My favourite meal I ate while on the island of Moorea was actually at our hotel, the Moorea Pearl, but really, almost every meal I ate but one was great.
Just like on Bora Bora, meals on Moorea weren’t cheap but they were big in portion and all, except for the one, were worth the money.
Ruby’s
Our first dinner out on Moorea was at Ruby’s, a proper restaurant, with real walls and floors, located in Moorea’s main town.
We were there on Valentine’s Day so the place was busier than usual (or so we were told) and the service wasn’t quite as quick as we were used to but the food more than made up for it.
I had a salmon pasta dish while Husband went with the house speciality, parrot fish stuffed with crab. This was Husband’s second favourite meal of the whole trip.
This place periodically has live music and when we were there, it was a classical guitarist who was quite good.
While we caught a ride to Ruby’s, you can walk here from the Pearl.
Hilton Beach Bar
I don’t think that this is the proper name for this establishment but I can’t be bothered to look it up. Hey, I’m just showing this restaurant the same level of service that it showed me.
After spending the morning snorkelling at the Hilton, we decided to have lunch here. It seemed like a decent, though pricey place to eat. I ordered a chicken Caesar (a Hilton favourite, said the menu) while Husband ordered a hamburger. We ordered pops that came fairly quickly, but the food, well, I think it took us an hour to get our meal.
To be fair, no one seemed to be getting their food quickly so at first we didn’t say anything. Then when we tried, our server avoided our table. Finally, we came over and asked what we wanted, as if we were brand new customers. I said that we’d ordered some time ago and then it was like a light went off in her head. Without saying a word, she headed off to the open-air kitchen where we saw her talking to the chef.
We hoped this would mean that our food would be out shortly but nope, we probably waited another 20 minutes before our food came, delivered by a different server.
And was the meal worth the wait? Nope, without a doubt, it was the worst meal we ate all trip.
Aito Restaurant
Built over Cook’s Bay, this is another lovely restaurant with equally lovely food.
Husband had an excellent shrimp curry while I had mahi-mahi in a vanilla. This dish is quite popular in French Polynesia and I was really looking forward to trying it.
At first I loved it but as I ate my way through my generous piece of nicely cooked fish, I found the sauce to be too rich and sweet. However, I’m sure that other people would love every bite of it.
Aito offers pick-up, as well as live music, though the night we were there, the guy performing wasn’t quite as talented as the guy we saw perform at Ruby’s.
Le Sud Pizza
While the Le Sud, located just down the road from the Pearl, does have an actual dining room that serves both lunch and dinner, we choose to eat at its pizza bar.
This was for lunch so we decided just to split a margarita pizza and damn, what a great pizza it was, so thin and crispy with just the right amount of cheese and oil on it.
And it was made so quickly! We actually watched the cook make it in front of us and bake it a wood-burning oven, which was sort of fun.
The pizza and two pops ran us around $25, which isn’t a bad price for a lunch out in Moorea.
Restaurant Honu Iti (Chez Roger)
Located right on Cook’s Bay, this open-air restaurant has a beautiful location to match its wonderful food.
Husband’s favourite meal was here, beef tenderloin covered in an amazing champagne sauce. I had a buttered sole that was great though a bit different than what I’m used to eating: it was the whole fish, complete with tail and all the bones.
Service here wasn’t speedy but the waiter was attentive and helpful when he was at our table. Also, they had no issues with us switching tables between our main course and our yummy crepe dessert.
And why did we want to switch tables? So that we could see the rays and sharks better.
One of the great things about this place is that a herd (a pack?) of rays and even a few sharks hang out in the water outside this restaurant and they can easily be viewed from the right table (unfortunately, all the good tables were full when we first arrived).
The rays/sharks are here because they are regularly feed by the restaurant. Though we didn’t get to see a feeding, others told us that the staff does regularly feed the animals during dinner (the restaurant was quite busy when we were there so maybe that’s why there wasn’t a feeding).
This isn’t a cheap place but it’s worth every penny and included in that price is a ride to and from the restaurant.
Allo Pizza
For our last night in Moorea, we decided to order in and eat by our pool. I’d read plenty of positive things about Allo Pizza over on the TripAdvisor.com forums so we decided to give it a try.
In order to get pizza delivered to your hotel, you need to order two so Husband and I each got a medium and trust me, that size was more than big enough. While Husband went with something meaty, I went with my beloved margarita pizza.
Allo’s pizza was a bit cheesy then Le Sud and while some might not like that, this cheese-lover certainly did.
Husband and I also both loved the chocolate mousse we ordered as a dessert. If you’re going to order from here, make sure to get the mousse.
Dinner from here was around $40, which is down right cheap by Moorea standards.
Maharepa Grocery Store
One of the many nice things about our resort is that it was within walking distance of the town of Maharepa, which was home to a decent grocery store.
Twice we got our lunch from here: a traditional French baguette and a wedge of creamy brie cheese. If you want to save some money on meals, definitely make the trip to the grocery store.
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