Light Years - Burleigh Heads — Restaurant in Gold Coast City

I love a place that can seamlessly blend bar and restaurant together - and can deliver on both.

As our hostess walked us through the space, I noticed that they were easily booked out. Friends and lovers sat at tables, sharing meals and laughing with cocktails in hand.

Despite being full, I found that our table could easily talk to one another without fighting above the music or bad acoustics. We chose our meals based on my friends recommendation - miso caramel eggplant, eggplant katsu and cumin spiced friend cauliflower. We paired this with the Lola Paloma and the geisha cocktail.

Our drinks arrived shortly after the waitress left. I loved the bold flavours of the watermelon and chilli in the Lola paloma, a combination I haven't really seen or tried before. I wouldn't normally drink a cocktail while I'm eating, but the flavours compliment the asian dishes so perfectly, that I found myself sipping on it after almost every bite.

The bao buns were divine, the presentation simple but clean. The miso eggplant was delicious and had a very different taste to the baos. The cauliflower was quite coconutty, and I found it interesting that it was served with mint leaves on top but it actually created a really fresh and tropical profile. The only thing I'd say is it they could have been a little more generous with the sauce it was resting on. However, everything was fresh and full of incredible, interesting flavours.

Overall, I really loved my experience and I would definitely come back to Light Years again. I think this could be my new favourite restaurant on the gold coast.

For more reviews, follow @thetasteoftime.brisbane...

Disappointing and Unprofessional Customer Service

We went to this restaurant for a late lunch at 4:15 PM, and unfortunately, the experience left a lot to be desired. Despite the restaurant being completely empty, with around 20 available tables, the staff member at the entrance refused to seat us, making a discriminatory remark. It was evident he didn’t want to help us, and we were left feeling uncomfortable and unwelcome.

Determined to enjoy our meal, we made an online booking for 4:30 PM, which showed multiple available time slots. When we returned with our reservation, the same staff member suddenly changed his tune, offering a half-hearted apology and blaming the system for the earlier issue. It was clear that this excuse was insincere.

While we eventually had our meal—because we do enjoy the food here—the overall experience was tainted by the poor and unprofessional service. Throughout our time there, the restaurant remained empty, which made the earlier refusal to seat us even more baffling.

It’s unfortunate that such poor customer service is causing the restaurant to lose potential business. This experience was not only bad but also sad, and I hope management takes steps to ensure other customers don’t have to go through...

The staff were great in accommodating us a seat before our table was ready so we could enjoy a drink before eating however three of the cocktails ordered were terrible and we did not drink them. They were left full on the table and during the dining experience not once were we asked if everything was okay or if we wanted to order more drinks or food. The food was a similar situation. The fried rice was quite chard and didn’t have much flavour and the veg spring rolls were really terrible. We left 3/4 spring rolls on the plate and almost the full serving of rice. Again no one came to our table or asked about our meal at any point in the night. We didn’t want to make a fuss as we were there for a special occasion but if someone had asked or made a little more effort in that respect I definitely would have asked to replace the drinks potentially or even just order another cocktail as the coconut espresso martini was delicious! The three cocktails ordered that weren’t any good were pina colada’s. Not on the menu but offered as ‘one of the classics’. It was a nice place and some of the food was good but overall probably not worth the two hour trip...