Steampunk Surfers Paradise — Restaurant in Gold Coast City

Wonderful aesthetic, menu selection was disappointing but worth a visit for a drink.

Update: Some friends of mine were visiting us from Brisbane and we went to Steampunk for some snacks and drinks.

I’m not sure if the menu has changed but overall it seemed to have more variety than the last time I was there.

The ordering is now contactless using a QR code assigned to your table and the system works wonderfully.

There was a few significant downsides to this visit though. My friends ordered a beer tower and we noticed after having poured a round of beers amongst the group that there was a significant amount of what appeared to be mould in the tap portion of the tower.

We brought this to the attention of one the staff members and he barely acknowledged if and then just walked off. Not wanting to cause too much trouble and having already drunk some of the beef we decided to risk continue drinking it. When the staff came back to get the beer tower we unscrewed the tap to show them the mould. Again it was shrugged off and not even an apology was made.

We decided to stay for a while longer to talk so my friends ordered another tower with the hope it was just a once off issue. They brought another tower and the issue was even worse than the first one. We brought it up yet again (after we eventually managed to get the staffs attention attention) and the bar tender walked off looking annoyed, and then we had which I assume was the shift manager come and talk to us and he offered to replace the tower. Finally we got a clean tap which was nice, but we had barely started drinking from the tower when I (who was halfway through my third beer overall) accidentally gestured and knocked over my beer and spilled its liquid on the table (I was quite sober as we had been there for over an hour), just a simple mistake and we made our best efforts to clean it up. A staff member came over and told us it was probably time for us to call an Uber in a fairly unfriendly manner. At this point we decided we didn’t want to hang around there anymore since the service had been so sub-par despite us trying to be as polite and easy going as possible.

It’s a real shame that a place with this kind of potential had such unfortunate service and questionable hygiene practices, because with a bit more effort on the part of the staff it it could have been a 5 star experience but as such it was somewhat off putting.

I live nearby so I will probably give it another chance down the road and maybe they were just having a bad day but they would really need to pick up their game for me to become a regular visitor.

PS. They have tipping built into the payment system, and while I am actually not averse to tipping (I travel to North America and Europe quite frequently and am accustomed to it), it does seem a bit backwards to pre tip for service you haven’t received yet. I tipped 10% on my order but given the service we received that day I would have not tipped if I had anticipated the way it was...

Came in from interstate on a Monday and there were some great drinks and food deals but without that everything is quite pricey. The waitress (Connor) who served us our food was not very friendly or hospitable when bringing our entrees or mains. Seemed like she wasn’t having a good night or just didn’t want to be there, quite passive aggressive. My wife ordered a buffalo chicken burger and it was too spicy for her. She was not in a state to go and let the staff know so I went over and politely asked if they could do anything for us? I was first met with resistance from the manager MJ and straight up sarcasm and rudeness from Connor that really bothered me. She started grilling me saying things like “if your wife didn’t know what it was then she shouldn’t have ordered it” and “thats not our problem that’s her problem”. I didn’t have the full story apparently, but when MJ came over and talked to my wife, she was very helpful and apologetic. My partner had ate this kind of burger before and it wasn’t that spicy then. So she thought it would be fine for her palate. There would be a easy fix to this by having spicy on the menu next to it with a chilli picture or something like GF for celiacs or V for vegos. Regardless, MJ was very helpful after speaking to my wife she gave us a fresh burger and a drink to apologize for Connor’s unprovoked attitude and rudeness which really affected our night. She was in full agreement that Connor’s actions were completely unacceptable and unprovoked. I watched MJ reprimand Connor then saw her complain about us to MJ. Definitely not a great first impression for tourists. I saw her interact with people who she was familiar with and it was like she was a completely different person.. friendly and personable. I cannot fathom why we didn’t receive any of that treatment at all from start to finish. The food and drinks were good and MJ handled it like a pro so we thought we’d be generous...

I have never been more disappointed with a meal experience in my life.

We made the booking for 10 people in advance. At no point did the website state there would be a 20% surcharge nor did the online booking or booking confirmation. I also called the same day and spoke with staff who again did not advise us verbally of the extreme surcharge prior to our arrival.

I confirmed on the phone there would be a child present (as per booking confirmation) and we would require a table with a high chair. Imagine our surprise when we arrived on time to laminated signs hung up around the place advising us of such an extreme mark up.

The greeter advised if we didn’t stay or opted to cancel the booking they’d charge my card $10 per head.

Begrudgingly, we agreed to stay. They took us to our table. A high table with no high chair.

When i pointed out I had called earlier and it was confirmed we’d need a low table with a high chair I was met with a foul attitude and eye rolling.

Eventually they moved us to our table but not without making it obvious that this was an inconvenience to do so.

We used the Me&u ordering platform for our tables and the staff were routinely confused with orders. Each time a staff member walked over to deliver food or beverages we were met with monotone voices, slumped shoulders, frowns, scowls and eye rolls.

We travelled from Sydney to visit this destination bar and it’s safe to say we’ll never be back and we’ll be sure to tell all of our friends we’ve previously recommended to visit to not bother. If we had wanted disgusting service and bad attitudes while delivering mediocre food (mediocre is at best) at an exorbitant price we would have booked a table at Karen’s...