A Little Bit About a Lot of Things

I had been introduced to Moonstones about a year ago by a friend of mine. We met there for dinner on a weekday night-pretty crowded for a place in Chelmsford. I went back with a group on a Sunday afternoon, and it was empty except for another private party. When you walk in the front door they have a great space off to the right that is separated by a glass door. Walk in to your left and there is a main dining area with a smaller private room and some semi private seating areas.

The decor is very modern which goes well with the modern style food on the menu. There’s a little bit of everything. I think I remember the waitress saying that the chef is Hawaiian and has a whimsy take on traditional food. They have a tapas, or small plates, menu as well as larger entree sized portions.

Pictured above is the bar area that is in the main dining room.

We sat in a private room off the main dining floor. It was warm and cozy with a great fireplace and had a lot of nice natural light.

We ordered the chicken spring rolls with sweet and sour sauce-they come two to a plate split in half ($9.50). They are everything you would expect them to be-by far the best tasting dish we had.

Next we had the greek beef perogies with carrot mousse, horseradish creme ($7.50). They had virtually no taste to them which was a bummer.

We had the Japanese rock shrimp tempura (spicy) two dipping sauces ($12). The first sauce was spicy (a mayo consistency) and the second was a salty soy sauce of sorts. The shrimp were tasty but a bit over battered.

The tempura green beans lemon aioli ($6.50) were good but they were cold and the sauce was overpowering.

The asian bbq short rib 5 spice rubbed, slowly braised ($8) was an excellent dish-it came out looking like a brownie-it wasn’t so pretty to look at but had a great flavor. The meat was tender-you didn’t need a knife to cut it-and well prepared.

They were out of the chocolate pate dessert that I wanted, as well as a lot of items on the menu (due to a busy Saturday night the waitress said) so they brought this cake on the house. Basically a molton chocolate cake with a scoop of ice cream on top-sadly, ice cream was the best part.

Here’s the issue-we were the only group in the main dining room, yet our meals came out cold-my other dining companions ordered soup that came cold, the coffee came out cold-it just doesn’t make sense. With no one else in the restaurant you would think that we would get excellent service and quality. The people I went with looked to me to make a good selection on a place for lunch, and I have to say I was a little embarrassed after that meal for making the recommendation.

Moonstones

phone: 978-256-7777
email: info@moonstones110.com
mail: 185 Chelmsford St (Rt 110), Chelmsford, MA, 01824

Tags: restaurant