Northern Grounds Sunshine Coast — Restaurant in Sunshine Coast Regional

We visited for the first time since the refurbishment on a busy Friday night. We arrived 20 minutes early for our 7:00 pm reservation and as expected, were politely told to grab a drink and wait by the fireplace and when the table was ready, someone would come and notify us. However, when 7:00 pm came, no one had come to seat us, so we had to ask at the counter and was told our table was ready.

We placed our order via the me&u app around 7:15 pm, including Oysters Kilpatrick and mains, with the instruction to have the oysters brought out alongside the mains. Given the busy night, we weren’t too surprised that our food hadn’t arrived by 7:45 pm. At 7:50 pm, the oysters arrived, overcooked and dry. For $55 a dozen, I expected far better quality. We assumed the mains would follow soon, as per our instruction.

By 8:15 pm, after an hour without food, except the mediocre Oysters, our patience was wearing thin and the sympathy we had for them due to how busy it was, had evaporated. Given the time, the crowd had also diminished by about half, so being run off their feet was no longer an excuse. I politely approached the counter to ask for an update on our order. The staff member said she would check and come to our table with information, and hopefully with our food. Fifteen minutes later, I had to return to the counter myself. The same staff member apologised, explaining they hadn’t even started cooking our mains when I first approached her. I asked why, was it just forgotten about, and she said yes. I expressed that this was completely unacceptable, given we had been waiting for over an hour. To her credit, she offered a full refund and still offered to bring us our meals if we were willing to wait longer.

I appreciated the refund, which is why I’m giving this review 3 stars instead of 1. Our meals eventually arrived, along with a further serving of oysters, despite already having received them. The staff insisted we keep the extra oysters, but they were no better than the first batch, still not worth the price. The mains were average, and the oysters were disappointing. It seemed like they had used plain BBQ sauce for the Kilpatrick, with no noticeable Worcestershire sauce.

To add to the frustration, table service was nearly nonexistent. We had to stack our glasses at the end of the table, to the point they reflected the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and our empty oyster plate sat untouched for 25 minutes before we had to move it to a vacant table ourselves. Staff passed by multiple times without acknowledging it.

I reserve 4 stars for experiences that meet expectations and 5 stars when those expectations are exceeded. While the refund gesture helped, it doesn’t make up for the overall poor experience. I'm doubtful we will return, as our expectations were not met in any...

I unfortunately decided to come here for my birthday lunch.. I could only get a 11am booking as it was quite busy, which was fine. We arrive at 11, bit of confusion from the staff about where our table is, but no big deal. We get seated by the staff, who directs us to the QR code on the cuttlery caddy for ordering. The menu wasn't showing up on the QR code so we go to the counter to order, where we're told the kitchen doesnt open until 11:30 (this would have been useful information when seated) but anyway... So my friend orders a soft drink from the QR code, after waiting over 15 mins she went to the bar to see about her drink, she was told the drink order receipts were going to a different bar, that wasn't even open yet.. staff apologise and make her drink.. Then one of the staff comes and swaps our cuttlery caddy for a different one (with a different table number) thats fine, we haven't ordered yet. Its 11:30 we order food from the QR code, 5 mins later, another staff member comes around and asks if we are part of a party booking, I say no but I have a reservation and this is where they told us to sit. He tells us this table is reserved for a party and that we have to move. We tell him we have already ordered food and he says he will get the order switched to our new table number (spoiler alert, he didnt...) So we wait a while for our food and then we watch our cheeseburgers do a few laps of the restaurant while trying to tell the confused waiter they probably belong to us (after he tried to take them to our previous seating placement) The waiter then tells us one of the cheeseburgers is a bit burnt and asks if we want it replaced, we say yes please, and mention that there should also be one more cheeseburger. So we wait a little while and the rectified burger comes out, I ask again about the other cheeseburger we are still waiting on (plus 1 more meal) so off he goes away again. After waiting again, the remaining food comes out and since its polite to wait until all food is served before u eat, the first 3 meals were half cold by the time we all got to eat. So despite it being half cold, the food does taste good and the view is nice.. If you plan on coming here, maybe give them some more time to sort...

Went for an Easter family dinner, spent about 20 minutes in line waiting for staff to sort my order as I originally ordered a chicken Caesar salad but because of the 15% public holiday surcharge the usual $26 salad cost $29.90 and I'm on a really tight budget. I changed my meal to a 'seniors' fish and chips because I wasn't really hungry and didn't really want to pay $30 for a meal. The 'seniors' fish and chips is $16, with the 15% surcharge it was $18 something. Which meant, I was looking at roughly a $10 refund. I persisted to wait as the staff seemed a little confused on the matter and I was assuming that my refund was coming after being told by a staff member that they'd sort it. However our meals came to the table and one of the staff members told me they'd sort it out again and I can go eat my food while it's hot. So the pre-dinner fun family conversation didn't happen as usual sadly as I was stuck at the bar trying to sort my refund. Half way through my meal a staff member came up to me and told me the other staff member made a mistake and gave me a 'main' fish and chips instead of the 'seniors' fish and chips that I'd asked for in exchange for the chicken Caesar salad and she informed me there's no price difference and I wouldn't be getting a refund. Now I was with my family. So I bit my tongue and said no more. Hence why I'm typing this review just now. I've lived on the Sunshine Coast for 30 years and the waterfront hotel has always been my favorite in all that time it still is my favorite it's just really disappointing that I wasn't listened to properly this evening. Some people are on a really tight budget and the $10 difference between a 'main' fish and chips and a 'seniors' fish and chips should of ended up back in my pocket after all it wasn't my mistake I asked for a seniors...