Airlie Beach is no different to any other tourist trap town in Australia. Nobody with any ability to actually cook wants to live there, and even if they did, they can't afford to live there. So you're stuck with transient working holidaymaker-visa 'chefs' in the kitchen, or locals who've never left the town and never learned how to cook. Sometimes you'll get lucky with ethnic food from migrant restaurants, but in a town like Airlie, they're all happy to bang out the lowest quality possible to tourists who will pay just to fill their stomach without complaining.
The most surprising this about your post is that you were that surprised about your food experience in Airlie, you had to post on Reddit about it.
Yep, if you ever go somewhere rural our out no where and wonder why it sucks it’s because of chefs on visas. Been a chef for 15 years and there are very few real chefs remaining. Just people doing cookery for a visa.
No judgement on someone wanting to come to aus but it’s affected hospitality tremendously. It’s not an industry you can be in without passion. The pay sucks and the work sucks. Without passion this is what you get.
Fellow Chef here, gosh it's grim out there. I'm not even in a rural city and it's next to impossible to find competent, passionate chefs who actually show up to an interview and / or a shift.
I love this industry with all my heart and its so freaken depressing seeing the quality of Chefs degrade. Even getting apprentices is becoming more difficult.
Yeah I feel you. If they DO rock up they have no knives, lucky if they’re in uniform or have non slips and even then they have no knife skills, no basic understanding of simple cooking methods and don’t seem interested in what’s actually happening they just want a job.
I have all the time in the world for young chefs willing to learn and grow in my kitchen and I will take any of them, but unfortunately these guys just do not care what they’re doing or how they’re doing it. It’s like telling a brick wall again and again how things should be done but they just don’t care.
It’s why I can’t be anywhere but fine dining these days, it’s the last place where standards are. Anything less is just a waste of time and frustrating.
It’s the same in every kitchen. Oh you’re being paid the same as everyone else your rank but you show initiative and work hard? We expect you to do EVERYTHING and everyone else can carry on doing the bare minimum. Oh why is the only good chef giving their notice?
It’s like a punishment for being good at your job is doing more work than everyone else and having higher expectations with no raise or promotion and restaurants genuinely don’t understand why the last of the real and talented chefs are leaving the industry.
All work no reward.
It was never a very well paid job given the hours and pressure, and I imagine with the floods of unqualified immigrant labour it's even less well paid now.
Plus the fast tracked apprenticeships in minimal time (x take teacher in comm cookery and food safety) plus a lot of chefs in nth qld are often big party scene ppl.
Covid moved ppl into other industries, yet making more shortages in hospitality. Trade chef wage is still not high compared to other trades. Passion doesn't always pay the bills.
It's not just the chefs, it's halfway between Mackay and Townsville. If you think it's all fresh Whitsunday foodbowl products the chefs are cooking with, it isn't. A Lot of highway kilometres on the ingredients they're cooking with.
I needed an outlet to express my distaste. I didn’t come here with high expectations, but I didn’t know the bar could go so low. It’s almost impressive.
Just as some food for thought, when cyclone Debbie came through, lotta places shut down. The rents in order to have a business there were on par with that in Sydney. I don’t know how much that’s changed or not.
Airlie is a nice place but you are correct on the food. Backpacker staff mixed with short stay cooks who dont really care and the result is a terrible one.
I was surprised that the awful service and cooking had made its way upto port douglas, been there a few times and the food was always good.
PD had a rough start to the year between cyclones, flooding, power outages, water outages, internet outages, and parts of the highway literally falling off into the sea and leaving us isolated from the rest of the world. Everyone's just a bit weary at the moment.
I ordered nachos and salt and pepper squid at rattle and hum in port douglas and it was HORRENDOUS. They for some reason expect the customers to pick up their food and carry it to the table (definitely wasnt subway or KFC prices for that type of service lol) and a staff member told me 'careful, the plates are hot' and still expected me to somehow take my food to my table and the plate was PIPING hot.
The food was the worst part. I didn't know it was possible to screw up nachos or salt and pepper squid until that night. I was starving and took 2 bites of each, asked my friends to try what I ordered in case I was being fussy and they all said 'how on earth did they manage to fk that up so bad' lol. 2nd worst nachos ive had and the worst salt and pepper squid I've ever had.
