Mermaid Beach Tavern — Restaurant in Gold Coast City

First visit with my family since the new owner and renovations and was pretty disappointed to say the least. Unfortunately this a place I wouldn't recommend, and here's why -

Let me start off by saying, the reno is really nice.

Our food order was placed at 7pm, our entree came out pretty quickly, garlic breads and chicken wings, the wings, for $17, were just 5-6 deep fried wings with the tiniest amount of sauce in a little bowl, not even any type of coating on the wings. Just tastless.

Then there was the wait.....and wait..... and then waiting some more......an hour has gone by and no sign of our meals, so I asked a staff member in which I was told it usually an hour wait for food and the meals would be out in 5 mins. 20 mins go by and still no sign of our food, so I go back up and asked whom appears to be a supervisor/manager (that seemed stressed, I say this by the tone in her voice, guessing with the mounting complaints she was receiving from other diners) how long our meals will be and if I can get our kids meals out asap (I now have very hungry 2yr old & 4yr old that are crying to go home) was told they would be out soon along with the rest of our meals and that although it was 'not our fault' the kitchen had 4 team members not show up for shift (what's going on that 4 team members wouldn't show up for their shift?) Being in the hospitality industry myself I can understand the challenges we're faced with in terms of staffing, but do yourselves a favour, how about when customers are placing an order you TELL THEM that there's an 1hr 30min wait, otherwise if you cant provide an adequate service, then shut the kitchen down. I watched tables literally walking out.

We were given an apology for the wait time and offered 1 overcooked garlic bread and a round of drinks compensation, in which maybe only a few of us took up on the offer, we just wanted our food by this point.

When the food came out, the kids schnitzels were overcooked and chewy, they couldn't eat it and my steak, which I paid close to $50 for was cooked nicely, however, that salad, what a disgrace, just wilted leaves on a plate with dressing, no carrot, tomato, cucumber, just wilted leaves, I paid nearly $50 for this!! We ended up taking half our meals home.

The funny part was when leaving, seeing staff members first pump each other like they'd done a...

Below was my review from 7 months ago. I've been here since too, and all was good. I went there last night with a number of friends for my birthday dinner. The waitresses were nice and friendly, atmosphere was buzzing, all my friends (4 other adults and 3 kids) had great food, but for the birthday boy, my food was rubbish. And when one is being shouted, there is great reluctance to announce that one's food is no good, so I just smiled and told everyone it was great rather than spoil the mood. I ordered the pork belly and was really looking forward to it too. When my plate arrived, it was obvious that the pork belly on my plate was going to be crap. It was dry and tasteless and my knife had a real workout trying to cut through it. This bit of meat had not been cooked that night and had been reheated from maybe the day before or even the day before that, so it seemed to me. This was among the top three bad meals I have ever had. I wouldn't go back under my own steam, and if someone invited me, I'd come up with an excuse to be somewhere else. I cannot believe whoever cooked my poor bit of pork belly thought they'd get away with this. So obviously the 1star review was just for my dinner. BELOW: My previous review - from way back when things were good in the world. Peter B Local Guide·72 reviews·11 photos 7 months ago-Edit Delete Dine in | Lunch | $40–60 Food: 5/5 | Service: 5/5 | Atmosphere: 5/5

Recommended dishes Crispy Skin Salmon Bowl, Chips

Parking space Plenty of parking Response from the owner7 months ago Cheers for the 5...

This WAS a great hotel. It has just been renovated and changed considerably.It had a Brazilian crew in its kitchen and they produced some of the best food I've eaten in a local hotel.

However The New Mermaid Beach Tavern is now in my opinion Not so great. No service or creating.

I visited at night and walked through to new surroundings that were cold and hard and lacked the creature comforts of good seating. The lighting or lack of it made reading the small printed menu difficult.

The menu did not impress me or my companion and I felt that the prices were high to help pay for the renovation. The live music that was also channeled around the Venu was TOO loud and made it hard to talk..

We left the Tavern without so much as even having a drink and found nothing on the menu that was appealing to us.

Hotels (Pubs) in general have lost the plot, they come up with these fancyful menus that the majority of people don't want, they dolly up the place and then think that they are a 5 Star restaurant. There Not They are a Pub.

Good quality food a reasonable size serve and great value for money is what is missing..... Bring this back and the customers will come back again and again.

So the New Mermaid Beach Tavern is not for me and get a big...