Review The Lighthouse Cafe - McCrae

Great food Lots of meat and vegetables too n the dishes. Not just sauce and noodles. If really being picky, I would have like tamarind in the Pad Thai. Next time I will ask. Great atmosphere and staff. Will be back for sure to try other dishes.

4.8. It’s a great Thai place. As one member of our party said halfway through our meal, “I think this is better than any Thai meal I’ve had up in Melbourne”. It’s lovely food here with lovely flavours. We had the prawn toast, satay, duck salad, BBQ prawns and the yellow curry with beef plus rice and roti on our first visit. On our second we had a prawn massaman and a range of other dishes. All the dishes were excellent and were notably very well made with fresh high quality ingredients. The massaman is the best flavored one I’ve ever had. It was utterly delicious. And, the coconut rice was exceptional as well. The service was really great here too. Brisk, efficient and unobtrusive but with lots of cheery smiles and comments. This is superior local Thai. We’ll return again and again for sure.

Food was awesome. Their peanut sauce is to die for. Chicken skewers were the best. FAST service, as if they knew our order beforehand. In n out within 10 minutes. Padh thai and Chicken fried rice were amazingly delicious. HIGHLY Recommend it!!!!

Satay Chicken and coconut rice was amazing. It's a great little place for dinner. It gets busy, so book a table ahead of time.

Dissatisfied with tiny stringy beef slices in our curry, hoping you’ll improve and use chunky beef cuts, happy to pay more for quality. sauce & nan bread was delicious 😋

We came here to celebrate birthday. Loved the Food and Customer Service. Amazing Staff. Thank You

The service was under par but started off with a good entree, okay main meals and a long technical issue with the register for the night.

Great staff able to assist with menu items mix nice Thai food

This is a great little restaurant opposite the lighthouse in Mc crae.  You may find that the staff are rude and forgetful, however I can put up with this as the food is so fresh and tasty. Their mixed entree plate is great and plenty for 2 people to share. Their fish cakes are amazing and not rubbery as you get from alot of thai restaurants. We also shared the snapper which was cooked to perfection. Limited wine list but your going there for the food not the wine.

I finally managed to find a menu online for this restaurant, I was very excited for a good meal at a reasonable price I ordered the chicken pad Thai, a mixed TLC entree and a roti bread, expecting to pay a total of $33 i was charged $43 upon pick up and after questioning them about the extra $10 charge they said the menu I'd seen was incorrect. I feel that it was just an excuse and I was all round tricked. It is false advertisement allowing that menu to be displayed and I'm assuming that is the reason I wasn't given a total when I ordered the meal to begin with. The meal itself was average and I do not recommend the TLC entree that came in at a total of $19.90 whatsoever. Sorry lighthouse Thai cafe I will not be back.

This was a very shocking meal. Going off the menu on Zomato as usual but then finding out all of their prices have been increased after placing the order was very shocking. $18.90 for a green curry is a little absurd and the Mix TLC entree for $19.90 was mediocre at best. <br/>This was honestly not a great experience. And I think there is plenty of cheaper and better Thai places in the area. Also here is the up to date menu if you want waste your money here!!!<br/>Also low key think their was something wrong with the green chicken curry made my stomach feel really weird tbh.

Disgusting racist cespit, to say the very least. I have eaten Thai food all over Australia and Thailand and this was the most disgusting excuse for gristle I have ever eaten. This however is just the food, the service was worse. First the horrible (what i assume to be manager) individual who looks like it crawled out of Mordor made us sit in the corner, it then made us prepay in front of a full house due to an apparent ethnic appearance. It was afraid we would do a runner.. oh boy.. My friend and have never experienced anything like it.

This Thai restaurant is awesome. We ordered some t/a and we had some delicious chicken satay sticks, some of the best one eaten. <br/><br/>And we had Jasmine rice, and green chicken curry which was amazingly good!! <br/><br/>We also ordered chicken pad Thai and once again this was one of the best Thai meals I’ve eaten in a long time! <br/><br/>This was a perfect dinner w excellent service. There were cues of ppl and inside was packed! Hardly surprising, this place is worth driving for. <br/><br/>BTW thank you to the pizza shop next door. We were going to go there but they had a function on apparently and they would not serve t/a pizzas. How odd give that there were at least 5 tables spare inside lol<br/><br/>But their loss was definitely our gain. Yahooo hahaha. Visit this place if you can.

Been here a few time, food is ok but service is lacking and price too high for what you get. I'm not sure why it gets high reviews as there is better and cheaper Thai just up the road in Dromana.

Found this place driving down point napean road, great Thai place. The lighthouse cafe stayed open late and served us while other restaurants on the strip were closing. Food was good, well priced, large portion and well made with gluten free options. Would recommend pad Thai, crispy wontons and roti with peanut sauce.

Really average food and rude service. I would not eat here again. Really disappointing duck lacking basic seasoning and flavour. Really over priced.

Really bland food, not authentic, expensive and the staff are rude as hell. Dont know how these guys are in business. Do yourself a favor and avoid!

