Carnival Victory AGAIN: The Taste Bar

Before we get into my thoughts on the Taste Bar idea Carnival has come up with let me just say I am extremely disappointed in the removal of the sushi bar. I like sushi just okay. I certainly am not the first person to volunteer that idea for dinner but my boyfriend likes it and it is a nice treat to have on board. The sushi bar was available mostly every night from 5-8 on deck 5 near the casino (in our experience). It was free and the lines were always LONG but moved quickly. Somewhere a long the line Carnival has decided to remove the sushi bar and in its place add the "Taste Bar."

                                                                 The Taste Bar is located just past the casino bar on the right side.

What is the "Taste Bar?" It was the same cart (in our experience, some ships have actual counters) and had a sampling of entrees from the 2.0 additions to some of the Carnival ships. The Victory hasn't had the 2.0 upgrades so I am assuming Carnivals idea behind this is that cruisers sample some dishes and remember to look for these restaurants when booking there next Carnival cruise.

On our sailing they had samples 3 nights.
Day 1: Miami was a sample of the Blue Iguana Cantina
Day 2: Day at Sea was a sample of Cucina del Capitano
Day 5: Little Stirrup Cay (CoCo Cay) Red Frog Pub

I tried the taste bar each night it was available but do not remember what the samples were. I do know that the first night was my favorite. There was never a wait for the taste bar. Although they offered tooth picks, many of the samples (including a soup type dish called the pepper pot) could have used some mini plastic utensils.

Overall I see Carnivals idea behind sampling their new restaurants but it doesn't seem to be getting as much traffic as the sushi bar. It would seem to me to be especially lacking on ships that do offer these restaurants because why would someone come down to get a sample when they could get the real thing on the lido?