Yum Cha Sunshine Plaza — Restaurant in Sunshine Coast Regional

Ok....we booked a table two weeks previous in order to ensure we were catered for on Mothers day. We travelled around an hour from the Hinterland to attend. It has always looked a great place when passing on the way to the cinema or shops so I was really expectant of something rather special.

We arrived on time and were shown to a table and the waitress was prompt upon visiting us and taking an order. As this was a special occasion I had budgeted several hundred dollars for all five of us to have a great night. We had read up on the traditions surrounding Yum Cha so began with a pot of tea as is tradition which was served to the eldest by the youngest. A cultural experience was a big part of us deciding to attend the restaurant and the fact that we all love Cantonese cuisine.

Shortly upon finishing our first cup of tea the starter arrived along with my eldest sons main and the special fried rice for our main. We had ordered the large serve of calamari and it didn't disappoint. The tempura batter was feather light and the squid soft as butter...cooked to perfection. We were confused that no plates were brought except for what it was served on but dived in with fingers...the dressing was to die for. You can imagine with 3 teens in tow it didn't last long...I remember thinking this was a good start and a promise of things to come.

Time moved on...after about forty minutes I enquired about our food and was told it was coming so ordered a beer. Then sixty minutes, then an hour and a quarter...then an hour and a half...by now the rice for our main was stone cold. I had enquired a few times now but by this point was pretty flustered. I got up and followed my son to what looked to be the person in charge. Apparently there had been a problem and our order lost...something to do with the computer...we were assured 10 more minutes. Twenty past and they came to us and said with much apologies it would be at least another 20 minutes...we made the decision then to leave. To be honest I was pretty cross at this point, a perfect Mothers day was ruined and frankly I was embarrassed about the whole thing...I really don't think we will...

I would give zero stars if I could. This place is awful, mainly because of its staff but it should be mentioned that the food and ambience are not great, either.

When we ordered for our family of 5, the waitress told us that we had "not ordered enough" -- when we asked what she meant, she said that it seemed as though my parents were trying to under-feed their children. She did not say it jokingly.

We ordered a bowl of rice each and when our food came out, no bowls of rice were included. When we asked why, they said they had run out of rice. We thought, "What yum cha runs out of rice?" but asked them anyway what the alternative was. They said they could make a fresh batch of fried rice. What, so they could make fried rice (which costs more for the customer) but not plain rice? Make it make sense. Anyway, they told us in the end that we could have 2 portions of rice and 3 portions of fried rice and at this point we just wanted any rice so we agreed. The 2 bowls of rice come out immediately (when they said they had none left) and the fried rice never comes. We have finished most of our meal at this point but we ask a waitress where the fried rice is. The manager comes over and apologises for the confusion. She confirms that we want ONE bowl of fried rice enough for 3 people.

The fried rice comes out and it's three bowls, each enough to feed a whole family. When we ask for assistance again, the manager gets right in my mother's face and says in a near-shout that this is what we asked for. Keep in mind these are COVID times and the manager is not wearing a mask (none of the staff were wearing them correctly, they were all placed either under their nose or not on their face at all).

To top it off, none of the food tasted very good, either. There was meat in the vegetarian fried rice. We also received no apology for the remarks from the waitress, the inconvenience, or the shouting and invasion of personal space from the manager.

Would absolutely not...

This was the worst yum cha and Chinese restaurant I have eaten at. Service, food and atmosphere were awful.

Service. Was very difficult to get the server to come and take our order. She took the order of one person and then promptly left, with the other 2 of us looking in confusion. We asked her twice if we could also order, she said yeah she will get someone else to take it. Finally we said we would like to order (15 minutes after first order). She begrudgingly took our order.

Obviously, this resulted in the first person to order getting their dish 10 minutes before the other 2 of us were served. Second dish came 10 minutes before last. We were not sharing and each ordered separate ‘main’ dishes, not yum cha sharing plates.

When my soup came it was placed in front of me and as the server was leaving they said ‘do you want a napkin or anything’, to which I had to ask for a spoon.

Another table who was there with 2 babies left while we were there because the service was so slow. They were seated for 30 minutes.

Food. I ordered the wor wonton soup. The 4 wontons were good. The pork was incredibly dry, stringy and overcooked (or old), the noodles were still hard and appeared to be quick packet noodles. The most disappointing was the ‘broth’, which was completely flavourless.

Atmosphere. Birds were flying around and landing in the light fixtures. One shat on my Dad’s shoulder, cms from his food. Then another shat on the person seated at the table next to us. At $37 for one stir fry with a single serve of rice for $5, you don’t expect to be shit on.

Terrible restaurant. No pride. You’ll eat better in...