A very solid 3.5 star restaurant and dining experience. One must get over the fact that the restaurant is located on the Badeschiff Wien (that would the "bathing ship Vienna." Oh yeah, part of the ship which is permanently anchored in the canal near Schwedenplatz is a swimming pool. Which is incidental to the fact that it is permanently located in the canal. But I digress.
Hubby and I decided to check out Holy Moly on a Tuesday "date" night and were pleasantly surprised when we did not need reservations to secure a prime spot on the lower deck (upper deck reserved for sun bathers of which there were none on a brisk March night.) Servers were very pleasant - you read that right, plural. More on that to follow. The menu was explained to us as in reality, it is quite complex. Bottom line is you can order ala carte or you can order 3, 4 or 5 courses and choose from the ala carte menu. Ok, you got my number with that one, so order with abandon I did for three courses. But first the drinks; I wanted a bellini, it had just been one of those days; bellini's they do not have. Ingenuity and creativity, check - they came up with a champagne mixed with a house made fruit syrup that was delicious. Hubby got a draft beer.
First came out a nice basket of bread with a chili dipping sauce. First course for me was a smoked salmon with passion fruit sauce, first course for hubby was the "Holy Moly Fish Soup" which promised some heat. Smoked salmon was ok, over salted, but the passion fruit sauce was great, albeit a little 'seedy' which one sort of expects with the fruit but the texture didn't quite work. Hubby's soup was nice, but definitely not with heat, though our palettes may not be at the same 'spice detection' as the Viennese. So, we were even starting the score card for Holy Moly. Next course for me was "marinated sardines wrapped around rice" and for hubby, the beef tartar. Hubby definitely got the better of the two dishes; his was delicious, it was a mold of avocado puree with the beef on top. Spectacular. I was jealous. So when they say marinated sardines, they didn't actually mean anything more then that was done to them. Not sure what the marinade was, somewhat uninspired. Next course for me was the grilled octopus, hubby got a lamp dish. The grilled octopus could have been great. If it had any flavor. It was served with a slice of polenta (literally, you could still see the mold), black beans and the grilled pieces of slightly over charred octopus. It was good, but with a splash of lime juice or a nice sprinkle of salt this would have been great. I didn't try hubby's lamp, but I think for this course, I took the better of the two dishes.
Overall, I would definitely eat here again, for three courses, 28 Euros was reasonable and the atmosphere can't be beat. The servers were an effective team; it was incredible to watch them all work together and it was seamless, like having a whole team on your side - and very nice to boot! Will be a fun place to bring out-of-towners. And I think they have a carry out lunch service under a different name. I'll let you know next time. Because for sure there will be. read more