Coogee Diggers Club and Gym — Restaurant in Sydney

I went to the quiz at Coogee Diggers on Thursday 8th February 2024 (my second visit) after having attended for the first time back on Thursday 2nd November 2023 (my first visit). On my first visit, me and a friend won the $250 pub quiz jackpot ($250 loaded onto the CD membership card for you to spend). Neither of us had been again and we decided to go back to spend our winnings.

We went to the bar and placed our food & drink order only to be told that there was a $0 balance on the card. We relayed back to the staff that we should have $250 and waited to speak to the manager. When she finally arrived (didn’t catch name but she was short with long brown hair) we explained the situation, showed the photo of us on the ‘Inquizition Magician’ Facebook page to prove we had won it and asked where the winnings was. She rudely answers with ‘so you’re telling me you haven’t been here since November’? …it’s not exactly my local or a must go to hotspot, so no I haven’t. She says she needs to speak to Ian (who runs the quiz? No idea - this made no sense either given the quiz was hosted by an Irish woman on the day we were there and I doubt Ian would have a clue as to who we were) and comes back 20 minutes later saying she couldn’t get through to Ian but as a gesture of goodwill she has loaded $125 onto the card. She explained that the card runs annually and all points expire at the end of the calendar year. We weren’t told this at the time and relayed this back to which she responds we would have got an email. Checked inboxes, no email in inbox or spam folder. The membership card also has only the year ‘2024’ stamped on it - no expiry or valid from date. We pointed this out to be met with silence.

Word of warning if you do go here - if there’s an issue the manager is unhelpful and pretty rude, and you need to spend your winnings within the same year. Better still, go to a quiz elsewhere where you just get the money to spend wherever you like!

Food and drinks are pretty cheap, with big portion sizes so that’s the only reason for it not...

The Diggers in Coogee is a bit of a local institution which provides affordable access to a number of useful facilities. To get the best prices on services you need to be a member, which costs about $10 annually last I checked.

The gym at the diggers is surprisingly awesome and improving all the time, incredible value; they’re most of the way through a huge extension and renovation which has taken it from an afterthought to being one of the best equipped gyms I’ve seen in Sydney. Apparently the England Rugby team trained here recently.

The swimming pool is fairly basic but offers 5 or 6 lanes and a swim school; my kids have lessons there, there is no provision for kids recreational swimming so they get that half hour and then have to dry themselves and leave, rather than enjoy the water. There’s a sauna too.

For family swimming fun, Des Renford or Gunyama are much better bets vaguely in the local area.

The restaurant and bar is functional and has a pleasant internal courtyard with fresh air. Pick the right (or wrong, depending on your goals) weeknight and there’s a throng of kids from the local school and daycare playing together while their families have dinner. The food is variable quality and my wife has had a couple of meals that have not agreed with her there… but it’s pretty cheap and popular for our kids to have a quick dinner out as a treat after school.

There’s the obligatory pokies area tucked away downstairs and a TAB area upstairs at the opposite end of the floor to the family dining area - I’ve never been into either of them, and have opinions generally on gambling being so prominent in a place where families gather together… but that’s an Australian thing, not limited to the...

Avoid this place – terrible service and even worse management

I rarely leave negative reviews, but this experience was so bad that I feel I need to warn others. The service was a disaster from start to finish, and when we politely raised concerns, the manager (Kelly) was unbelievably rude—so much so that she made my girlfriend cry.

Here’s what happened: • We were overcharged at the bar (charged extra for cream on a risotto we specifically ordered without cream) which we let slide. • Our buzzer never went off, and a staff member later told us they “thought” our food was sitting in the kitchen. By the time we picked it up, it was cold. • One of our pasta dishes was completely different from what we ordered. It was supposed to be a creamy pesto linguine but came out as a watery, bland tomato-based dish with no pesto at all. My girlfriend couldn’t eat it, and I struggled through a couple of bites before giving up. • My risotto was a disaster—undercooked, gluggy, and honestly one of the worst meals I’ve eaten out in Australia in many years. I got through almost half and only cos I’d skipped lunch. • When we brought up the issue with the pasta, we were met with skepticism. Kelly, the manager, made us walk back to our table to prove it was wrong, then reluctantly threw $18 cash at my girlfriend instead of refunding it to her card. When she walked away, Kelly loudly made rude comments across the room.

This wasn’t just bad service—it was outright disrespectful. Avoid this place unless you enjoy being overcharged, served bad food, and treated like an...