Twin Towns Services Club — Restaurant in New South Wales

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 x 100. No exaggeration. Just truth.

I came to Twin Towns on Thursday night, 10th July, carrying a heavy heart. I’m not from around here I travelled up from Grafton, NSW, for a family funeral. One of those trips where the silence in the car ride up feels louder than any music could fix. Grief was sitting deep in my chest, and I’ve been battling my own mental health demons long before I packed that overnight bag.

To be honest, I’ve been feeling like I’ve been walking through life wearing concrete boots. Some days are a fight just to get out of bed, to smile, to breathe like everything’s fine when it isn’t. And this week — this reason for being here just added another crack to the wall I’ve been trying so hard to hold up.

That night, my dad, uncle, cousin, and I headed down to Twin Towns Services Club for a quiet drink and to distract ourselves with the hum of pokies and cheap laughter. We weren’t there to celebrate anything we were just four men trying to hold it together.

But this review isn’t about us. It’s about two women behind the bar who changed the course of my night and maybe, without knowing it, helped hold up that wall for me just a little longer.

Buku and Kelly.

They don’t know me not really. But from the moment I approached the bar, they made me feel seen. Like I wasn’t just another face in the crowd. There was no script, no fake hospitality. Just real, raw, down-to-earth kindness. The kind you can’t teach. The kind that cuts through sadness like sunlight through storm clouds.

After the others turned in around 9pm, I stayed. I couldn’t sleep too much noise in my head, too much emotion in my chest. I wandered back down to the bar, and there she was Buku still working, still smiling, and somehow still remembered my drink. A simple Rum & Coke. But in that moment, it felt like a lifeline. Like someone remembered me.

She asked why I was in Tweed, and I told her the truth: I’m here for a funeral. She didn’t freeze or awkwardly change the subject. Her whole energy shifted softer, realer and she looked at me with a kind of understanding most people can’t fake. She offered thoughts, prayers, presence. That alone was more than most people give.

Then Kelly joined in cheeky, quick-witted, warm-hearted. Together, they carried that bar. For a few hours, it was like the grief in my chest had company. I wasn’t drinking alone I was just a broken bloke being met with kindness by two strangers who didn’t owe me a thing… but gave me more than they’ll ever realise.

To management at Twin Towns: If you’re reading this, hear me clearly: these women are gold. Not good. Gold. Raise them. Praise them. And for god’s sake let them take tips. I would’ve given each of them a $100 tip on the spot, no questions asked. What they gave me that night was worth far more.

To Buku and Kelly if by some chance you ever come across this… You don’t know what that night meant to me. And maybe you never will. But know this: you gave someone who’s been carrying more than he lets on a reason to breathe easier even just for a little while. That night didn’t fix everything, but it reminded me I’m still human. That kindness still exists. That strangers can feel like safe spaces.

And if you’re the kind of people I think you are… Maybe, just maybe, you’ll find this. And maybe you’ll smile. And maybe you’ll wonder who I was.

And that’s more than enough for me.

Just a bloke from Grafton Trying to hold it together, one drink and one kind moment...

"The most unprofessional and overpriced experience yet"

A couple of friends and I decided to check out Twin Towns and grab some lunch after a few hours of recreational sport. After struggling to find a car park under the venue, we entered and were excited to see a few different restaurant offerings and $3 ice cream.

A few minutes later, full of excitement, 2 of us decided to try the Mexican restaurant. While placing an order, both of us wanted to add choriso to our meal... the server was told that there was none available, and she would need to get the night crew to cook more for later. No alternatives were made to "up-sell" they just took our cash and pushed a table number across the counter. Although slightly disappointed, chicken is my usual, so no harm done.

We sat close by as we assumed food would be delivered due to the table number. While watching the 2 young ladies slowly chit-chat about their weekends and some guy, our friend could see her food going cold on a pass while separate servers folded napkins in another area. Our food was brought out in takeaway containers a few moments later. This should have been a dead giveaway, but alas, we were still excited. Realising there was no cutlery, we popped our heads up and asked the girls where to find some with a "just on the table over there" as a response.

After a quick photo, I bite into my "enchilada," only to realise this was the most unbelievably bland "mexican" possible... never in all my years have I regretted a meal so quickly. A basic flour tortilla, plain white rice, unseasoned white beans, overcooked chicken, and avocado dip... that's right, not guacamole, dip. Oh, and an undressed salad topped with 5 dry cubes of tin pineapple.

Desperate and hopeful for a small serving of salsa or some format of flavour, I returned to the counter where not a soul could be found. I waited a few minutes, and during this time, I was able to see a male chef dressed in black. As he passed back and forward in the doorway, he noticed me but seemed to be busy cleaning. With my patience wearing thin and food going cold, l left the Mexican counter and approached the pizza place next door, only to find my server and above chef so enthralled in conversation they didn't notice me.

Asking the staff for some format of salsa. Be it pico de gallo, salsa verde or taquera its clear this cash grab doesn't have an ounce of Mexican in its veins. The solution to my problem... tomato or pre bought smokey chipotle sauce. After settling back at my table with Chipotle, the staff miraculously appeared and could be heard muttering about my table and the great salsa debacle.

Needless to say, if you're craving Mexican food, I'd sooner hit up Mad-Mex, GYG, Zambero, hell, even go to Taco Bell, and that's saying something. Save yourself the $30 odd dollars of disappointment and walk up to Montezumas just...

In March 2021 ,my wife & I had a beautiful experience here. Fabulous dinner at Harbour Fresh and concert with Brian Cadd & Russell Morris. On Sat 15 Feb we thought we'd have a Valentine's night to replicate our previous experience. What a mistake, worst experience ever! Harbour Fresh is gone, restaurants (apart from the Chinese) replaced with a glorified Food Hall. I booked Harbour Terrace with the advertised promise of the Harbour Bar and a "range of dining options to enjoy on the balcony, including cantina-style meals from Amigos Express and delicious Flame pizzas". The only thing about the advertising that is true is that you are on a balcony with a view.

We had to hunt to find Harbour Terrace because you have to walk through the crowded food hall, then through the Pokie hall. Once you find the doors and have them open you are assaulted by the stench of tobacco (and other products) smoke because the eastern end of this dining/drinking area - where the sea breezes come from - doubles as the smoking area.

The only eating option from the table QR code was the Pizza bar, with a couple of non-pizza options. So much for "range of dining options".

Because it was the only thing my wife might like she chose a caesar salad. I chose a meatlovers pizza.

The meals were not delivered to our table, I received a text, I had to manoeuvre my way through the Pokies and half the food hall to find the restaurant then back juggling the salad, pizza and garlic bread, with no tray and no cutlery (none was offered).

The meals were terrible, even the garlic bread was dry. The Caesar was in a small breakfast bowl, had hardly any bacon or crouton, a boiled egg, a sachet of dressing. It was awful. The pizza was swimming in BBQ sauce and had a layer of red onion under the meat toppings. Who puts onion on a meat lovers pizza! It was inedible.

One last thing, the prices were way too high: small pizza $19, Caesar Salad $13, Garlic & herb bread $13.

The concert was just OK, but that is not Twin Towns fault.

We will never go there again and, unless you want to go back to the bad old days of what RSLs used to be like I'd...