COAST — Restaurant in Gold Coast City

The service was atrocious and the manager was rude - perhaps it was his first night as a restaurant manager - who knows but he was out of his element. We had a vegan in our party of 4 and they said they could cater for her tastes (which they could). The "Savouring Coast" menu was recommended to us by the waitress (it says minimum of two on it). Two of us decided to go with that and supplement it with other dishes along with a couple of vegan dishes. When we tried to order we were told we could not order the "Savouring Coast" menu as the entire table had to order it (even though it does not say this on the menu and specifically says a minimum of 2 per attached photo) including the vegan party but we could order each of the dishes individually. How ridiculous. The waitress checked with the manager and came back and said that was not flexible. She then explained this was standard practice at restaurants and had indeed been the case for the past 7 restaurants she worked at (which sounds a tad farfetched given it is unlikely her last 7 restaurants offered such a choice). We have been to many more than 7 restaurants and have never seen this. We paid the bill for our single round of drinks and bread and left as the vibe was not there. The staff and Manager were very rude and seemed intent on trying to argue with us that this was standard practice rather than address our (rather simple) needs. After we left we went to Hyde Paradisio up the road and had a wonderful experience with both staff and menu with a special call out to Treva who was fantastic. He knows what being a restaurant manager is all about.

Post-script : Having now had the benefit of reading the anonymous owner's reply to my review I make the following observations (aside from standing by my original review):

(i) The response from the owner (inaccurately) attacking my party's behaviour merely reinforces my point that staff seemed more interested in arguing with us than finding a sensible solution - perhaps this is an outlet of "Karen's Diner" and I didn't realize it - if it is, I apologise to the establishment - you did a great job;

(ii) The owner says that "The staff members in question have over 25 years of international experience ...". If this is in fact true then our waitress must have started working when she was about 2yo (or she is the female version of Benjamin Button) as she looked to be in her 20's. Perhaps I am wrong and it is time for me to visit an optometrist;

(iii) If the owner had indeed witnessed the type of behaviour he alleges (which is strenuously denied) and he takes such behaviour "very seriously" then why on earth would he not have made an attempt to intervene or speak with us at the time given he was apparently watching this unfold? If I ever witness inappropriate behaviour, I find it more useful to call it out at the time and not later (and then only in response to a one star review). I find this curious to say the least;

(iv) Finally, whilst the owner's right to "ban us" from his restaurant is acknowledged, it wasn't really necessary. I would have thought it fairly obvious that we would not be returning to a restaurant that we rated as 1. Thanks however for the clarity. I do however (again) find it curious that we were "banned" from your restaurant after submitting a 1 review and not at the time of such alleged behaviour. I think this...

We were disappointed with our experience here considering the positive reviews we had read online beforehand.

We arrived around 18:30 with our young son and were told by the waiting staff that we were free to sit at any table as long as it did not have a reserved sign on it and that they would be providing a full table service (except sitting us at our table apparently). We had the option of sitting in the lovely rooftop terrace area which overlooked the ocean (which most diners were sitting) or inside (which was relatively empty). Naturally we decided to sit in the rooftop terrace area.

If you decide to sit in the rooftop terrace area, you are limited to the bar & terrace menu, which serves more shared plates and bar food; if you sit inside you have a wider range to choose from including their range of steaks. It would have been helpful to have been told this information when we arrived rather than finding out when we were already settled at our table.

We found service to be initially quite slow. When deciding to choose a table, we found many empty tables had not been cleared from the previous diners. This would have been understandable had it been busy, however it was about 1/3 full. We cleared our table ourselves and waited for food menus to arrive, which took over ten minutes. There were QR codes on each table to view the menu and order online ourselves, however as we were guests in the hotel, we had left our phones in our room. Cutlery packs were provided on the table, however ours had missing forks; no water for the table was provided or offered.

Our waitress was lovely, albeit a little inexperienced, however this was understandable as it was only her second shift. The level of service did improve from this point onwards.

We decided to start with two Espresso Martinis from their cocktail menu which arrived quite quickly and were very enjoyable.

For our food, it was their steak night which they offered a 250g rump steak with fries on the side and herb butter on top. We ordered both with a side of peppercorn sauce.

Like the cocktails, the food arrived promptly, which was good. The steak was cooked to our liking and was the most enjoyable part of the meal. The fries however were overcooked and tasted like they were cooked for too long in an air fryer. I thought the steak and fries were good value at $25 however a simple side salad or garnish would not have gone amiss and would have slightly elevated the meal especially as the overcooked fries left the steak feeling a little underwhelming. Sadly the peppercorn sauce could not even salvage the disappointment as this arrived lukewarm and far too peppery (inedible for my partner and just palatable for me who is tolerant to spicer foods. I informed our waitress of the temperature of the sauce and she returned to the kitchen to reheat it. Unfortunately, the sauce returned only slightly hotter, and at this point we had already finished half of our meal.

Unfortunately, it was the most disappointing meal that we had on our trip to the Gold Coast. We would definitely return for a drink, however wouldn’t rush...

*I forgot to take more photos because I was living in the moment, and it was too tasty to not consume instantly!

My partner and I stumbled into COAST for the first time whilst looking for a place with steak. Lord, we were not disappointed.

Firstly, it was a Wednesday. Very quiet, with classic Australian Rock music playing, - amazing, as COAST is fine dining, we didnt expect to hear good music! 😅

We were looked after by one of the best servers I've had in a long time, - German. Pay this man more and do not lose him, you will regret it COAST!

COAST, although did not have a Fench Martini on the menu, they were happy to accommodate. I did not get the lady's name in the bar who made it, but.. give her a damn raise too. It has been so long since I've had a PROPER tasting Martini like that!

My partner and I had the sourdough with smoked butter... ugh, yes. Amazing. I'd order seperate ones next time because I want to eat all the bread... :3

Then we had our glorious steak. We chose chimmi-churri as our sauce, (excellent balance of flavours), a side of delicous roasted potatoes cooked in fat, a side bowl of cabbage and, lord, the browned butter in it was criminal! My partner fought my fork to eat it all. THE ONLY CONCERN - We asked for medium on our steak and got mostly 'medium rare' to 'rare' instead. I know Chef's will typically cook under as customers do not know they 'degree of done', therefore it can be sent back to be taken further if needed, (can't go backwards on cooking a steak), however, when I pay nearly $100 for a plate of it, - cook it correctly please. It was very unfortunate and depressing to give my share of my steak to my partner because it was way too fleshy and raw to even be a 'medium rare'.

Besides that,

We quite literally died and went to heaven real quick at COAST.

Then, we even had dessert... we never stick around for it but COAST had impressed us.

Honestly, we will be back. We will eat more. Between my partner and I, we have over 30 years of industry work and knowledge in hospitality... COAST has delighted us like fat...