Review The Caf Coolum - Coolum Beach

We had the Locals Dinner special. Paprika chicken gnocchi. The dish was full of flavour and portion was small. Upside, space for dessert. Chocolate Torte had good marzipan and chocolate flavour garnished with candy floss, cream and honey crunch. The Ice Cream sandwich was pleasant. The restaurant wasn't busy and the service was good, we weren't rushed along and could relax and enjoy the evening.

A busy little hive opposite the beach. A great atmosphere. We were there when several other groups attended but we didn’t have to wait long time for food. Staff did there best. We had a range of dishes from steak to barramundi with fish tacos the highlight and our scallops the worst. The scallops were small, cold (meant to be hot) and totally la led any flavour. Meanwhile the fish tacos were fresh and tasty. I’d visit again and just hope they had a rough night.

We walked past a few times and it was always packed. They were nice and found us a table for two on short notice. They did warn us ahead of time that there would be a wait on the food. The wait was long, so thankfully they warned us. The food was amazing though. We had the Shanghai pork dumplings, and the sauce/toppings were so well balanced. We had the spaghettini with prawns and chorizo, and the Red curry. All were so full of flavour, every bite was delicious. Will have to visit next time we are here :)

Overpriced and unfriendly staff. We got the dip and bread and it was literally like a garnish sized drop of dip. The fish tacos were better, and relatively cheap. The mains were certainly nothing to brag about.

We ordered the lamb tagine which was tasty however the second dish was the prawn pasta which we were not at all impressed with. There were only 3 prawns, it was very flavourless and the pasta itself was dry and overcooked. It was not worth the $32 we paid and we were disappointed. Our meals also took 40+ minutes to come out and the best they could offer was taking the two beers off our bill. The view was stunning however we will not be returning.

I took visitors there for Breakfast (as it is walking distance from home) and I was ashamed. The great view is where it stops! The food was very average (that is being nice) and totally over-priced for the extremely small portions. Presentation was a little old fashioned; however the plates looked nice. I'm a Chef, so I'm trying very hard to find positives. For the prices, food should be tasty, well presented and service should be outstanding. With those views this place should be a gold mine; however I really cannot see why anyone would return. Could be something as simple as bad management trickling down.

Eggs on toast $14 = one bit of bead, tomato and one egg scrambled. Add avo $5 which tasted like pure lemon juice not seasoned or tasted and $6 to add Halloumi. Total $25 for a lack luster effort on portion, taste and cooking, not impressed. Convenient location to beach and good space.

Sorry to be negative. I have a lot of compassion for the industry, but the food we had tonight was absolutely shocking. My curry had a burnt flavour through it (like When you burn the bottom of the pot) and my husbands steak was stone cold. You can see the kitchen on the way to the bathroom and it looked very grotty. Floor staff were good. Seemed there are some major issues that the owner should address in the kitchen. Skip this place. We walked out paying $140 and the food was barely up to any standard