Full Moon

Great Location in the Heart of Downtown Manteo that even the Locals Frequent… Good Food and Great Micro Brews. If weather permits, sit outside and watch the tourists.

Full Moon was Stop #3 out of 6 on a self created trip to several local area Northeastern North Carolina breweries. And out of all of them Full Moon was the #1 TOP brewery spot in my book.
Upon walking in the place was super small but the beer DEFIANTLY made up for it as these guys really know what there doing. While searching for a spot at the bar I almost accidentally sat in Paul’s spot. Paul was the current owners father whose name is also Paul. And he has a special spot reserved at the end of the bar with a beer that is always there. I was told he had passed away shortly before the brewery was established and no one is allowed to sit in his spot. As small of a place as it is, maybe only 15’x12’ 12 people is max capacity, at least thats how many chairs I counted. They are supposedly in the top 10 smallest breweries in the country which I thought was super cool. Yet amazing the amount of brewing kettles they had in behind the bar. But, I ended up finding a seat at the opposite end or the bar and ordered a glass of the Russian Imperial Stout «Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch.» The flavor literally blew my socks off, I think I actually looked down to check my feet to make sure they were still there.LoL. It was very good and quite possibly on of the best stouts I’ve had in a long while.
**Overall, My experience here was a good and nice knowing that I don’t have to drive very far in OBX to find some amazing craft/​micro beer. For those of you that are curious of my 6 other brewery stops there they all are here listed in order of the route and numbered by favorite: #6Weeping Radish, #4Outer Banks Brewing, #1Full Moon, #3Duck Rabbit, #5Mother Earth Brewing and #2Double Barley Brewing.
Cheers!

We drove through the sweet, historic town of Manteo on the way back from our Hatteras trip and wanted to find a casual lunch spot not far from the docks so after a quick Unilocal search, we ended up at Full Moon. We were pleasantly surprised to see that it’s also a brewery so we each ordered a pint (got the Baltimore Blonde — light and good for a lunchtime brew) while we waited for an outdoor table.
We both got the Roanoke Shrimp Melt sammie and agreed that the shrimp were perfectly cooked and very fresh/​sweet but I actually ended up scraping off all the provolone cheese because 1. it was too much even for this self-​proclaimed cheese-​aholic 2. no need to mask the yummy seafood! So yes, shrimp were good but the sandwich as a whole was okay; the bread was rather bread-​y so I ditched it and basically just ate the shrimp with extra bay seasoning. Service was a little slow but it was peak lunch hour and we didn’t mind chilling out on the patio (it was the most gorgeous day!).
So overall, lunch wasn’t stellar but I would still return here for beers and bites at one of their outdoor tables.

Absolutely memorable.
My wife and I contacted Full Moon some time ago in preparation for our Wedding Reception.
Our point of contact, Sharon, was so accommodating and friendly; she met us on every request, and helped us organize and price out the mid sized party we were trying to host.
We met with the owner during the week of our wedding, and he was friendly, welcoming and very hospitable (we tried the best crab dip in my life during our initial visit!).
The incredible warmth we experienced didn’t stop there; when we arrived for our reception dinner, the staff were flexible enough to move us off the patio area in light of an incoming storm.
The service was fast, the food was excellent, and the staff were absolutely wonderful. They really made our special night that much better, and have us wanting to commemorate every year at the Full Moon.
Thank you so much!

What a great spot for dinner… The waitress was great, she went above and beyond with beer samples to ensure our tastes were completely satisfied.
She crab soup and Seared Scallop entrée was simply flawless.
The out door terrace was pleasant being a block away from the waterfront but the fly issue needs to be addressed.
A bit expensive… Yes, but a good quality meal is well worth the cost.
I’ll most definitely stop back «Full Moon» next time I’m down in Manteo, NC.
Great Job. Namaste.
Todd

I have been here many times before as I’m from manteo. But, coming back to the island and revisiting full moon, the visit was sub-​par. My mom ordered the Greek salad and for $ 10 it was very small. Hardly any olives or feta. Our waiter acted like he didn’t want our service (we sat outside, which was very nice and picturesque– I would recommended sitting outdoors). My boyfriend got the Swiss mushroom burger and loved it, though. I had the shrimp salad wrap. The shrimp was okay but the cheese on the wrap was… Odd.
I hear that they have a fun beer selection and I’ve enjoyed the Brie Apple salad in the past but the service was not the best and the food fell flat.

Our first night out for dinner in the Outer Banks was memorable, in the wrong way. Food was under cooked and poorly seasoned. Staff seem to have something else on their mind. Thank goodness we found the Colington café the next night. Their prices were less expensive and the food was excellent! A little bit of a drive, but well worth it!

