Lagoon Seafood Restaurant — Restaurant in Wollongong City Council

My wife & I visited The Lagoon Seafood Restaurant, North Wollongong NSW on 29 July 2024 to have the hot & cold seafood platter for 2 which we always have. It may be a little expensive but we do not paying that for quality food & we always spend over $300 at the restaurant on each occasion. However, the quantity & quality of the food & service level at the restaurant has significantly decreased over the last 3 years & is no longer the signature restaurant it used to be. We have been customers of this restaurant since 2012 & in the first 7 years the quality and quantity of the food was excellent. I mean we struggled & could not to eat our way through the seafood platter. The platter was huge & was the best value for money for real high-quality food. Now the platter quantity has significantly decreased in size & removed the large fruit portion & you now only get the following: HOT TRAY: only 1 full lobster (2 halves), only 1 full Balmain bug (2 halves), 3 cooked king prawns, 3 oyster mornay, 3 oyster Kilpatrick, 3 scallops, 5 baby octopus, only 1 piece of cooked fish, . COLD TRAY: 3 cooked prawns, 3 natural oysters, 1 full crab, small size pieces of salmon & no fruit at all. I cannot for the life of me understand why you get an uneven amount of each item in the platter when this is for 2 people. Now the food quality has also slipped & the recent meal we had at the restaurant was absolutely atrocious & really poor staff service. I made a booking online & requested a window table. We were seated in the middle of the restaurant, it was a Monday night & there were plenty of window seats available. When ordering our meal I specifically requested finger bowls & additional serviettes to be provided with the meal. When the meal arrived finger bowls were not provided & again asked for the bowls. I had almost finished peeling all the prawns & my hands were covered & finally got the attention of a female waitress who responded in a rude fashion like we were impatient, but in fact it was our 3rd request. I couldn’t wait any longer & used my wife’s hand wipes. Still didn’t receive the additional serviettes. THE PLATTER QUALITY: The oyster Kilpatrick was dry, cold, with little sauce, the oyster mornay was cold with little sauce, the scallops were cold, piece of fish didn't have any flavor, the Balmain bug was overcooked & very dry & didn't seem to have any sauce, the lobster was cold, had no sauce, was overcooked almost burnt, very dry, rubbery & stuck together. I did not eat the lobster, it was disgusting. I showed the female waitress the quality of the lobster & the other items on the meal. She said sorry in apathetic apology, started collecting dishes & asked did we want desert. I was very angry with her blaze response, said no, got up & went straight to the register to pay. The same female waitress arrived at the register to finalize our bill. I reiterated to her about the quality of the meal & she just said sorry again & continued to finalize the bill. My wife jumped in & said so what are you going to do for us as the meal was crap. She said she could only give us the drinks off, that’s all, which was $18. I was furious that $18 was offered off a $259 meal, really. I begrudgingly accepted the discount but stated I won't be coming back. I told her we have been customers of this restaurant for 11 years, have always have the seafood platter for 2, & have spent over $300 every time & have previously recommended this restaurant. She didn't seem to care & appeared that just wanted finish up for the night, maybe she should be finished up permanently. I rang the restaurant the next day and made a complaint & to see what they would do. The restaurant manager provided a $50 gift voucher. I believe this is insufficient & is a cheap apology. This is not the first time we have had a bad experience at this restaurant. I DO NOT RECOMMEND the Lagoon Seafood Restaurant. I am sick of being screwed by businesses who do not take responsibility for their service and product & will now patronize Ambrosia Seafood Restaurant at...

• A WASTE OF MONEY * This place was already on my “to try” list and some friends in Wollongong suggested to have lunch here together, as they came here before and were quite happy of their previous experience and the place is quite popular too.

Let’s say even our friends were quite disappointed about this particular lunch, I have waited a few days and thought this over and over and I have to say that if it wasn’t for the company this lunch would have been a complete disaster.

We waited about 45min before seeing any food, the bowl of chips we ask to get before the mains arrived only after we reminded them 😓 ...and we have been told this wasn’t one of their busiest days, the restaurant was half empty when we received our order.

We had their famous seafood platter, some chips and a bottle of wine plus a round of extra glasses (their choice by the glass is quite limited)

A part from the fresh seafood all the rest was a complete disaster:

LOBSTER MORNAY Unless you have a lactose allergy like our friends (this is the only case where they will allow changes to the menu) you will receive a lobster drowned in some kind of besciamella or cheese sauce with additional cheap cheese on top and we know why they had to add so much sauce, because, if you are allergic (as our friends) what you get is a dry/overcooked lobster...so it was either a frozen one or just overcooked.

OYSTERS I would call them “Killpatrick” not Kilpatrick, because they killed them with lots of grease bacon that destroyed the delicate taste of the oysters. I was forced to take mornay oysters (remember? no changes from menu allowed unless you say that you have a specific allergy), but an half bite was enough because the same cheap cheese they used on the lobster ended up on the oysters too.

BBQ OCTOPUS I literally love octopus and these were like rubber, I am pretty sure you might even notice it from the pictures. Dry and gummy...again frozen or overcooked.

SCALLOPS IN THE SHELL These were ok...not much to say

SEA SALT & CRACKED PEPPER CALAMARI These are simply fried grease calamari with salt and pepper...and it was a pity they didn’t absorbed a bit of that extra oil otherwise these would have save the day, because they were tender and seemed fresh...but they rushed this too

THE BILL We spent about $267,30 per couple, but be aware that (unless you do 50/50) they don’t split bills.

SERVICE I have to say the young team tried their best, but lost all points when we asked for a finger bowl (water and lemon to wash the fish smell off your hands, for those who didn’t know) and they brought us a tiny little bowl for the 4 of us...I mean, come on...plus, didn’t you hear about COVID?! ...it’s 1 per person guys!

Overall a terrible experience for a place that has a great location and an apparently good reputation ...sorry you will never see us again.

There are much better places in NSW if you like seafood...just FOLLOW ME and...

A year ago I left such a very positive feed back but tonight's review not so it's with a very heavy heart I write this review, my husband and I have been coming to this establishment for the past 8 yrs and always found the food amazing fresh and plentyfull, but Tonight was so disappointing. We had a great start ordering some drinks, then an entree each that came out in record time. It then took 1hr 20min for main to come out sadly. We always order the sea food platter for 2 and have found in the past years that it was definately value for money and such an amazing amount of sea food, sauces, rice and used to be fruit in which there is none now. I only eat aselected amt of sea food so found sharing 3 anything was a little challenging. But the platter Tonight had so much less, 4 fresh prawns very light in colour and tastless , 3x 1/2 small bugs very tough to share between 2 people, 3x oyster kilpatric for 2 peopùle to share , 3 oysters natural for 2 people to share, 4x scallops marinaded. 4 pieces salt and pepper calamari which my husband left and 2 fish cocktails that didnt taste to good ,a few baby octopus, 2 king prawns cooked, 2 x half crab shells and boiled rice. When I asked the waiter, i might add had amazing service manor so helpful, why the platter was missing volumn and extras he said he didnt know and apologised he said he would get the manager to talk to us in which he did. To our surprise the manager was not really interested in what we were saying and said we haven't had fruit for 2 years and thats how it is. This will be the first time we actually left your establishment feeling not so full and unhappy. To top it off when my husband paid the bill of $403.00 cash, I explained to the cashier we wouldn't be coming back or promoting the lagoon. She said she understood with no remorse then when we walked to the car to my dismay were i checked our receipt to then find we were over charges for a bottle of wine we didn't order $59.95. I was quiet shocked, she did however reimburse. Sad to say what was one of my favourite place to dinner will definately not be on my...