Clifford’s Grill & Lounge — Restaurant in Gold Coast City

Worst experience I’ve ever had at a restaurant of all time.

First off, both steak that my husband and I ordered was overcooked on the surface, this applies to both the steak and the side vegetables; you can’t have a single taste of the dish without the bitterness of the overcooked parts.

Now here’s the funny part, we’ve ordered two soft drinks, which was never served to us until the end of our meal. The waitress came over to us around 4/5 times adding water for us, so we thought maybe she forgot to add the drinks to our order. At the end of our meal, we asked to see the check, and we saw that the drinks were actually added to our order, so we asked that these 2 items to be removed from our order. This is now another waitress, and she said she’ll check and then she never got back to us on this. She started to clean up tables and set up the glasses for other tables. Now we had to ask for yet another waiter, about how we should pay our bill, and he said that we need to do it at the front desk. So we went to the front desk, and the second waitress(who ignored us basically until we got to the front desk) said that she’s not authorized to remove the drinks from our bill; we had to wait for her manager to come back to remove it, and she doesn’t know how long that’d take. At this point I just feel so absurd, and I’ve never had this kind of experience at a restaurant. So I told her that this is not acceptable, and she started to say that it is our responsibility, because we didn’t ask for the check early (because they are closing and they are short of people now, but how the hell would we know when they are closing? Normally if a restaurant is closing, they’d at least suggest that right?), and that we should have asked the first waitress who initially took our order to check if we have indeed had our drinks included. In the end the manager came and managed to remove our drinks and we finally paid our bill, but this whole experience is just so absurd and unacceptable. NOT RECOMMENDING...

As a regular steak enthusiast, I make it a point to enjoy a good steak daily. Before heading to the Gold Coast, I had my eye on Clifford's, drawn by its inviting ambience, which definitely lived up to expectations. Excited for the evening, my mates and I arrived at Clifford's ready for a great meal.

After a helpful discussion with the waiter, I decided on the grass-fed sirloin, ordered rare. One of my friends ordered the exact same dish, also rare. When our dinners arrived, they looked fantastic. However, my excitement quickly faded when I realized my steak was nowhere near rare—it was well-done. To make matters worse, the non-serrated knife I was given made cutting the steak like trying to slice through a rubber boot. Having the steak on top of the vegetables served only to make the task even more challenging.

After a taste, I can honestly say it was one of the worst steaks I’ve tried. I couldn’t help but notice my mates thoroughly enjoying their meals. It really felt like I was being pranked. When I compared my steak to my friend’s, the difference was astonishing—his was perfectly rare, while mine was overcooked.

I called the waiter over, he took one look and immediately took my plate back. Thankfully, when the replacement steak arrived, it was perfect—tender, juicy, and cooked to rare perfection. The combination of the beef, jus, garlic butter, butter mash, and mustard made for a truly exceptional meal. However, by that time, my friends had already finished, and I ended up dining solo.

To the restaurant’s credit, the waiter was very apologetic, and they offered a round of drinks on behalf of the manager and also offered a better knife, which I appreciated. It could have been a fantastic experience if not for the initial mix-up. My final thoughts reflect only my...

5 star food, below par service... Let me tell you a story...

Staying at the watermark hotel this place looked really nice and came across like a chilled bar with good food so we gave it a shot.

Strangely after being shown to the table the place is set up as a fine dining experience... It doesn't feel or look like fine dining and came across forced stopping the staff from having any personality aside from their welcome and goodbye where they seemed to be free from trying to be prim and proper.

Anyway our waiter was a guy (can't remember his name) but looked like an Aussie version of Rocky Balboa who was pleasant to the couple next to us, who loved his company. It seemed as though he'd used all his energy on that one couple as he didn't want anything to do with us.

Taking ages to bring our drinks (fyi a pint isn't a scooner you may want to change the menu from using the word pint) we had 0 eye contact with only our order being taken from this bloke.

Ages later we received our food (it wasn't busy mind you) and I'd finished my drink, rather than being offered a new one I had an arm reach over from the back of my shoulder to grab my glass and run off, who does this guy think he is? (if I was being honest he gave me an ex-con vibe)

So eventually we grabbed our bill paid and left and had an amazing service from the lady at the counter who had personality, so not sure if she actually worked there.

Though like I said earlier the food was amazing even if it was a forced fine dining style, and would eat there again as long as the service improved and the place realised it was an upmarket bar rather than fine dining.

Give the place a go anyway as if you're above 40 and dressed like a millionaire you'll receive top level service. (never judge a book...