Restaurants near MOA Arena: Before and After a Concert

For restaurants near MOA Arena, the best bets are inside SM MOA: Cabalen for a barkada, The Aristocrat or Café Adriatico for a sit-down plate, and Army Navy for something fast. After the encore, the late drink is at C Lounge, which stays open to midnight and to 1 AM on Fridays and Saturdays.

What comes from the ticket

Door times, bag rules and seating belong to the ticket and the arena's own page. Everything below is about the hours on either side of the show, at places in the MOA Complex.

Before the show: eat early, eat in the mall

The rule for a concert night is to eat before. A post-show dinner inside the mall is a gamble after a long encore.

A barkada of six or more. Cabalen is a Filipino buffet with kare-kare, at ₱500 to ₱1,500 a head, and it takes big groups. A buffet is also the fastest format for a group on a deadline: food is ready when you sit down, and nobody is waiting on one slow order while the doors open. Call ahead with the headcount.

Two to four people. The Aristocrat serves chicken barbecue and java rice, and the restaurant dates from 1936. Café Adriatico is a bistro serving adobo rice and palabok. Both cost ₱500 to ₱1,500 a head and suit smaller tables.

In a hurry, or on a budget. Army Navy has burgers and burritos with a Manila Bay view, at under ₱500 a head. It also has a location at Harbour Square in the CCP Complex, a ride away, so check that the pin is the MOA one.

The meeting point. Bo's Coffee is a branch of the local coffee chain inside SM MOA. When five people are arriving from five directions, name one café and tell everyone to be there an hour before dinner.

Working backwards from doors

1. Read the door time on the ticket.
2. Take off a generous margin for the walk and the queue. The MOA Complex is walkable inside, but a concert crowd slows everything.
3. Take off an hour for dinner, or a little more for a buffet with ten people.
4. That is the time to sit down. Meet at the café before it.

If the group cannot agree, the organiser decides and posts one plan.

After the show: one drink by the bay

C Lounge is the hotel bar at the Conrad, on Seaside Blvd in the MOA Complex. It has a bay panorama and live entertainment, and it costs ₱1,500 and up a head.

The closing time decides whether this works. On a Friday or Saturday it runs to 1 AM. On other nights it closes at midnight, which comes quickly after a long encore. If the show is on a weeknight, go straight there or go home.

A pair can walk in. A group of eight should call first or expect to stand.

If the night is still going. From Friday to Sunday, the fountain at Okada Manila runs a free show every 30 minutes until midnight. Cove Manila, Okada's indoor beach club, is loud, runs late and hosts concerts of its own. Okada is in Entertainment City, Parañaque, a ride from MOA.

Staying over

Conrad Manila is a bay-view hotel with a pool bar in the same complex. For a couple, a room there turns the concert into a weekend, and that version is in the Conrad staycation plan.

The cost of the night

• Buffet before the show: ₱500 to ₱1,500 a head.
• Burgers instead: under ₱500 a head.
• One drink at the Conrad: ₱1,500 and up a head.
• The ticket: on top, from the arena's page.

The same plan, live in Cubao

The planner covers Cubao now, and the Pasay Bay Area is next; see the areas page. For a concert at the Coliseum in Cubao, the same before-and-after shape is set out in the Coliseum concert-night plan.

For group nights in general, use the barkada night out guide. The full price sort for dinner here is in MOA restaurants by budget.

The planner covers Cubao now. Pasay Bay Area is next, and this post is written from the same kind of checked list.