the rocks

busy vibrant modern well appointed restaurant . themenuwas extremely comprehensive and actually made it quite difficult to choose, i also felt it was a little confusing with some drinks on themenuand the rest on a separate drinks menu. the food was amazing fresh and straight from the sea. they happily let us share a dessert that was not only beautifully presented but tasted incredible. highly recommend this well presented and friendly restaurant. we will be back!

being called ‘the rocks’ themenuhas a seafood bent. there is a range of non-seafood stuff on themenuand the owner rangers run recommended their fish and chips but we went our own way.

7 minutes!. we went there today looking forward to a breakfast but we were told we were 7 minutes late for the breakfastmenuand would have to wait until 12 noon to order from the lunchtime menu. omg are they kidding!! we promptly left and went to another restaurant (and there are plenty of them) in mornington where we had no problem getting what we wanted. is the business going that well they can refuse service and let at least $100 walk out the door. never again .. the person in charge let the young waitress deliver the news which was also not a good look. whats with the times surely you can cook an egg at any time of the day !!

dined at the rocks with a couple of friends a couple of weeks ago. the weather was perfect so we opted to sit out on the deck. we were all not too sure what to expect as the reviews for this place are very mixed - some love it, some suggest otherwise.
🍴dumplings, eggplant bao, bbq whole calamari and zucchini noodle salad with poached salmon. standouts were the eggplant bao and the whole calamari. the calamari was tender and not chewy. all of the food tasted fresh.
💁🏼‍♀️ the servers were lovely, no complaints. the prices of somemenuitems is a bit outrageous such as two prawns (yes, xl, but still) for $26... the overall atmosphere of the rocks is laid back and chilled, however themenuelicits somewhat high dining prices.

i was excited. the view, the atmosphere and staff were excellent. that’s where it ended.
menu is asian inspired and lacklustre.
we had a few starters..
gyoza- nice but could get in any japanese takeaway
frittura- fried anything but as long as it was dipped in aoli it tasted like something
bbq prawns - ehh ok
then the mains. husband was not enthused by anything and i ordered the thai green curry (without fish). just vision soup ...
yes i am upset. $148 including wine for a night i wish to forget.
prices ridiculous for ‘casual dining’
no thanks
added a currentmenu.. your welcome

at the end of a very long tuesday in early may, where hubbie, baby girl and i pretty much ran to the reaches of all parts of this city, we settled back in our new home turf to head out to dinner. it was at a destination that had been organised as a surprise by hubbie, so the surprise itself was known to me, with the destination meant to be unknown by me at the same time… but when he said themenuhad primarily seafood, well there was only one local place i thought that was fancy enough for the occasion we were celebrating. 8 years of wedded bliss 🙂

lovely aspect, interesting asian influencedmenushowcasing seafood - love choice of small & larger plates but sharing the best!! great place for a long lunch with local wine options

used to come here often a few years back, then didn't visit in a while until now. themenuhas changed to more asian style meals. tonight we were unlucky, everything we wanted from themenuthey had run out of! (recommend not coming for a late dinner). ended up ordering the green tea noodles which were average and not worth the price, not much crab in it. seafood spaghetti was apparently good though. i guess you're paying for the views. service was friendly but overall wouldn't rush back.

i'm not a big seafood lover and was slightly concerned when i first looked at themenu- so much seafood on offer i thought i might just be eating salad while my husband lapped up the seafood selections! but i quickly found we would both be happy as there were actually quite a few other options for me! we were with friends and started with cocktails. all were fabulous! we ordered a tonne of food to share. overall we were all really pleased but there were some stand out dishes. here it goes with a rating out of 10 for each:
squid (10)
lobster roll (7)
vegie okinimiyaki (5)
dumplings (7)
oysters (8)
lamb shoulder (10)
cauliflower salad (5)
vegies (7)
service was good and the atmosphere was great. highly recommend!

for a morning brekkie this is a great location, and more importantly has good coffee and food. the biggest disappointment since my last visit was the severly restricted brekkiemenu(out of season). so if you want a big brekkie or something cooked and customisable then head up the road to gem cottage or elsewhere. that said the fried eggs and bacon on toast was nice for something light.

pros: food, setting 

cons: service, banquet pricing

called ahead to book and to inform that we’re planning on ordering the banquet which will need some minor modifications, as 1 member of the party is pregnant, and that 1 is allergic to nuts.

told “no problem.”

arrive and sat. told waitress that we want to order the banquet but make some changes to avoid foods that can’t be eaten due to pregnancy/nut allergy.

told “no, we don’t do that.”

point tomenuwhere it clearly states ‘changes can be made to banquet with advance notice’ and explain that we’d called ahead and given advance notice.

