As usual they ll show you the fresh catch and ask you on how you want to have the fish, crab, prawns prepared. And as usual, once the food comes, it will be irresistible.
No thinking twice about when it comes to food. This place will deliver perfect tasty dish every single time. Must dine here if visiting mahabs.
Sneha Dalvi - The Talking Bee
+4
The place literally drew us to it by its vibe. We were passing by and couldn’t stop ourselves from going here. Just the right kinda place for a pint of beer or two.
The place serves variety of sea food. Us, there out of four being vegetarians we opted for Fried Rice along with Manchurian gravy. Rice was decent. But the gravy was below average.
Our friend who a non vegetarian had asked for a butter garlic prawn. Which was less buttery than expected. So we requested them for extra portion of Garlic butter. Which they hesitated to provide but we did manage to get some after approx. half an hour.
Nutella Chocolate Pancake was served which was more of a crepe.
Pros – Vibe. Vibe. Vibe. Its open air, terrace seating. Chilled out vibe!
Cons – Service was slow. Food was okay/ good.
TTB rating – 4*
The best in Mahabalipuram.
They serve fresh seafood and the quantity is insanely more compared to their price.
Got a plate full of Prawns just for 400rs which was amazingly good. Had their steamed rice along with fish curry. 3 big pieces in the curry for 250rs was too good.
Always full of young crowd, this place has a very good ambience.
Also they show you a platter full of fresh catches from the sea for which you can choose yours negotiate the price.
Ambience-
Nice average and descent for the area/ surroundings. Well maintained and clean.
Food -
Great Place for seafood. The fish fry and squid were really awesome. Always serve chilled beer. Great place to relax. Must visit if you are in Mahabalipuram.
Staff-
Very nice and attentive. Fast in service.
Value for money & Visit Again?Absolutely...!!! This place is inside Mahabalipuram tourist area via ECR road and had an entry fee of Rs. 75/- (for cars) to the municipality folks who collect it. In spite of this, I went to this place twice.. it was worth it. !!
Nice place to visit with your friends , Quantity is pretty less .. Crab fry is must try..
I had dinner before from the brother restaurant next to the original Moonrakers. Comparing both, have the same set of menu, same taste, ambiance.
I think the fish size and type vary from day to day based on the catch. Comparatively the size was less than before.
So ordered and extra garlic butter fish......
That way I return with filled mind and stomach by paying around 1300 to my home.......
Happy ending..
Oh Fish!!! Paradise for fish-lovers! A wide variety of the fresh catch of the day, amazing taste, little pricey, but worth the taste. We ordered prawns, pomfret & crabs! And yes, this was way beyond the capacity of 4 people, but taste took over and the hulk inside came out! This became our Everest! We had to finish and boy it was almost heaven! Good idea will be to order a little less and not hog! Will definitely go again whenever we are in Mahabalipuram again!
One bummer though, they are not cool with accepting cards, but ATMs are nearby. This can be sorted by the owners.
The fish is a must try, loved the fried prawns and masala tava fried fish. I am sure to visit the place again. The service is slow and the ambience is also jus average but nothin beats the taste of food.
I would like to send love to this place .This actually bear the authenticity of being a restrau by the sand shore .. The main cons of this place is ,it has no AC but apart from this ,its awesom.. It has huge and huge collection of sea food specially fishes . All the tables will have big big sized dish carrying raw fish..You can see live prawn,lobster,crabs over there.. you can choose your fish and have that. Your mouth will start watering waiting and seeing the fish to get prepared. It will never give you a fine and dine feel but the usp lies in the ambience .Mostly preferred by foreign tourists over there. The place has fishy smell and unless and until yiu are a real foooooooooodie u may feel difficult to embrace the same .. we had mackerel curry and plain rice . ... it was super fresh and awesom prepared with curry leaves and tamarind .
Best place for the weekend hangout with friends. Famous for their seafood dishes. Fresh sea foods and yummy food 😍 don't miss the weekend fun with friends and family.
Moonrakers has excellent seafood... Chicken fried rice is a must try... Ambiance is lovely... Fried rice is really tasty... Service is excellent...
