Moana Fish Eatery — Restaurant in Pulau Bali

At first glance, the place looks nice, but unfortunately the staff were unfriendly and no smiles in return, with an arrogant attitude. I am always friendly myself, so this made it even more unpleasant. This is absolutely not what you usually experience in Bali, whether in bigger areas like Uluwatu and Ubud or on smaller islands like Nusa Lembongan or Nusa Penida. It felt very strange.

The service was also poor. There were waiters and waitresses standing around everywhere, looking around which would be fine but it felt more intrusive than attentive. Ironically, one waitress stood right next to me the entire time, yet didn’t clear my empty appetizer plate, even though I had placed the cutlery and plate in the clear ‘finished’ position. It stayed there until I had also finished my main course. On top of that, I was specifically asked if I wanted my dishes served all together or one after the other. I said “together,” yet they still arrived one after the other.

The appetizer itself was disappointing… it had a strange, compacted fish texture, when I had expected something fresher, perhaps more like a tartare. The sauce was thick, heavy, and not pleasant.

The main course wasn’t any better. The fish was completely bland, and I had to try adding salt, pepper, and lime just to get some flavor. The sauces served with the plain white rice tasted like ready-made sauces something like teriyaki and some kind of sweet-spicy mix. Honestly, this was the first time in Bali that I truly didn’t enjoy my meal. Even the simplest warungs to the highest-class restaurants have been far better.

Sorry, but I absolutely cannot recommend this place and for sure I won’t...

Second time going to this restaurant. First time early in the year. It was not the best experience, poor service, over crowded and not the best food. I told myself I'd not repeat it. But decided to give it a second chance, as it is a popular place (I'm still scratching my head trying to figure out why!) and give it a go. While this time the service was better, not great, but much decent, the same can't be said about the food. The fish was tasteless, absolutely tasteless. Which is a big disappointment as fish in this area is fresh, delicious and usually a catch of the day. I guess this one was frozen. Portion was tiny. Price is cheaper than competitors, but still this was not even half, more like a quarter of the usual fish portions. For fish being abundant in the area, one sure expects much more. The sweet potato accompaning the fish was nice though.

The cocktails are cheaper than other places (I assume this might be the reason it is more crowded), although nothing spectacular or special. So for drinks seems alright. In my opinion, this a very over rated place. I won't be going back. Not a...

So i have zero complaints about service, ambiance and portions.

Those were excellent.

Even my first dish the calamari were great, but quickly disappointing due to their sauce, the mustard sauce was more like a honey mustard dressing you'd put in a salad so it doesn't go great with it as the texture is quite watery.

Now onto the tuna. I've had tuna before, raw, seared and in all its forms and to begin with the tunas texture was grainy, I can't even explain it and the flavour was just a bit odd. Some bits tasted funny and despite being grilled it was very undercooked and I left a few bits for fear of getting ill. I'm not sure if it was the pineaple or what but something was not ok with that tuna. The BBQ sauce it came with was helpful because I just dunked it in it. I was very excited for this dish but it turned out to be disappointing.

I would love to give it another go but I'm not sure I would after my experience...