The Beach Shack La Cucina + Bar — Restaurant in Port Douglas

Outdoor dining under cover in a residential area. Port Douglas prices at $237 for 2 pastas and 3 pizzas and mixture of beer/wine/soft drinks for 6 people (including 2 kids). Pizzas were good sizes - we enjoyed the Mialino and Vegetarian which had a decent amount of toppings. The Diavola was sparsely topped and a bit meh. The Crespelle alla pescatora was very nice and different from the usual, also a good sized serving. The Calaramata gamberi was also tasty though another prawn would have been good. Pasta was al dente.

There was a slight wait between the pasta arriving and the pizzas. As we tend to wait for all meals to arrive before starting the pastas cooled a bit - our choice to wait but might have been mitigated by food being served on warmed plates especially when outdoors in cooler weather (and at these prices!). Or better coordination of the service.

Overall a 3.5 stars but rounding down as doesnt warrant a 4 for us - nice overall but not amazing, relative to the prices. We were sat near a large noisy table so probably could not appreciate the atmosphere. We went mid August for...

We were very excited to dine in as the restaurant is really close to the resort we were in. When we asked if we could swap Clams with Prawns on the linguini we were told the Chef’s ego was way to high to make such a change, even though I advised I’d be more than happy to pay extra if needed. We just didn’t leave right then because we had other guests with us, so we ordered the Linguini and the 2nd pasta (which comes with prawns). The expectation was high as the chef was so proud of his menu that he could not change it. Well for our surprise the ego does not match the taste. We had to really season it with salt and pepper (anyone with basic taste buds would notice the total lack of flavour), it was worth of any $5 bucks corner shop “wanna be” (funny enough this is a corner restaurant). Our 1st and last visit… Waitress was kind and welcoming, atmosphere was ok too, food was not good whatsoever. Kind of waste of money with a bill $310 (4 mains, 2 pizzas, 2 cocktails, 1 sparkling water, 2 kid’s...

I was a bit hesitant to go because there were many mixed reviews, but my husband and I decided to try it anyway. This is not in the main area of Port Douglas but a little bit further out and as we had a car for the day decided it would be worth giving it a go. I am so glad we did. It is set in a lovely atmosphere, eating out in the open although under a covered canopy and there were plenty of customers. We started with the Grilled Prawns which were delicious. I then had the mussels, and my husband had a pizza (which we can’t remember which one but was fairly plain as he wanted to add the Italian sausage and spicy salami). Both meals were wonderful. We also had the Ciabatta which came with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and garlic butter. It was good to be able to have all three. Service was great, the food was great, and the atmosphere was great. We will be going back when we are in Port...