Moody Rooster — Restaurant in Thousand Oaks

Still one of the best restaurants in the area. Gnocchi basically has legendary status. Cocktails were delicious. The execution of all the cooking is still great! We come here at least once a year, but often several times. The service and ambience are a showcase of what can be done in the area.

My thoughts here are for the owner and should not deter anyone from eating here. The food is amazing, go try it. In general the recipes and menu has become a bit confused. I think maybe, there is a desire to "do more" and be more elaborate in order to maintain the well earned reputation of a great place to eat. But I would just like to see more quality over quantity in the menu and recipes. A few years ago we went there and there were a handful of menu choices for each course, as it should be. and each item was maybe a handful of ingredients, also as it should be. Less is more, simple and elegant. Now the menu is confusing. There are what feels like 2x to 3x the choices, and they are not sorted in a traditional "starter - main - pasta - desert" style but now has "salad:" and "veg" as an option, is that a main? is just vegetables a starter? idk. Even the server didn't seem to really know when I asked. Then the food itself just has too many ingredients. smoked eggplant, should be like 3-5 ingredients max. Instead it has the eggplant, a sauce, two(?) types of nuts, some caramelized sugar, 3 different garnishes and some more dry seasonings, and possibly some other veggies tucked in there. The eggplant was overcooked. The Scallop spaghetti was frankly, a rip off. while the scallops were well cooked, not chewy or raw, the recipe was again, confused. The scallops themselves had no seasoning, no lemon or salt. The sauce was liquid enough that I felt I had a cup of soup left when I was done. The veggies were too many different ones, including chunks of carrots , bell pepper, tomatoes, and just felt like a "mom threw something together" rather than an intentional recipe. Though, mom can cook. In contrast the gnocchi recipe, is excellent. Gnocchi, tomatoes and a well executed sauce. 3 things, maybe one seasoning. No garnish iirc. Pretty much flawless

Its all still good, and I think at least the cooks and chef really care about the food and its execution, but whoever picks the recipes and menu items, needs to remind themselves that their best items, are SIMPLE and well...

My husband and I have been to Moody Rooster four times. Twice at their previous location and twice at their current. I had to write a review because our experience this time around was extremely odd. Let me preface by saying all the other times have been great and we absolutely enjoy the food.

The first thing that happened to us:

We were asked if we wanted still or sparkling water. We opted for “still” thinking it was considered tap. They bring over a Mountain Spring Valley bottle and my husband and I thought that this was our only option other than sparkling. We finished the bottle and the waitress asked if we wanted another bottle and we said yes.

Time has passed and we noticed other tables getting tap water. I told my husband and we laughed it off thinking we totally got swindled! There was no option for tap. Two bottles of water cost us $14 on the bill.

Mind you, after the second bottle finished, she asked us if we wanted another bottle. Knowing we had no water in our cups and no water in our bottle we kindly said no, thinking they would bring us over tap water. No one came by and offered even as they passed our table to fill other people’s cups.

The other thing was everyone else around us was getting their food quicker than us. A table behind us came later and their orders were coming out quite swiftly when we only had our salad and were waiting for the mushrooms and fennel sausage. When we received our fennel sausage, my husband said some parts were cooler- meaning it was probably just sitting there for a bit. While this normally wouldn’t irk me, we just felt like outcasts or treated a bit differently, or just the forgotten! Maybe those side tables on the side aren’t as important as reservations..or maybe it just an off night. I’m not quite sure but I had to share. We will return because we love it, but hopefully we won’t leave actually leave...

Having been back a few times now, The food is fresh and changes daily and is incredibly flavorful. We always sit at the bar when we can, and this place only has four seats total at the bar. So it’s not a place for people that like to socialize and have cocktails and eat. The service at the bar was excellent however and so that’s five + stars. Navid has been at the bar serving us every time and he is incredible! So attentive and accommodating 💗💗💗 The selection of alcohol is eclectic and focuses on small batch distilleries and local families. I didn’t have any of their alcohol that day as we were there for lunch, so I can’t comment on their selection. The kitchen is open to the restaurant and very busy, and the room has nothing to absorb noise. So even people speaking in normal tones seem loud and intrusive. The items we tried on multiple occasions were excellent. However the sausage pasta which is one of their staples was not to my liking… only because that’s not my type of dish. the cornbread was unbelievably amazing, chicken was juicy and delicious, The burrata salad with pesto was incredible. So the items that I did end up trying were excellent with the exception of the sausage pasta but that’s my own taste preference. I’m sure some people would just love it. ** We did go back and I had the salmon - awesome, the goat cheese toast - omg amazing, spanikotta - incredible🎉🎉🎉 And I am literally OBSESSED with the trout toast 👅👅Overall it’s a great place for A delicious meal. They did move from a much smaller space with a very uninspiring and cramped room and so this is significantly better….Overall, definitely worth trying🎉for a great flavor...