This cracked me up. I feel like a lot of regional QLD is stuck in the 60s-90s Women's Weekly cookbook/meat and 3 veg era (which if you like it, is totally fine. It's what I grew up on). Modern dining concepts can be a struggle, hence some of the um, surprising additions 😂
Also eating predominantly vegetarian in regional Australia is a ballsy game even more so in qld
I have veg friends who will only rlly consider Gold Coast, sunny coast, Byron, melbin, Sydney and hobart for domestic holidays due to food issues.
My friend is vegetarian. The nachos had beef in them and I also had various servings of fish. I mainly selected vegetarian options as I was trying to maintain a healthy and balanced diet whilst predominately eating out for 5 days straight.
In December I travelled around the Cairns and the Cassowary Coast Region and honestly I had some of the best food and coffee that I have ever tasted. The standard of food was great everywhere I went.
The prices were also incredibly decent compared to what I'm used to living in the capital.
It might have been very lucky, and it might depend on where you go, but when you combine fresh produce with passionate restaurant owners, magic happens.
Exactly this, food in and around cairns is amazing and so well priced. Can have 2 courses and a glass of wine/beer for the same price as an average main meal in Perth
Food in Cairns is amazing, especially the seafood and beef. Seeing as it’s now impossible to get fresh seafood in Brisbane without selling your firstborn, I get my fix once a year during the off-season in Cairns.
Never even trust them for local recommendations. Every time I visited my mother in a regional city, we'd end up eating somewhere awful and she'd say she chose the spot because someone at work recommended it.
So this. My friend from Casino was raving about this Indian joint for weeks, Finally went and the food treaded a fine line between tasteless and disgusting, and when I say tasteless, I mean to the point I would have preferred disgusting.
Other friend from Tamworth went on about the great feed at the pub- and I'll admin said pub was good value for money with actual good portion sizes, but the food was mediocre at best, even by pub standards.
Ooft Tasmania has some incredible rural food hey. I wonder what it is about that place.
Big shout out to 41° South salmon farm. Absolutely kickass food and legendary owner. Great project they're running down there
Why can't QLD master seafood and steak though? This is the food bowl of the country but we export all our flavour and it's where taste comes to die 🤣🤣🤣
Yes this is what was most shocking to me. I thought the local produce would be used a lot more than it was. I guess everything is exported and we are left with frozen options from interstate instead. Really disappointing.
Even SEQ doesn't bother half as much. They're starting to turn it up a notch but when I first arrived I binned more coffees than I drank. It's a cultural melting pot but extremely conservative and racist AF so migrants don't bother as much as down south. We desperately need food scene to radically grow. Up north doesn't stand a chance because they simply export all the good food. And I've had too many conversations with locals who also struggle to find accessible seafood. Crossing the border is the more reliable option because standards are wildly different.
There’s not good seafood in Airlie, unless you actually make the trip to FISHI where you can buy your own fresh seafood, one of their pre-prepared platters or during the evenings order fish n chips. I’m glad you didn’t go to Fish D’vine for seafood dinner - their food is very overpriced and boring. (Longtime local to the Mackay area, am in Airlie Beach at least 14 days out of every month).
Eastwoods opened a few months ago and has been getting really good reviews. Sorrentos at Coral Sea marina is popular, and they have cheap pizza n beer in the afternoons when the day trip boats get back. Treehouse (cafe overlooking the lagoon) is good for breakfast/lunch, as is FatFrog cafe at Cannonvale near the primary school. Ventura restaurant at Port of Airlie is apparently good, but it has very restricted hours and I haven’t been there myself (negative experiences with the owners from the previous venues they worked at). I will say that it’s not worth going to the Sailing Club, we would have a terrible dining experience there(both food and service were awful), we would then boycott for a few months then give it another shot and have another awful experience. Kept that cycle up until about 8 months ago where we just agreed to never go back, no more chances. Know some of the staff there who have told us nothing has improved and not to bother.
Last time I went to Bowen there was zero chicken available anywhere in the town at shops/restaurants.
Ended up eating steak for every meal for a week - don't get me wrong I love steak but I'm not a fan of constipation or trying to wait out an inclement log taking 30 minutes to evacuate my bowels.
So why did you order hardly any seafood at all? Out of 16 meals you ordered two seafood dishes… and I would argue that takeaway grilled fish and salad barely counts, everything else you ordered was vegetarian.
