Good service. Friendly staff. My salmon was tasty but overcooked. Delcious grilled vegetables on the side -- I'd wager they're better than the fries -- and I'd order them again. The Moat was nearly empty when we visited because there had been an issue with the transformer just before we arrived. The place was nearly dark. Nevertheless, the kitchen was running and the staff welcomed us for lunch.
Review Source:In theory, I love this place. Â In practice, not-so-much.
The menu is great - and takes a long time to look over. Â There are so many options, and so many unique items, that it's quite impressive.
The restaurant is in a great location close to UCF campus and the decor is all UCF- all the time. Â
We have visited a few times and sometimes it's great...perfect...other times, like this last time...it was just worth one star.
They have an impressive beer menu - but truth be told - only about half of those beers are available.
It took our out-of-town guest 2 tries to get a beer they actually had on the list. Â It took my husband 4 DIFFERENT TIMES selecting a beer before they had one in stock. Â
We ordered hush puppies to start - and they were sad and pathetic. Â They looked like little breaded turds. Â They were so small and such a waste. Â I hate when places give hush puppies a bad name - I love them so.
We had 3 kids with us - two ordered the chicken fingers - which were fine. Â The third ordered a grilled cheese sandwich. Â When it came out - it was only one-half of a grilled cheese sandwich. Â Once you take away the crust that the kids never eat any way, there was just so little food for him. Â It was sad.
I ordered grilled chicken - it was dry.
Others ordered wings, which were decent. Â The chicken quesadilla was average.
The service was poor, and the restaurant wasn't even busy. Â We had to wait over 50 minutes to get our food. Â And the waitress screwed up splitting our bill...overall...we were embarrassed that we brought friends here.
But like I've said, I've been there before and the food was good and the service was great! Â Not sure what the deal was, but it may be awhile before we make it back.
From an atmosphere perspective, particularly on a game day like the one I was there for - you can't beat this place. Ok, the service was a bit slow and the food was about average for what you'd expect from a bar but based on some of the other reviews I read before seeing for myself, I was pleasantly surprised.
Always near and dear to my heart is the beer selection. The Moat has made huge strides from what I could tell, they must have had around 50 craft brews to choose from including a couple on tap.
The prices here are a bit high for what you get and I certainly agree with some other reviews - Turn on the damn A/C people, this is Florida!!
The Moat is high on potential and seems to be improving, but as of now sits in the 2.5-3 star range. That being said, if you are just going for bar food, beer, and a football game - go in with confidence!
I really want half stars on Yelp! Â Please?
This place is a 2 stars at best. Â We met here for a friends graduation celebration a couple weeks ago. Â
First, its a Knights place, which easily gives them 2 stars in my book. Â They really went all out on the decor, great. The beer selection is a step above your typical bar with Smithwicks, but thats it. Â Sorry, Moat. Â
The lighting around the bar are is too dark. Â Im sorry, I don't want to sit in the dark while trying to chat with friends. Â
The temp of the place close to empty was on the warm side, I would be scared to sit in there with a close to full capacity going on. Â yikes! Â Furnace!
The only thing i got a kick out of on the menu was the "basket of bacon". Â Yes, someone has decided their everything fried menu wasn't enough, they had to add a basket of bacon.
The food came out and I watched in horror as my friends sunk their teeth in overly greasy food. Â The portions are rather large with some dishes, like the reuben, but smaller with a sausage burger looking thing.
I remember seeing a picture of some type of pasta with fried meat around the edges on the table. Â Fire the photographer and work on presentation. The meal looked rather disgusting.
ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS PLACE! they got TV's everywhere! near UCF and has UCF decorations everywhere. but  by no means do you need to be a student or even a fan to love this place!
Been here twice since my move to Central Florida and everything i have tried is DEELISH!!
Jalapeno poppers, Quesadillas, pulled pork sandwich and of course the WINGS are my favvvv!!!! The Spicy BBQ is the best!!! wings are average size but they do give drum-lets and wings which makes it filling! Wings are good either tossed in sauce or sauce on the side. I prefer on the side as i usually make a mess when eating wings.
They also have a wide selection of beers and various specials every day.
If your in the area I recommend checking this place out!
This place has such potential. Â Every time we visit it's to give it 1 more shot...and each time we leave disappointed. Â The last trip was when the Mgt decided to prematurely flip over to an AM broadcast before a Basketball game and blast 25 minutes worth of a "Buy Gold" infomercial like we were listening to the superbowl. Â This obnoxious thing looped over and over until we left just to get away. Â It was like being stuck in an Appliance Direct commercial...you pay too much!!! Â After about 5-10 minutes I made a comment to bartender. Â It seemed that everyone agreed that it needed to go but no one had the authority to change the channel or at least turn it down until the game came on.
Review Source:Ugh. You know, I really hate to give 1 star ratings because we're all just trying to make a livin', ya know?
But this is easily the worst place I've eaten in a long time.
I headed here for a staff dinner to celebrate employee birthdays which is always a nice treat but we usually head to nearby chains or bars and the pickings are always slim and dismal. The Moat is no exception.
I ordered the 5 cheese grilled sandwich which came out cold along with a side of cold fries. Mind you, at a table of 12-14 people, my plate was the first dish to come out and it was cold. It's hard for me to explain what I didn't like about the sandwich except that I've had fantastic grilled cheese sandwiches before and they certainly tasted nothing like what the Moat offered.
I didn't finish my meal and my money felt more like charity than anything else.
I guess if you're a huge UCF fan and have a nonexistent palette then you shouldn't worry!
