeses
- Ethnic Corner (Usually Chinese)
- Bread
- Salads
The sections would be different for breakfast and lunch.
The above photos are of lunches I had in the buffet. The great thing about the buffet is that you can combine anything that you think looks interesting.
The last photo is of the Costa Mini Pizzas, which were delicious!
Afternoon Snacks in the buffet for us meant Churros!
Every day from 4 pm, there were a selection of afternoon snacks in the buffet
Churros became a daily routine – in the absence of my normal cookies.
There was also a good selection of sandwiches, paninis, cakes and desserts.
The Salty Beach – Street Food – Additional Charge Fast Food Restaurant
The Salty Beach snack bar can be found on deck 16, under the dome where the indoor pool is situated.
Here you can order either a meal – burger or toasted Panini with fries and a cake for €5 – or just a burger or toasted Panini for €3.50.
At time of writing, this is around $5.50/£4.50 for the meal, or $3.80/ £3 for just the burger or panini.
The burger and chips meal was huge, and we struggled to eat it – and then there was a cake included, too…
Both the burgers and toasted paninis were delicious!
Burgers came in a variety of options, including a veggie burger.
Toasted Paninis had a selection of fillings.
There was a variety of cakes, none of which looked familiar to me. Nice to try something different when on a cruise. Some I liked, some I didn’t…
The food was always cooked to order, so was hot and tasty.
Pummid’Oro Pizzeria – Additional Charge Pizzeria
Pummid’Oro Pizzeria can be found on deck 8, towards the middle of the ship.
They serve a selection of Pizzas, and you pay per item, as in a normal restaurant on land.
The pizzas we chose were €9 and €11.
At time of writing, this is around $10/ £8 for one pizza and $12 / £9.70 for the other.
If you are a member of the Costa Cruises Loyalty Club, you receive a 25% discount. Worth joining for that alone. Joining the Costa Club itself is totally free.
Other Speciality Restaurants Onboard That I Didn’t Try – Additional Charges Apply to all.
There are many other restaurants onboard that you can try at an extra cost, some formal, some informal. Here is a selection of other options available:
Archipelago Restaurant
This is a gourmet restaurant with menus consisting of 5 courses.
You can choose one of 3 different menus, and these are apparently an interpretation of a route you are travelling around the world! (They serve specialities from different places along the way.)
Costa donates €5 to the Costa Cruise Foundation for every meal sold in the Archipelago Restaurant. This goes towards Social and Environmental projects.
Teppanyaki Restaurant
Food is served in an Oriental-style environment.
You can order Japanese seafood specialities here. Restaurant tables are arranged around a large cooking table, where the chefs prepare each meal at a time.
The Food Lab
The Food Lab is a “Seaside Cooking School” and speciality restaurant where you can try your hand at making your own dinner creations!
Sushino
An onboard Sushi Bistro which offers dine-in or takeaway lunch or dinner.
Room Service
Room service is available 24 hours a day, at an extra charge. I never ordered from the room service menu on this cruise.
Check your daily schedule or the onboard Costa Cruises App for the latest details on the additional charges for these alternative restaurants.
Before You Go
Compare Costa to the other large Italian Cruiseline, MSC, here:
MSC Cruise Review – in Europe (Food, Service, Entertainment and More)
Find out the top things to try on an MSC cruise here:
12 Free Things You Have to Try on MSC Cruises (Tried and Tested!)
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