Romano's Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Queensland

Romano's is touted as one of the best places to have dinner on the Island.

It has a commanding location on the Marina and cannot be missed. Expectedly, the prices were high - this is Hamilton. However, we expected value in the sizes of the portions, the presentation as well as the taste of the meal.

The gentleman in charge of our table was wonderful, he carefully took our orders and attended to every nuance that we requested. The table was well laid out, flowerily decorated in the middle. The room was well positioned, from here we could take in the sights of the boats mored in the jetty. And there was the beautiful oil painting across the room, so pleasent to the eyes to look at.

The food took some time to arrive and when it did the orders were mixed up in the serving - giving A's food to B, Not pnly that, an order we made and paid for was not delivered, we only discovered this after we left. I do not think this was intentional but I expected an iconic restaurant like Romano's to have processes in place to prevent this.

The prawn meal was tasteful but there were a few complaints about the other meals. Mine was the chicken, a thigh. It was sweet tasting but was very small. The bacon was fried too dry such that the salt used in its preservation came out too strong to the palate. The fries could be made crunchier rather than soft.

The presentation could be helped, to match expectations about the restaurant. It was nithing fanciful, though the table was well set and arranged...

We booked a table here for 6.30pm, and when we arrived the wait staff swiftly took us to our table. We ordered foccacia as entree, and mains clam linguine and the special of the day swordfish penne pasta. The foccacia was delicious, but the accompanying olive oil with balsamic was extremely bitter. I made sure to only dip my foccacia in a way that allowed me to avoid the balsamic. We waited for our mains for over an hour. During this wait the waiter came over to us and asked if we wanted more drinks before our mains came out. No apology. I said no, and asked him how much longer they were going to be. He seemed oblivious to the fact we had been waiting for so long. The couple who ordered just before us had already ate and left by the time our mains arrived! I wished I had read these reviews before I ordered because my clam linguine dish was terrible. There was a bitter after taste to everything (I think it was the tomatoes), bits of broken clam shell were scattered in the dish and the linguine was overcooked. I am not usually a fussy eater, but I am quite certain this was the worst pasta dish I have ever had. The bill came and we discovered the still water was added to it, at $4 per person. We arrived back to our hotel to discover that the still water that was served at Romano's was offered for free for hotel guests. This did not impress me, and like many others who have left a review, I would highly recommend you save your time, money and taste buds for...

We visited Hamilton Island during the Race Week, unbeknownst to us when we booked our stay. Fortunately I had booked Romano's well in advance because it was busy that evening. We were warmly welcomed and seated immediately even though we were early. My partner chose a glass of Italian prosecco and I had a Campari Spritz to start. He then ordered the focaccia with EVOO and balsamic reduction; it was freshly baked and my partner finished every crumb. I had the (lightly) spiced calamari, which were perfectly cooked and a generous portion, served in a bowl of rocket leaves with a lemon aïoli on the side. Neither of us had pasta. I had the fish of the day, the barramundi which was served with fried potato quarters, crispy kale, and a light green sauce. It was excellent, fresh and beautifully cooked. My partner had the sword fish with celeriac puree and he was very pleased with his choice as it was perfectly cooked. We shared a rocket and pear salad. We each had a glass of the Italian Pinot Grigio. I don't generally buy wine by the bottle so can't really opine but the wine list seemed pretty varied. The wine by the glass offered a choice of 5 varietals. We each had the Tiramisù (served in a glass) for dessert, which I can say was one of the best restaurant Tiramisù I've had: light and airy, and full of coffee flavour. The service was attentive but not intrusive. Cost was what you would expect for...