Watergate Port Douglas — Restaurant in Port Douglas

My 30th wedding anniversary was supposed to be a night of celebration, a testament to love, companionship, and the joy of shared experiences. Instead, my partner and I were subjected to an evening that not only soured the milestone but has also left me questioning the integrity of the Queensland dining scene.

Upon arriving at Watergate Restaurant in Port Douglas, we were initially charmed by the ambiance, hoping it would be a prelude to a delightful dining experience. However, the charm quickly dissipated as we embarked on a culinary journey that seemed determined to undermine every expectation of quality and satisfaction.

The starters, ambitiously described on the menu, arrived looking as if they had embarked on a journey far longer than our appetizers should have. The freshness of the ingredients was immediately called into question, with the seafood tasting as if it had made a pit stop in Alice Springs before reaching our plates. A bold statement, perhaps, but I dare say a seafood restaurant in the heart of Australia's desert would have served us a fresher catch.

Each course managed to disappoint more profoundly than the last. The main dishes, which we had hoped would redeem the evening, only further cemented our disillusionment. Overcooked, underseasoned, and presented with what can only be described as culinary indifference, it was as if the kitchen had declared a silent war against the palate.

The dessert, which should have been the final act of redemption, was instead the coup de grâce to any lingering hopes we harbored for a salvaged evening. Lacking in both flavor and imagination, it seemed a fitting end to a meal that had systematically dismantled any enthusiasm we had for the occasion.

The service, while not the primary offender of the night, did little to alleviate the culinary catastrophe unfolding with each course. Politeness was present, yet it was overshadowed by a disconcerting dispassion and inefficiency that seemed to mirror the lackluster effort emanating from the kitchen.

In reflection, the night was not just a disappointment; it was a comprehensive breakdown of what one expects when dining at a restaurant that purports to offer a premium experience. The Watergate Restaurant not only failed to deliver on its promises but also inflicted irreparable damage to my trust in the Queensland dining industry.

As we left the restaurant, the taste of disillusionment lingered longer than any of the flavors we had encountered that evening. My 30th wedding anniversary will be remembered, but for reasons that I wish I could forget. The Watergate Restaurant, through its spectacular failure to provide an evening of enjoyment, has made...

Lets start from the end of the meal. $320.00 for two people. Keep that in mind. Drinks are drinks; they were fine. Entrees were mediocre at best. Mains were disgraceful. Barramundi that was dry, overcooked, boring, lacklustre presentation, and came with what appeared like a kilo of French fries (and this is meant to be fine dining in Port Douglas????). Just boring! My partner ordered the prawn linguine as a main. Perhaps the chef was having difficulty counting this night? We would have thought a main consisted of more than two prawns !!!!!! The taste was stodgy and salty. Onto their third chance to redeem this incredibly disappointing meal. Dessert & coffee to follow....... Well no. We had a 7:30 booking, but they had already sold out of crème brulee. Well, okay, we thought we'd go for a classic Affogato. Um, nope, that's off the menu too. They had discovered before service their coffee machine was broken - lucky we didn't want an espresso martini !!!!!!! Well, we ordered ice cream. Surely this would be housemade, presented on a chilled plate with perhaps a decoration of tropical fruit? Ah, no, it was three tiny scoops of ice cream (clearly NOT housemade) thrown into what appeared as a small cereal bowl that had all been sitting on the pass long enough for the ice cream to arrive melted. I've served better desserts to 3-year-olds. We felt very sorry for one of our waitresses. Her very first night, clearly no one had taken the time to show her the menu, or rather what was missing from the menu. Not her fault at all, and not fair to put her first shift as a Saturday night service, albeit a rather quiet Saturday night, maybe that should have been our first red flag. The next waitress to serve us could not be found at the end of our meal. Where should we go to get the bill? Really poor service. We will not return. So disappointing as we had been told in Melbourne to have dinner here based on a friend's visit 9 months ago. Things have rapidly slid downhill for this restaurant, and we will not be back. Interestingly, the table next to us returned one of their main courses as it came with the free addition of melted plastic bits all through it. Yuck....

Pretty poor. I cannot recommend this place. Do not eat here. Look at how many bad reviews it has recently. This is a restaurant in crisis.

I had high hopes when I booked this. The restaurant is very nice looking.

Unfortunately this was the poorest dining experience we had all week. I'm sad that I left this for our last night thinking it was going to be fancy and delicious. Instead, it was mediocre.

The menu is rather unispired to start with. Dare I say actually boring? They only had ONE special and it sounded awful. Mushroom pancakes? This menu is a weird half Asian half modern Australian fusion. Honestly, pick one. It's not 2004. Fusion doesn't really work, you just get weird food, which is exactly what happened here. Nothing was nice. Everything was weird.

I had the lamb ribs for an entree. The lamb tasted more like hogget. Very "gamey lamb fat" flavour. Wasn't nice. Didn't finish it.

The chicken main I had was not a nice flavour. It was "strange", "weird", I could only eat a couple of bites.

Our waitress was nice, but we were only asked for drinks once in the entire meal. Felt like there was no service really.

I ordered a blended pina colada and it turned up iced. It was not drinkable, I do not think they had ever made a pina colada before because it tasted like a glass of coconut cream. It was undrinkable. The manager saw me return my drink but made no attempt to save the service in any way. No offer of another drink, nothing at all. Excuses actually. From her and the bartender. Very poor. At that point I decided just not to spend any more money here.

I'm looking at the dessert menu now and it's so uninspired and boring. These sound like desserts from the supermarket. So disappointing.

I'm about to leave, hungry, thirsty, feeling a bit sick and no doubt about to be charged an arm and a leg for this. Edit: $350 for 3 people. Couldn't even eat the food.

Poor food. Poor service. Do not...