Coral Sea Pavilion — Restaurant in Airlie Beach

Stellar views, excellent service, subpar meal.

I have been to the restaurant at the Coral Sea Resort several times prior; it was even the first place I went to eat when I arrived in Airlie Beach. I really enjoy coming here. The staff, especially Mardi, Yu and Bri are so kind and personable. The views are sublime, as they have seating practically in the ocean, that's how close it is. The first time I had the exotic mushrooms which were delicate and delicious. Their desserts, especially the Coconut Tapioca and the Creme Brulee, which I brought friends to enjoy 2 nights ago, are also great. Last night, 4 February, was a different story. I ordered the Linguine with seafood, Linguine Marinara I think it's called, and it was very disappointing. While the seafood itself was fresh, the dish lacked depth and character. It was very one-dimensional and flat. All I tasted was heat from the chili spice and oil, with little to no seasoning. The pasta was cooked perfectly though. I was initially going to order the Special of the day, Red Emperor, and I regret I didn't. Hopefully this is a one-off, but even if it is, one bad experience, especially at that price-point, is enough for me to reconsider eating here again. I will definitely be back for drinks and dessert though. I don't like disparaging anyone, but I also want others to be aware of my experience- take it with a small grain of...

This was our second meal here - the first was superb so we booked to bring our visiting friends here for their last night in Airlie Beach.

The maître d’ seemed a bit frosty as we arrived, but that was fine. Our waitress tonight was lively and engaging. We ordered entrees. The pork belly was ok, but not as it was on our first visit when it was wonderfully rendered with crunchy unctuous pork portions. Then we waited an hour snd 20 minutes for our main courses. During this wait, no one approached us to let us know there was a delay. We had to ask - twice. The maître d explained they forgot to put the sauce on the side so remade it - no apology, just fact. The barramundi was good.

Then we ordered the dessert special - tiramisu. It was crunchy with poorly soaked savoiardi and absolutely runny marscspone cream. While the flavour was good, it was poorly delivered. We paid our bill and made these comments to the maître d whose only comments were that the dessert was only made this afternoon (clearly not set!), but nothing else. No polite “I’m sorry for the delay”, “I’m sorry it wasn’t set”, nothing. We’d also mentioned it was our anniversary on bookings, but this wasn’t acknowledged. So disappointing - places can have an off night. But the attitude...

Cannot overstate how bad eating experience on three occassions. We stayed at the resort so naturally opted to eat here a number of times, and had awful experiences throughout. These are as follows: Dinner: All dishes are minimum $35-$50 per person, and are extremely small portions. My wife got the chicken ($42) which was half a chicken, and I got the lamb ($47) which was 4 small steaks. None of the dishes had sides or salads, other than a few cherry tomatoes. After being disappointed with our meals. We decided to order a cheese platter, and we were mortified (see picture). $24 to receive 8 crackers and a slither of cheese was ridiculous. I would put more on a mouse trap... Breakfast: "Breakfast Buffet" included in our stay. You are limited to toast, cereal and yogurt. Dont expect bacon and eggs or anything hot without paying extra Room Service: The menu is already expensive enough, but they also charge you an $8 delivery fee for the kitchen, literally downstairs. We were going to order 2 pizzas, but when the bill came to $85, we just ordered dominoes instead.

Maybe "fine dining" is not for me, but if you want to be ripped off, this is the place to go. The staff were really lovely however, they are not...