“no. we can’t change the banquet.”

you can’t change the salad that has nuts sprinkled over it at the very end and just, you know, not sprinkle the nuts over it at the end?

“no.”

so it got off to a rough start with an abrupt/rude shutdown of our plans, which we had run past the restaurant when we booked.

meanwhile 1 member of our party does some mathematics and realises that the banquet is criminal price-gouging… and that for the same price of $70 per head we can order the same exactmenuitems (while being allowed to substitute or adapt to accommodate our pregnancy/allergy requirements) and drinks and some desserts.

so we do.

the food is awesome. everyone ate their fill and then some. had some drinks. great views. spent just over $70 per head and got drinks/desserts as well as almost exactly the same meal as the banquet which costs $70 per head with no drinks or desserts included.

so the rocks’ back-of-house staff salvaged what could have been an unpleasant evening with their great food, drinks, and desserts which cost us less than if we’d ordered the banquet.

our waitress was either rude or was secretly and subtly pushing us to realise that the banquet is insanely overpriced and that we should order the items separately. i’m guessing the former and hoping the latter.

advice for the rocks is to train your wait staff to be a little more accommodating of food requirements. we weren’t being unreasonable and we gave advance notice and we were brusquely told it could not happen. it was not an ideal start to what was (eventually) a great evening, thanks to stellar food.

bastille day meal -thumbs up - will be back. it was a cold wintry monday evening, but the rocks was full and was warm and inviting.
we had booked for the special setmenufor bastille, and was not disappointed.
loved every mouthful, loved the moules et frittes, the cream sauce was divine, and the mayo with the fries - loved it, better than i have had in places in france - however what is it with mt martha mussels? - why are they soooooo small? the shells are huge but the meat inside is tiny in proportion, how come portalington mussels are thrice the size???
service was great, and it was lovely and cosy on a winters eve.
just one thing tho, there was french music playing, very quietly in the background but they could have frenchied it up just a tad.

consistently impressive. my partner and i are locals on the mornington peninsula. despite the eclectic mix of restaurants on the peninsula, we return to 'the rocks' time after time. themenuis extensive and busting with delicious options. even after returning many times later, we are still testing new and exciting meals. (i believe they have updated themenuquite recently). we visited earlier this week and ordered the saganaki and salt and pepper squid amongst a few other small plates for starters. the saganaki is quite literally mouth watering and the squid is always fresh and one of our favourite dishes. though a seemingly busy night for the staff, our waitress was attentive and ever so friendly. we had entree, main course and dessert (who could resist the profiteroles coated in hot chocolate sauce!!) and all our meals were prompt and allowed for just the right amount of time between courses.

for the view, the service, the meals and the consistency of the rocks, we will continue to return time after time.

would not return. fabulous location and has a lot of potential, but the meals were not well thought out or composed. we went there to celebrate a birthday and initially wanted to order the chefs sharemenubut found it contained too many asian style dishes mixed with unmatched mediterranean selections so opted for a few dishes to share.

so we ordered the following:

coconut milk barramundi green curry, okra, asparagus & baby
corn. served with grilled flat bread.
- flavor was fantastic but who serves curry with no rice? two small pieces of flat bread was definitely not enough to serve with the curry and didn't match the meal. we had to order a side of bread in order to be satisfied which was really disappointing.

mornington mussels, farmed only meters from our door, marinieres, white wine, celery, leek, shallot, bay leaf, touch of cream & hint of pernod.
- once again, fabulous flavors but there was nothing to soak up that amazing juice, great to have with the side of bread but something should have been matched or included with the dish.

chargrilled kebabs, house spice rubbed, served with a chickpea, quinoa, preserved lemon, corn salad, piadina, spiced yoghurt dip & lemon (mixed meat grill)
- salad was amazing, and yoghurt dip was perfectly balanced but unfortunately the meat was a little dry, as was the small pita bread that was served with it.

paella, baked calasparra rice, iranian saffron, fish fillets,
mussels, prawns, chicken & chorizo
- great flavors, no complaints and i would recommend it to share.

disappointed. took my wife there on saturday night for her 43rd birthday. so disappointed!
themenuhas changed from when we were last there in january!
no pork belly entree, no steaks .. 1 steak option only and have introduced kabab style for pork (only option), steak, chichen and 3 seafood options.
wife's mussels - had at least 10 shells empty and a far to salty and strong celery broth. used to be our favorite for special occasions, won't be going back ever again. the waitress also had attitude..not good.