Mozambique came to our attention a few months ago when my wife and I wanted to see the very talented John Waite again after totally enjoying his open air concert in Vista back in July. We looked up John Waite’s schedule and the most suitable date for us was at Mozambique on Saturday, Sept 28th. Our brother-in-law’s birthday was around that time so my wife brought 4 tickets for just under $400. In the meantime we checked out the restaurant’s menu which appeared interesting.
And of course photos we had seen of Mozambique showed it had a very nice ocean view particularly from the rooftop dining area. Mmmm that would be a lot of fun we thought to celebrate our brother-in-law’s birthday. I managed to get a table reservation for 4 at 6pm on the rooftop on the night of the John Waite concert which did not commence until 9pm . . noting that we were celebrating our brother-in-law’s birthday. We were looking forward to a potentially spectacular night.
Our brother-in-law reciprocated by paying for our King Suites at the beautiful Newport Beach Marriott Bayview. After I enjoyed a nice Relax Hazy IPA at the hotel bar late on Saturday afternoon we took a Lyft from the hotel and arrived outside Mozambique around 5.45pm. From the sidewalk we looked up to see this grand structure which looked like an Italian villa . . . with a commanding view of the Pacific Ocean. We wandered up some stairs to a hostess desk inside a dining room.
The young lady directed us up more stairs until we arrived outside the bar room where John Waite would be performing later. At this point I recognized the Mozambique owner Ivan Spiers and introduced myself. Ivan said he would be up to say hi later. A very courteous manager named Jose greeted us at the host desk and directed us up another staircase to our reserved table on the rooftop and when we got to the top . . I thought wow so this is rooftop dining !
Our group of 4 was shown to a table at the very front of the rooftop with a totally unobstructed panoramic view of the ocean. A server named Greg very promptly introduced himself and proceeded to look after us in a very professional manner for the duration of our dinner. We kicked things off with 4 glasses of water, a serve of the Fried Calamari Appetizer for the boys and a Modern Times “Orderville” Hazy IPA for myself. The rooftop was totally crowded with diners and it was a very lively atmosphere.
We checked out the dinner menu and chatted at the same time. Soon after Greg returned with our Fried Calamari Appetizer and my hazy IPA. Gee it doesn’t get much better than this does it ! After studying the very expansive menu we decided on our dinner choices. My wife ordered Mozambique Shrimp Scampi, our brother-in-law chose the Chilean Sea Bass, my wife’s sister selected the 10 oz Center Cut Prime Filet Mignon while I liked the sound of the Durban Curry.
Our meals did not take too long to arrive and our very detailed server Greg explained the sides which came with some dishes and how adding them would affect the flavor of the meal. Let me tell you that everything tasted as good as it gets . . . my sister-in-law thought her Filet Mignon was among the best she had ever had . . her fav dish. I had a big chunk and it was totally tender perfect. Ivan the owner explained to me later that they cook on a wood fired grill. I ended up tipping my 2 sides onto my Durban Curry . . it was so good I wanted to lick the plate. Around this time of the evening Ivan popped by to say hi, ask about our enjoyment of our meals and wish our brother-in-law a happy birthday.
And then out of the darkness Greg our server appeared holding a large plate with a lit candle on top of a dessert. It was a Macadamia Nut, Banana & White Chocolate Bread Pudding. Everybody on the rooftop joined together to sing Happy Birthday to our happy brother-in-law. The girls didn’t want any of the dessert so us boys demolished it and it was very delicious ! I took a walk downstairs around 7pm to check out the bar room where John Waite was due to perform at 9pm and all the bar stools were occupied.
Jose the manager explained that because it was a sold out show nearly all the bar tables & stools were removed. It was going to be standing room only for our gang. I walked downstairs to the main hostess desk and spoke with Grace about their Mozambique t-shirts but couldn’t find one that suited or was a good fit. Back up to the rooftop where we ordered lattes to enjoy while we took in the beautiful night vista. At 8pm we headed down to the bar room to hang out til the show started.
Right at 9pm there was a huge cheer when John Waite & his band appeared on stage. We managed to hunker up to the only bar table left in the room near the entrance. My wife and I are huge John Waite fans and he didn’t disappoint. John performed a lot of his big hits plus terrific renditions of All Along The Watchtower and Whole Lotta Love. The concert was totally awesome ! As for our Mozambique experience we all enjoyed our delicious meals, the wonderful service and the ocean view !
