Cardo's Steakhouse & Cocktail Bar — Restaurant in Western

Firstly the good. Cardio’s is a great outdoor dining spot beside the water. There’s a local band and the atmosphere is great during the busy season. Unfortunately Cardo’s is let down by slow service from friendly wait staff serving poor quality meals. I placed a drinks order; approx 25 mins it hadn’t arrived so I asked another waiter to chase it up. Eventually another waiter came and asked if I wanted a drink which of course had me asking “ where’s the drink the first two waiters were getting ?" The drink duly arrived 30 mins later and then bizarrely another arrived an hour and a quarter later after we’d paid the bill and most of our group had departed and the last 3 of us were about to leave. No biggie , wait staff were busy but clearly not paying attention. What was disappointing after past meals in years gone by being good, was the quality of the food. My friend had a steak which he said on the night was good, but a day or so later when we were discussing the meal he said he was just being polite and it far from good . A group shared a large pizza which was a very generous size but unfortunately it was doughy and undercooked. Another friend had a beef burger which he said was tasteless; his fries were soggy. He said he wouldn’t order it again and was disappointed with the quality. I had taco’s; they were terrible. The beef was bland and had no discernible spice and tasted like it was the same mince you'd make a watery children's bolognaise. There was none of the normal accompaniments, instead it came with a spoonful of chopped pineapple in a sweet syrup sauce and some shredded coleslaw - so no Mexican salad , no sauces , not a tomato In sight , no chillies guacamole, kidney beans or black beans, red onions cilantro etc. The tacos came with a side of a mayo kind of sour cream combo, presumably out of a can or bottle , it was watery and warm. I love good tacos ; sadly this was the most disappointing meal of tacos I’ve had anywhere; ever ! My meal was prepared by a cook who simply didn’t care what was leaving their kitchen. Whoever prepared the meal doesn't deserve to be called a chef. Overall, a $3 Taco Bell special would have been more satisfying. Last night's meal was a 2/10. In summary - a great location good atmosphere, friendly staff, poor food. Cardo’s has got complacent and lost its passion. It’s lazy everywhere , the bathrooms need a decent clean and a refurb. Overall it now feels like an overpriced server of basic pub grub cooked by chefs who’d rather be at home watching TV. Sad to say Cardo's used to be a great place to eat ; I hope they can return to their...

We had dinner at Cardo's and had a wonderful experience. The wait staff (particularly David who looked after us for most of the evening) were very warm, friendly and accommodating. We were seated at a wonderful outdoor table overlooking the gorgeous marina view.

The menu had a broad selection of dishes and the Specials board had so many tempting options on offer. We opted for the filet mignon with the optional lobster tail served with mashed potato and the beef short ribs with polenta chips that was off the specials menu.

The steak was cooked to perfection and the lobster meat sweet. The mashed potato was like a party in your mouth and my wife ate a fair portion of my mash which is testament to how good it was.

My wife's beef ribs were large, so tender that they literally fell of the bone and flavoursome. The polenta chips complemented the meat well. Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to take a pic of the ribs because my wife demolished them before I had a chance to take a picture.

We rounded off the mains with banana fritters for dessert. The batter was light and crispy and although my wife said that she was full she still ate half of the dessert, much to my dismay.

The drinks were wonderful, ice cold and served promptly by David. Cardo's was having a promotion where we could get frozen pina coladas and vodka and pineapple cocktails for $10. The drinks were generous and perfect for a warm Fijian night.

The customer service was top notch with David being friendly, attentive and efficient with looking after us while not being intrusive so my wife, friends and I had a wonderful experience and will definitely be heading back on our next trip to Fiji.

Vinaka to David and the staff at Cardo's. In our opinion you are the best restaurant at Port Denarau. Delicious food at VERY reasonable prices, wonderful table sevcice and a gorgeous view. What more...

When we had attended Cardo’s on 16/03/24 and ordered the steak Aged Tenderloin for $100 along with surf and turf, and the monster burger and 3 tacos. Our orders were taken wrong and we received the BBQ beef burger. They had corrected this by giving us an egg on a plate so that we may place the egg on the burger ourselves to turn it into a Monster burger. We also ordered bernaise sauce and we still hadn’t received it by the end of the meal but still had been charged for it. Upon bringing it up, they changed the order and deducted it without issue. The staff were friendly, polite and helpful.

Now, let’s talk about the steak. This was definitely the worst piece of meat I have ever forced myself to eat in my entire life. I really hate wasting food, so I finished my plate and even gagged once while doing so. I ordered a medium rare, aged tenderloin, and when it arrived, there was no evidence of the butter basting, or any aroma of garlic or thyme. It was simply a charred piece of meat. The crust on the steak was poorly developed and almost non existent on most of it. I have to commend them on cooking it to a perfect medium rare, however, it was flavorless and bland and had no taste. Yes, I had to emphasize the same thing three ways.

My opinion may change on later visitation if I ever do go and be brave enough to attempt maybe another piece of steak, but as of now, disappointed is an understatement. I am not sure why our orders were wrong and why we weren’t given the same attention as their other customers were getting. Perhaps it’s because we did not look like their usual patrons. Between the two of us we ordered a total of $165 of food. That’s not cheap. However, I feel as if I wasted my hard earned money. Not the place for steak at the moment. Here’s hoping they improve on this. Tacos were pretty...