Liliana's Trattoria — Restaurant in Sunshine Coast Regional

We went to this Italian restaurant in Maroochydore to celebrate a birthday, and while the food was great, the service really disappointed us.

We had a booking for 8:15 PM and arrived about 5–6 minutes late. There were plenty of tables available, but we were seated right near the front door, and it was really cold because of the winter breeze. We asked a female staff member if we could move to a different table, and at first, she made excuses like “that table is for 4” or “that one is for 6.” Later, she let us move, and we appreciated that.

From there, things went downhill quickly. When we were trying to sit on the sofa side of the new table (which was quite narrow), the staff member commented, “Oh now we’re moving the whole table.” The tone wasn’t funny or light, it felt unnecessarily rude. At first, we brushed it off. But later, it started to feel like that rudeness. Whether intentional or not, it was inappropriate and hurtful.

Throughout the night, her attitude toward us felt cold and dismissive. We remained polite the entire time, but it was hard not to notice her being friendly and respectful with the table next to us. It left us wondering: Was it something about how we looked? Where we were from? Was it racial bias?

Then came the final incident, which really left a bad taste. Before serving our birthday dessert (a small tiramisu), we asked if the table could be cleared. One of our friends kindly walked over to make the request, and as soon as he turned away, she made an annoyed face expression. That same energy continued when she brought the dessert over, didn’t light the candle, and barely placed it properly. She seemed in a rush even though the restaurant was empty by that point. And when one of our friends calmly took the dessert from her to fix the candle, she accused her of snatching it out of her hand and ran to tell to another staff member. Even when my friend told her, “This isn’t how you treat someone’s cake on their birthday,” she showed no emotion, no apology, no acknowledgment, just complete indifference. It was shocking. This kind of treatment was truly disheartening.

Let me be very clear, we understand the hospitality industry is stressful, and we respect how hard restaurant teams work. We also acknowledge we were a few minutes late, and we were not demanding or disrespectful at any point. We were polite from beginning to end. We booked ahead, we paid for our food, and we were there to celebrate something special. But we did not deserve to be treated with that kind of disrespect.

This whole experience made us feel very uncomfortable and ruined what was meant to be a happy evening.

Food: the food was excellent 10/10. Beautifully done. Not all staff were rude, only this one individual. But even one bad attitude can spoil everything.

Service from that one female staff member: -0/10. Her attitude was unacceptable, unprofessional, and completely out of line. And while the rest of the team seemed fine, one person is enough to damage your reputation.

I don’t usually write negative reviews, but this was too much to ignore. If you’re the owner or manager reading this: please check in with your staff and seriously consider how they’re treating all your customers. People come to restaurants for more than just food, they come for warmth, service, and a positive experience. Sadly, we walked out hurt and disappointed.

It’s such a shame, because the food truly deserves praise but the service completely let the experience down. Honestly, after how we were treated, i don’t even know how we could recommend this place to our family and friends.

This review is honest. And it’s...

I was very much hoping for a “go to” Italian pasta place on the coast as this is lacking heavily around here.. tried 3 times to get a table as it’s been so busy so had very high hopes.. the staff were lovely and did get us a table outside for lunch but sadly I wasn’t impressed with the food .. the lasagne flavour was nice, quite sloppy however and definitely didn’t look like the pictures advertised on social media which leave you drooling with thickness and layers of pasta this was flat and literally 2-3 layers, the gnocchi was average and the beef cheek sauce had very strong unpleasant flavour .. the carbonara I wouldn’t recommend unless you plan on keeping vampires away .. it was extremely strong in garlic and inedible for our table of 3 and again advertised on social media looking delicious and ours was a pile of pasta swimming in a terrible creamy pool of slop and nothing like it was promoted as. Sadly as it has a great busy location and a lovely feel about the shop, it was clean and inviting but if they can perfect the “authentic” feel that it’s promoting.. if Nonna was cooking everyday and over seeing each dish it may have been a differant experience but the chefs you had on Thursday didn’t leave much to desire or lack of care as I’m sure if they tasted the carbonara especially I would assume it wouldn’t have left the kitchen… we did give feedback whilst there (for their benefit for future customer) which was simply “I’ll let the chef know” but with no other customer service offered after that which is always disappointing at $30 + price per meal … as a diner I’m happy to pay good prices for food that are delicious but definitely left underwhelmed at paying high prices for food left uneaten .. sadly I wouldn’t come back for just the service which I couldn’t fault from the ladies who were very welcoming and warm. hopefully others can have a better experience on other dishes as I hope only good things in the...

We rolled into Liliana’s Trattoria for lunch last Saturday, on a mission to conquer those hunger pangs without feeling like we'd swallowed a small whale.

We were greeted at the door by Lucy, who zipped around the trattoria like a gazelle that had mainlined eight double-shot espressos!

To kick things off, we shared the arancini balls on a tomato base, which were quite lovely. But the real star of the appetizer show was the whipped ricotta and sourdough. WOW, the ricotta was creamy, bursting with flavour, and an incredibly generous serving size. My only tiny sadness? Only three slices of that glorious sourdough.

For the main event, Kim-Leigh bravely ventured out of her culinary comfort zone, caving to the persuasive powers of her husband and son to try the Beef Cheek Gnocchi. And wham bam, that dish was the bee's knees. Seriously, I am contemplating sacrificing a small goat just to learn the ancient culinary secrets just to try and recreate that magic at home.

We also snagged a Carnivora pizza, just to remind our taste buds that we were indeed in an Italian haven. The saying "less is more" definitely rang true here. Each bite felt like a tiny angel was tap-dancing on my tongue! 🍕

To bring our delightful lunch to a close, the cannoli simply couldn't be ignored. It was fantastic! The vanilla bean custard was superb, and those little crunchy, flavour-packed somethings sprinkled around it were pure magic. We couldn't quite put our finger on what they were, but we savoured every tiny spoonful to make the experience last as long as possible.

Throughout our lovely lunch, Lucy, with a smile that could light up a room, made sure we never even flirted with dehydration.

Looking forward to...