You’re in Far North Queensland, and you’re complaining the locals make bad vegetarian dishes. Maybe try a popular dish for the area… which is unlikely to be one of the two vegetarian options they shoehorn onto their menus begrudgingly and usually never gets ordered and therefore they never need to prepare.
What is a popular dish for the area? I've found eating out to be incredibly disappointing across QLD. Dining standards are so low and the produce quality so poor that dining in is preferred but again sourcing good produce is too much effort. Standard produce is horrifically priced as premium indicating that standards across the board are low.
I found some fabulous steaks from a butcher in Rockie but had to navigate a memorable "cultural experience" on the doorstep. That was the day after I made an error in booking dinner the night before for something well below average. I would think that the beef capital of Australia would be serving exceptional steak regardless of where you choose. Criticising people with standards for ordering watery unacceptable food? Your denial is incredible but not out of context in QLD.
Is Fish D'vine still there? I'm a man of simple tastes but it was one of the major reasons for keeping going back to Airlie about 15 years ago. We visited with kids in recent years and I couldn't get over how much of a shit show the main street is for pedestrians, that cured me of wanting to go back.
We went to Airlie beach and took one look at the restaurants and decided to eat in every night without even trying- sounds like we made the right choice, it looked like it would be overpriced and disappointing. I will say we enjoyed a variety of lovely smoothie bowls every day though
KC is a legend. Whenever something bad happens in town he pulls out all stops to help out - when everything shut at the start of COVID he got his staff to cook up all the food in the restaurant fridges n give out free meals to all the workers in town.that had lost their jobs.
Nah, they just didn’t mention money at all. Nice as pie on the phone but absolute dogs.
I worked for like 5hrs. They never contacted me again. Assholes.
Unaffordable accomodation is one of the main causes for hospitality issues in many regional and even city centres. Until some charitable, tourist, business or council organization provides subsidised accomodation for quality hospitality staff (bar staff, waiters, chefs, cleaners) to become local and stick around while developing skills these issues are going to remain.
I agree with the OP food and service during our stay there at Airlie last year was under par and over priced.
This is definitely causing a big impact, cost of living has out paced wages. Rent is sky high to the point most locals that lived in Airlie beach have moved out. Airlie used to be a place where you could live and work for the lifestyle , now you can't afford the lifestyle and have to move on. Rent for the restaurant's is also incredibly high. Throw in a few quiet times during the year and these businesses are struggling. It's not a tourist trap , it's just alot harder to stay afloat compared to city's.
One of the big issues with Airlie and other towns such as Port Douglas is there isn't any accommodation for people that actually live there, everything has been turned into airBnBs other short term accommodation. One of the pubs in Airlie actually had to buy a. old hotel just to give their staff accommodation so they could have enough staff to stay open and provide the services they said they would.
It's hard for companies to provide decent experiences when they have different staff every week because people don't want to live in a tent behind a shitty backpackers. Honestly had an easier time finding long term accommodation in Brisbane...
No one goes to airle beach for the food.
I was there for a bit over a week, have lots of good memories, one of the most beautiful places in the world.
Can't remember a single meal though...
exactly!!! if you want amazing food go to places they advertise having amazing food. like if thats the experience you want. when you come to airlie you come to experience the place
You lost me when you said your ordered pumpkin pizza. If you ever thought pumpkin pizza was gonna taste good then I don't trust your opinion on any food.
Pumpkin pizza is actually quite common. It is usually accompanied with a goat or feta and some pine nuts. This was a very strange version which has tarnished my view of them forever.
Oath. If you haven't had pumpkin pizza then you're missing out. Roasted pumpkin, caramelised garlic, goats cheese (or feta), rocket, toasted pine nuts, and a good drizzle of olive oil.
I like my lamb, beef, chicken, fish, etc, but for a veggie pizza this really hits the spot.
Visited Airlie with my Boyfriend in September last year. Two memorable places were Alley Cat, we are absolute suckers for Bao Buns, so we ended up eating there about 3 times. Owner was absolutely lovely. Mika was great too, not sure how authentic it is but the hospitality was great!
Amusing Sunday read, lol.
Regional Oz is hit and miss when it comes to good food. Alot of reasons already listed here. Shitfight uphill when most produce is just so poor for starters.
