Pablito's Sanctuary Cove — Restaurant in Gold Coast City

My experience at Pablito’s Sanctuary Cove today, on my birthday, was nothing short of a disaster. The staff were not friendly and seemed like they didn’t want to be there, which really ruined the vibe and atmosphere of the evening.

To make matters worse, when they brought out the cake for my birthday, they didn’t provide any knives or spoons, leaving us in a situation where we were expected to cut the cake with the candles and eat with our hands. It was incredibly awkward and embarrassing. After we’d blown out all the candles, my stepdad had to get up and ask for knives and spoons to cut the cake.

The problems didn’t stop there. The menu was surprisingly short, and the waitress seemed clueless about what vegetables were included in the dishes. She couldn’t even tell us what vegetables were in the dishes, which was frustrating and unprofessional.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, the food itself was a letdown. It was flavorless, over-spiced, and the enchiladas tasted like something akin to mashed dog food. Honestly, the Mexican fare at Guzman y Gomez is light years ahead. On top of this, they served undercooked food that had to be sent back for further cooking. To add insult to injury, they even forgot one of our enchiladas.

What’s truly disappointing is that they couldn’t fulfill my special requests for birthday decorations, and they didn’t even answer the phone when I tried to book a reservation. I won’t be back, and I believe this restaurant needs to be removed from the dining scene. It truly ruined my night, and they weren’t even apologetic about it even after a week had passed. I feel awful for bringing my family to such a terrible place, and I can’t help but feel sorry for the owner, who probably doesn’t even know how awful this place is. I regret giving this restaurant a chance on my birthday today, and I wouldn’t recommend Pablito’s Sanctuary...

I am confused as to whether I went to the same restaurant other people are writing about? Perhaps when we went, they were down staff or a chef or something.

We waited over an hour for our food, in which people that ordered after received their entrees and mains and left and paid!!! When I asked about half an hour ish, the waitress told us she had just checked on our food, but did not say how far off it was. We probably waited another 30 minutes after that. When the food arrived, my friend said the wait was pretty unfair, given other people received their food before us. The waitress was apologetic and did offer us 10% off our total.

The menu, under the ‘loaded fries’, lists ‘corn chop tortillas’, but arrived with potato chips. My friend asked about this, and the waitress said it was a typo, I understand mistakes happen, but this can also be resolved easily. I also think it is false advertising as what you are serving differs from the description.

My food was served lukewarm, I am 90% sure the ‘brisket’ on my loaded fries was the one in the bag from woolies. I wish I saved my money, and went to Guzman instead because the food is 300% better.

When we went to pay, the waitress said the issue was our menu ticket never printed. Again, I understand that accidents happen, but still more could have been done, especially when I asked about it at the 30 minute mark, and she obviously had not checked on it, or she would have realised what happened.

I would encourage people not to go here, given the food and service. I do apologise for how scathing this is, but for the cost this restaurant is charging, I’d...

Can I start by saying the food that we did get was fantastic, especially the tacos. That is where it ended. The organisation and some of the staff's attitudes were very disappointing. Being locals and wishing to support the new venue we booked dinner ahead by two weeks for Sunday, which we knew was the last day of the boat show. I also rang the Wednesday before to confirm the booking and they were aware it was for a birthday. At no time prior to attending did they communicate that it was going to be a set limited set menu rather than the menu advertised on media, because of the boat show which was the first disappointment. This was followed up by the fact that they had run out of pulled pork taco's. Clearly no forward planning for the boat show. We were then told they could not serve espresso martinis as they had run out of coffee. (Customer service would have warranted someone to do the 2 minute walk to the IGA and purchase some coffee beans, which they stock). Our drinks then sat on the bar, while the manager decided to converse with the bar staff and make a paper plane to throw at the staff rather than assisting the wait staff to deliver drinks (for manager benefit it was approx 7 pm, in case you want to look at the footage). Then the wine on the list had run out and they replaced it with a cheaper bottle. Although when it came time to pay, which we were more than happy to do, but not be charged on the bill $64 for the privilege. When questioned, staff informed us that the wine had just come in and didn't have a price for it yet??? Has does that work! Will be hard to...