Moeca Restaurant

had an awesome experience here.Large spaces restaurant, but I say at bar. Bartender was very knowledgeable about the dishes as well. It took me four plates and a dessert to be full, so portoes are small but great quality The only slight complaint I have is the pacing .all four of my dishes came out in rapid succession. Three at a time. And then the other before I finished my last dish . I had plates everywhere and felt rushed. That wasn't their intention at all, but it is something to note. I was eating solo so maybe they are used to bringing everything out at one time for large parties? I ordered two specials and two menu items Special: Sardine raviolis with a clam broth: this was  awesome. Raviolis were more like dumpling and were nice and crispy on outside and nice and pillowing on inside. Dish has a very clean fishy profile and the clam sauce added a savory taste. Interesting and delicious 5/5Black bass belly with crispy fish skin:This was amazing!  The bass belly was rich with flavor and melt in your mouth fattiness. The crispy fish skin added some salt and there was a little kick too.  Very original and yummy 5/5Regular menu:  Smoked trout on potato roll:Awesome! Trout was like a pate spread on the soft and delicious potato roll. Trout had a prominent bbq smokiness to it. Very savory and natural. Not that liquid smoke flavor. 5/5semolina gnocchiDelicious. This was a scallop with the the innards they usually removed included. It was all very tender and delicious and came with a very nice tomato broth.  5/5 Surfer clams: Very pretty dish with edible flowers. Clams were fresh and clean tasing and came with a nice buttermilk sauce 5/5.Zucchini cake;Good dessert. Didn't blow me away, but had good presentation and did taste good. Id prob not order this again, but this was.my first zucchini cake so I didn't not know what to expect 4/5 Will be coming back for the amazing food, a different dessert and the friendly service 5/5

Pretty interesting, seafood-centered dishes - and a reservation here is easier to come by than Giulia's. Even on a busy weekday night, I could still hear the people across from and sitting next to me (not a fan of places where you come out of dinner with a sore throat from having to yell to be heard). However, the food was not as good as I hoped, particularly given the price point. We ordered 5 dishes from the main menu, which turned out to be a perfect amount of food (our waitress recommended 6-8 for three people), and a dessert. My favorites were the tuna d'nuja, or minced tuna with Calabrian chili (the bread on the side, however, was way too burnt), the bucatini, and the dark chocolate bread pudding. The bucatini in particular was cooked perfectly. That said, a few of the other dishes were too heavy on the salt for my preference, including the chickpea pancake and the sprouting cauliflower. Our waitress was wonderful and patient in going over the various dishes on the menu. Overall, though, it was about $180 for three people, so not a cheap dinner, and I was still hungry after we left. I'd give it another try, though, if I'm in the neighborhood.

Got to have a beautiful dinner here to celebrate the end of the year with my boyfriend last night. We loved the elegant and tasteful vibes, and the service from our waitress, Olivia, was excellent. She was warm, attentive, and gave thoughtful recommendations around wines to pick and how to approach the extensive, ever-changing menu. Definitely try some of the orange wines if you are feeling adventurous! In terms of the dishes, each of the seafood dishes dazzled with their freshness and lovingly blended flavors. I felt that there were interesting aspects to each of them that catered well to the inherent flavors of the seafood. The scallop crudo (bright, sweet, tangy) was a highlight, and the smoked trout (very smoky!!) was also a surprise hit. Another reviewer had stated that the pastas felt a bit one-dimensional and disappointing, considering this was Giulia's sister restaurant and I do have to agree. I found myself wishing the spaghetti, which advertised fermented chili, had more of a funky kick to it. The gnocchi, while interesting, was a bit salty for my palate. In the future, I would likely opt for more of the shared plates or try one of the large seafood plates. The desserts were both delicious without being too rich, and the espresso martini my boyfriend ordered was deemed by the both of us to be the best espresso martini we've ever had! Not sure what they put in this one but major props to the bartender. Overall, this is a great spot to try delicious seafood with some new flavors. The prices are definitely steep though, and the serving portions don't reliably reflect the price point. I would give moeca a 4.5 out of 5, and would definitely come back to sample more of their menu.

What a nice find! We will be back.All appetizers and entrees were cooked differently than experienced elsewhere. Thrilled to get some different spices, sauces, and one-of-a-kind cooking. If they have it when you go, suggest the calimari, monkfish, packed oysters, and white wines. Not a huge wine list but all seemed to be picked with care and were fairly prices. Manager very knowledgable regarding what wines go with the many diverse dishes.