Overall experience:4.5/5
This is the one of the best place in city for sea food. Me and my closer circle of friends visited after a long ride. The important part is the rates of sea food vary daily based on the market price and we are sure we get latest catches from the sea. We ordered Prawn pepper fry, tiger shark, a large shankara fish and the regular ones. The masala was so good and we could really feel the taste of masala and the fish's raw taste in the dishes. The service was good and quick and I really feel this place needs an upgrade on their ambience for the level of food and service they offer.
It is a must try place for every chennaitie and travellers who visit mahabs.
Ambience: 3.7
Price: 3.9
Quality: 4.8
Service: 4.8
Swaminathan Raghupathy
+4
Have always been a sea food lover and Moonrackers never seem to disappoint me. Lovely rustic ambience with good food. Tiger Prawns, Squid & Fish all in their Original masala tasted great. The rice we ordered along with the meen kozhambu was a bit too dry, so a star less. Overall an Evening well spent
My friends took me to this place. There was nobody in the restaurant so I though it isn’t a good place. But they proved me wrong with the food. The food was really good. Masala Fish - with a whole fish was awesome. The curries were also nice. Do try this place if you are a sea food lover. 😊
The best place for sea food till date !! Can just travel to mahabs from chennai just to eat that mouth watering tawa prawns. We went for lunch and the have two restaurants - one which serves alcohol and other for family crowd.
We ordered my fav tawa prawns, grilled fish with rice and beef gravy. The tawa prawns are the best here with the home grinned spices and the grilled fish also was so tasty .. cooked well and the spices had gone well deep inside - thanks to the lovely marination they do. The beef gravy was average. My friends tried fish gravy with rice and it tasted very good.
The service is too good and also they have a good car parking space.
I never expected such a quality restaurant in Mahabalipuram. It was really a surprise to me and I was so excited after seeing such a rush and sight of mouth watery sea foods. We ordered king prawn with barbeque sauce which took us to heaven! This is the best prawn preparation I have till now! We also ordered calamari with tomato onion which was ok but the garlic sauce was very unique. We had tawa prawn, pepper chicken, beef chilly, prawn noodles and prawn fried rice also. Ambience is good and staffs are courteous and friendly. Definitely a must visit next time again!
Great place for fish lovers.. Best fish i had ever since... Totally out of the world we had calamari fried rings, masala fish fry and sea food fried rice..everything is good surely wil visit again and please everyone visiting ther note that they put a service charge... which is optional tat if u are willing can pay but we didn't notice at that tym..so be careful while u pay bills...
The hype is real about this place but only if you're a Sea Food lover. Try the Crispy Fried Calamari and Tawa Prawns. They serve you beer at ₹300🙄, however, the taste and quantity will leave you amazed.
It’s a like Long wait come true ! It was a pleasant evening to reach moonrakers and it was a good sight to see on the outside. There are 3 floors ground first and the top floor all are not air conditioned and lit with the chandeliers.
Ordered prawns and fish fry as this the best place to munch on seafood . It was so yum to finish off within minutes . Ordered chicken rice and mixed noodles . I personally didn’t like chicken rice but mixed noodles was great . Overall a very good signature place in Chennai to hog on ❤️👍🏻
The food over here was a pleasure to the palate. The staff came over to us to ask what kind of fish we would like and even recommended the best fish to us. We didn’t have to wait long before the food was served....even if we didn’t have to wait for long just for the sake of saying it that it was worth the wait....Thanks for giving such a pleasurable experience 😋😋
Been here like dozen times or may be more.
This is a one stop destination if you going on a drive from Chennai to Mahabalipuram for a day or 2. Here you can order your favourite sea food and the best part is that it is fresh and the person will come and show the item before cooking.
Tried Giant Sea Prawns with red sauce, Fresh Squid, Fish Fry Masala...Everything was outstanding.
Don't forget to ask for a table in the 2nd floor.
Have heard a lot about this spot and finally visited here . A seafood aroma engulfs you as soon as you step near the joint . They had seating area in the ground, first and second floor . We seated ourselves in the second floor . Ordered a mixed fried rice , a chicken fried rice and a seafood masala platter . The rice was delicious and worth the buck . The masala platter was good but could have been cooked a bit more , especially the calamari . The fish and king prawn were delicious . Definitely a must try spot for seafood lovers . The service was prompt and the cost was competitive .
