Moe's Southwestern Grill Now Open

There are a lot of new cups to be found within the living spaces of my home. Moe's cups. Specifically, Moe's Southwestern Grill cups. Why is that?

Moe's has come to town!

On Wednesday, April 21st, my family and I were invited to a "family" only event. Or, at least, that's what we thought it would be. I recommended to my wife that we arrive earlier than the 6pm opening. Apparently a lot of other people had the same idea.

We got in line at the threshold of the outside door. The main dining area was buzzing with patrons both young and old. The wonderful sound of "Welcome to Moe's" reverberated over the crowd. Before long, we, and the people around us, were greeted by a cordial gentleman who introduced himself as the owner. He briefly explained how the flow of ordering food would commence. "I hate to say this, but it's kind of like Subway," he explained. "You get to watch your food being prepared right in front of you."

"Anything new or special about this Moe's?" I asked.

"Yes! We have a new roasted corn pico de galo at our salsa bar, and we also feature soft serve ice cream and shakes featuring Carvel ice cream."

No complaints from me.

"And, oh, one more thing," he said, finishing. "Dinner's on me tonight."

That seemed to come as a relief to the woman behind me. I asked her if she had a relative or friend who worked at the store.

"No, I'm just a shopper from Publix."

I gave her a questioning look, wondering at the Publix connection.

"Someone from Moe's was over at Publix and they made this big announcement: 'Dinner is free at Moe's tonight'. I literally followed thirty cars over here."

Another patron in line explained that she'd spotted a Facebook invitation for "your dinner is free tonight at Moe's!"

At that point I looked back to see that the wait line had grown extensively, stretching to just around the SE corner of the building. I estimate that in the time I was there, the line never shrank to less than 50 or 60 deep. (Of course, I'm sure that a lot of that had to be from the offer of free food.)

Before long we were placing our order with the friendly staff (we picked Nachos and the HomeWrecker burrito), snagged a soda drink, and grabbed a cookie. We spotted the ice cream station just past the cash register, but decided to visit it later. On the way to the table, I filled up two cups with different tomato based salsas and the new corn salsa -- which, incidentally, I think is awesome. (I polled a couple of teenage friends who confided that they did not enjoy Moe's latest salsa. Oh well. Maybe it'll grow on them.)

Moe's Outside terrace

There are seven wrought iron tables on the south side of the building, each with a brightly colored umbrella. The weather this night was perfect. We laughed and joked with the people around us, and ran into a lot of friends. Several times a Moe's employee would ask if we needed anything, offering napkins and straws.

So, it's official. The Palm Bay Moe's is Open for Business!

Thursday, April 22nd, was the official opening day for Moe's. And though the message of "Dinner is free tonight" wasn't heard, that didn't keep my wife and me from stopping by for a quick visit just before closing time. We stood in line listening to the crowd laugh as each "Welcome to Moe's" was enthusiastically called out to each visitor through the door. There were a lot of smiles, and laughing, and the line moved quickly. When we were asked for our order, we told them that we were just waiting to put some money in their tip jar. That brought some smiles as we shuffled down the line. After wishing the many special workers and friends that we know a good night, we reached the register and deposited some cash into their red "gas money" tip jug.

As we were leaving the parking lot, I couldn't help but notice the busy interior of Cold Fusion Iced Cream. They're right next to Moe's, on the west side. And if you haven't heard of them, check out my video (click here) and article (click here). Eating there is a delicious treat too.

Hey! Is Hammock Landing and Moe's really in Palm Bay?

I know that all this food excitement is technically happening in West Melbourne. But somehow I don't mind. With the Panera Bread construction nearing completion, liquid nitrogen fogging the room at Cold Fusion Iced Cream and this brand new Moe's Southwestern Grill to visit, this Palm Bayer is smiling.

Smiling all the way to the salsa bar.

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The western neighbor of Moe's -->Cold Fusion Iced Cream (Article), Cold Fusion Iced Cream (Video)