Fresh User Reviews for Vegetarian in Gold Coast

9.3 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  9      Service  9      Value  10     

First time user, live in paradise point and hard to find home delivery to here. Food was delivered in under an hour and was excellent. Food was piping hot, which is sometimes rare with home delivery. Will definitely use again.

May 10, 2012

2.8 Not Recommended

Food  3      Ambience  4      Service  3      Value  1     

Invited to Absynthe to help celebrate a friend's wife's birthday. Not sure how much he paid for the gustation experience, but we were surprised at how tiny the portions were. Their outdated menu (2011) on this site, says $140pp. I hope my friend didn't pay that much. My wife ordered a cocktail from their list, to have the waitress return and inform her they didn't have all the ingredients. She ordered a simple Brandy Alexander next, to again have the waitress come back and inform her the barman didn't know how to make one.

I needed to go to the gents toilet. Another waitress informed me that I had to go into another building and gave me some sketchy directions to get there. When I eventually found it, I discovered I needed a code to tap into the keypad locking the door. I had to go back to the restaurant to explain to another waitress my predicament who informed me that I actually needed a 4 digit code to get into the toilet.

The drinks were ridiculously over-priced. $17 for a stubbie of beer, or a glass of wine. A bottle of Amiri Sauv Blanc, $16 a glass, $56 a bottle - same bottle, $7.00 @ Dan Murphy's - seems indicative of the overall impression we have of our 1 time experience of Absynthe, highly over-priced and over-rated and very poor value for a hard-earned dollar, in short, a rip-off.

May 05, 2012

10 Highly Recommended

Food  10      Ambience  10      Service  10      Value  10     

A restaurant that truly delivers on fine dining. If you aren’t based on the Gold Coast, I can assure you, the drive / trip to dine at Absynthe is definitely worth your while. Had an absolutely delightful evening at dinner. The food was outstanding… so rich and full of flavor. Dessert is always my favourite course and the chef’s at Absynthe knew exactly how to deliver. I chose the Crème Brulee with a light sorbet…this was divine!

Entrée (risotto) was exquisite. Cocktail menu is another must to sample! My favrouite was the cucumber martini – sounds different but I can assure you it will leave you wanting another! Exceptional service, lovely ambience - all I can say is, well done Absynthe!

Apr 14, 2012

1.5 Not Recommended

Food  1      Ambience  2      Service  2      Value  1     

This should have been a lovely night for my partners birthday at the Absynthe Restaurant at Q1 Surfers Paradise. Instead it turned into a nightmare.

The food was disappointing to say the least. We were asked do you want sparkling water or still water and we asked for tap water and was hit by a $32 water bill at the end of the night. This was for 4 bottles of 500ml water we supposedly drank. The bottles were never left on the table and our glasses were just refilled at anytime without letting us know that it was bottled water that cost $8 a bottle.

I refused to pay $32 for the water and said I would replace the water bottles. When I purchased the water to give back to the restaurant we bought another bottle for ourselves and we were very surprised because it was not what we had the night before because it was sparkling water and we had still water on the night. I was able to buy 5 bottles of the water for $14.

Mar 24, 2012

8.3 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  8      Service  8      Value  8     

One of the best Italian restaurants I have been too - probably the best in QLD! The pasta, rack of lamb, veal and beef are to die for and although we had to wait a while (restaurant completely full) - it was worth it for top quality meals, excellent portions, awesome flavours. Will visit again every time we come to the Gold Coast from Sydney! Thank you Fellinis!

Mar 15, 2012

1.5 Not Recommended

Food  1      Ambience  1      Service  3      Value  1     

This place wouldn't get a michelin star from me if I took my tyres there! The degustation was at best, fair, but the usual fair sized main course had a piece of chicken the size of a walnut. Tried the wine flight (not in the deal), $15 for a SSB, $5 a bottle on line, served at room temp followed by a "Se Australian" wine of dubious origin and taste billed as a coonawarra shiraz! Tasted like the label too!

Didn't wait to try the sticky. Senior staff was surly from the start, when I complained even more so. Only good thing was he refunded my 2nd voucher. I have never been moved to write a restaurant review in oz before but people need to be warned about this place.
.

Mar 05, 2012

2.8 Below Average

Quality  1      Food  1      Drinks  6      Ambience  5      Service  1      Value  3     

Don't Bother! This restaurant used to have fantastic food and lovely management, we were frequent customers. Sadly that has changed for the worse.

We booked a birthday dinner and our night was spoiled by the terrible food, which was tasteless and took 90 minutes to arrive at our table, terrible service, slow, unfriendly staff, who completed the credit card transaction at our table (how rude) and took forever to take our orders, and the other staff - who forgot 2 meals and they said the kitchen was small, that's why things were taking so long. Totally unbelievable! There were only about 15 people in the restaurant!

