review: Half Moon in Dobbs Ferry for large daytime events-- HIGHLY recommended!!!!

[i_eat_a_lot_of_ice_cream]

I decided to post this separately from any other thread since the last dedicated Half Moon thread is from 2008 and this isn't really a restaurant review per se. I really wanted to share our experience here since our event here turned out really perfectly despite the cloudy weather. and a lot of people post on this board looking for event venues in the Hudson Valley. Half Moon has these daytime events down to a science. They offer a buy out for 100-200 people and I would HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend it for a wedding, bar/bat mitzvah, or any other large celebration.

Their party planner is a complete doll, and she takes care of every detail you could imagine. She is realistic, reasonable, and flexible. We definitely went the untraditional route in a lot of ways and she did everything she could do accommodate us and she never pushed us in any way.

The view is dramatic and gorgeous. Every single person we talked to raved about how incredible the setting was. The interior is light and airy and felt bright even though it was cloudy, and they set up the dining room beautifully.

When we went for the tasting, we were really impressed. We wondered if they could replicate it on a large scale. Well, the jury's in, and they can. The passed hors d'oeuvres were tasty little bites and the dinner is a three course affair plus dessert. The food was very good overall. We chose standard entree choices (salmon, chicken, and steak) and they were well executed, but they do offer more unusual choices as well

Great service, great food, great view. All in all, it was a wonderful day!

-----
Half Moon
1 High Street, Dobbs Ferry, NY 10522

[jcmods]

OK. I asked the question earlier, because this is not normally the sort of place I would choose - I am a hole in the wall dive person - but my dad picked this out as a second choice for a Birthday dinner after learning that Toll Gate Steakhouse is gone (their website makes it look like business as usual) . I think he was attracted by the prospect of a Hudson River view like everyone else because we used to eat at the Chart House back in the '70's when I lived in Irvington for a brief time.

Anyway, I was afraid based on all he negtivity here, but we went last night (a wednesday night that was fairly busy) and had pretty good food. Maybe it was not a "knock your socks off" meal, but certainly not horrid. I ordered mussels as an appetizer (with white wine butter sauce) and the striped bass as an entree and thought it was pretty good. One thing I liked is the bread was good for dipping in the mussel sauce. The bread came out hot and there was olive oil on the table for drizzling (along with a ramiken of shredded cheese which was bizarre).

The portion of mussels they give you is quite large for a single person and could be shared (although I finished it). The bass had a tasty crust on top and was not overcooked or mushy. My husband got the catfish taco which was pretty tasty except that the flour tortilla seemed totally unnecessary. That was probably the only thing that was kinda bad and he just ate the fish out of the taco. They should just serve the fish with the salsa on top and leave it at that. He also got the Angry Calamari salad as an appetizer. I tried a bite. Tasty and not rubbery which is always good.

Nobody at the table complained. The service had some glitches in that our waitress got bogged down elsewhere and our orders had to be taken by another waitress (a little confusing). I did not think it was a huge deal, but my father gets impatient so it always worries me when I dine out with him and the service is bad (I am a lot more forgiving than he is).

I just think they may need to hire more people as our server was perfectly pleasant and seemed very competent.

[jon]

I had conceivably the worst meal if my entire life at half moon. I would never go back.

[jcmods]

What was so bad about it?

[jon]

went for dinner. ordered a steak medium rare. it came out well done. asked them to try again. it came back seared and raw (not rare). i asked them to try again. it came back well done. i gave up and just ate bread.

[chowdom]

Us too everything was bad with the exception of the belly clams. We ordered the seafood boat the shrimp were mushy and off color, clams and oysters were yellowish and smelled, lobster was tasteless and tough. My husband sent back his prime rib which was ordered rare and came out a brownish grey. We didn't ask to have anything removed from the bill because we figured if they were crazy enough to serve spoiled food they would be crazy enough to give us a hard time if we complained. We couldn't wrap our minds around the fact that they actually had the audacity to serve this garbage to paying customers.