Norwegian Epic Dining Guide: Restaurants, Costs, and Best Choices

Use Norwegian Epic’s included restaurants for most meals, then book specialty dinners for the food and setting you actually want.

Reserve Teppanyaki early if the shared-grill experience appeals to you, and check the Shanghai’s menu carefully because the noodle-bar offering and restaurant have different costs.

Start with Taste and the Manhattan Room

Taste on Deck 5 and the Manhattan Room aft on Deck 6 are Epic’s two public main dining rooms. They’re the starting point when you want a seated meal without a specialty cover charge.

Choose Taste when its central position fits your evening, especially if you’re staying around the atrium before dinner. Choose the Manhattan Room when you want the larger aft dining-room setting or plan to visit the nearby Cavern Club afterward.

Both give you a main-dining meal, so choose by the day’s menu, opening hours, and your preferred setting rather than assuming each represents an entirely different cuisine. Check which breakfast and lunch sessions are operating before planning around them.

Leave enough time for a multicourse dinner before a show. If you have an early forward-theater performance, a quick included meal may fit better than rushing the Manhattan Room at the aft end of the ship.

The ship dining listings show the actual venues alongside their inclusion. Use our deck routes to choose the right elevator bank before heading out.

Garden Café works best when flexibility matters

Garden Café is the included buffet forward on Deck 15, serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner at posted times. It’s the practical option when your group wants different foods or you need a meal around a port departure.

On a morning with an early excursion, arrive with time to find food and a table instead of assuming the buffet will be a quick stop at the busiest moment. Keep an eye on the ship’s actual meeting time rather than the excursion’s later departure time.

Use the forward elevators if you’re coming from a cabin well aft. A long walk through the outdoor pool area can be pleasant when you’re unhurried, but it isn’t the most efficient route before an early tour.

For dinner, the buffet can also give selective eaters an easier meal than a restaurant chosen mainly for another person’s tastes. You don’t need a paid reservation to make every evening feel different.

Try the Great Outdoors for poolside food

The Great Outdoors is on Deck 15 between the forward Garden Café area and the main pools. It’s an included outdoor buffet and grill option, rather than an aft restaurant with the same location as Spice H2O.

Look for grilled choices such as burgers, hot dogs, chicken, or ribs when the service is operating. Use it when you’d rather stay near the outdoor activities than change clothes for a seated indoor meal.

Its hours and available dishes can vary, so check before sending a hungry family there at the end of a session. Garden Café is the nearby fallback when the outdoor counter isn’t serving.

Keep the pool and meal plans together if you’re supervising children. Agree on where everyone will meet before one person goes to get food and another heads to the slides.

O’Sheehan’s is a useful included alternative to the buffet

O’Sheehan’s Neighborhood Bar & Grill sits on Deck 6 overlooking the central public area. It’s an included 24-hour eatery, making it particularly useful for a later meal or pub-style lunch.

Expect comfort-food choices such as fish and chips or a Reuben sandwich rather than a formal specialty dinner. Check which menu is being served at the hour you visit, because a round-the-clock venue doesn’t mean every dish is available all night.

Choose it when your group wants a table and a straightforward meal without committing to a long main-dining dinner. It can also fit between evening activities if your timing doesn’t suit the buffet.

Food inclusion doesn’t make every drink included. Order with your actual beverage package in mind, and check the price if you want a beer, cocktail, or specialty drink outside that benefit.

Separate the Shanghai’s noodle menu from the paid restaurant

Epic’s current listings distinguish complimentary Shanghai’s Noodle Bar from cover-charge Shanghai’s Restaurant. Ask specifically for the included noodle-bar offering instead of assuming the shared name establishes the cost.

The noodle offering is a useful alternative when you want Asian-style soups, noodles, or wok dishes without a specialty-dining purchase. Check its operating time and booking arrangement aboard, because a smaller included option can still have limited seats or sessions.

Shanghai’s Restaurant is the paid Asian-fusion choice, mapped on Deck 6 toward the aft elevator bank. Before ordering, confirm the cover, the dishes included, and any specialty-item supplements.

Pick Teppanyaki for the shared-table experience

Teppanyaki on Deck 7 is the specialty meal to prioritize if you want a chef cooking at a shared grill. The advertised choices include steak, chicken, shrimp, and fried rice, with the performance forming part of the meal.

Choose it for a social dinner or a group who will enjoy the chef’s interaction. If you want a quiet conversation or a private table, Le Bistro or another conventional restaurant is likely to fit better.

Reserve early because each grill has a limited number of places at a sitting. For a larger party, confirm that everyone is on the same reservation instead of hoping separate bookings will be seated together.