At the end of the night, the only compensation made was not charging for a meal that was forgotten (I should think so!) and giving us 2 bottles of water free of charge, how pathetic. The management did not even come to apologise and tried to ignore us as we left.

The Birthday dinner was a total disaster, our night was ruined and I was embarrassed for inviting everyone there. After one of our party contacted the management about our poor experience, he was given a short sharp reply that was a personal attack, rather than an apology or explanation. Clearly the management have no concern about the quality or reputation of their restaurant.

We will never go back there again, and I urge any potential customers to stay away. If you want good food and exceptional service, go somewhere else at Sanctuary Cove.

Feb 21, 2012

9.3 Highly Recommended

Food  10      Ambience  10      Service  8      Value  9     

Masterful Dishes, Best Boutique restaurant in Queensland.

My partner and I booked in the new year for our Anniversary. We noticed the media in the local paper highlighting the new A La Carte menu which is focused around different selections of Australia's finest Beef!

I started with the Candied Vine Ripened tomato in Vanilla Olive Oil and Wasabi Ice Cream, then moved onto the Poached Black Angus Beef Tenderloin with seasonal baby vegetables and Coriander Pesto.

If this wasn't enough I finished my divine culinary experience with the signature Vanilla Creme Brulee which I did not share with my partner.

It was an amazing dining experience which started with cocktails in the wine lounge. I don't know why there are so many bad comments about this restaurant?
Its the Best restaurant the Gold Coast has to offer.

And my partner and I have booked his 42nd Birthday Party there with 40 of our closest friends. The Chef and Owner sat down with us and customized our entire dinner menu to suit my husbands love for beer we have customized a 6 course degustation menu with a different beer which accompanies each dish!

This restaurant is rare and unique and is the only restaurant that would take the time to sit down with us and discuss a customized space and menu!

Jan 12, 2012

1.8 Not Recommended

Food  2      Ambience  1      Service  1      Value  3     

I too bought a voucher through Groupon for a meal deal for 4 and we were excited about going there as looked forward to the european dishes. Disappointing to say the least was our experience. We were forgotten as we sat outside (there is only about 6 tables in the whole place, 3 of which are outside) and we announced when we arrived we would sit outside.

We were basically the only people eating there. I was told when I went back inside after waiting awhile to ask if we could order now "Oh sorry, outta sight outta mind". Really? After starting to order, pretty much everything we wanted wasn't available. No stuffed cabbage rolls, no stuffed capiscums, no crocodile, no scollopini marsala pasta, no garlic prawns, only one serving of meatball spaghetti left etc which really left very little else to choose from and odd excuses as to why nothing was available.

It was a frustrating experience to order anything. Why have it on the permanant menu if its not made everyday? My mother had her pasta dish slopped all over white trousers when it was served to her. Very little apology. The meals were served higgledypiggledy, no particular order and a couple of the pizza's weren't what we ordered as well as one of the pasta's.

The goulash which pretty much was all that was available of their signiture dishes was like a bolognaise sauce with tiny chunks of meat in it and served with spaghetti. Never had such an awful goulash. They had their opportunity to impress new diners to their little establishment but, unfortunately, for them we won't bother going there again.

I also would never recommend anyone going there unless you're happy with very average food, a menu that which seems to be pot luck if what is advertised on it is actually available and dreadful service.

Response from Management:
A number of errors by this person. There were 10 people sharing meals for 8 people. The restaurant had 37 diners at the same time as this group and they were most definitely not the only ones there. We didn’t know this group were outside because they forgot to tell anyone. We thought they had left. There are 8 large tables and 37 chairs. All meals were available for them except crocodile and chicken breasts. The mother did not have a past dish slopped all over here, but she did have some sauce spill off the plate as it was handed to her because she moved and bumped the waiter. The group ordered 4 pizzas, four pasta dishes and two European meals and they ATE THE LOT. This shows they were all desperately hungry at the same time or that they simply enjoyed every morsel. They had a choice of 37 pasta dishes and 32 pizzas. Only two items were not available. No doubt this post was made by a competitor restaurant...well here is some news dearie, the quality of our food can’t be matched and if you need to resort to gutter tactics to win business away from us, you wont last long.

Dec 21, 2011

2 Not Recommended

Food  1      Ambience  5      Service  1      Value  1     

We came here after a friend raved about how great the food was. I ordered a penne arabiatta, the penne was hard, no not al dente, hard. I had to pay for extra parmesan, which is a standard accompaniment to any pasta. There was more chilli in it than a curry and there was no flavour to the dish. I never add salt to any of my food but found myself constantly adding salt to every mouthful. All 3 friends accompanying me had the same issues with the pasta and lack of flavour. The bruschetta is a miniature serving for a full price. Thoroughly disappointed.

Dec 20, 2011