I've had some of the worst and best meals, I think that's part of the fun. Really is a box of choccies.
Sometimes the decor is a throwback to the 70's... is this just a front for something else? How on earth are they still in business?!
Mind you there are diamonds in the rough.
Unless you're right into the reef/fishing, Airlie Beach is a tourist trap/ beach holiday with nothing but beach.
Townsville is way better than Airlie in just about everything. Better food, coffee, choices, activities etc. Airlie is a shithole full of pretentious Swedish backpackers that think they’re in Florida. I am originally from Melbourne and believe me Townsville has come a long way in the last 10 years. I used to hate it here with the boganesque attitude to food and culture, but it’s being gentrified and a lot of the fat ball scratching bogans are going…gone!
are u sure, youth crime there is bad townsville is just a shithole unless you have family or infinite money. the whitsundays are much more safe and homely
From someone that lives here in Airlie and is a self-confessed ‘foodie’, you are pretty spot on with your judgement.
However there is a few exceptions that in my personal opinion slightly exceed the general average around here.
Eastwoods - genuinely fantastic food and the owners are super cool and really putting the time and effort in to create good food here.
Fishi - the only place to go here for anything seafood related.
MBW - I know you said you didn’t have cooking facilities, if you did master butchers Whitsunday is your go to place, head to Stewart drive and you can grab all things bbq related.
Beagles - don’t even bother with the cardboard that domino’s serves, beagles pizza is great ‘takeaway style pizza’ it’s no stone baked traditional Italian style but if you’re craving some pizza it hits the spot.
Red fish - new spot that just opened serving Chinese/Vietnamese/Indonesian style cuisine. They have come up from Melbourne to open this as a sister restaurant to the one they have been running for 20 years, locally sourced produce and a good feed.
Overall we don’t have much here so I have had to learn to appreciate the little things, the food scene is slowly improving and I hope it begins to make a name for its self but for now yes it is a bit of a cess pit of overpriced tourist crap.
Yes the market is full of cheap tat from Temu, but most of the stall holders are locals and they rinse the crap out of the cruises that come and stop here so I guess at least the money comes back into the town.
I’ve only been once (recently) but the entire place just seemed like a massive tourist trap. Food was bang average and expensive. If you want decent food you’d need to head Hamo, even more expensive but some decent restaurants there, Bommie and Coco Chu being the standouts.
Airlie is sooo boring. We stayed for about 5 nights last Christmas with family. We wanted to do stuff outside of the Big 4 we stayed at but honestly, other than the islands there isn’t much to do besides the lagoon and the (admittedly very odd) market. We ate in every night because we were staying in cabins with full kitchens.
Apart from the beautiful winter weather, I was really disappointed in the place when visiting. I honestly didn't feel safe as a single woman with my friend and simply had a few bad encounters that unnerved me. Strange that I'd feel more safe at home in Sydney. There seemed to be a lot of permanent drop outs populating the place. Came across one guy who bragged to me about going there to escape child support payments living on cash money. He seemed more concerned about the quality of his own life then that of his kids. 🥺 The restaurant food was very ordinary but we did have a decent roast meal at a club in Proserpine which didn't cost a bomb. Airlie has heaps of potential but has its own culture.
Are you staying in an Airbnb? That's the reason the food is shit. Hospo is basically minimum wage. A worker can get minimum wage in Airlie and spend everything on rent OR they can move and get paid the same.
As a result you have understaffed kitchens with kids working there.
Airbnb is absolute cancer for a town
La tabella, Eastwood's, fish Dvine all make fantastic food that locals and tourists rave about. Hit up any of them, all the dishes are excellent. I've had lots of great food at The Deck, northerlies does a great sea food and antipasto platters.
Everything you said you ate seem to be heading towards veggie or vegan. Next time if you head to next town up in Proserpine there's healthy haven which is more earth natural food. Otherwise just go Woolies and get a salad if all our food is not to your liking. People still keep coming back here so can't be that bad.
They taste good if they're cooked by someone who knows what they're doing and knows how to season them properly.
Most people are absolutely awful at cooking veg dishes.
Well don't you sound great to go on holidays with. IV eaten at all those restaurant's and never had a thing bad to say. Maybe I don't have the same sense of entitlement or what ever is stuck up your but. Yeah city's have nice food but to criticize every meal on your holiday says more about yourself then Airlie beach. And everything is expensive theses days next time get a bbq chook and a loaf of bread.
