Rocco by Crystalbrook — Restaurant in Queensland

So disappointed. On our last night in Cairns we wanted to take the kids out for a nice meal and thought Rocco’s would be that destination, we we’re totally wrong.

When we arrived for our booking we exited the elevator to a very hot and stuffy restaurant and to find no one standing at the reception desk, as we stood waiting for multiple minutes one of the very rude bar staff just stood at the bar a few meters away and just watching us, 3 other staff walked straight past us and not one of them acknowledged us, eventually we presumed that maybe you check in at the bar ..... we approached the very rude bar staff who said “go wait over there “ ( this guy was the rudest and most un happy un professional person I have had to deal with in some time ) and pointed back to where we had just been standing for the last few minutes, after waiting for another minute we were finally greeted and taken to our seats ( the restaurant would have been at 60% capacity so far from busy ).

We sat at our very dark table and were introduced to our waitress for the night and were explained she would be serving us all night so we ordered a round of drinks as we looked over the menu, as we were waiting for our drinks our daughter pointed out that there were a few people wearing thongs, this is not a part of there own dress code. After finishing our first drink we patiently waited for our waitress to return but after ten minutes she did not, we had to approach another staff member who was trying his best to deal with multiple plates and people all at once and asked him if we could please order two more drinks he placed our order for two burbon and cokes and the waiting game started again, during this time our waitress finally pops up and we place our order for starters and she asks if we would like more drinks, we explained we have ordered them already and she says “ I better go check and see if they placed the order” what the .... really.

An hour after arriving we receive our starters, the starters were acceptable but not of good restaurant quality in my opinion, at this point we agree we should order our mains or we will be here till midnight (we ordered 3 steaks and a Barramundi), we finished our starters and the waitress comes to clear the table and asks if we are ready to order our mains now ???? She quickly realised what she had said and apologised and says and corrects herself with we will get your mains ready now...... a good 15minutes passed and 2 waiters approach our table with our mains, the presentation of the meals was beautiful but that was as far as it went, all 3 steaks were tough, chewy and flavourless, all 3 of us ate approx half of the steak and that was only due to being hungry so forced ourselves too, my wife ate all of the Barramundi but said it was far from the best Barramundi she had ever had.

We left Rocco’s almost exactly 2hours after arriving feeling extremely disappointed with the whole night and would never return here due to this. Rocco’s management need to take a good look at the whole structure and staff that they have employed, this could be a great place to go to but is totally let down by the people employed. My suggestion to Rocco’s would be to send in undercover diners to give feed back as I’m sure there is probably staff that work different shifts that might be very competent at there job and try to offer the service you would and should expect from...

This was a tough review to post considering that we had such high expectations of Rocco’s! I’m chalking up our experience to it being just one bad night because our understanding of Rocco’s from reviews and recommendations are that it’s amazing.

We were seated and offered water but unfortunately the water never arrived. It was tough to get service when we were ready to order drinks and food and waited roughly 30 minutes before getting the waitresses attention, despite others arriving after us getting their water, plates and drinks before us! The waitress we finally got the attention of however was amazing and appeared run off her feet! The others were moving at a bit of a glacial pace hence her needing to pick up the slack. She was exceptionally polite and congratulated us on celebrating our engagement from earlier in the day. Our entree arrived and the server didn’t know if there were 2 or one serve on each plate as we had ordered 2 of the Rocco’s tasting experiences. The waitress hurried over quickly and explained that there were 2 serves on each plate. Again, she was fantastic! We then had to ask for plates and cutlery to eat our entrees, and also asked for our water which had still not arrived, despite us being a bottle of champagne down already. As we were celebrating, we ordered another bottle of champagne. The waitress (I hate that we didn’t get her name!) was topping up our glass when she could, but we did this mostly on our own due to watching her frantically serving practically the entire restaurant floor alone. We did have to get her attention again for napkins at which point, we began to notice that we were having to ask individually for every single item required for eating which was quite disappointing - as other tables seemed to have all these items! It felt a little, strangely personal 🤷‍♀️? Our mains then didn’t arrive for another hour, and after these, we were eager to leave as it was unlikely that we would be able to order and wait to receive a celebratory dessert before becoming too restless.

Beautiful location, and the waitress was superb!! Unsure if we will return as we were expecting such a brilliant night and were sadly let down. I know that hospitality has been struggling so willing to forgive this night. Other reviews have been amazing and I wish we could have written another glowing review! Perhaps on our next visit to Cairns we will give Roccos another go, maybe not for such a major...

Utterly disappointed. As a guest of the hotel I was delighted to hear that a top notch restaurant like Rocco was part of my hotel complex. It is also the only restaurant in town with a rooftop so I expected stellar views and a buzzing atmosphere. They also have a dress code which further underlines the exclusivity of the experience.

I arrived at the check in desk and the receptionist seated the couple in front of me. Whilst I waited I was approached by a waiter who asked me if I was lost. I found that extremely rude given the fact I was all dressed up and waited patiently to be seated. This was the first time I felt unwelcome as a solo diner.

Eventually I got a table outside as requested. It is summer overall and the main selling point is the rooftop. The rooftop was a huge disappointment. The view is massively restricted, the space rather tight so there’s no great vibe here. The tables are barely lit so I was seated in a dark corner by myself. No candle, no offering of water or drinks.

The slide door to the restaurant was shut and I sat there in the dark alone and forgotten as if I didn’t exist. I skimmed through the menu which looked good to me and I would have ordered a three course meal. Would!

After 20mins waiting and feeling massively out of place with no one from the waiter checking up on me or taking any order, I decided to leave. I got a half-arsed sorry when I called the lift and no real effort was made to keep me as a guest.

So unfortunately I have to give this one a one star. Unfriendly to solo diners, high ambitions to be a top notch restaurant but unfortunately lack of service and hospitality and very...