Food : 4/5
Service : 3.5/5
Ambiance : 3/5
Value for money : 4/5
Food was good especially seafood , a well known place as we used to hang out here often . Rates be become quite high now apart from that everything is good
Good staff, reasonable price. Thing to eat fish curry with steam rice, calamari at his best, not tasted such a spicy kalamari anywhere.may be effect of typical south indian spices, tejpatta, kari leaves. Tried also chicken noodles. It was ok. Nothing great. In nutshell, good for seafood in reasable price.
Absolutely amazing Seafood. Had the tiger prawns, red snapper and beef fry with Parrotta .
Everything was perfectly cooked and so flavorful especially the fish was outta world.Dont expect this to be an high end dine in experience it's fast food kinda of place were u get good quality of seafood.Service was also very quick.
Service - 4/ 5
Ambience - 3/5
Food - 4.5 / 5
Varieties - 4/5
Price - 4 / 5
One of the best places to have tava fish. I have never had a much tastier tava fish. We reach this place all the way to have this fish. Most of the food tastes good and different from he usuals dishes we eat
Great to be back after several years and not much has changed though seemed a lit slow on business inspite of being a Sunday lunch - what has not changed is the energy to get ‘people in’ and then the squid, fish and the prawns - largely one marinade but then their quality and freshness of seafood makes it a must visit on the coast.
A nice place for seafood lovers, you will get nice red snappers with chilled beer.
This is a place to go for a long drive and taste this awesome fish and get some beach breeze.
Decent ambience, service is lil late, otherwise overall experience was good.
Moonrakers
I've been here multiple times (always for lunch, always for the seafood) and have never been disappointed.
I highly recommend the pepper crab, lemon butter garlic preparation of either fish or prawn and prawn masala. These guys know their seafood.
It's not fancy ambience wise but the food will make you forget all that.
Finally got a chance to be here. The place is more like a fast food centre.
We had coconut rice, mixed fried rice, fish gravy, prawns, and selected fish fry - and this is their best.
All of us loved the food especially the custom fish fry. We choose the biggest fish on display but it was cooked to perfection.
Quality: 4/5
Quantity:5/5 👍 👍
Pricing: 4/5
Ambiance: 3/5 - this is the only thing I felt as average
Service: 4/5
To the best fish I have ever had in Tamil nadu. The place lives up to its reputation and serves the best sea food with good service and decent ambience. Masala fried fish with beer... Best duo.
Been here many times
Awesome place beach side
Long drive and sea food here great combo
Good service parking is available sometimes difficult
Sea food are awesome
Curd rice fish gravy
Kalmari were great
Sea food lovers never miss this place
My favourite place to dine inspite of so many other food joints just for the flavours they offer! The taste is unmatchable and they have been here too long not to notice them. My favourite is the tawa chicken/fish!
Overall a good restaurant for live fish.. Their the Fishdishes are good, little costly.... Nice restaurant to go with family and friends.. Must try if you visit
Moonrakers is a legendary name for Chennaites who frequently visit Mahabalipuram & Pondicherry. This place is quite easy to find and is located on the main road itself. Initially, we were confused as there was one more restaurant opposite to this called Moonrakers. However, we asked around and then finally managed to find a place to sit.
The place is not so great but the food makes up for it and the quantity too. We ordered Fried Fish and Prawn pepper fry. If you ask the waiter they also buy you a beer though it is not on the menu though. I ordered a beer to wash it down The price is little on the higher side but the quantity is quite good, so do order the items carefully to avoid wastage.
On the whole, this place is worth a visit if you go to Mahabalipuram or pass through it.
A nice place for sea foods.
You get to select the fish you want to get cooked for you.
As it gets prepared new, it takes time for delivery.
Pricing is on costly side though.
