I flew in on a Thursday afternoon and wasn’t up for anything too fast-paced on the first night, so my friend took me to her default impress-my-friends-on-their-first-afternoon-in-Southern-California place.
Moonshadow’s is located right on the water along the Pacific Coast Highway three miles north of the Santa Monica pier. It is reputed to have the best view in Malibu and I can't really disagree. If taken out of its environment, the restaurant would still be a good place to grab a drink and some healthy food, but when you add the magnificent view, this place is fantastic.
We got a bottle of wine and a couple of appetizers and just soaked up the smell of the salt water, the ocean breeze, and the sunset. This is a great place for friends to catch up and really start the weekend on the right foot. And despite my high praise for the view, the food deserves its due because it was actually quite nice. We had the beet salad and goat cheese appetizer and ate every bit of it. We would have eaten more, but this was only a pit stop before dinner a couple of hours later.
Other than a little rush hour traffic on the way out, Moonshadow’s is a perfect place to get your Santa Monica vacation started.