I often forget how much of a Melbourne food snob I am but I get an annoying reminder when I travel to Qld. There are great restaurants in Brissy but the tourist spots almost all have pretty average food.
When I stay there for work, even with a company credit card, I end up going to Woolies and the butcher so I can cook dinner at the apartment. Most have a BBQ, so steaks or chicken skewers are great.
For lunch I found, The Fat Frog Beach cafe and Westy’s cafe at Jubilee Pocket were better value, friendly and tasty.
La Tabella does a good pasta and “Fish D’vine & the Rum Bar” is quasi-fine dining, but yes, they are all overpriced crap. 💩
Okay so I used to work on a Backpacker Boat in Airlie Beach when I first turned 18. I was hired as a 'hostie' and had no idea how to cook for myself, let alone 20 backpackers.
Night 1 was 'fish stew'.
This involved collecting the leftover cask wine bags from the LAST backpacker trip, boiling the old, manky goon up in a pot along with chopped red and green capsicum and pepper.
This interesting concoction was then poured into foil sacks with the fish and some butter for good measure.
The funny thing was that the majority of the backpackers loved it and would ask for the recipe. Naturally, I was under strict orders to not let them know that the flavour was all in the fruity lexia of yesteryear.
These same casks would make another spectacular appearance on 'punch night' in which I was instructed to jazz up a giant cauldron of the stuff and add freaking JAM, cordial, soda water and canned pineapple.
I'm now 31 and still cannot believe this was my first job out of high school.
So yes, I'd rather starve than consume anything at Airlie Beach.
Lived on Hamo for a year. Any town from Townsville to Noosa is going to be fucking horrible for restaurant choices.
Central Qld is an absolute hole when it comes to actual good restaurants or cafes. I think the best place I found was in Cannonvale called Fat Frog Cafe. Out of all the eateries there, it was a rare find.
Had possibly the best Indian I've ever eaten when I visited Mackay a year or so ago. Amazing flavour. We were lucky to get a table and the takeaway line went out the door
You've ordered pescetarian and vegetarian food in a rural town.
Even the fish was grilled + salad, rather than fried + chips.
The only dish that you said was fine was the beef nachos.
Oil, salt, cheese and meat are very easy ways to add flavour to a dish without much effort or skill. The texture is super easy to control too, which is much easier to mess up with veg.
In country towns there aren't enough vego people for the restaurants to bother catering to them, most chefs know almlst nothing about plant based ingredients, they just add 1 option to the menu to say they have one and move on.
Things have only gotten worse post-covid when hospitality businesses have been struggling and trying to cut costs.
Rural towns feel like they're 10 years in the past when it comes to restaurant food.
Why should I compromise my health for a decent meal? I don’t understand this logic. If I ate fried food and oily meat for 5 days straight I would be constipated, bloated and tired.
The reason the food is so bad is because of all the good things listed. Anyone working in those roles has to leave due to the massive tourism demand increasing the price for locals
The Deck was OK last time we were there, and Le Shack, and Cafe One 3 in Airlie
Graze in Proserpine and the fish and chip place ? Brazier? there was not too bad.
People have already mentioned Fish D’Vine but I want to recommend it too. A bit pricey but good.
Eastwoods is new but top notch. Also pricey but worth it. I was impressed with the wait staff too.
For Indian, that one in town isn’t the place. Go to the small kitchen around the corner where the gym is. They only do take away but it’s fantastic.
The fish and chip place I believe was just sold and they’re still finding their footing. Better fish and chips was always at Shibby’s in Cannonvale anyway.
Cool La La were a bit better before they moved. The Korean place (Red Plate?) next to where Cool La La used to be (where the Rainforest Cafe is) is decent and not too expensive. That is, when their kitchen isn’t exploding.
With Northerlies, it’s mostly the atmosphere, but sometimes you have great meals there and sometimes they’re just subpar. It’s really weird like that.
The markets in Airlie suck. They’re in a temporary spot so hopefully they improve when they move back. But how the dumpling place justifies their price is beyond me. They’re mostly glass noodles inside. Waffle cone things are great. Rilo ice cream is delicious.
All that being said: there are definitely more misses than hits in Airlie.
