Laguna Blu Bar & Dining — Restaurant in New South Wales

Absolutely horrendous service last night - FOH Management abysmal. The most incompetent any of our party had ever experienced. Only indoor tables + 1 outdoor apparent (so about a dozen total), yet staff run off their feet. Staff individually and collectively had zero idea what they were doing. No water. No salt and pepper. No orders. Walking around with vacant looks on their faces etc. One person not even in Uniform - was he pulled from maintenance that day?

20 minutes after seating (with no record of our reservation despite making one months in advance with email reminders), we still hadn’t even got water or a drinks order. Throughout the night absolutely nothing at all happened unless we went and got it. The people behind us with young kids waited 1hr45 for kids’ meals and were in disbelief. We ordered entrees but they came with the mains all at once in a similar timeframe and the staff seemed surprised when we questioned this. We ordered a bottle of wine - had to chase that too. Then asked for another only to be told they had no red wine. At all. The waitress brought out a 2/3 full bottle of a different wine and offered us glasses.

The food was actually pretty good despite this - a solid 8/10. Lamb shank was great and generous. Charceuteria Board huge - not the highest quality produce but not average either. Mussels had several that were unopened though / total amateur hour there and seems a recurrent issue from other reviews.

There is absolutely no excuse for this abysmal service at all. I don’t care whether the FOH Manager was there that night (I’m guessing not), you have a deputy snd you delegate. I don’t care about staff shortages - which didn’t even seem apparent numbers-wise (although it seemed like everybody was new, so I would buy a shortage of anyone who had a clue being an issue). These things happen. You mitigate. You step in yourself. And if you can’t provide even halfway normal service, at the BARE MININUM you warn people of a long wait before you seat them. And you really should do that proactively when you know it’s going to be an issue. And close tables. It would have been a far better experience to have been rung ahead of time apologising for not being able to accept our booking. Or to reject walk-ins. Or do anything except what they did, which was nothing.

Have you ever heard of a restaurant running out of wine? At the start of a long weekend? Even if you had to go to BWS, you’d get it done. There are no justifications for this shitshow at all.

Instead, they get a 2 star review because some selfish, incompetent and/or poorly incentivised managers can’t do their jobs properly.

Permanent Issue - the place itself is next to the water feature pool of the Oaks Resort, but the layout feels like an indoor cafeteria. It’s a real shame as it has potential. Probably need to sit outside on a warmer night. They do do some attempt at it with lighting and murals, but realistically needs a reno for a better décor and hence ambiance.

The individual floor staff were actually really nice and apologetic, but not competent and clearly not properly trained, supervised or managed. This is entirely a...

Ambience was great tonight with music, so thought we would give this a go. We were also baited with “happy hour” but didn’t realise they also add a “Sunday surcharge”, so it’s really just normal Sydney prices.

We ordered two cocktails, one basically a Prosecco with passion fruit (underwhelming for $13.80 really including the surcharge) and the strawberry spike (strawberry liquor and gin) + just two kids soft drinks and happy hour price was just under $50!

For food we ordered 1 pizza, a kids hotdog and kids spaghetti, and a pork belly and it was a further 116.70! Sydney prices are definitely more friendly than this place and in all honesty the quality is good but subpar in comparison. The hotdog and chips was a mini hotdog, the spaghetti was nice enough, pizza (well, pizza is never really bad, but we did have to wait up-would of 40 mins for it and had to chase its whereabouts as the three of us were part way through our dishes). The pork belly itself was nice I’ll give them that (wasn’t at all fatty which was great) but the cabbage underneath was overbearing and didn't suit the dish. It couldn’t have also used a sauce to give it a bit more flavour.

I’ve eaten at a stack of amazing places all over Sydney, some of the most expensive (which are similarly priced - always happy to pay good money if the food is great) and all leave this place for dead on service (it wasn't busy tonight and still inattentive, you order yourself from the table using your phone (much like a family friendly pub) and it’s quite cold feeling), quality of product, and definitely value for money.

Last night we ate in town and enjoyed a seafood platter which was fresher, tastier and much better value in all honesty.

Overall, Ok to good - not amazing, so it’s hard to justify why they’re charging...

My recent visit to Laguna Blu Bar and Dining, located within the resort I was staying at, was unfortunately a letdown, leading to a 1 out of 5-star rating.

Food Quality: Unimpressive The meals, especially the lamb ragu papardelle, were disappointing. The dish had scarcely any lamb, and the overall quality of the food felt like it was hastily prepared from frozen ingredients, lacking the expected freshness and flavor.

Service: Sluggish and Forgetful Despite the restaurant not being crowded, the service was frustratingly slow. The staff repeatedly forgot our orders, necessitating reminders from us for our food and drinks.

Presentation: Lacking Thoughtfulness Oddly, our pizza was served in a takeaway box rather than on a plate, suggesting that the staff were prematurely preparing to close, despite there being ample time before the actual closing hour.

Beverage Mishap: Sangria Dispute We encountered an issue with our beverage order. The red wine sangria, altered by the addition of orange juice (not mentioned in the menu), was a surprise. When we addressed this, the staff insisted it was correctly made, although we ultimately were not charged for it. This insistence, despite the clear deviation from the menu, was unsettling.

Overall Impression: Cannot Recommend In summary, the dining experience at Laguna Blu Bar and Dining was far from enjoyable. The combination of subpar food, slow service, and a lack of proper presentation and hospitality made for an unpleasant meal. I would not recommend this restaurant unless its location within the resort is the only...