Polola — Restaurant in Townsville City

So it all began in Townsville to get the party started for the PINK concert. After travelling from cairns we decided to head out to this trendy looking Mexican restaurant that had a good vibe. A party of two adults and one child, we were sat at the end of a lounge area which was so cramped we had to climb over the lounges to go to the toilet and waitstaff had to lean over the back of the lounge to give us our drinks and food. We did not have a booking and were some of the first customers to arrive. We were appreciative that the restaurant accommodated our small party.

The male waitstaff (Charlie?) was attentive and took our orders fairly promptly. We ordered a few share plates and “fieste me” meals for the two adults. Over the course of two hours we received a small amount of food however we had to constantly ask where the rest of our food was. The small amounts of food consisted of 3Xscallops, 5 corn chips with guacamole, 5 chicken niblets and tacos to share. After almost 2 hours of waiting we asked a female wait staff how much longer the rest if the food would be and the female waitstaff gave little apology, and answered something along the lines of “you were the first ones here but everyone ordered at the same time”. After waiting the two hours we asked Charlie if we could get the rest of the food to go. We left the restaurant with mexi rice, chicken and salad and lamb ribs in a takeaway container…after two hours wait. The bill totalled $250 (including some drinks). We left the restaurant felling so deflated and overall had a negative experience here. Perhaps the fiesta meals should come out on a platter or a menu review should be done if unable to accomodate the large amounts of different plates …2 hours is an unacceptable time to wait for meals. The drinks also took a substantiated amount of time to arrive.

The food was nice however, the main parts of the fiesta meal was given in take away containers due to the over the top wait times.

There seems to be lot of room for improvement and perhaps the lounge area is not a suitable area to dine in. Overall, we probably would not return to this venue and would not recommend based on this experience. But a big thanks to Charlie? for his great...

I went here last night for dinner. We were put in the corner. This wouldn’t be a problem, until the next table arrived and couldn’t get to their seats without us getting up out of our seats and moving for them. There was no other way for the next table to get in. In fact the gentleman stepped out in the garden when leaving so he didn’t disturb us.

After we sat down it look a long time to be waited on. Then we ordered food as soon as we could. It was a very long wait for food. There was no apology for our meal being late. I had my sister dine in with her friends half an hour before us and they waited two hours for food. They were also disappointed with the wait time. We ended up getting food before some of them. Even the table next to us who ordered before us got their meal 30 minutes after that. I could see that even they had complained. When the food came out it was pretty nice but needed a bit more seasoning with some dishes. I felt like the menu was overpriced for what you received.

During the sitting, I ordered two cocktails. The first one was amazing, the second one was really disappointing even though it was the same cocktail. It had way too much rosewater in it. Tasted like perfume.

Overall it was a very disappointing night, with the wait times and cost of items. Nobody wants to go out and spend an arm and a leg when you’ve had to wait two hours for food. Hopefully in the next few weeks of running, things will...

A friend of mine and I last week had travelled a number of hours on a Friday night looking for somewhere to eat. It was around 915pm and with most places closed Polola was open! We walked in and a very kind staff member went to check if the kitchen was still open (it was). We were then offered a table and a staff member who was laying out all the tables kindly came over to take are order seeing we were. After she found out we were coming from the Netherlands on our visit she started speaking away Dutch to us providing us with lots of great conversations. We were then welcomed with 3 portions (2 tacos per portion) of tacos, which we shared. Each being as good if not better than the prior coming out one after one. We enjoyed our late meal with the staff being as accommodating at closing time as you would find at opening time. When paying for our meal our waitress from earlier came to wish us a great trip and providing some nice tips for our visit along the East Coast. As well as an Irish staff member who was also extremely welcoming with advice while we were paying. A 5 star experience any day of the week. Considering the nature of our visit, looking last minute somewhere to eat, drink and relax after a long travel - we couldn't have asked for anything better from food to hospitality. Second to none; recommend anyone to check...