South Sailor — Restaurant in Wollongong City Council

You’ll find South Sailor on Lawrence Hargrave Drive just a block back from the golden sands of Thirroul beach. With a super-popular outdoor dining area and curbside tables under nautical striped navy and white umbrellas sitting on an AstroTurf lawn, it’s aimed directly at the sandy-feet crowd. Everyone is sporting a tan; and swim suit tops, singlets, hats and sunglasses seem to be an unofficial dress code.

Inside there’s a small interior dining space filled with blonde wood tables and rattan chairs. The white paling walls are highlighted with vintage palm tree wallpaper. It opens out into a larger room where window tables are backed by a limited amount of bar seating in front of a tiny bar lined with fish-scale tiles in alternating shades of blue. With them running very close to their hundred people capacity during the busy lunch service when I visited, I was glad to see them turning away folks just looking for takeaway fish and chips.

Gin is heavily featured on the beverage list, with an eye-catching Sunset Sour ($17) made on Husk Farm Distillery’s Ink Gin. Coloured with the Thai butterfly pea flower, this mauve cocktail sees it teamed with blueberry, lemon, and an egg white foam that’s guaranteed to get the taste of salt off your lips. You’ll also find a gin+tonic list with some clever matches, like Japanese Raku Gin with Fevertree Indian Tonic and ginger, in a quaffable mixed drink called Made in Japan ($14). With two taps, and a range of craft brews, you can also indulge in an ice-cold beer to whet your lips after a surf or paddle. We stayed local with Wollongong’s Five Barrel Brewing’s Golden Ale ($8.50) that drinks a bit like Young Henry’s Newtowner, just with slightly more hoppy bitterness.

Hoping for a bit of a menu overview, we hit up the Seafood Share for Two ($68). Delivered in two waves, it kicks off with cold dishes before heating things up with buttery grilled prawns served on the shell against skin-on chips and a perky little side salad. The salad is dressed with sesame seeds and yuzu (a Japanese citrus), with hidden pockets of seaweed, and is pretty indicative of the kitchen’s Japalian (Japanese-Australian) brief. Do ask for some of their fluffy, garlicky aioli to make the most of the hand-cut chips.

The sharing menu – which blossoms into a bottomless two-hour boozy offering on Saturday and Sunday lunch for $69/person – starts off with sashimi. Thick wedges of salmon and thinner slices of raw tuna speak to the quality of their seafood, though perhaps would benefit from the use of a sharper knife. South Sailor's island ceviche sees translucent slices of kingfish given an almost Mexican treatment with tiny dots of cream, chilli, tomato and lime against slippery cubes of young coconut jelly.

Crunchy cold fish tacos are the winners from our next trio of entrées, presented somewhat haphazardly on the same plate. They’re perched beside a seed-scattered fillet of ocean trout pastrami that’s delicately handled and accompanied by dabs of smoked labneh adorned with tiny crisp sails. There’s also a little bowl of white anchovies sitting on a tomato salsa that are meant to be eaten on the accompanying super-crisp toast. While it’s not quite as grand as a seafood platter, I reckon this menu gives you a pretty good deal for your thirty-odd bucks apiece.

Lunch at South Sailor makes for a pretty satisfying end to a morning...

Food was fantastic but the service definitely needs some attention. Forgot to serve plates when our meal was brought out. Had to ask for them 15mins after and flies were all over it. They served only two sets of plates for a 3 course meal? Had to use the same tiny plate for both the entree and main. Not ideal when you are eating an array of different dishes that don’t all go together. Ended up using my napkin for the second meal. Didn’t offer any solutions for the crazy amount of flies in our drinks/ food. I understand it was a humid day but when they are all over us and we are spending $900 at your restaurant I would hope they would replace the glasses that had flies in them or bring a fan out perhaps? Very unhygienic and not nice. We asked to move to the free table next to us that was closer to the open air but it seemed like a huge inconvenience and she didn’t want us to. Maybe start with an apology for the crazy amount of flies and offer another solution? We asked for the bill so we could sort out payment between a large group but they wouldn’t bring it to the table? Strange as I went to the counter and then they printed it out and I bought it to the table myself.. not hard. They also had discrepancies on the bill but we were able to resolve that at the time of payment. I absolutely loved the food.. lamb and salmon...

Located on the main drag, Lawrence Hargrave Drive, South Sailor isn’t in the most picturesque setting, but it still offers a pleasant dining experience. However, there were noticeable shortcomings during our visit.

The service, while friendly, lacked refinement and felt more like a casual diner than the polished experience you’d expect at this price point. For example, we had to ask for soy sauce to accompany our sashimi—a basic oversight that shouldn’t happen. The staff seemed to be trying their best, but it felt more like a team of school kids rather than a professional crew.

As for the food, it was hit-and-miss. The Salmon Poké Bowl had fresh chunks of salmon, but the accompanying ingredients felt dry, mismatched, and uninspired. The sashimi plate was fresh and had a nice selection, but the portions were small for the price. We also tried a noodle dish, which was decent but failed to leave a lasting impression.

The drink menu was a highlight, with a good range of beers, wines, and cocktails, but again, the service didn’t quite match the expectations set by the pricing.

Overall, South Sailor was a nice experience, but it didn’t stand out enough to become a regular spot for me. There’s potential here, but it needs some fine-tuning to...