The $60 base cover becomes $72 per adult with the 20% service charge, before any tax or premium additions. If you are using a package meal, check its confirmed prepaid total and any supplements instead of adding the cash cover again.

Cagney’s suits a steak-focused evening

Cagney’s is aft on Deck 7 and specializes in premium beef and seafood. Choose it when a steakhouse meal is the main reason you’re buying a specialty dinner.

Look for Cagney’s filet mignon, New York strip or ribeye when steak is the reason you are booking. Check the menu and supplements for your sailing before choosing a premium cut or seafood addition.

The $60 base cover becomes $72 with the 20% service charge, before tax or premium additions. Compare that cash total with the confirmed cost of an eligible Free at Sea dining benefit.

If one person wants steak and everyone else would rather eat casually, consider splitting the evening or choosing an included meal together. Paying a specialty cover for guests who don’t want the cuisine doesn’t improve the value of the reservation.

Le Bistro is the French choice for a more deliberate dinner

Le Bistro sits on Deck 5 toward the forward port side. Choose it when you want French cooking and an indoor restaurant evening rather than the cooking-show format of Teppanyaki.

The current sample Bistro menu includes onion soup, garlic-butter escargots, beef tenderloin, red-wine-braised chicken, and sole. Use those as examples of the style, while treating your sailing’s menu as the final choice list.

For dessert, the sample includes chocolate and strawberry options alongside cheese. Pick the meal because those dishes appeal to you, rather than choosing it solely because it has one of the higher cover charges.

The sample lists a $60 cover plus a 20% service charge, bringing that meal to $72 before any additional tax. It separately marks lobster Thermidor with a $25 supplement, so ask how supplements apply when you’re using a package meal.

Moderno is for a long, meat-focused meal

Moderno Churrascaria is aft on Deck 7 beside Cagney’s. Its format combines a substantial salad bar with skewered meats carved at your table.

Choose it if your group enjoys the Brazilian steakhouse format and has time to settle into the meal. It’s less suitable as a hurried stop before a show or for someone who wants only a small main course.

Save room beyond the salad bar if the carved meats are why you booked it. Guests with dietary restrictions should check their choices before paying for a meal built around that service style.

Moderno’s $50 base cover becomes $60 with the 20% service charge, before tax or premium additions. Choose it for the carved-meat meal you want, then compare its full cost with the other restaurants.

La Cucina gives you an Italian evening at the front of the ship

La Cucina is forward on Deck 14, beneath Garden Café, so it isn’t alongside the Deck 7 aft specialty restaurants. Use the forward route and leave time to find the entrance on your first visit.

NCL’s advertised examples include osso buco, spaghetti carbonara, and affogato. Choose it when pasta or Italian mains fit your group better than steak or a shared grill, then confirm the actual menu before dinner.

La Cucina’s $40 base cover becomes $48 with the 20% service charge, before tax or premium additions. That makes it a lower-priced cash specialty meal, provided the food and setting suit your group.

If you’re staying aft and attending a forward theater show afterward, La Cucina’s position may fit your route. For an aft evening at the Cavern Club, compare how much crossing the ship you want to do between dinner and music.

Wasabi needs its own package-item check

Wasabi is on Deck 7 and offers sushi and Japanese-style bites. Choose it when you want that menu instead of assuming every Asian dining option on Epic serves the same meal.

Wasabi’s $50 base cover becomes $60 with the 20% service charge before tax or premium additions. A dining-package meal has a four-item allowance here, so check which dishes count rather than assuming unlimited sushi.

Check which dishes count as items and whether a preferred premium order costs extra. A quick question before ordering prevents a package meal from turning into a different bill than you expected.

Use the package terms that apply to your booking

For an eligible new US booking under the current offer, the promotion terms list three specialty meals on a seven- or eight-night cruise for $60 per person prepaid, with gratuities included. Other lengths, booking dates, markets, and guest eligibility can change the benefit.

Most package meals allow up to three appetizers, one main course, and up to three desserts, while venues such as Wasabi have their own item limit. Drinks, selected premium items, gelato, and other excluded purchases still need a separate budget.

Read your own confirmation alongside Free at Sea before changing a reservation or adding a package. Check the final total and actual meal count rather than importing the terms from an older More at Sea booking.

Haven guests already have their private restaurant and courtyard grill included as accommodation benefits. Use specialty meals for a change of cuisine you actually want, and don’t spend a package meal on the included Haven restaurant.

Our Epic planning tips help you coordinate those reservations with shows and port days. If you’re still choosing a cabin, the Haven comparison explains whether private dining is a benefit you’d use enough to justify the accommodation upgrade.