The Deck @ Sea Salt — Restaurant in Queensland

As we were outside of main meal times, our options were limited to Tapas.

The [Bug roll] was very good – perfectly cooked, although when we asked for it without the spicy mayonnaise, we were told that we were lucky the chef wasn’t on duty as the Chef would flatly refuse that request. The [Cauliflower Wings] seemed to have been forgotten in the deep frier – they were definitely crispy, but any resemblance of nutrition had been lost long ago. Had I not read that it was cauliflower, it would be anyone’s guess as to what mush was inside. The [Rustic Greek Potatoes] were wafer-thin slices of potato, which were supposed to be crispy for scraping/dipping a bed of sauce but wouldn’t have been more than ¼ of a new potato all-up, and they had the added benefit of not mentioning the raw chilli on the menu that was sliced up and covered all the slithers of potato. More chilli, in fact, that potato, and seeing as we asked for the spicy mayonnaise to be remove from the [Bug Roll], I can only guess that the kitchen was pranking us, hoping we might have misfortune of eating one, and dying. The jug of orange juice was undrinkable and, given my prior abilities with beer and a funnel, that is impressive. We even tried to water it down, but the intense chemical taste of fake orange juice won through.

The swarm of flies was a challenge to not eat one by mistake when putting food in one’s mouth. It must be an impressive cesspit to cultivate that level of fly infestation. Although, after a while I kind of decided that the flies were welcome to have a go, as I wasn’t going to eat it.

The idea of tapas being a lots of small dishes, mix & match – the deck has priced each tapas dish as a main meal, meaning for 3 small dishes, one shells out about $60. I can’t help but feel as if I was taken to the cleaners. At least the staff were friendly and helpful, so being conned (exorbitant prices for non-stellar to poor food) was done...

The food was good and the majority of staff were lovely, unfortunately one particular staff member seems to think it’s appropriate to lie about the food they serve, and when met with complaints due to not getting anything close to what I ordered, claimed “the food comes how it comes”.

In addition to that, we wanted to order fish and chips and were told that they weren’t serving any that day. While sitting at our table in the following 45 minutes we saw multiple customers order the fish and chips and receive their meal, from the same staff member.

I ordered steak rare and was given a piece obviously burned in multiple places and too tough to chew. The waitress then claimed the meal is only served “well done”, despite me already having confirmed with her I could get it rare. I would have happily purchased the more expensive rib eye if she had have mentioned this, but I was assured the cut I ordered would be done rare. Even if I had ordered a well done steak it would have been inexcusable as the meat was charred all over and tasted like burnt cardboard, it looked as if it had been set on fire. We were offered a glass of beer in return, and left with an inedible meal.

It would have been nice to get what we ordered, or offered the same foods as the other customers, or at least be reimbursed for the meal that was inedible, as most other restaurants would do. Don’t waste your time here, there are many other restaurants in the area with competent staff who are polite and actually care about...

5/5 - October 2021 - Well presented and positioned. Great service. Top food - ribs were great. Good selection of beers. Easy walk from almost anywhere. Lovely inside and/or out. Bring the dog. Great for kids. Organised the dog's water.

Not cheap but you get top food. The young guy behind the bar and serving was very good - efficient and happy. We'll be back.

3/5 - Nov 2022 - WOW - what a difference a year makes. We felt like we were interrupting the staff's time by asking for service. I asked for water for the dog and was "directed" to a non-potable tap out the back. When I asked about this I was told it was "good enough for dogs". I got him water from the bathroom. This is not good enough for a place that promotes itself as "Dog Friendly".

I asked the girl about the fish and if it was grilled - "I think it is" she said, not willing to ask or help. Spent close to $200 on drinks and 3 meals. To sit in a very ordinary "lawn" area. Pretty ordinary all round. No wonder the place was like a morgue yet the town was quite busy. Ribs were not worth the money - sauce way to sweet. Chips were ok. Fish OK but nothing to rave about.

The charming young guy from last time was nowhere to be seen.

Rather sad as we'd been hanging out for a...