Saltwater Cafe & Restaurant Magnetic Island — Restaurant in Queensland

On our first night at Magnetic Island, we decided to dine here. Before coming, we were under the presumption that as per the high price points, we would be receiving a fine-dining style of food at a reasonable quality level. Unfortunately, this was not the case at all and we felt obliged to write this review to share our experience.

We ordered two Moroccan Tagine's, one with a seafood medley. Although both dishes came out at the same time and were steaming hot (not cold as some reviews have mentioned), the flavours were lacklustre and clashing with one another.

There was a seemingly random assortment of different ingredients and flavours all separate, similar to how one would fill your plate at a buffet. You wouldn't be able to tell these different sides were part of the same dish if not on the same plate.

For the seafood medley, there was only one piece of each seafood; prawn, calamari, coral trout, and half a moreton bay bug. The seafood itself was cooked okay, however for the price point I did not find the meal satisfying and ended up leaving some of the dish on the plate. I could not identify what some of the ingredients were, leading to the meal looking rather unappetising regarding the presentation, some were also cold (e.g. spread of hummus mixed with hot dish) and with flavours that didn't agree with the tagine sauce.

The tagine sauce was watery, lacking flavour, and tasted a bit salty. As for the vegetarian option, they do not replace the seafood with anything other than more pumpkin and two pieces of roasted potato. Maybe there had been another side which had not been on the seafood medley plate, but we couldn't finish either plate and so can not say for sure. A significant portion of the vegetables were also overcooked and bland. I would not recommend this restaurant for vegetarians based on the main course option.

We came to this restaurant with high expectations and left disappointed. The service was friendly, and although we didn't complain at the time, we believe this is one of the most disappointing meals we have had in a while and that this restaurant is far over-priced for both the portion size you get, the quality and taste. It pales in comparison to beautiful food we have tried elsewhere in Australia, including many other...

I'm not sure about the high reviews on this place ... and good to see some more 'honest / realistic' recent reviews it seems. Went in November 2022 for a 75th birthday and as others have mentioned ... splitting the bill was a problem.

The menu sounds good ... but in reality is an over inflated self ego of the chef / owner and does not promise what it says nor match the over the top prices. We raised our complaints during the meal and were dismissed without the chef coming out but sending the poor waitress back. No offers of refund or anything... just poor excuses, which is not smart or good business. The chef / owner was there ... more happy to be engaging with two mates and giving them all his dishes

Two of us had the Moreton Bay bug and prawns entree ... be warned it was half a bug - burnt, and one tiny prawn dried out and over cooked. No taste, over priced and ridiculous for what you pay and get.

Two of us had the 'Land and Sea' - we note the menu has changed now to say calamari ... when we went it read Prawn ravioli ... what we were served was not rib or steak ... but drowning meat that was small, tasteless and poorly cooked ... we complained and the waitress again came back and said "the value of the meal is in the beef consume ... its hard to prepare and takes time ..." ... this was more like some beef cubes in water ... Two had the barramundi which at the time had Moroccan spices - it was over cooked / dry and not palatable.

Everything is over the top, over priced and not value for money - something that should be on magnetic island. This type of restaurant wouldn't cut it in Sydney and with those prices and is not what should be on magnetic island ... at those prices or poor quality.

The fact it is - outside, in the heat (we had sweat running down our shirts), with flies / mosquitoes and no protection (ie repellent / burners etc) is also unappealing and poor ... when served what we were served. Nor does the fact that it is unlicensed appeal on the basis of being charged $4.50 per person corkage - what a rip off! No service, we had to open our own, serve our own and actually ask for an ice bucket which seemed all too hard ... again a rip off.

Cannot recommend this place at all, based on what we were given and the...

I read with interest the raving reviews? However my experience was very different indeed.

The booking system is ridiculous (leave a text message) where do you book into restaurants and only correspond by a text message ? they return saying we are booked at the time you have requested, however we have another time (state the time ) I reply great ty we will accept that time and leave it at that . (We should have heeded a warning at that stage )

We arrived on time and we were greeted by a friendly lady, however there was no booking for us in place at the time the message had suggested.

I presented the text message and we were given a table. (should have said thanks and left it at that ) this system of booking clearly doesn’t work effectively.

The limited menu is over priced for the location (no ambience at all its in a back street- nothing to look at and the lighting average, and a bit of a mozzie trap.

I ordered the oysters with mornay and truffle, I never received any oyster cutlery in the form of at a minimum a small fork or teaspoon ,as the oysters were cooked you can’t just throw them down they require extraction from the shell ,I only had a conventional fork that didn’t work very well. We then had to request salt and pepper to the table ?? Remember they are marketing as “fine dining “ hmmmm…., My husband ordered the pork belly, it was typically a small amount of food on a large plate fancied up with micro herbs and just pork belly (lacked sauce)

We were offered to look at the desert menu however declined and decided to cut our loses and head for the local ice-cream shop.

Overall this place is way too expensive for what they profess to be (fine dining ) too many fundamental mistakes to be able to use that title, and the location certainly doesn’t do it any favours, the text message booking system needs to be rethought . Oysters on the menu need oyster utensils . Would I go back ..?? NO Would I recommend this place to others NO .lots more to choose from...