Little Mermaid Cafe Bar — Restaurant in Gold Coast City

Funky and cool looking cafe with the addition of live music but sadly my experience overall wasnt fantastic. The attitude was a little too cool for school for my liking. It was over an hour wait for food which was ok but we were not told until we had already been sitting for half an hour. Forgot our reorderd coffees twice which arrived a good 40mins after we had finished breakfast. A second male waiter came out after our lovely first waitress had 'reseated' us and already given menus who proceeded to tell us about how tired he was as they had functions until early hours of the morning the night before and he was back again for the morning shift. He was complacent and his attitude was also a bit arrogant. I have worked in hospitality for many years and this is typically my frustration with some workers. Customers dont care about how tired you are they just want an enjoyable dining experience with good service. That said though...... We had a sweet and wonderfully polite and friendly little waitress however who seated us swiftly upon our arrival in a clean ultra comfy cushioned booth seat and table which I commented to my friend was ultra cool. Was quite shocked however to see her pulled aside a minute later by what appeared to be the floor manager to tell her from what I coud gather, to move us because a group of young girls who had been waiting in line behind us wanted to sit at our table instead. Even though we were a party of 3 (of which 2 of us had arrived and were waiting for our 3rd friend to come) it turned out, so were they. We had waited patiently and were in line first in front of them so seated first. We humbly obliged though when our friendly young waitress asked if we minded moving as I didnt want her getting in any trouble and also presumed they must have needed the 6 seater booth table for a larger group coming in when in fact, this was NOT the case. We were quickly moved to a small uneven and wobbly uncomfortable messy 4 seater uncleared table outside, which she apologised for and thanked us for moving. I was however, quite shocked as we walked past the 3 young girls standing at the door who had requested our comfortable clean table, one of them again pointed to yet another table with a swing seat nearby (also taken by 6 or so existing customers I might add )and she said "actually cant we have that one instead?" I couldn't believe it and said that perhaps these young girls might like the choice of all tables in the cafe and that everyone should just stand up and move and give up their seats for them while they make up their mind where they'd like to sit. Sadly it made these girls appear very young and entitled who are used to getting their own way, their egos stroked and their demands always met by such people as the male floor manager. They also appeared to have spent the whole time taking selfie photos in the booth instead of actually dining and spending any decent money with this business. It became quite apparent that Instagram popularity and keeping in favour with the young self entitled masses appeared more important to the manager than a first in first served process of seating good paying customers who I can guarantee would have spent more money than 3 young Instagram bloggers. #nomanners#selfentitled #neversurviveintherealworld#favourtismsucks. I can only presume these girls were regulars of the cafe or just see themselves as Instafamous to be treated with such favouritism. #yournotthekardashians. The cafe however does have a funky vibe and retro decor, live music with yummy food although a long wait. Sadly the manager ( if that is who he was) requesting the waitress to get us to move to make way for the demands of the slightly younger, scantily clad more Instagram worthy people left a bad taste in my mouth. I was a first time customer and had heard this cafe was good, but sadly like a lot of good cafes that I have loved, that sometimes start out great, ego and complacency appear to get in the way so I wont be a...

4 Feb 2025 lunch- super great to see Lulu and now Kayla is back, these two really know how to multitask and manage a busy operation while being so friendly- this is why I come back , they remember my name and offer some conversation, the food is ok, portions are small considering the price, the new menu ordering system with QR code still needs work but it’s better for me have the people contact. Came in today with Mum, I had the smashed AVO, I knew the portion was small for 18 bucks so added 2 eggs for 5 bucks more. Mum had the salad - drinks were only 1 coffee and it was 50 bucks. I will be back as it’s a 10 min walk from my home.

10 May, 2023, Super happy to see LuLu working behind the coffee machine and greeting me at the register, it’s always very nice to have your name remembered. Today I came with my next door neighbour and she had eggs on toast and I had my fav’ ham/ Cheese Croissant we both had coffees. Very good as usual.

21 Jan, 2023, Tea, pressed juice, ginger carrot, croissant with ham/ Cheese. Love these, why, because they are crispy fresh, always get a hello from Mary and she remembers my name, everyone loves that. See you all again.

26 Oct 2022. Back today after about 8 months, Kayla was there and brilliant as usual, I had smashed Avo, a boost juice and half strength latte. Love sitting outside and just kicking back. Thanks again for the great service.

12 Feb 2022. Kayla and Mary outstanding again today, multitasking, Kayla did a great job today, love the coffee and her groovy shoes, blue. Bridget is the best barista on the go,d coast. Jan 2nd 2022 930 am, Avo on toast and Latte, can’t think of a better way to relax, always sit outside, read the news, the team are so friendly to me, Carla, Jean, Mary, lady with the coloured hair, forgot her name took my order today so fast, that’s Kayla, and the lady from Brazil (blonde hair), strong team working together, thank to the kitchen team, meals are constantly excellent and great presentation. I think Carla was off today. Food came out so fast even before coffee, that’s amazing. Thank you team.

22nd Nov 2021, in with Mum and our dog Mickey, rainy day, no worries we sat outside, Mum had bacon and eggs and I had Avocado with some fried Halloumi, had this about 5 times and the consistency and portion size is always solid. We had a tea and a Latte, Mickey was happy with the water provided. —— Came in today after 7 months (22 Oct 2021), ordered the avo smash, latte and a juice (Kale ginger and other goodies):, sat outside after checking in. Service so fast, I can see a big improvement in friendliness and service, the food was always well presented but today I could see the chef is really passionate about the presentation, well done. Great taste, great colours and good portion. I was recommended the Halloumi as an addition, (well done), it’s the first time I have had an additional suggestion here at Little Mermaid and I was impressed. It was really tasty. I forget the waitress name, Carolina helped me register for my regular coffee with a new paperless system rather than a coffee card, thank you Carolina. See you...

The food was great and the café itself had a fantastic feel to it, the service unfortunately was lacking. Myself and 4 friends attended for lunch on Saturday. Our waitress was very friendly, unfortunately it was the manager on duty who lacked in customer service and left us very disappointed. It only takes one person with a bad attitude to ruin a business. The food was great however we had to wait sometime for cutlery, they had forgotten to provide cutlery with our meals. We stayed for over 3 hours having a lovely catch up with friends. After requesting a bottle of wine to share between us, the waitress came back to our table and said her manager said we were not able to order more drinks then the manager (Kirralee) came over and said that she could not serve us drinks as we appeared intoxicated, she stated that she had observed our table and decided that we were not able to be served another drink. To my absolute shock I explained to her that she should check our bill as she would find that our alcohol intake was not enough to become intoxicated and our bill shows that between the 5 of us we had not quite 3.5 drinks each in over 3.5 hours. I also said that the service had been lacking and in the 3.5 hours clearly 1 drink per hour is within a responsible service. I informed her that only once was water brought to the table even after having to ask a few times. I also informed her that the service was lacking and orders had been lost therefore with the minimal table service we were not drinking much and had sat at the table for quite some time with no drinks, not even water. So this was a very disappointing experience and one of the 2 managers on duty could possibly benefit from customer service training and a management role should be given to someone with skills and a better manner to suit the role. The other manager on duty who we provided the feedback to was very professional thankfully and apologised for the experience. We are a group of ladies who dine out very regularly and always dine locally to support local small businesses, this is the first negative experience we have had with any of the local...