We went in for a quick bite and to try their flight of beers after visiting the outer banks distillery for a tour; the beer flight was good! You get to chose 4 from their available list. Nachos were not good, nothing special just ½ melted shredded cheese and some toppings. Service was fine, waitress was friendly. Even though we were eating inside there were flies everywhere! Very distracting to constantly swat flies from your food and beer inside!

Food was quick to come out. Crab cake was excellent. Beer was average. Service was average.

Bottom Line: A restaurant with outdoor seating and a teeny tiny bar serving their own craft beer.
Historic Manteo is a darling town and a great way to enjoy it is by dining on the patio at Full Moon and doing some people watching. Another great way to soak up the local color is by taking a seat in the brewery which seats about ten people. I’m over the West Coast hoppy beer so the British and Irish style beers being brewed by Full Moon under the Lost Colony name are a welcome change for me. The beer here is brewed in small batches and the overall setting at the bar is intimate. I appreciate that they offer flights and I was sure to order one. I think they do a nice job with their darker beers like the porter, stout and brown ale. I did enjoy their blonde but thought the pale ale was underdeveloped. For those interested in beer, Full Moon is a unique experience and worth a visit.

This place was AWFUL. The beer was good, but the food was dreadful and horribly overpriced. I had the crabcakes, and my beau had the surf n turf.
First, the crab cakes, costing $ 26 a plate, were overly greasy, leaving me with an upset stomach when I got home. The sides were less than appetizing, with rice florentine that was terribly bland and unappealing and summer vegetables that looked and tasted like they had been cooked days before without any kind of seasoning.
The surf n turf, which was an angus ribeye with lump crab and a gorgonzola cheese sauce, was ordered medium rare yet served well done. When mentioned to the waitress, her attitude was as if we had just shot her dog. When the meal was brought back out, the steak was overly rare, but we determined it was not worth testing our luck to try yet again to get it right. The same disgusting and bland rice florentine was served as a side. This meal, which was prepared improperly twice, ended up costing us $ 32.
The only thing I would recommend is their beer, but be prepared to spend a decent chunk of change on that as well. Overall, I would not recommend this restaurant and will NOT be returning in the future.

Probably the best place to eat on Manteo! So good we had it for lunch and dinner the same day. We had the same waitress and she was wonderful. Checked on us a lot and was very polite and friendly. The food was amazing. Shrimp and grits (polenta) was amazing. One of the best dishes I have had. So flavorful and comfortable. I also had the fried seafood sampler. The flounder was amazing and a huge piece! This place offers a good mix of choices and brewed beer in house. Atmosphere is nice and they offer outside seating as well. Great place for the whole family. Best place for lunch!

The spot itself is fantastic with the outdoor patio right down on the corner in downtown that gets tons of sun during the day. We sat outdoors so we had the primo seats at the place but I managed to make my way inside to fight a cozy circular room with a few tables, some might consider it small but I would say it is just right. The beer was good; the pale was pretty good, but the barley wine was what did it for me. The service was friendly and they managed having their hands full with a number of tables, but the food and drinks came fast. The food was pretty good, nothing too special but it hit the spot; I had the tuna sashimi along with the nachos and crab dip.
Definitely a great spot to sit and have a beer.

Great beer. Of the two breweries on the OBX I’ve visited, this is the superior one — note I still haven’t had a chance to check out the Weeping Radish.
It’s a very small place, but they don’t make small beers. Their imperial stout is awesome.
We ate dinner there this week. I had their scallops, which were amazing. Only complaint were the flies outside — they were relentless. Not really the establishment’s fault, but you might want to eat inside if you have food.

We had a lovely stay in Manteo and I wanted desperately to fall in love with the Full Moon Café & become a frequent visitor during our long visit, however, lunch was a disappointment.
Let me preface that the beer was tasty, the face-​to-​face service quite kind, and my boyfriend thoroughly enjoyed his CRAB CAKE Sandwich.
First, sat down to poor odor and FILTHY drink menu. I went to wash my hands but the huge «no tampon signs on both doors should perhaps be on the inside of the restrooms?» Interesting.
Being on a vegetarian diet, I was pleased to see so many options, however «the Rainforest» sandwich was the poorest excuse for a sandwich I have seen in a very long time, vegetarian or not. Described as «The mother lode of veggies baked on a baguette with swiss and herb vinaigrette» this MOTHER LODE was shredded carrots, thick-​cut cucumbers and canned red peppers with a slab of melted cheese on a soggy french role, basically a poorly made salad on bread with cheese, bland, tasteless, and sad. For someone so hungry and ready for a good Manteo meal, this was beyond disappointing. No, it was downright bad.
The sides were also a huge let down with bland fries and chips and salsa. THE OTHER «EXTRA SIDE» we received is listening to the fun remarks of the servers talking about spanking one another and some other things I won’t mention. I know it’s a bar and a slow day at the restaurant but it took away from our lunch meal.
I’m not sure what happened on our visit as others seemed to have enjoyed their go at Full Moon. I don’t know that I could give it another go.
All in all– if you go, get a beer and a crab cake, but do not venture out or expect a tasty treat beyond what you’d have in your pantry. The staff is kind, location is prime, and the amenities ok.

