Zenith Cafe, Restaurant and Bar — Restaurant in Shoal Bay

Generally I never ever write reviews but I felt I must for this occasion to alert other diners. As someone that works in management in the hospitality industry I am highly aware of the most basic customer service requirements and food standards but unfortunately my experience last night was beyond disappointing. I’m writing in hopes the owners or management will see this and seriously review the food quality and pricing otherwise this business will seriously not last especially looking at the other recent reviews. From other reviews it seems like breakfast is the only strong suit for this venue. My partner and I spent over $200 on some of the worst and most rip off food we have ever had. We both ordered some appetisers oysters which were only ok but at least one of the more reasonably priced items. Bruschetta which was average and the halloumi salad which was tasty but barely any halloumi at all. We both ordered the $60 seafood and steak platter which was beyond a joke. We had dietaries gluten free for myself which required a slightly change to the sauce which we were alerted about for my meal and was fine but both our meals came out with mash which was not ordered and tasted like half of it was melted butter. On top of this the most pathetic amount of seafood was provided - 2 prawns, 2 scallops, 1 tiny piece of lobster and 2 thin pieces of calamari. My partner’s meal only had one scallop and no lobster at all. To top this all off both our steaks ordered medium rare were completely cooked through with zero sear either. Mine was so rubbery and tasteless that I requested a new steak. I didn’t even request a full new plate of the salad and mash even though I did not order mash as I hate wasting food so just wanted a new steak on its own. The chef came out to the table seeming very defensive about the entire situation in general despite me showing both steaks completely brown the entire way through and clearly not trying to rip them off by being happy to just keep my plate with the cold mash and salad. He tried to some how blame us by saying our dietaries were to blame?? A new steak was provided again with zero sear and again cooked well above medium rare more medium-medium well with only a tiny bit of pink but I could not be bothered to wait another 10-15minutes. We did not want any more food after this so requested the bill to which we placed cash in and gave to the waiter. We waited 10 minutes and were not even brought the change so just got up and left not bothered to ask for the change. Extremely poor. Extremely sour taste in our mouths after this experience and beyond rip off meals. I’m in management in hospitality and know exactly what your cogs would be on these items. The owners should be absolutely ashamed of the quality of food provided and need to seriously review these meals and prices. I had several cocktails which were decent, that is the only positive of my experience. The waiters were all lovely and apologised about the steak but did not seem very confident in their work and seemed a bit all over the place despite it being extremely quiet. Obviously not much communication between the chef and the FOH staff. Overall worst restaurant experience I have ever had and extremely poorly handled. It is so easy to turn a negative experience around over a genuine mistake in person when presented with the opportunity but absolutely horrific management of the situation and menu in general over priced for what you get. Do not recommend...

My family and I dined here on a moderately busy Sunday evening.

Atmosphere was pleasant, good location with view of the water. Good to see multiple vegetarian options on the menu. Cocktail I ordered (French Martini) was very sickly sweet and had no hint of alcohol in it. I did not finish it and it was taken off of our bill.

Food was okay. Poke bowl, pizza, ravioli, and bruschetta were all good. The seafood linguini was very bland, unsalted, and frankly tasted like cheap jarred sauce. For $36!!! The steak on the surf and turf was ordered medium rare, and served medium well, almost well done. Someone needs to introduce the concept of a thermometer. Also, everything was topped with alfalfa sprouts for some reason??? You can get more creative with your garnishes people. Chopping parsley is not that hard.

Service quality was very poor, staff seemed perpetually confused. The woman who took our order was unable to describe the dishes with any real detail, simply saying “It’s good” when asked about one of the pizzas. Our main courses took over an hour to be prepared, and while we were waiting, someone came by and offered us dessert menus!

Overall a very dissatisfying experience, especially for the average of...

Terrible terrible customer service. NEVER dine here unless you support RACIST and XENOPHOBIC behaviour.

Came here with a group looking to get seated in the restaurant, only to be treated with the most disgusting service from the barista, Susanna. We were looking for seating for a group of 4, and saw plenty of tables available. When one of us asked another server to be seated, he was ready to help, until Susanna order him to not help us. She rudely yelled out and said “he’s on drink duty”.

Confused, we asked another server, presumably not on drink duty, to help us find a table. He was ready to serve us and was about to go clear a table, when Susanna yelled at us to go wait outside. The poor server tried to explain the situation, but Susanna yet again interrupted and said “No, they can’t be helped”. Mind you, while this was all happening, she wouldn’t even look us in the eye, and was smirking as she continued making her coffees.

Kicker is that we were the only PoC at the restaurant, except for the poor server that also got berated by this blonde woman. Didn’t see any of the other patrons get treated like this.

1 star rating only because I...