Trattoria MK III — Restaurant in Tamborine Mountain

This place is usually amazing, but tonight was a huge disappointment. My friend and I rang twice and tried to make a booking, however we were not put through. When we turned up, we were told that they only had outside tables available, and if we wanted to sit inside we had to come back at 7:30pm. This was completely fine by us, as we understood we did not have a booking.

We came back at 7:30pm and were told that inside tables were still not available (despite the fact that we had waited as asked), and that we would be moved inside as soon as possible. We placed our order and ended up waiting outside for an hour with no communication just “thanks for being patient”. There are no heaters outside and it was 15°c tonight. Our drinks came out after about 30 minutes, my drink was not stirred, syrup at the bottom.

I went inside to ask about when our food would arrive, and was told by the waiter that he would find out for us. We never got an answer. At this point we were both getting annoyed, and my friend went inside to ask if we could please be seated inside.

The waiter said yes and moved us inside (we still hadn’t gotten our food by this point). He came and explained to us that they have had staffing issues tonight. We waited another 15 minutes and our food arrived (1h 20min wait). There were no forks on the table, we both ordered spaghetti. My friend had to get up and ask for forks.

We also overheard other tables (which had waited longer than us) commenting on how they hadn’t even received their entrees or their drinks.

The food was fine, if not a bit bland. We also ordered a salad to share, which came with no dressing. It was plain rocket and spinach coated in cheese. When it came time to pay the bill, we voiced our complaints to the waitress. She was very polite, and it was her first day so we asked to speak to the other waiter. She went and spoke to him and said that unfortunately there was nothing they could do. The other waiter did not even come and speak to us. While he was polite, communication was severely lacking.

We were told to go and speak to the manager at the other shop. We paid the bill (in full) and went to speak to the manager. We voiced our complaints, and he said he was sorry. We were not offered any sort of compensation, despite waiting for over an hour in the cold for a mediocre meal. For what is considered a nice restaurant, I am severely disappointed and I will not be coming back, or further recommending this place to anyone. I understand staffing issues, I understand busy nights. I am simply disappointed in how it was handled. We would have preferred to have been turned away and told that it was too busy, rather than being given bad service and a mediocre meal.

Edit (in reply): Staff communicated that we should come back later if we want a table inside (which we did, and still no tables were available). We were not informed of any wait on food. If we had been told that there was to be an hour and twenty minute wait, we would have gone elsewhere. We had to go inside and ask to be moved, and we payed for everything. The drinks were not complimentary.

You could have informed us that the wait was very long, that inside tables would not be available and that it was simply too busy that night to accommodate anybody else. The drinks could have also (actually) been made...

Not family friendly. Unfortunately we had a very appalling experience. We were spending the weekend in Tamborine and wanted to eat out with our two children (5&1). We were offered a table for four (no high chair but had the pram, asked if we could keep it near the table and were told that was fine). We had dinner and ordered dessert, our youngest (a 1year old toddler), was doing quite well with of course a few loud little giggles and noises but nothing we would consider unreasonable, she is after all a toddler. We were waiting for dessert when we were asked to leave as they had received a complaint about the noise, mind you there were only two other couples eating at the restaurant one of them being outside! We were appalled that someone else was valued and given more importance than a family trying their best to keep a toddler quiet and enjoying their meal (which we had nearly finished). We were so shocked as this has never happened to us before. At NO POINT were we told that this was not a child friendly restaurant. There were multiple opportunities for the staff to politely let us know that this was not a setting for children, however, it was not done and they were more than happy to take our money and ask us to leave after we had ordered dessert- just telling us they could give it to us in a take away container. If you are not child friendly be upfront about it! We were thoroughly disappointed and...

Where to start.

From the moment you walk in you get that true authentic Italian vibe, greeted at the door, booths to sit down in and the cleanest floor I have seen (random I know but I feel I commented twice to my partner)! The staff were great, the two young girls customer service was on point. The knowledge of the wine list and the pairing options showed that they know their wines and have done the research.

The food. A small mains menu but it showed they have perfected it. The best gnocchi I have ever had, it's a massive call but by god it was divine. The risotto with mushrooms was cooked perfectly and unlike any I have had before.

Desert. The home made tiramisu was huge and lucky we got only the one because it was that large we both struggled! Our daughter had a brownie and her eyes lit up from the first bite.

And amazing work with the espresso martinis. My partner's first and she loved it. Not too sweet and a true hit of espresso in it!

Thanks again chef. Like I said, you've killed it for any other Italian we...