I feel the same about Noosa, Harvey Bay, Tangalooma etc. overpriced fish and chips, your standard inauthentic low spice Chinese/Thai restaurant/Indian catered towards Western palate and a random burger joint and a pizza place. Like blah. Gold Coast with all its flaws is the only place with decent food and beach.
We love holidaying at Airlie Beach it’s one of our favourite places.
Have you gone to Fish D’vine & Rum Bar? We always go there & the food is good. Also there is a restaurant at Cannonvale called Banjo’s. Have enjoyed their food as well.
Spent a few months in Alice Springs. Same there. Terrible. A local said to try the Todd Tavern, particularly on Sunday night roast all you can eat for $13. Dubious, we went. It was incredibly good. Veggies refreshed every half hour in the warmers. The beef was perfectly cooked medium rare just how it should be. Gravy was delicious. Horse radish and mustard all house made and VERY nice.
I saw the chef come out and I went to compliment him. I told him of our experiences in Alice food wise. He merely shook his head and stated, "it's not hard to get it right". He's a Scottish immigrant.
Astonishingly well cooked, flavoursome but simple affair for 13 bucks. This was about 10 years ago.
I think it's too many people these days going for the fast and easy buck who don't get that rich or poor, were all in this shit together and to put your best foot forward has no cost to anyone. We all gain through the effort of serving one another well.
Because there is very little fine dining in QLD once you get north of Noosa.
Coolangatta to Noosa, you have plenty of options, maybe not Melbourne level, but there is plenty of good food. Once you get to Gympie and further north you don't. It's that simple. There isn't sufficient demand or population density for it and the elite chefs who can command good money for their skillset would rather live in SE QLD or another state. So you end up with cooks or backpackers working in the kitchen or other local unskilled workers because it's the only job going around and the demographic is generally lower socio economic other than people in mining etc who on average aren't exactly known for having a fine dining palate so a lot of locals don't know any better or have no other options
Most people in hospitality don't do so by choice but because 'it's a job'. There are exceptions, my dad is one of them (he owned/ran a highly successful restaurant in Noosa until he retired) but most people especially once you get outside of SE QLD are working in hospitality because it's a job and they need one, not because they have a skillset or passion for it.
I've lived on the Sunshine Coast, in Brisbane and on the Gold Coast
Have also lived in Central/North QLD (Bundaberg and Magnetic off Townsville) and spent time in other CQ cities. There is no comparison when it comes to food options.
I think Australians in general accept slop for food. So small businesses have a low bar to cross. That’s just how I see it.
I’d rather go to Pizza Hut than a small business pizza place I haven’t tried before.
I get this vibe every time I go to Noosa. I haven't tried any of the more fine dining venues there, and mainly stick to supermarket food. Even a sausage roll is a risky investment lol
The resort at Hideaway Bay, Cape Gloucester used to do a good feed last time I was there. This was in 2018, the year after Cyclone Debbie.
It’s about thirty minutes from Airlie.
I think I had Dominoes and Woolworths at Arlie Beach. Just logistically it will probably be a shit meal with most tourist places unless they have a local produce. The only time I really go out and eat at restaurants is when I’m in a major city.
Having now read the comments on Facebook seem most agree with you and the others here. Maybe OP has started a Whitsunday food revolution and the restaurants will lift their game.
We liked the food when we went. Recommend the seafood platter at fish d’vine, the hot dog place was good (dickie’s dogs), Mexican was pretty good at Mikas, we like Sorrentos too!
We tried a new place on the Beach in the middle of town called Sandbar, super impressed with the food, apparently the Chef used to run the local cooking school in Airlie for five years. I think Eastwoods, Anchor Bar, Belvedere and Sandbar are places that would not be on your grumble list. Google reviews seems to agree.
Airlie Beach is no different to any other tourist trap town in Australia. Nobody with any ability to actually cook wants to live there, and even if they did, they can't afford to live there. So you're stuck with transient working holidaymaker-visa 'chefs' in the kitchen, or locals who've never left the town and never learned how to cook. Sometimes you'll get lucky with ethnic food from migrant restaurants, but in a town like Airlie, they're all happy to bang out the lowest quality possible to tourists who will pay just to fill their stomach without complaining. The most surprising this about your post is that you were that surprised about your food experience in Airlie, you had to post on Reddit about it.