The food was very nice and so was the service. We had a really enjoyable dinner and I would definitely go back there. The food was very well seasoned and full of flavour. Ambiente could improve heaps and slightly expensive but food made up for it.

We came here on a day trip, and someone recommended the Lighthouse to us. Their Penang Duck curry and coconut rice were delicious and fragrant, and we especially loved the fresh basil. Lovely waiters, but unfortunately took a little longer to receive our main course on this busy evening.

Terrible customer service. Takeaway order was wrong even though it was repeated on the phone. Made to wait extra after it was promised that order will be ready on time. Food quality was also questionable.

I came down to the peninsula for a weekend with my partner. We decided to grab some takeaway for dinner and went with the lighthouse cafe for its high rating but I question as to how this is so. We preordered over the phone and was told it would be ready in 15 minutes - perfect, as we were located 15 minutes away. Got there and waited an extra 20 minutes without being told how long the wait was going to be. Whilst waiting we never received an apology or any acknowledgement whatsoever. I thought the food was going to make up for the poor customer service, however they got our order wrong, despite being read back the correct order when we were handed our food. So basically we paid extra for a prawn dish and received chicken instead. Not only that, the chicken was so overcooked in our pad Thai that it went dry and hard. Safe to say you ruined what was our perfect weekend.

Really good Thai food. Fresh and tasty, we had the tamarind fish and Pad Thai and it was delicious. The restaurant is clean and well presented, the staff are friendly and prompt and there were lots of other happy patrons! Would definitely come here again when in the area.

Staying in McCrea for the night and was recommended this place. So glad we took the advice. We bought our own wine from a local winery and matched it with beautiful fresh and tasty Thai. The place was buzzing but the service was so friendly and slick. Nothing was too much trouble. Very well priced as well. Winner all round!

The food is acceptable, however the service is terrible. Restaurant not close to full capacity but staff are run off their feet. We waited over an hour and a half for a phone order when we were told it would take 40 minutes. This has occurred on a number of occasions. Simply unacceptable in a service driven world. Also, staff are extremely rude.

Best Thai on the peninsula, very tasty food, service a little slow but who cares when the food is good. Good range of drinks as well. Try the entree tasting plate you won't be disappointed

After leaving 3 restaurants in Dromana that were ordinary, we hit this place by chance and ordered up a storm for takeaway.  Even after a 45 minute ride back home, it was awesome. Seriously good thai takeaway food.  Not brilliant, but just really well prepared and executed. like most thai, its on the pricey side but it was worth it.

Best Thai food I have ever had.. Absolutely delicious with the freshest ingredients. I would highly recommend. Only downside Waitress service a bit slow but food makes up for it.

Lovely beachside Thai restaurant. A friend and I decided to go for a drive this past weekend and we ended up driving all the way to McCrae where we found this lovely Thai restaurant. We were seated promptly by happy, friendly staff. Our meals were very nice & tasty, service was quick. The only let down was the roti bread served with satay. The satay was delicious, the roti however was a little 'hard' - a little too tough to comfortably cut with a knife and a little difficult to eat. Otherwise a great meal. The green curry chicken and coconut rice I ordered were just lovely. The entree Thai fish cakes were delicious. The accompanying sauce perfect. Very nice, relaxed atmosphere. The staff looked after us well. A great night.

Authentic and delicious Thai. This place has the most amazing, authentic Thai food I've tasted outside of Thailand. The restaurant is lovely but we normally order take away. My mouth is watering just thinking about it...

Tom Yum. Nice and spicy lovely flavours

Too busy!. Rang for take away order and got told that it was too busy and they are not accepting any takeaway orders. Was willing to wait an hour or so, but was not even given the option...some words of advice... Put on extra staff to cater for holiday season demand!!!!<br/><br/>Poor business = loss of customers

One of the best Thai restaurants . Recommend Thai green curry and steamed snapper . Love it ! Highly recommend it

What service??????????. Our family love the food at This restaurant. It is the best Thai food on the peninsula but the service lets this establishment down dearly. We regularly buy takeaway...... It would be lovely to have the whole package and be able to enjoy this meal in the restaurant with service. NEVER do we come away feeling that we have had an enjoyable evening (good food, good service). The waitresses need to learn some simple skills. Passing soup while reaching over other diners to the end of the table and risking pouring hot liquid on people is not acceptable. Nothing wrong with walking to the side of the person having the soup placed in front of you! Standing having social chats with other staff while people are waiting to be served - not accepable. Having to continuously call a waitress over for service (for every course) while it is not busy and they are only chatting amongst themselves - disgusting. The owner needs to open his eyes.... or give his staff some BASIC training. It's not brain surgery.....you don't need a degree!

Worst thai I've ever had. We stopped in late Sunday looking for a restaurant that was actually open and serving. We were pleasantly surprised to see a busy thai restaurant open. We ordered the BBQ prawns and a beef stir fry. Both were terrible - covered in sauce. Actually reminded me of bad Chinese from a shopping centre food court. We ate a few mouthfuls of each and couldn't stomach the rest. $60 later and still hungry.

