AQUA Restaurant - Port Douglas

During our stay at the sea Temple resort, we opted for a full buffet breakfast at the resort's restaurant. Unfortunately the spread didn't deliver: much of the 'hot' food (eggs, bacon, mushrooms, etc.) wasn't warm at all, and the sweet items were rather plain. Not an unreasonable price ($32 per head), but much better cafe options in town for less.

I had spent a fair bit of time researching/planning this meal, as it was to celebrate my wife's birthday as well as her brother's birthday. We were on holiday from the Gold Coast and my wife’s brother & his family from Melbourne. The reason for such lengthy research being that there were two young children 6 yrs & 10 yrs in our party of 8 & Aqua was the only restaurant to offer a children’s menu.I was underwhelmed at the welcome received by the waitress who led us to our table. The same waitress that later insulted and scared the life out of my brother-in-laws daughters. The restaurant seemed to have no atmosphere & the entrance seemed to be in disarray.The evening slightly improved when Lara appeared to take our drinks order. In fact Lara was the only shining light of the evening. Drinks arrived & unfortunately my son was served the wrong beer, but we let this go.Lara then took our entrée and main meal orders and gave a full explanation of some of the dishes.A second round of drinks were ordered by my two sons & once again the wrong beer was delivered. Perhaps this should have been a signal for subsequent developments.Children’s meals arrived with one being a burger that didn’t look fit to be served in Macdonalds.Entrees followed. Tuna, scallops and pork belly were good but the onion tart pastry was average.Some one & half-hours later we were approached by the headwaiter who apologised that our main courses hadn’t arrived & offered our party a complimentary drink. Shortly after this the waitress who we met at the beginning of the night first spoke to my bother-in-laws youngest daughter & appeared to admonish her failing to eat her meal; for being unsociable and on her Ipad. This was unbelievable. We had been in the restaurant for over two hours and she was served a very average burger. My brother-in-law dealt with this as soon as he realised what had occurred. Prior to this the same waitress reprimanded my brother-in-laws eldest daughter for failing to finish her meal telling her that ‘children who don’t eat all of their dinner will die in a hole’. We only discovered this when the young girl asked my wife if she would really die in a hole and explained what had occurred. It was around this time, a further half hour of waiting, that our mains were delivered by he headwaiter. It was explained what had been said by the waitress to both young girls. The headwaiter was shocked, apologised & said he would deal with it.It was pretty obvious that our mains appeared to have been cooked some time ago. The reef fish ordered by three of the party was rock hard as was my coral trout & the snapper ordered by my son-you needed a chisel to break it up. The only edible main was the Atlantic salmon that my wife ordered. The headwaiter approached to enquire how our meal was and an appropriate response referencing the quality was made by all. The headwaiter informed that the bill was being waived and that everything would be freshly cooked.As I’m sure you can imagine the 8 of us had ‘enough’ by now and informed that we just wanted to leave.What was supposed to be a celebration dinner ended being a complete nightmare. I have never been so disgusted with the service or lack of it delivered by one waitress, whilst the quality of the food was appalling.

Nice restaurant with tables inside and out on the balcony. Lovely friendly staff and food nicely presented. Very nice buffet breakfast.

Was on a group Tour of 70+ people. Breakfast each morning included and 5 dinners all varying in style and food. Cannot complain although 1 dinner was not quite NZ Lamb otherwise very enjoyable. Found service at breakfast a little slow but do agree staff very busy and with all our group having breakfast included think a little extra pressure was added. All staff attending very friendly and helpful and a great array of food to suit all people. Had a bowl of wedges for a lunch and they were both delicious and plentiful.The photos show dishes from our farewell dinner.

Meals here are quite good but service at times can be slow. The buffet breakfast is exceptional with something to please everyone. Lunch and dinner is served and the barrista is consistently good.