Nightcap at Northern Grounds — Hotel in Sunshine Coast Regional

Had lunch there this week with a group of four. One couple shared a Seafood Tower ($49) using a voucher they had won somewhere. (That is why we went there). There was so much much food on the tiered platter we could have have shared it between the four of us. The seafood was plentiful and looked really good. They said it was very nicely cooked and tasty. A dinner plate or bowl would have been better, however, than the bread and butter plate they were given for their meal. My husband and I had a senior's meal each ($13.50), which included a main and a choice of garlic bread or dessert. He had the chicken schnitzel and I had rump steak. Both came with chips and salad. We both had dessert. This is where the meal failed miserably. The schnitzel must have come from a pre-prepared pack, It was thin and dry and tasteless. The chips were ok and the tiny salad was ok. The steak was so thin it lay on the plate like a piece of brown cardboard. I was asked how I wanted it cooked - medium I said. The meat was a little pink in one spot, but well done from the centre to the blackened edges. It would be almost impossible to cook a steak like that to anything other than well done. Then came the dessert. Two preprepared fruit puddings with a large squirt of aerated cream. The puddings were heated in a microwave at the service counter and literally plonked on a plate in front of me. They need a knife to cut into them, because a spoon did not work. They tasted like a Christmas plum pudding, quite nice, plenty of fruit, but the texture was very firm, apart from right in the middle. I left mine after a few bites. it was not pleasant at all.

We sat outside on the verandah, overlooking the lake. The whole place is in need of an upgrade. It's a bit scruffy and tired looking. It has a real outdated "pub" feel and look.The laminated menu we had had bits of food stuck to it.

Why do some places think it's ok to serve second rate food to seniors. Sure we might choose to pay a bit less, but that is no reason not to serve a tasty, edible meal. This would be the worst seniors meal we have eaten. I organise a monthly lunch for around thirty seniors, and we have been to a lot of restaurants on the Sunshine Coast. We won't be going to...

We stayed at the hotel for 2 night - huge mistake. 1. We got there and the staff ignored us for good 15 minutes and went inside when we clearly looked like we needed to talk to someone to check in. 2. It says that there's free WiFi. Did not even come close to reaching the room. Could get WiFi outside. But not in the room... 2 nights at a "4 star hotel" you'd expect decent WiFi. Alright no worries. 3. (and the worst) we had so many insects in the room it wasn't even funny! Got bitten by mossies more in the room than on any of the outdoors stuff we did. Not to mention the million spiders we saw - including a few decent ones that we killed/took outside! We discovered that the windows were open and HAD NO FLY SCREEN! just open! We closed them and had a very itchy sleep. Next morning we saw the cleaner and asked her to leave our room alone. We got back and found that nothing was cleaned, no new towels, nothing new other than windows being open again! Which brings me to 4. Toilet paper roll did not fit the dispenser. When I asked for something more convenient their reply was that this is all they had. Would not recommend and will not...

I like Caesar salad. I love the varied and interesting things that different places do with them. Today wasn't one of those days. What I received was what looked like a premix of sliced up cos, bacon bits, soggy toasted white sandwich bread crouton squares in an uninteresting dressing. The egg sitting proudly on top was a cold, halved hard boiled job and the optional anchovies that I asked for were lumped together on one side. Where was the lightly poached,warm egg that Caesar salad craves? Where was the imagination? What I received was what I would expect to get from a fast food chain that dabbles in salad, like McDonalds, not from a hotel bistro. Two people in my group also complained about their lamb salad. Not a good sign... The best things about lunch here were the wonderful view and eating sweet potato chips from a friend's plate. Waterfront Hotel, you must know that you can do so...