I always get takeaway from here when I come and stay at McCrae for a weekend away. I always get Gang Paenang Beef, a thick red curry based dish with lots of meat and just amazing flavour. I also regularly get the Mince pork Larb which has lovely flavours with chilli, kafir lime, coriander, and lemon. These are my two go to dishes! They are so nice, I have rarely deviated but have ordered other dishes and the only one I didn't love was the Pad Thai noodles which was a bit bland.

The wait can be long but worth it. Thai is a passion for my family and I, and we have been eating from The Lighthouse Café for many years now - it has become a summer tradition. We order as soon as it opens as it is very popular for both dine it and take away.<br/>Compulsory for us are the green curry with chicken & red curry with beef, pad Thai, roti & coconut rice plus we usual pick a random item and to date we have never been disappointed.

What! No food at 7.15pm?. Sunday night at 7.15pm we arrived looking forward to a good Thai meal at one of the few restaurants open in the area on Sunday night. It was reasonably busy and with a bare wooden floor quite noisy. Waitress arrives and after asking for a table for two she advises that they aren't taking any more customers and there was a one hour wait for take away meals although she said they may not have enough food available! <br/><br/>Can't comment on the quality of the food but the service was not good.

Mrs. Tried a number of times to make a dinner booking for this cafe. Finally able to get a booking saturday 22 March 2014 and my husband and I enjoyed the ambiance and food so much. we started with Tom Yum soup it was perfect, then we had a prawn green curry and a sizzling red curry prawn. it was so enjoyable and will be going again. will need to book in early though.

Sawadee ka. Finally. Good food on the peninsula. <br/>Delicious and fresh. Staff were fab even though they were run of their feet.<br/>The baked coconut custard was scrumptious

Great experience. I went here with my partner, it was my first time & his second time at TLC. Great service & great food.<br/>Pad thai is delicious & my thai red curry was exceptional. Good service & a good timing between servings

I Liiike.. First visit to The Lighthouse Cafe was prompted by the fact the place always looked full whenever I passed. Dipped my toes in the water with a green curry and sizzling prawns with plain rice and roti take away. The food was outstanding with the roti pealing and flaking to perfection.<br/>In house dining was like so many other Asian restaurants with furnishings plain and layout given little imagination to floor plan or privacy. Very Noisy, even at half capacity.<br/> Young staff giving a varied table experience on each visit but always seem polite. Food prices very reasonable and from a lover of Thai style food this is one of my favourite haunts for takeaway.

We've been going here for years now and quality of the food is always great and great value for money. Service can be a little slow from time to time but generally TLC is a nice experience.

Food was great but service needs improving very slow and not friendly took a while for food to arrive as well it's a pity because I would go back for the food

The waitresses are really friendly, the service stood out. Food is delicious,a few unique items on the menu. Great Thai.

Best Thai in Melbourne...not just the Peninsula! Sometimes difficult to book in on a Fri or Sat night but that's because is so good! I used to love the gang panang Nuer the best but since have been vego the yellow curry stir fried veggies r to die for. Can't get fresher tasting veggies & more delicious sauces. Also very clean & great service...especially if your lucky enough to be served by Meg:-)

Excellent food, waited a bit long but it was definitely worth the wait! Used to go to other Thai restaurants on the Peninsula, but we have now found a place that we will go back to time and time again. A little music couldn't hurt, but since the place got so packed and noisy and wasn't really nessessary later into the evening.

Fantastic meal at a reasonable price roughly 30 dollors a head. We will be back again and recommend to others.

Never Again!. I used to love going to this place, but after the service we recieved on Saturday, we will not be going back. I made a booking on Thursday for 7pm on Saturday, when we got there, we were seated. However about 5 minutes later a man came out and asked who the booking was under, we were then told that it wasnt made and that we would have to go as the table was booked for someone else. What happened to the customer is always right? I would have been more accepting of this had there have been an apology, or even an offer to move tables, or eat at a later time. There was no aknowledgement from the resturant that maybe they could have been wrong, it was pretty much - you made a mistake, you must have booked somewhere else - get out! There is no way we will be going back there, there is alot more restuartants on the peninsula and they all have just as good food and alot better customer service!

Excellent food, service good, maybe a bit noisy but I guess that means everyone was having a good time.

Very fresh food. Best Thai on the peninsula.. This would have to be the most consistently excellent Thai restreaunt I have eaten at. Currys are always sensational. They dont mind catering for people that don't deal with hot food. Highly recommended.

Amazing. The Lighthouse Cafe has a great atmosphere, the best Thai food I have ever eaten, the service is great, and the people are so friendly. Always booked so get in early if you're planning on getting in on a Friday or Saturday night. They're closed Tuesdays. Best Thai food in Australia, by far!

Great food but long wait for it. Saturday night busy with take away so service to table very slow...50 minute wait for entree.

The service was quick and extremely hospitable to all dietary requests … We happily paid $30 per head including drinks, leaving with very full and satisfied tummys!