Yum, breaded and fried pork tenderloin sandwich? Â I envisioned a thickly-cut piece of pork loin. Â Yes, it was breaded and fried but where was the pork? Â It almost looked like a fried pork cutlet, but even with a pork cutlet you can see and taste the pork. Â I had three bites before I gave up and filled up on my run-of-the-mill fries.
Service was young, friendly, and prompt. Â The atmosphere is that of a sports bar with a T.V. in view no matter where you look.
It's a low down, dirty rotten shame.
I really, really want a UCF hang out I can call my own. A nice place right next to campus. Full bar. Totally UCF oriented. Good service. Good food. Clean, decent decor. Not a dive. Big enough to get a good Knights buzz going.
The Moat - right now - is not that place. It could be. I hope it becomes that place. And I will try it again in a month. But I walked out of the place yesterday.
The good:
- It is right next to campus in a shopping center on the NE corner of Alafaya & McCullough.
- It is good sized, clean, well laid out. There is a bar area, a main dining area with plenty of seating, and an outside patio deck. The decor is totally UCF. Lots of HD televisions throughout, all tuned to sports. Physically, it is ready to be a great place. The owners spent a lot of money on the TI work, and they got their money's worth.
- Beer selection is good. About a dozen on tap. Didn't see Orlando Brewery, but we can always hope.
- Menu looked good. Some interesting appetizer choices, sandwiches, soups, desserts, steaks. I saw a lot of stuff I'd like to try someday.
Now the bad, and I mean really, really bad:
- Service. And by that, I mean the kitchen.
I went to try the place out after picking up my season tickets at the stadium. There was a decent crowd for lunch, but they were not slammed by any means.
I sat at the bar and had a beer. I ordered the chili cheese fries. Started talking to the knights fans next to me. Found out they had been waiting over an hour for their buffalo wings. They were not happy.
After waiting over a half hour for my french fries, I became unhappy too. I paid for the beer. Said 'no thanks' to their generous offer to wait for the chili cheese fries in a to go box. (yum, doesn't that sound great! cold chili cheese fries at home).
I have no idea what the problem is in their kitchen, but a complete inability to produce food is inexcusable. It is failure at the most fundamental part of running a restaurant. It is a fatal flaw.
I'm sure they want Knight fans to go there before and after games. I am sure they want the Moat to be THE place to eat, drink and watch the away games with fellow fans. Â I would LOVE to be one of them. But nobody is going to put up with this kind of service more than once. There are two home games the first two weeks of September. If their kitchen can't crank out food by then, the word is going to spread. They will be dead and gone by the end of February.
Please get your act together! The UCF nation wants a place like this. If you can get the kitchen together, we are yours. Especially if this place is truly tied to the MOAT - which for the uninitiated is a very large, decades long tailgating team of super UCF fans.
Hire the best manager you can afford. Â Give him/her a free hand with the kitchen and the staff. Â See the ball. Â Be the ball.
I wish there was a way to give less than one star.
Needs serious work, based on today's experience, I'd give it at least six months if they can survive that long. If today's experience is how it will be, then they won't.
Went for lunch, sat in a booth and ordered at 12:25. At 1:00, we had not seen the server since, we called him over and asked for refills and about how long the food was. Key note if you go: Don't ask two questions at once. His response was, I don't know. So we asked him again for the refills, which he did get three of them, but not the other two. We flagged him back again about 1:15, at which point we said we would need our checks ASAP, and asked for the other two refills. He said OK, and left. He started bringing the food at 1:28, with the two salads. The next two came out at about 1:34, it was 1:40 before everyone had food. Still no refills on the two drinks, still no checks.
I eventually went to the manager and asked for my check and a box and his response was, I'll send him over with it. I said, yeah, I tried that too. 13 minutes after that I finally got it.
The manager was dismissive, after working in a restaurant for 9 years I know the worst thing you can say to a table is 'I don't know" without offering to help them. As far as we can see, there was no teamwork between the servers, no one helped each other carry food or anything, it was quite terrible.
We weren't the only people whose food took an hour, we saw two other tables complaining, and the manager didn't seem to care.
We won't be back, and I don't recommend going if you want a pleasant dining experience.
So... when was the last time you went into a bar that had both a king and queen throne? Â Can't remember? Â Then I think it's time to visit The Moat. Â I was raised a Knight (GO UCF!) and attended UCF for my bachelor's so I can appreciate the decor and the memorabilia.
When I visited they didn't really have any specials and the A/C wasn't working - which I can understand because it's new and probably froze up. Â We were mostly outside anyways. Â
I plan to revisit in the coming months when they're more established.
Really good, but needs work. Â Since it is new, I will certainly have to come back at a later date and update my review. Â The staff was still trying to figure out the POS system, and did not have many recommendations on food.....
So, I decided to go with the MOAT burger..it consisted of a giant hamburger patty covered with two grilled cheese sandwiches..no, i did not eat it alone! Â While it was good, it was not great, I would expect a heart attack on a plate to be great..I think it lacked butter on the grilled cheese...We also tried the Rueben Ragoons..umm, they were basically egg rolls with pastrami..not recommended...
They do have a very nice decor (UCF related), free wi-fi and plenty of TV's.
The MOAT is awesome! Â Went there today with a few friends for lunch and had the burger that was served between two grilled cheese sandwiches. Â It was great!
The place is brand new and the interior is simply incredible, especially if you are a big UCF fan like myself.
Good luck to the owners and get yourself over there to have some great food in a great atmosphere and support the local restaurants.
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