Doug's Seafood Cafe — Restaurant in Brisbane City

I had a strange experience at this restaurant. It was a bit of a confusing bill. My partner and I ordered a few things. We had barramundi, salad, chips, drinks, grilled red emperors and cake etc. It was busy because we went around lunchtime, but we were lucky to get a seat. My order number was called immediately after ordering, so I took my order. Then, about 10 to 15 minutes later, my partner's order came. However, the waitress girl gave me another plate too. I explained that I had already taken my order from another girl. She said she would check with the other girl and left, but she came back and said this order is mine and left the plate to me. I had already eaten enough for one person and couldn't eat another plate, so I got a container to take it home, but my order was duplicated. However, the receipt? clearly said that I had only one order for my self so there was no way I would get two plates. Maybe one of them made a mistake but none of them tried to apologize and I didn't pursue it because I was in a hurry. However, what I don't understand is not only their attitude but also the receipt. The receipt had the name and quantity of the meal but not the price. So it was impossible to check if the $90+ charge we paid was duplicated due to their mistake. My receipt said I had one plate, did we pay for one more plate? I couldn't even check that. I felt so misled. The cashier was also not very competent and when we ordered at the beginning, she said to my partner "You said so!" without apologizing for her mishearing. My partner is a native English speaker so I don't think there's a problem with the accent but there were a lot of people so it's normal to mishear. However, I felt that she was not conscious of her job to be humble enough to say "I'm sorry, I might have misheard". I wanted to make things smooth so I apologized and corrected the order on behalf of my partner, but... Also, a local customer at another table was nasty to us when we were receiving a duplicate order. He said us stupid and such. (This is not the restaurant's fault, but you could run into someone like this.) I had a terrible time receiving a duplicate order that was not my mistake, not even being able to check if the duplicate amount was charged, and being nasty to us by a stranger. To be fair, the food itself was delicious, and the view from the restaurant is open and beautiful...

I usually try to be patient, but after several pickups from Doug’s, I’m beyond frustrated. As an Uber Eats driver, my job depends on quick turnarounds and smooth pickups. Unfortunately, this restaurant has made that nearly impossible.

Every time I arrive—on time, according to the app—the food is nowhere near ready. I’ve waited 10, 15, even 20 minutes just standing around while the order is still being cooked or bagged. It’s not just inconvenient, it’s disrespectful to the people who are helping bring your food to customers and not even an apology for the long wait.

Here’s what I need people to understand: Uber Eats drivers do not get paid to wait. We’re not on an hourly wage. We only get paid per delivery. So every minute we’re stuck waiting for an order is unpaid time—money out of our pocket. We’re literally losing income because a restaurant can’t manage its prep times properly.

On top of that, these delays affect the customer too. Cold food, late delivery times, and frustrated drivers all add up to a terrible experience—which reflects badly not only on Uber Eats but also on the restaurant itself.

If you’re going to partner with a delivery platform, have the food ready or at least close to ready when the driver shows up. Marking it as ready when it clearly isn’t is unfair to everyone involved. It slows us down, hurts our ratings, and makes us want to avoid picking up from your location in the future.

This isn’t just a one-off issue—this is consistent. And until it’s fixed, I’ll be avoiding this restaurant whenever possible. Respect drivers’ time. We’re not being paid to stand around your lobby waiting for you...

One of the staff members was very rude on more than one occasion. We arrived at 6:50, with wheelchair bound elderly father. Closing time on the website said 8 pm. Politely asked for a menu, told ‘Its up there on the wall’ of the shop. Explained father couldn’t enter the shop. No help. When we then ordered we were told you can only get takeaway we are closing at 7. No apology for not sticking to advertised closing time. Okay happy to eat from takeaway container. Then one member of our party, with food allergies ordered grilled fish. It came covered in some type of seasoning, which included lots of pepper. Took it back as hadn’t asked for seasoning or pepper, or been given an option of whether they wanted that on their fish. Refused to cook another piece, “no we’re closing”, no sorry we made a mistake, let us fix it for you, just a refund. So one person in our group had to sit with no food to eat, while we ate out of take out containers. Another person in the group, hadn’t received their order, so went to wait near the counter and were told they couldn’t wait inside the shop, in case someone should think they could come in and order. I don’t know what was so important on a Monday night, that she thought it was important enough to be repeatedly rude to three members of our party. We’ve been dedicated customers of Doug’s for many years, but we won’t go back. What was meant to be a fun outing for our elderly father, who rarely leaves the house, created a horrid memory for us. Food was actually good...