Jyoshina Balasubramaniam
+4.5
Mahaps is all about moonrakers for me .. a chilled beer along with their signature tawa fish lights up the weekend. The masala which they add in their tawa fish is always finger licking good.. this dish has never disappointed me and it's become a default pick for me in this place .. my other favourite is their golden fried calamari rings with garlic butter sauce .. ❤️❤️
Best seafood. 👌
Prawn pepper fry, Calamari, Live fish order. Masala is also good. Fried rice was average but because of the seafood taste it can be ignored.
They can work on the ambiance little bit.
Absolutely delighted by the wonderful dining experience! The fish fry was incredibly flavorful, and the fish curry was a delightful complement. The soothing beer worked perfectly with the spicy dishes. Highly recommended! Just be mindful of other places nearby with similar names.
One of the oldest and finest restaurants in Mahabalipuram. Best place to grab a taste of the local seafood with the authentic taste. Continental and chinese are also available. But we had the whole fish with masala and Calamari rings with rice. Their fresh juices was really refreshing after a day out in the sun. Not that expensive. There are other restaurants with similar names nearby, although I was told by my brother who lives nearby that this was the original. They also serve beer. You also get to choose the live crab before preparation
Was a regular prior to 7-8 years. Have been hearing negative reports on this place and hesitantly went for dinner. Turns out taste is same and was pleasant.
Truly an Underrated place. Their Tawa Prawn tastes so good that Moonwalkers has become a regular spot for me. Goes along well with Chapati and Porata.
Went for a casual dinner, food is good and seafood seems to be fresh catch.
Calamari cooked well with tangy taste and bit spicy. Coconut rice is at the best.
Soup was hot till end of lunch !
Prawn Noodles is good, Chicken 65 was bit burnt.
Food is good and ambience is best.
We were recommended to dine at this restaurant by a local artisan. And I’m so glad we got a chance to dine here . The food is outstandingly delicious and mouthwatering The fish curry and king prawns were to die for 🤩 The best I’ve ever had . The seafood was not only fresh but so full of deliciousness and every dish had isn’t unique flavours and no two dishes tasted the same .
Beats all five star standards 👍🏻 . Thank you chef . I look forward to visiting you again 👍🏻😍
The food here is good.
Overall it's on the expensive side. Reaching here can be a nightmare especially on a crowded day.
This was my first time visiting this restaurant. It is an antiquated and very small restaurant which could do some updates, especially on their restroom and hand washing area. Menu items look pretty ordinary until the seasonal seafood menu comes out. You will be startled by their fresh sea food available. We dived into their seasonal seafood menu, since it had so many scrumptious items. We ordered Fried Calamari, Tiger Prawn in Tomato Herb Garlic Sauce, Crab Pepper Fry, Lobster in Tomato Herb Garlic Sauce, and Crab in Honey Garlic Butter Sauce. All these items come with a side of rice or parotta. They also have Goli Sodas with different flavors (Blueberry was our favorite). The person who served us was very receptive and humble. Overall, it was a great experience.👍🤘👌
Must try place for Sea food lovers. You can select the fish or lobster or crab wat u want and same will be cooked as per your requirement. All the selected items price based on weight and day market cost.Taste was good and fresh, no raw smell, home style cooking. We enjoyed the taste. Special mention lobster, crab and prawn taste good and cooked perfectly. Must try place.
Heard a lot about this place and decided to try when we were visiting Chennai. The atmosphere is decent but the staff are excellent just like the food. Had a great time with friends.
P.S - there are two buildings, both are the same restaurant, just expanded to accommodate more people.
Good and famous place for the seafood. This is a favorite restaurant for many foreign people.
Food are good and taste.
Sea fish, crab,lobster, shrimp and calamari are sea fishes are available and fresh
We can choose fish and then ask them to cook options available.
1st floor good natural ambience.
Been here for a few times.. Food will be fine.. specially, seafood..
Cost is little high when compared to restaurants inside town..
Ambience will be ok.. but, not with the sea view..
Parking they have, few buildings away..
If you are sea food lover then this is the right place to eat, they have fresh seafood and it is cooked properly. We ordered the fresh live crab, it was fantastic juicy taste, the seafood fried rice also too good. also they have spicy nod less spice options as well.
Good food. Their fish curry was tangy and nice. Their masala prawns was delicious with rice and rasam.
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