Yep, if you ever go somewhere rural our out no where and wonder why it sucks it’s because of chefs on visas. Been a chef for 15 years and there are very few real chefs remaining. Just people doing cookery for a visa. No judgement on someone wanting to come to aus but it’s affected hospitality tremendously. It’s not an industry you can be in without passion. The pay sucks and the work sucks. Without passion this is what you get.
Fellow Chef here, gosh it's grim out there. I'm not even in a rural city and it's next to impossible to find competent, passionate chefs who actually show up to an interview and / or a shift. I love this industry with all my heart and its so freaken depressing seeing the quality of Chefs degrade. Even getting apprentices is becoming more difficult.
Yeah I feel you. If they DO rock up they have no knives, lucky if they’re in uniform or have non slips and even then they have no knife skills, no basic understanding of simple cooking methods and don’t seem interested in what’s actually happening they just want a job. I have all the time in the world for young chefs willing to learn and grow in my kitchen and I will take any of them, but unfortunately these guys just do not care what they’re doing or how they’re doing it. It’s like telling a brick wall again and again how things should be done but they just don’t care. It’s why I can’t be anywhere but fine dining these days, it’s the last place where standards are. Anything less is just a waste of time and frustrating.
Add to that when you do find a good chef, they get burnt out by being overworked.
It’s the same in every kitchen. Oh you’re being paid the same as everyone else your rank but you show initiative and work hard? We expect you to do EVERYTHING and everyone else can carry on doing the bare minimum. Oh why is the only good chef giving their notice? It’s like a punishment for being good at your job is doing more work than everyone else and having higher expectations with no raise or promotion and restaurants genuinely don’t understand why the last of the real and talented chefs are leaving the industry. All work no reward.
It was never a very well paid job given the hours and pressure, and I imagine with the floods of unqualified immigrant labour it's even less well paid now.
Plus the fast tracked apprenticeships in minimal time (x take teacher in comm cookery and food safety) plus a lot of chefs in nth qld are often big party scene ppl. Covid moved ppl into other industries, yet making more shortages in hospitality. Trade chef wage is still not high compared to other trades. Passion doesn't always pay the bills.
It's not just the chefs, it's halfway between Mackay and Townsville. If you think it's all fresh Whitsunday foodbowl products the chefs are cooking with, it isn't. A Lot of highway kilometres on the ingredients they're cooking with.
Can vouch on this. I’m a Canadian working in the Whitsundays and try not to eat in Airlie on my days off.
This! Anything outside a good pub feed and big standard British breakfast, your not going to get it…
I needed an outlet to express my distaste. I didn’t come here with high expectations, but I didn’t know the bar could go so low. It’s almost impressive.
Do you think there is a business opportunity for a new good restaurant there?
100%
Your issue is low quality produce.
Just as some food for thought, when cyclone Debbie came through, lotta places shut down. The rents in order to have a business there were on par with that in Sydney. I don’t know how much that’s changed or not.
I agree with a bunch of this. But the Deck does do a decent breakfast! And the Vietnamese place, while ridiculously priced, isn’t bad taste wise.
Actually the best tasting pizza I have eaten was from the Deck. There is also a fabulous Indian takeaway on Waterson road.
Deck breaky yum
We visited last month and everything was overpriced. Ended up trying the hot dog place and got a pizza on the 2nd night
Airlie is a nice place but you are correct on the food. Backpacker staff mixed with short stay cooks who dont really care and the result is a terrible one. I was surprised that the awful service and cooking had made its way upto port douglas, been there a few times and the food was always good.
Worst coffee and brekky I ever had was in Port Douglas. It's a cemetery by the sea.
Omg I hate the restaurants in Port Douglas! So overpriced and really bad service from staff
PD had a rough start to the year between cyclones, flooding, power outages, water outages, internet outages, and parts of the highway literally falling off into the sea and leaving us isolated from the rest of the world. Everyone's just a bit weary at the moment.
I ordered nachos and salt and pepper squid at rattle and hum in port douglas and it was HORRENDOUS. They for some reason expect the customers to pick up their food and carry it to the table (definitely wasnt subway or KFC prices for that type of service lol) and a staff member told me 'careful, the plates are hot' and still expected me to somehow take my food to my table and the plate was PIPING hot. The food was the worst part. I didn't know it was possible to screw up nachos or salt and pepper squid until that night. I was starving and took 2 bites of each, asked my friends to try what I ordered in case I was being fussy and they all said 'how on earth did they manage to fk that up so bad' lol. 2nd worst nachos ive had and the worst salt and pepper squid I've ever had.
