Botanic Gardens Restaurant & Cafe — Restaurant in Queensland

Ever had a nightmare experience eating out? This was ours… Me, myself and my elderly parents came for brunch at 11am. First off, it took 10-15min for the waitress to approach us, although at least she was polite. Finally the food arrived brought out by a sour faced older lady who slammed the plates down on the table for each one of us. Then we tried the food… My mum’s scone was inedible due to how tough it was with the cheapest jam you’ve ever seen with cream from a can. My wife’s waffle was painfully average with overcooked bacon. My Dad’s quiche was dry. And then there was my meal…

I eat carnivore due to multiple dietary intolerances. So I ordered a bunch of eggs and some bacon off the sides menu. To make it clear my wife clearly said to the waitress “NO BREAD please” since I can’t eat gluten. Well, my bacon was so overcooked it was 30% black. And the other bits were so dry they crumbled just putting a fork through them. The entire thing came out served on TOAST despite the clear “NO BREAD” request. This was the first time I have ever been unable to finish a meal at a restaurant.

To top things off, the same sour faced lady served my wife as she went up to pay. And she expected us to pay $40 for my meal alone, which was $12 more than if calculated from the ‘sides’ menu which we have always done elsewhere. The aggression from the lady serving was disrespectful and absolutely unprofessional, especially given that my wife was trying to inform her that we were served a meal that was not as ordered. In other words: we were ILLEGALLY overcharged… We will be in touch with the local council over this matter as this experience is...

As a local we often visit the Botanical Gardens have breakfast or lunch at the cafe. While the service and food are average we liked to eat have a coffee and then go and enjoy the gardens. We decided we would have a family outing with our son and daughter and their families at the Botanical Gardens. Our Grandchildren were looking forward to having scones and jam at the cafe. We check the time on the website before we left and it said it closed at 4:30 Just before 3 pm we arrived at the cafe to see 3 people sitting at one of the tables drinking wine. I smiled at them and the grandchildren began to sit at one of the tables No one smiled back or said anything just stared at us like we were inconveniencing them. The kids sat down and again I looked at them and smiled as I knew it was the staff from the cafe waiting to see if they were going to serve us. The owner eventually said that the were closed ( however the whole place was opened up including the kitchen) and that we could buy a cold drink from the fridge and suggested there was food down the road . I bought the Grandchildren drinking which were over priced and we were going to sit at the table in the cafe to drink them. My daughter had a Maca's drink that was just about empty the owner made an abrupt comment about it being a licensed premises and she could be fined for allowing her to drink it at the cafe. Then she said you can drink it at the cafe if you are willing to pay the fine. It was obvious she just wanted us to leave. Needless to say I will not be returning to the Botanical...

DISGRACEFUL

I took a group of 32 people to the #cairnsbotanicalgardens today to showcase one of Cairns beautiful attractions, the gardens.

Unfortunately the cafe, not so beautiful. This is far from Michelin star, despite the prices reflecting as much.

Being Summer, it's fair to expect people (including the elderly) are prone to thirst in such conditions. Upon approaching the "cafe" to purchase a can of coke Zero I was advised "that will be $6.50 thanks... 🤯🤯🤯" Not to mention the price of a bottle of water, the same. Naturally, considering Cairns is a tourist hotspot, people expect to pay extra, but $6.50 for a can of drink? (For the Karen's and keyboard ninjas, no I didn't purchase the item out of principle.)

However, #cairnsregionalcouncil or whoever the crazy owner is, you should be absolutely Bloody ashamed. What an embarrassment and a complete rip off!!! You are no better than the greedy corporate giants such as #coles and #Woolworths that continue to bite into everyone's cost of living. #shameshameshame #acurrentaffair #media

As someone who recommendeds the gardens to 'an extremely large amount of people , you can be assured that recommendation will not include the cafe; in fact the recommendation will be one of the much better establishments that are very very close by. Today you lost potentially 32...