MO Liepāja — Restaurant in Liepaja

As a person from Liepaja myself, I have visited MO restaurant several times during the last years. Unfortunately, my latest and most definitely the last visit to this place turned out into a terrible experience that I haven't faced for a long time in my life for sure. Shame that your service have worsened so much, used to be a very cool and unique place in Liepaja indeed. We visited MO restaurant on Saturday, 9th of April, 2022. It was a bit busy, most of the tables were taken, however, what else can you expect from a Saturday evening in a city that is a popular travel destination, where there aren't that many food places at all? :) How can you not be prepared for some demand? Restaurant should be prepared for a relatively high demand (it was not even fully crowded). With about 5-8 tables taken, there was a complete chaos and everything collapsed. We had to wait for our courses for an hour (hour for a starter and another one for a second meal, some 15-20 minutes for our drinks). I must admit that this is acceptable, kitchen issues and slowness is a normal thing that indeed can happen due to various circumstances. Taste was also fine, especially for the second courses (but still, a bit overpriced to be fair). BUT, there was something that shocked me to the core. You refer to yourself as a restaurant, probably the only one in your price point in Liepaja. How can you take unskilled waitresses and waiters of a school age? This is just ridiculous, we paid about 30 EUR for a steak, and the girl who was serving us did not know what Prosecco is! :)) Have you heard about trainings for your personnel? Or some knowledge and skill checking prior to the admission? I expect high quality service, when I pay for my food in a restaurant, not some fast food place. She messed up with everything - our drinks, our food. There was also a waiter, who brought us our tuna starter, saying "Here is your salmon", we said we did not order salmon, and in fact, it was tuna... The fun fact - there was no salmon on the menu that day :)) I don't think I should blame him - I blame restaurant management, who don't even care about showing him the menu before allowing him to actually work with clients. So yes, I would recommend to pay more attention to the personnel you take and invest a bit more into education and trainings, with the prices for your food you can definitely afford that. There was also no manager present that evening, who could solve all this chaos and mess. As a customer, I do not care if you are busy, if you are managing with reservations or not. I just expect normal service, skilled personnel - otherwise don't call yourself a restaurant. Public explanations would...

The food was delicious: well balanced, flavourful and the taste palette was not boring. We were positively impressed by the appetizers - there was a huge variety of different tasty bites, and just enough for our company of 5. Wine was good, although we would prefer a better choice for non-alcoholic beverages. (E.g. homemade warm drinks). The atmosphere was warm and cosy, with dim and intimate light in the dark autumn evening. The service was ok for a regular restaurant, however the place is included into mishelin guide, and in this context, we were slightly disappointed for the service: The waiter served the cutlery for the main dish before cleaning the dirty ones from the appetizers/asking, whether we want the appetizers to be removed. New cutlery was put directly on the table, without a napkin. The waiter asked, whether we want salt and pepper after we almost finished our meal.

Of course, there were also positive highlights in the service: The waiting time for the food was better than expectations: within less than an hour, we managed to order drinks, appetizers and main dish for a group of 5, and the food arrived simultaneously for everyone. the service was polite. the prices were very good in terms of price/quality.

Overall, the experience was positive and all the deficiencies in the service were not critical. We hope that the restaurant will take our notes into consideration and could improve it...

This is not our first visit to this restaurant — and every time we’re reminded that everything here is truly top-notch: the food, the service, and the atmosphere.

This time we came for Restaurant Week and tried three dishes from the special menu: — lightly smoked mackerel fillet with potato and dill aioli, — venison steak with autumn root vegetable purée and cranberry–red wine sauce, — carrot and sea buckthorn dessert with cottage cheese cream and brûléed meringue.

Every dish was perfectly balanced — from presentation to flavor combinations. We especially loved how local Latvian ingredients are harmoniously paired with a touch of European elegance — a true gastronomic pleasure!

Special thanks to the staff for their attentiveness and professionalism. The cozy atmosphere and high-level service make every visit here special. We’ll...