I don't travel to Cannon Beach very often, but I was given a gift certificate to Mo's so I was excited to make the trip for a lunch date. We were blessed with beautiful weather on this particular day, so the drive up was really nice. When we arrived at our destination we shocked at how wonderful the view was. Mo's is practically right next to Haystack Rock! In fact, you could park next to the restaurant and access the beach right then and there if the need struck you. Lunch and beach time or beach then lunch? Sounds like a great afternoon if you ask me.
However, the wonder and excitement pretty much ended as we stepped through the front door, as we were greeted by a tacky gift shop and reminded us that Cannon Beach relies heavily on a tourism-based economy, and that Mo's is a small restaurant chain that reflects such an audience. This should have been enough to clue me in about the dining experience I was about to have, but for some reason I continued on with extremely high expectations and optimism. After all, they tout award winning chowder--that's gotta be a good sign, right??
We were promptly seated next to the large panoramic ocean view I mentioned before, and I have to say this was the best part of my experience here. Everything else about the dining room was really uncomfortable. Bench seating (no back support!), the tables were all really close together, even though the restaurant was only half-full it was incredibly loud, and frankly I could have done without the really tacky decor (it was like the gift shop was spilling into the dining room!)
Their menu offers a variety of appetizers (including oyster shooters), sandwiches, salads, soups, fish n' chips, and entrees such as grilled fish or BBQ ribs. The entrees include a cup of chowder and a side of your choice (fries/potato/rice). Their prices seemed average and fair with what they offer as a meal. They of course also have a some beer/wine options as well as many non-alcoholic beverages including strawberry lemonade.
My dining partner and I both chose to partake in said lemonade, and perhaps I'm just spoiled by some of the restaurants in Astoria, but I think Mo's served me the worst strawberry lemonade I've ever had. Essentially they made a glass of regular lemonade (which was extremely watered down) and then spooned a skimpy serving of previously-frozen strawberries on top. It took a lot of stirring and strawberry-stabbing on my part to make it taste anything like strawberry lemonade, but even then it was extremely disappointing.
Then my oily mess--I mean clam chowder--arrived. Not only was it presented extremely sloppily, but I have NEVER actually seen oil seep out of a chowder before. Even after vigorous stirring I kept seeing bright orange oil in my soup. Hungry, I dove in anyway, and despite having award-winning expectations I wasn't surprised by how underwhelming the flavor was. I have to remember this is a tourist-catering chain restaurant after all, so they can't serve anything with real attitude or spunk. I'm just curious who's handing out awards for this slop. And to top it all off, I had the unpleasant experience of biting into a sandy clam chunk. Hey, you take risks when using canned clams.
For our main dishes, I ordered the grilled halibut with a side of rice pilaf and my dining partner ordered the halibut fish n' chips. For almost $20, I feel like my dish was poorly portioned, but then again that's why I don't normally order halibut in the first place--heck, I could have gotten the salmon for almost $5 cheaper. But I had a gift certificate so I thought I would give this premium priced pescado a try. Unfortunately, since I have so little experience with halibut, I can't give a very adequate summary of the quality I received at Mo's, but I was left with the impression that it was over-cooked and under-seasoned. In the end I had to drown it in their surprisingly good tartar sauce. The rice pilaf was decent, and the large piece of bread that both dishes were served with left me asking why--it wasn't toasted, and it didn't lend anything to the dish except for maybe filler. I tried the fish n' chips and felt like their breading was ok but nothing to rave about.
Lunch was enough to fill us both up, but we were feeling inspired by the beautiful weather so we both ordered desert to top off our day trip to cannon beach. I got the peanut butter pie and my dining partner ordered the marionberry pie a la mode. MY PIE WAS HUGE. It stood nearly 4" tall, and was about 3" at it's widest! I have to say I'm glad we stuck around for desert because it made my trip worthwhile. I doubt this pie is house-made, but paired with the whipped cream, it was salty and sweet in all the right ways.
If you aren't much of a foodie but want a nice lunch with a view, Mo's will probably hit the spot for you. However, if you are looking for a great meal AND a great view, there's probably better choices in Cannon Beach. read more