Melaleuca — Restaurant in Port Douglas

I don’t normally write reviews but in this case it’s necessary. We were holidaying in Port Douglas and Melaleuca was highly recommended by multiple people while we were there. Unfortunately our experience was not great. When we arrived (a little early) we were seated quickly and all was well. We were really looking forward to a good experience on our last night in Port Douglas. We were asked if we wanted sparkling, still or tap water. I asked for still. After a very long time (15 mins) we had no water (i.e. nothing to drink) eventually a different waiter than the one who took our order was doing the rounds and asked if we wanted water (tap, which was fine by us). Our waiter for the evening then returned to take our order for drinks. This took about 20 mins from when we were first seated. After waiting for another 10 to 15 mins we had to ask if our drinks were still coming. Another wait and they finally arrived. Then after another long wait our waiter took our food order (entrees and main) and I asked for the recommended paired wine. Our waiter then went to the wrong table to give them a knife for the steak we ordered even though they had finished their meals). The entrees took a very long time and the paired wine was missing so I had to remind them/ask for it again (not much point in the paired wine coming after the food was eaten). The main took a very long time as well and we noticed other tables getting their orders in a reasonable time so it was starting to get irritating but the food was nice once it arrived. I had a second wine and ordered a third but it never arrived. We waited for another long time after finishing our main meals before we were asked if we would like to see the dessert menu and we said yes please. Our waiting then went and took other orders, filled drinks at other tables etc so again we waited to see the dessert menu and yes surprise, surprise the dessert took ages to get to our table. We ran out of water on our table about 4 times during the night. Then when we got them bill there was a wine which was never delivered added to the bill. When I questioned this they removed it but PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR ITEMS ON THE BILL!!! Our booking was for 6:45pm and our desserts arrived at 9pm so 2hrs and 15mins to get a 3rd course seems a bit excessive. No apologies (even for the non existent additional wine) for wait times, mistakes just subtle comments suggesting we were being deceptive. I suspect this review will go nowhere but if they keep this kind of service model in place this restaurant will be gone within 5 years. We really aren’t fussy people but when your paying these kind of prices, service is part of the experience. Highly recommend you find an alternative like Nautilus which was absolutely outstanding (or Salsa). Kind of soured the...

We dined here last night. We had the chicken liver pate to start, which was smooth, tasty and more than sufficent for us to share.

I then ordered, for the main, the crispy pork belly and my partner ordered the Crispy Baby Barra, with a side of sauted potatoes. When the meals arrived the first thing I noticed was the lack of crisp on the pork. I raised this with the front of house, who asked me if I wanted something else from the menu? I suggested that she speak to the kitchen about the error. She came back and said the kitchen could redo the order but it would take 10-20 minutes!

When I asked her to redo my partners meal as well, she mentioned there was nothing wrong with his meal and she was correct! However, when you come out together to dine, you expect to eat together.

This lead to another problem as it turned out there was no more baby barra available, so he had to change his meal.

When we finally got our meals, they were nice, sadly I cant say they were brilliant, as the pork still wasnt as crispy as it should be, and the potatoes weren't either.

The only person at fault here is the chef and they should take note. If you are offering Crispy Pork on your menu, make sure that every pork dish that leaves your kitchen, is as it's intended, as next time it might be 6 mains that are returned, rather than one baby barra, as people pay good money to dine together, ...

We were very disappointed with our experience at this restaurant. It was our last night in Port Douglas and we decided to go all out. When we arrived we were offered some water, but after 10mins of waiting I had tI ask to have some water poured and ask to place a drinks order. We had a nice bottle of Chablis ($120 but it was worth it) and we ordered natural oysters, 2 entrees and 2 mains. The oysters and entrees came out in good time but after waiting an hour for our mains and seeing tables who came in after us with more people receive their food we asked if our mains were on the way. This led to waiters all crowding around and talking to the kitchen. They said because it was busy they did not have enough pans to cook the fish (interesting because other people had fish dishes). They said it would be 5 more minutes we had finished our bottle of wine and after waiting 10mins decided to pay up and leave. There was no acknowledgment of a mistake being made on their part and using the excuse of not having an enough pans and saying it is busy but only half the restaurant being used was a poor excuse. I have previously worked in the hospitality business for 7 years, everyone makes mistakes it should have been acknowledged and there should have been an apology. I would NOT RECOMMEND THIS RESTAURANT when there are so many other beautiful...