MOONRAKERS — Restaurant in Beaufort

This is partly a review of the restaurant and their staff and partly documentation of our experience with people who, in my opinion,need to learn a little more about the general rules of decorum.

We had a 7:30 pm reservation and arrived early. There was a spot on the skydeck, so we got a drink and watched the sunset. We went downstairs at 7:30 to claim our reservation, and had a nice table on the deck with a waterfront view. The restaurant is well appointed and upscale, and, although limited, the menu items looked delicious.

About 10 minutes after having been sat, no one had arrived to take our order. The staff was clearly stretched thin. They were so overworked, in fact, that no one noticed the woman at the table of three vomiting over the side of the deck into the bay.

My initial reaction was one of concern (I hope she's alright) and a bit of a loss of appetite. I figured that they would leave, though, to take care of the woman in their party, and we could recover and enjoy a meal. That, however, did not happen. The men in her party got a few glasses of water to wash the vomit off the deck and continued to order drinks and appetizers. We decided to leave, not wanting to risk another episode of her vomiting mid-dinner approximately 20 feet from our table.

We politely explained the situation to the nearest staff as we walked out. They obviously asked the group to leave shortly thereafter, as about 20 minutes later, the same group was then seated next to us at Black Sheep down the road. After our drinks and appetizer there were finished, we promptly left. At that point, two meals had been interrupted by the same group.

To the staff at Moonrakers: the menu looked wonderful and our sky deck drinks were great, but the events of the evening unfortunately drove us elsewhere. We appreciate you taking the steps to ensure others were able to enjoy their evening, and I only wished that ours could have been salvaged. While we understand that you cannot possibly be asked to control or account for all patrons behavior, had more staff been available, they may have been able to more quickly handle the situation.

To the group who followed us around Beaufort this evening: I am not going to presume I know what was causing your group member to be ill, but common decency dictates that you leave public and take care of your friend, regardless of whether or not it cuts in to your meal. I am speaking from experience, as I have had to leave establishments to take care of sick friends. Whether it's a disease or simply too much to drink, vomiting over the side of the deck at an upscale establishment should not lead to an order of more drinks and fried calamari. I hope, after your second meal, you found time to take care of...

We stopped by to eat tonight for New Years Eve, a party of 4, excited to try something different as we were driving from Cape Carteret. I had been up to the sky lounge for drinks with friends before and was excited to try out the menu. We had reservations and the hostesses were extremely friendly and gave a great first impression of the restaurant. The restaurant itself is well decorated and gives a pleasant atmosphere. We were seated upstairs on the 2nd floor. Service from there was extremely poor. Once our waitress came to our table to take our drink order (they were busy so we understood some delay), it took her at least 10 min to deliver the drinks back to us (waters, a tea, and a soda). We ordered a crab dip as an appetizer and again it took the waitress awhile to come back to take our order (we understood at first being that they were busy, but service continued to lack for the duration of our dinner even as the crowd thinned). When we did order, the waitress did not seem to know the menu well after asking basic questions, and then we were told they were out of the filet, which most of our party intended to order. We were very surprised at this and had two non fish eaters in our party, so options were already limited to them and they had both looked forward to the filet. The only winning dish ended up being the grouper. The chicken was a glorified dressed up chicken pot pie. The salmon was just okay and he mentioned he had better at Kathryn’s Bistro in Emerald Isle. The wings were fried and then heavily dusted with seasoning that didn’t stick well to the breading and just got everywhere. The crab dip was great if you called it a spinach and artichoke dip - my husband says that he got a bite or two of crab, but it was nowhere to be seen in the portion I had. Service continued to lack - we had to ask for refills, salt and pepper was asked for and never brought, and upon leaving and walking by other tables we noticed that bread had been delivered to everyone but us. We left quite disappointed in most of the experience, although again, the hostesses were extremely friendly wishing us a good night. They seem to be about the only thing that this restaurant...

July 2020 update: We came back this week after not visiting Beaufort since 2018. We tried multiple small plates and a few drinks and all were good. All the previous complaints I had from when the restaurant was new were no longer applicable. We tried the calamari, whipped feta, baked shrimp, and tuna poke plates as well as a coconut mojito. All were delicious and good presentation. Great service from waitress as well. They now offer free bread with the meals as well. Definitely a great experience and would recommend this restaurant. I've raised my rating from 3 stars to 5.

2018 Review: Underwhelming but promising. We visited here a few days ago and overall felt they missed the mark. I got the special which was a plate with swordfish, scallops and mussels in a broth. The broth tasted alright but was extremely mild. The scallops weren't overcooked, which was nice, but they were flavorless, as was the swordfish which was a little chewy. I mentioned it to the waitress and she said that previously there was a predominate citrus flavor that should have come out. I told her there was no citrus at all, so I guess they forgot to add that. Probably the first time I've left seafood uneaten on a $30 plate. My wife's Caprice salad had a tasty pesto and balsamic oil drilled across it and the fresh mozzarella was delicious. The "heirloom" tomatoes that were the centerpiece of the salad were low quality and unripe. I wouldn't recommend the hush puppies. The cheese fritters were deep fried balls of pimento cheese with ranch to dip in. Very tasty. White tablecloths but no free bread, etc. The presentation with the dishes was spot on and the general ambiance and environment overlooking Taylor's Creek was great. Our waitresses were nice but still getting command of the menu and their footing at the restaurant. They deducted the $5 hush puppies to make up for the flavorless special plate...

I would chalk up some of the issues to it being a new restaurant and working out kinks. I will try this place again in the future, but probably with lower...