the rocks

great lunch at therocksat mornington peninsula. always a problem with getting a park. friendly staff and great atmosphere. ♥️

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such a great way to top off a day trip to the beautiful mornington peninsula. was contemplating between therocksand some other restaurant but glad we decided to come here instead. therockswas a solid choice.

keeping it short, therockshad all the qualities needed to make the dining experience pleasant. delicious fresh foods, prompt friendly service, and a great selection of wines straight from mornington. very safe bet if you are going for a nice romantic seafood dinner. my favourites were their tempura oysters, seafood spaghetti and lamb shoulder. they were all bloodly delicious. can't say they were the best i've ever had but definitely above average. 0 complaints. also, would love to try their seafood platter next time. too bad they didn't offer at the time.

it was too dark for us to enjoy the view at the time but i have no doubt the view's sick during the day considering how it's located right by the pier. in fact, go for a walk towards pier. it's dark and intimate - such a great bonding opportunity if you know what i'm saying. there were heaps of people fishing which was pretty cool as well.

therocksis a nice restaurant. me and my girlfriend went here during a storm, sat outside and watched the rain with a seafood platter. the platter was massive, although not too filling (a good thing!). would definately go back here.

dined at therockswith 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 some menu items is a bit outrageous such as two prawns (yes, xl, but still) for $26... the overall atmosphere of therocksis laid back and chilled, however the menu elicits somewhat high dining prices.

atmosphere: the atmosphere was gorgeous. fancy but not intimidating. the perfect place to go for my mum's birthday dinner

service: a slow start after it took a while to be noticed (however we were early for our 6pm booking so there weren't many staff around) however, they really did pick it up from there and the service was exceptional. especially the kiwi waitress who went out of her way to bring extra napkins and wet wipes and offer extra bread. even though we didn't we had other commitments later that evening and she picked up on that and ensured we were able to order promptly meaning that even though we only had an hour and a half we were able to have appetizers, mains and also dessert and coffee. props to the kitchen on the speed also.

food: perfect, i'm already dreaming of going back there and i will (even though i live 3 hours away). i had the mussels in the singapore sauce which were messy to eat (or maybe thats just me in general) but exactly what i'd been craving and they were such a generous portion too (especially with the extra bread), my mum had the bbq squid which she was ecstatic.
for dessert i had the pannacotta which wasn't too sweet and exactly how i like my dessert.

ultimately i could not recommend therocksmore, and will be back for some more mussels as soon as i find a spare weekend!

it's a beautiful place with great view. the sea foods are very fresh. the waiter is so nice. a wonderful lunch!我们偶然来到这里，很惊喜！drinks here are also good! i want to introduce therocksto all of my friends!

therockshas got a wonderful view which makes it irreplaceable here. however the food is not good in taste, not in appropriate portion either. it has a bit of asian fusion which is quite surprising. the price does not match the quality, would not recommend.

in my opinion, therocksis easily the best location for a restaurant in mornington however the food tends to be a little hit and miss unfortunately, a friend and i ordered a seafood platter and we were quite disappointed in the quality as well as quantity for the price - i am definitely not one to complain or have unreasonably high expectations - nor am i one who is tight with their money -  however it was pretty average overall when we notified the staff, the chef arranged for some extra fish which was nice of them. the decor is nice and the layout is open and airy.

it was a special occasion for my sisters 40th. we had heard great reports as locals and wanted to showcase the mornington peninsula to interstate guests.what an absolute embarrassment it was!we opted for the 'chef's 6 course' selection.summary: course 1: one re cooked dry prawncourse 2: two oysters each. the coffin bay one on its way out. 3 of the 7 guests had tummy upsetcourse 3: a chicken salad, enough for 2 or so mouthfuls each, i didn't get any chicken in my serve, just a bit of salad.course 4: a terrible stew of over cooked mussels. so overdone and re cooked. just terrible, like eating bulletscourse 5 and 6: (arriving together, because naturally they are best eaten at same time?!)deliciously cooked slow lamb, enough however for a few mouthfuls. 1 bowl for a party of 7very small amount of salmon, not enough for a full piece each accompanied with 2 bowls of lettuce with an average mayo dressing.  dare i ask who the chef is putting his name to this?? we purchased desserts on top of the 6 course option and have to say they were all wonderful. hear leads me to believe it was reflective of us ordering from a la carte for these? we were so sorry we chose therocksas our venue for the celebration.our bill came to $800, we enjoyed  some over priced drinks and appreciate that is expected nowadays, however the food is really something you should be ashamed of serving.

valentine's day - you have to expect it to be pricey, but $215 each (apologies to my better half, if she reads this)! you gotta hope it's worth it.
therocksalready scores well due its position overlooking the beautiful mornington harbour, the restaurant itself is lovely and the staff mostly friendly.
the sharing platter arrived - what a platter!  fresh seafood (inc a bug each), tasty, well presented, and loads of it.  the main course was a sharesy whole baked snapper w veggies - very nice.  the desserts were just sublime and followed by the perfect coffee.
very full, very happy.
i guess they would have scored higher had the price been lower, quite a bit lower.

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 to menu where 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 exact menu items (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 therocksis 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.

christmas lunch at the rocks. the menus was fixed. plenty of thought went into the menu. sea food made up the entree's followed by turkey and roast vegetables for mains. traditional pudding for desert.
pricing was fixed per head. drinks were not included. plenty of helpful staff on hand to attend to your needs. never an empty plate or glass. a credit to therocksas to have a full house plus some and ensure the day went off without a hitch is a credit to them.

went to therocksfor dinner on saturday night at 9pm. we had a booking but it took at least 5 minutes for staff to greet us and another 10 minutes to be seated at our table. it was very busy and quite noisy. once seated we received excellent service with water being regularly topped up. the food was delicious, which included the seafood paella and slow cooked lamb shoulder.

booked for four on monday 2/11/15. waitress did not allow time to settle in. ordered 3 fish and chips and 1 mussel dinner. mussels were ok but the f & c's(red gurnard) were terrible,tasted like cardboard. was looking forward to a great meal and turned out a disaster. i live in mornington and have dined at most restaurants in town, therocksis overpriced and i would say the meals are very low grade compared to others. second time we have been to the rocks, disappointed a couple of years ago and again this time. will never go here again. i think we were given a $20 discount on the overall bill.
i have never written about a restaurant before, so to go to this extent will hopefully give you some idea of my disgust at the meal served to us.
my advice - just don't go there!!!

tried for ages of booking local places and seems to be the norm in this area for places not to take bookings, rather have you just rock up and try your luck in getting at table...
therockswere the only ones that could take a reservation of 4 ✔️
walk in and got taken to our table. the restaurant is quite nice and inviting. clean, neat and presentable✔️
menu is a bit overwhelming but we chose prawns and salt and pepper calamari for entrée ✔️✔️ they were absolutely delish!!
mains we got the wagu beef burger✔️spaghetti marinara✔️ muscles in tomato sauce ✔️ and the bbq salmon✔️
all meals were yummy and everyone enjoyed them. we did order the chat potatoes but they were forgotten - but we were quite full so not a big issue.
service was great, had a super vibrant friendly guy look after us.
one thing, i wish he had of written our orders down instead of trying to remember as he had to come back to re-confirm, but also he forgot to put forward our chat potatoes. but as mentioned, they weren't missed as we were full from our yummy meals!
would come back here for lunch next time as the view would be amazing!!