Spice Den Restaurant Casuarina — Restaurant in New South Wales

We were so excited to have an annual date night, we hired a baby sitter when we realized our hopes were too high.

FOOD COCKTAILS SERVICE - in many areas. COVID

Our order a nibbly dish before anything else, to have it arrive with what we ordered next 25 mins later, then 2 mins later our mains arrived minus one of the meals we ordered, which they had no recollection off. The food was horrendous, all the fish & pork dish along with the beef had a frozen/dry/stringy and rubbery taste, while the sauces where reasonably nice but watery, the vegetables were the only appealing and tasty part of the dishes. There were absolutely no caramelization or fire flavours that the dishes scream for and have had previously.

We ordered 2 x cocktails 1st - pineapple based cocktail tasted like limes. 2nd - Chilli Margarita, with a chilli-infused tequila and chilli and salt rim, the margarita had Zero chilli flavour, the rim was chilli flake and some salt on the rim, the Owner who stank like cigarettes in the middle of service bought out an empty bottle of tequila with chillies in the bottom explaining that is what they used.... 🤔..... (I would like to add the chilli salt rim, I imagined to be crushed chillies added to the salt).

When I explained to a waitress we could not eat the entree as it tasted cold, dry and microwaved she eyeballed us, said she would let the chef know and never came back...

2_3. When I informed a waiter regarding one of the two mains that the meat was dry, stringy and microwaved he questioned our second main, which he forgot to put the order through...

A family of 4, two young girls sat next to us, they had finished, had their plates cleared and sat for 30 mins before they called a waiter to request the bill. No Desert menu or Bill was offered when clearing the table.

I ended up asking for a manager and was given a very dressed down owner, who was argumentive, however not once did he argue over my assumptions on microwaving all their meats, and when asked why our details were not taken for COVID, he said he assumed we had pre-booked, even tho we had to wait for an available table, like everyone else. Not one person gave their details, and we were sitting directly next to another family, with less than a curtain separating us. The tables full of people surrounding us were less than 1 meter apart.

There were zero social distancing and zero customer service.

The owner then pleaded not to put any bad reviews, which has given me a conscious, that is something I do not need, it is the restaurant that needs to pick...

My wife and daughter and I came to The Spice Fen for dinner, We booked a table for 3 at 5 PM.

We ordered Chicken satay and rice to come out for first for our daughter, the prawn crackers, The duck pancakes, roti bread with satay sauce and the Wagyu beef pad see yuew and we requested fresh chilli and the waitress asked if we wanted fresh or hot chilli sauce we asked for both so we could have extra spice with our food.

No kids menu so our daughters kids meal was $28 dollars.

We first received our Peking duck pancakes No fresh or hot chili sauce came out, Then we received a bowl of rice we asked for cutlery for our daughter, but the young waiter couldn’t manage that. Then the chicken satay came out, still no cutlery for our daughter we asked again and still no success. Then the roti bread came out with the Wagyu Pad see yuew and finally the chilli came out and we got some cutlery for our daughter to start eating her food.

The sauces on the side of the roti and the satay were the same sauce and tasty, the duck pancakes also tasty but all cold and cold duck on cold pancakes isn't a excellent idea.

My daughter spat out the chicken satay, and then I tasted it, and it was full of gristle and tasted Terrible, but the pineapple on the side was really tasty the highlight of our experience actually.

The Roti bread was bland and very oily no flavor or seasoning in sight. The Wagyu beef was inedible both for my wife and myself, dry over cooked and very difficult to try and to chew.

I try not to leave negative reviews Though after numerous conversations with the management onsite and after our reservation, They seem to think that the problem was that the food wasn’t suited to my personal taste.

For someone that has been in hospitality since 1998 and cooked on many different levels I really tried my best to come into a resolution without having to post about my experience, Though the conclusion of it being that it wasn’t suited to my taste, I would like to let other hospo crew and foodies know that if they go to this establishment , they will leave very sadly disappointed.

We dined at many restaurants in the area, and unfortunately the Spice Den is at the very bottom...

We were staying at the hotel for two nights and decided we'd grab lunch on the day we checked in. There were 4 of us dining.

Despite us standing at the entrance to the restaurant, no one came to greet us. We had to walk further in to grab attention of a raggedy looking waiter who was sitting on the step to the outdoor area, chatting away with a guest.

The restaurant was more than half empty as we were eating around 2.45. He walked up to us and said "booking?", I was expecting more a "hello welcome, do you have a booking with us?". Nothing of the sort. I was immediately turned off but we were all so hungry having just driven a few hours to the hotel. I said "no". He then "scanned" the restaurant and asked us if we wanted to sit outside or in, I said it didn't matter. He then haphazardly pointed to a table of 6 seats/place settings. Didn't tell us which side to sit on, waited for us to sit and then cleared the table where we sat?????? He should have advised us which side of the table to sit on so we could sit accordingly.

We ordered 2 cocktails and a mocktail. The service is BEYOND SLOW. The bar staff were standing there chatting to each other instead of making our drinks. When we did receive them, they weren't anything special.

The food was tasty but it left a sour taste in our mouth as the service was heinous. In addition to the male waiter, there was a younger waitress who delivered our drinks, no smile, no acknowledgement to our "thank you" after placing the drinks on the table, no nothing. The male server brought out our food, dropped the plate on the table and started to leave when we had to ask him what he served us (we ordered a "surprise banquet" menu so we didn't know what we were getting, which was recommended by another waitress, who by the way was lovely).

Once we had finished our lunch, no one approached us to show us the dessert menu or offer the bill. We went up and paid.

You need to seriously consider training your staff or implementing new staff or management. I rarely leave reviews, however this one needed to be said. We were appalled by your service. We all come from Hospitality management backgrounds, this was below...