The Cassowary Bar & Restaurant - at Ferntree Rainforest Lodge — Restaurant in Queensland

Bad Bad Bad.

We dined here tonight and was utterly disappointed in the service and food quality. When we first arrived we are told to pick any table we like, straight away I am wondering why we went to the effort of booking a table as recommended when no table had been reserved for us.

We picked a table and waited as every other table around us had their order taken except for ours. We finally ordered and less than 5 minutes later our entree arrived. $12 garlic bread or 4 tiny slithers of slightly seasoned and slightly toasted bread. Off to a great start.

We had only just finished our entree and the mains arrived. Pasta cooked in so much oil it could barely stay on your fork, salt and pepper calamari with no taste and two children's pasta that chef microwave aided in making. The pasta was so bad that we didn't even finish it and the children ate theirs purely out of hunger.

At no point during the meal did any wait staff ask us how our meal was or check if we needed anything further however all the other tables were waited on. The restaurant was only at 1/3 capacity so staff were not stretched during the evening. When our plates were cleared away we were asked and I replied that we have had better to which there are as an awkward silence and barely a reply.

These restaurants obviously have a captive market being in a remote area however that does not excuse over priced, bad quality food and terrible hospitality. We do not mind spending on good quality meals however tonight we left thoroughly disappointed. We will be searching for other food options for the duration of our stay in the Daintree.

Do your research before eating here or you will leave feeling ripped off and hungry...

My partner and I ate here for dinner and ordered two pizzas. The pizzas were reasonably priced (around $15). I would recommend ordering perhaps a starter and then a pizza to share as two pizzas were definitely pushing it between us! The pizza was delicious (everything I want on a pizza which I normally have to order as add-ons) and was handmade dough. The meal came out in 20 minutes and the waitress was super friendly by engaging in conversation and offering to take photos of us without us asking.

We also ate here the next day for breakfast. They offer a continental buffet, or a small or large hot breakfast. We ordered the large hot breakfast which consisted of eggs, mushrooms, tomato, bacon and hash browns for $10. It's a pretty good deal although it was weird not to have toast. The meal came out quickly in 10 minutes and was great.

The layout of the cafe itself is simply gorgeous - big open space with outdoor seating surrounded by the rainforest. Please see my photos to do this place justice!

The Cassowary Cafe is part of the the Ferntree Lodge where we stayed. As we were staying in a dorm we were suprised that the meals ranged from around $24-$28, seeing as the cost of accommodation for one night is $28. We then realised that the Ferntree Lodge also offers lofts and private rooms so the cost of meals made more sense. I think that the Ferntree Lodge should offer cheaper priced, more basic meals for backpackers/students either at the Cassowary Cafe or in the common area attached to reception if they want their guests to eat at their venue instead of venturing...

I have to HIGHLY recommend this spot. The previous review was obviously years ago so please do give this place a shot. I asked the locals and everyone said this is the best place for food in the area.

I do think they changed chefs.

This is the restaraunt located inside the Ferntree Treehouse Hotel. It's super cute and woody. I loved the large treehouse inside and there is outdoor seating in the trees too.

Service was casual - there were only 1 or 2 people working front of the house (probably because I came during low season - in the winter) so we were able to take our time and enjoy the scenery.

They have a great menu but also a great specials menu updated daily on the blackboard (even though not all dishes will be new every day). I highly recommend the Grilled Baramundi - it was my fav. dish and we got it two nights in a row.

We also enjoyed the garlic bread and the steaks and schnitzel. Curry was good too!! Just about everything we had was really delicious. We got the mudcake dessert and that was a yummy moist chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream. Also great.

Highly recommend checking out this spot - get the grilled...