This is the best dining experience we've had in the greater Boston area in quite a long while. The food was glorious; there weren't _that_ many items for vegetarians on the menu, but what was there was delicious, and we left with full bellies. The cocktails were funky and delicious, too. The décor is just beautiful, too; see attached. And the staff were so helpful and patient and sweet.As parents of two young children, it takes effort and time and money to go out to eat these days; we have to hire a babysitter whenever we want to do anything on our own. So the threshold for going out is relatively high. Our level of disappointment when a meal is only mediocre is correspondingly high: we went through all that effort and all that expense, and for _this_? We've found ourselves disappointed in recent months by our dining-out experiences.So it was really a pleasant surprise that the whole experience at Moëca, from start to finish, was a delight. We will _definitely_ be back.

What a treat! This was on Boston Magazine's top 50 list, so we had to go. We were extremely impressed! The inside was very cute and welcoming. Our waitress was patient and knowledgeable. The drinks were amazing. But of course the best part was the food. They specialize in fish, but have a few other options as well. Every dish that we got was so flavorful and unique. We left smiling from ear to ear! My favorites were probably the beet barbecued mussels (never tasted anything like it before!) and the swordfish, simply grilled with veg and lemon, but so so so good. They were great with allergies and even had a dairy free dessert. The dessert was very unique as well (it has peas in it!). We loved every moment at Moeca and are really happy we chose to have dinner here!

People need to wake up and realize that it's time to stop supporting places where they are just laughing at customers in the back. Nobody that works here or owns this place would seriously eat here at these portions and these prices and this quality yet they want to tell you "we recommend 4-5 plates per person and an entree" with a straight face. You can just hear them laughing in the back. The mussels dish is laughable. The spaghetti is laughable, esp bc there were shells left in it. Flounder was undercooked and laughable. If you want to rip off your customers why would anyone come back. Boston is a terrible city for food and this is just another place to add to the list of overrrated

This restaurant came into my radar after it made it onto Bon Appetit's list of Best New Restaurants 2023. They specialize in seafood-based dishes and their charred cod collar over deviled butter was probably my favorite dish of 2023 (sadly this was a special -- I really hope they make this a regular menu item)! The crispy monkfish with tamarind hot sauce and sesame was also a great combination of flavors and textures, with the crispy outside pairing well with the fish's more suave texture. The atmosphere was great, even on a Thursday night, and their decor was super fun. Why the four stars then? There were several dishes that fell flat, especially their pasta dishes. I might have been expecting more of their pasta given they are the sister restaurant of Giulia, but their maine lobster spaghetti (with fermented chili and shiso) was a bit one-dimensional and the noodles were overcooked, while their mafalde (wild mushrooms, arugula, onion butter) was undercooked. Their cape cod scallop (with green crab americaine, corn, maine uni) and charbroiled squid were also fine, but I wouldn't necessarily order them again. For dessert, I tried the maple bombe, which was advertised to have a berry compote and a maple ice cream, but surprisingly was slightly savory from other herbs included in the dish. Service was also a bit disorganized as several waiters came by to tell us the exact same menu wand they also brought us our check twice within the span of 5 minutes (no change in the check between the two times), but friendly. I would come back as their flavor combinations are quite unique for Boston and their menu changes quite often.

When we approached the restaurant on foot, I immediately noticed a bad fishy smell. I should have taken note of it and gone elsewhere. The smoked trout was amazing. Everything else was a disappointment. The monkfish was raw in the center. Rookie mistake. The lobster spaghetti, which we all ordered as our main, was so laden with lemon juice that you could taste nothing else but the tiny bits of lobster that were gamy. It was my birthday dinner. It would have been nice, a few hundred dollars later, to enjoy my meal. I blame Boston Magazine for yet another bad recommendation. This is the BEST seafood restaurant in "Boston???" No, not best. Bad.

Nice restaurant with plenty of seafood options. Beautiful interior, with moody black zellige tiles on the back wall framing the kitchen service area, and arched displays at the bar. The food was good and our server was very pleasant. Best dishes I think were the Unicorn Oysters, served raw with a sweet and zesty grape granita, and Barbecued Mussels with mild hazelnut satay sauce (not flavors I would have expected together but they worked well). The branzino, squid, and cauliflower dishes were fine. I wanted to like the scallop more but it was not quite what I expecting - one large scallop sliced like tuna crudo served with a leek topping- a bit gritty. Desserts were good too- we were a little taken aback by the Ras El Hanout treatment of the chocolate pudding but I quite liked the middle eastern twist and there was a nice mix of textures with some crunchy bits. The strawberry rhubarb tart was good, albeit a little sweet. Serving portions were fairly small, even the dishes listed in the "Sharing" and "Large" sections of the menu. All in all, a nice dinner out with friends. Hard to get reservations so book early.