Great place! Fish and chips good! Great sevice!

I’ve been writing reviews for various and sundry publishers and publications for years. So what do you say, what do you do when one of your favorite places for lunch comes quite short? «Arrrggggh,» «Darn!» «Dang» «Dag-​Nab-​It»
The Full Moon Café has been a rock-​solid purveyor of finely prepared dishes since1995. Specialty quiches, quesadillas and wraps, savory soups & bisques, baked Brie with almonds and apples, and Cuban beans on rice – one of their signature dishes – plus so much more. The menu is too diverse to describe easily. But the quality of their offerings has always been top-​rate.
So what happened this last visit? Let’s call it a hiccup.
We started with a flight of their in-​house brewed craft beers. Mixing and matching some of their medal winners and other brews. My favorite was a very surprising White Doe IPA: smooth, slightly hoppy, no sharp palate bite, but rather a very pleasing almost creamy whisper of vanilla with citrus. Just splendid.
Next, Crab Bisque with a wonderful amount of Blue Crab, including some very large claw pieces. Seasonings were spot on with the piquant essence of Old Bay. The Cream of Pumpkin Squash soup was equally pleasing. Smooth and creamy with just the right notes of cinnamon and spices normally associated with this season of the year.
Then the air went out of my balloon. I asked for a crab cake sandwich sans bun. It arrived, plated nicely… but with a mysterious remoulade on top. It apparently had sat, perhaps under a heat lamp, because the «thin shell» of a schmear was visibly dried out, «skinned-​over» with small visible cracks (check my photo of it). It was nearly a quarter as thick as the crab cake. And it added nothing to the lightly seasoned, slightly undercooked cake (no crispy caramelization). Where’s the respect for the food here? Who in the dickens did this? Chef-​in-​training?
The usually tasty salsa and thick and crunchy tortilla chips that came as the side dish with the crab cake did nothing to help. In fact, the heavily hot-​spiced salsa should never have been served with such a mildly flavored seafood. (Sure, salsa and chips with beer would have been ok; Full Moon salsa is darn good on its own. But this combo was overwhelming and equally disappointing. It completely masked any delicate flavor the crab might have had.)
I’m still giving props to the café. It has served us well over the past 19 years. And it will continue. As I mentioned, maybe this was just a hiccup. So I’m looking forward to my next visit.

On our way to Hatteras Island, we stopped in Manteo to stretch our legs and fill our tummies with some nourishment before wedding in the evening. Full Moon Café was inviting from the outside, with quite a bit of seating. Unfortunately, they didn’t have any tables that would accommodate a group of 6, so inside we went. The food came in a reasonable period of time. They didn’t have a great menu for a gluten-​free dinner unfortunately.
I know, I know. I can get a salad, but honestly… the salads were weird and I just wasn’t in the mood for yet another one. I opted for the burger, sans bun, and it came with chips and salsa. The salsa was very garlicy and the container was too small to actually scoop any salsa up in so I gave up on that.
The burger was fine, but I wasn’t in love with it. My friends seemed to enjoy their meals though. I think I would have given them 4 stars if they had more options for my dietary restrictions.

We went to the brewery part, a small door left from the café. It’s extremely small (seats maybe 8) but very intimate. The service was great and the beers are top notch. We had the Monkey’s Paw, Lost Colony, and Paddy Wagon. We also split a Roanoke Shrimp Melt– very well seasoned and perfect to share. Our bartender recommended the crab dip and fish & chips– I’ll have to try them next time which I anticipate to be very soon!
Remember not to sit in Paul’s seat!

I was in the mood for a mushroom burger, my ultimate favorite concoction.
ATMOSPHERE:
Nice little restaurant that’s split into two sections, a brewery and restaurant. The restaurant side has indoor & umbrella outdoor seating.
BEER:
Corolla Gold — A local North Carolina beer that’s exclusive to this place. It was good. Tasted similar to Heineken.
FOOD:
Swiss Mushroom Burger — I was pleasantly surprised at how delish it was! The homemade patty was grilled to medium perfection, with thick slices of grilled portobello mushrooms, and topped with Swiss and served on a sesame-​poppy seed bun. I opted for shoestring fries for a minimal amount more, if not it comes with potato chips, not my favorite combo.
SERVICE:
Walked in without a reservation on a Saturday at 1:30pm and got seated immediately at an outdoor table. All the staff were very friendly.
OVERALL:
Craving a hot & juicy burger in Manteo? Yup, get it here!