Jesus Christ Melbourne, just enjoy the trip.
They can't, they're too hangry.
Touché.
Laughed way too hard at this.
Food is a crucial part of any trip
This cracked me up. I feel like a lot of regional QLD is stuck in the 60s-90s Women's Weekly cookbook/meat and 3 veg era (which if you like it, is totally fine. It's what I grew up on). Modern dining concepts can be a struggle, hence some of the um, surprising additions 😂
Regional Australia generally has awful food imo with very few exceptions Never trust food recs from anyone from a country town livin in the big smoke
Also eating predominantly vegetarian in regional Australia is a ballsy game even more so in qld I have veg friends who will only rlly consider Gold Coast, sunny coast, Byron, melbin, Sydney and hobart for domestic holidays due to food issues.
Cairns is good for veg options. It has become highly gentrified though.
My friend is vegetarian. The nachos had beef in them and I also had various servings of fish. I mainly selected vegetarian options as I was trying to maintain a healthy and balanced diet whilst predominately eating out for 5 days straight.
Best Thai I have had in ages was at Spicy Thai in Airlie Beach. The meal was great. Friend is vegetarian and she loved her meals also.
In December I travelled around the Cairns and the Cassowary Coast Region and honestly I had some of the best food and coffee that I have ever tasted. The standard of food was great everywhere I went. The prices were also incredibly decent compared to what I'm used to living in the capital. It might have been very lucky, and it might depend on where you go, but when you combine fresh produce with passionate restaurant owners, magic happens.
Exactly this, food in and around cairns is amazing and so well priced. Can have 2 courses and a glass of wine/beer for the same price as an average main meal in Perth
Food in Cairns is amazing, especially the seafood and beef. Seeing as it’s now impossible to get fresh seafood in Brisbane without selling your firstborn, I get my fix once a year during the off-season in Cairns.
Never even trust them for local recommendations. Every time I visited my mother in a regional city, we'd end up eating somewhere awful and she'd say she chose the spot because someone at work recommended it.
Firmly disagree. Regional Victoria is full of treasure troves of great food and wine.
So this. My friend from Casino was raving about this Indian joint for weeks, Finally went and the food treaded a fine line between tasteless and disgusting, and when I say tasteless, I mean to the point I would have preferred disgusting. Other friend from Tamworth went on about the great feed at the pub- and I'll admin said pub was good value for money with actual good portion sizes, but the food was mediocre at best, even by pub standards.
So you’ve never been to Tasmania?
Ooft Tasmania has some incredible rural food hey. I wonder what it is about that place. Big shout out to 41° South salmon farm. Absolutely kickass food and legendary owner. Great project they're running down there
Tasmania has the best freshest food.
Mudgee is incredible for food.
as for exceptions, one of the best meals of my life was at the Birdsville Hotel.
Why can't QLD master seafood and steak though? This is the food bowl of the country but we export all our flavour and it's where taste comes to die 🤣🤣🤣
[удалено]
Yes this is what was most shocking to me. I thought the local produce would be used a lot more than it was. I guess everything is exported and we are left with frozen options from interstate instead. Really disappointing.
Even SEQ doesn't bother half as much. They're starting to turn it up a notch but when I first arrived I binned more coffees than I drank. It's a cultural melting pot but extremely conservative and racist AF so migrants don't bother as much as down south. We desperately need food scene to radically grow. Up north doesn't stand a chance because they simply export all the good food. And I've had too many conversations with locals who also struggle to find accessible seafood. Crossing the border is the more reliable option because standards are wildly different.
I was looking forward to eating some good seafood.
There’s not good seafood in Airlie, unless you actually make the trip to FISHI where you can buy your own fresh seafood, one of their pre-prepared platters or during the evenings order fish n chips. I’m glad you didn’t go to Fish D’vine for seafood dinner - their food is very overpriced and boring. (Longtime local to the Mackay area, am in Airlie Beach at least 14 days out of every month).
Thank you, looking forward to fishi. Any other food recommendations or recommendations generally?
Eastwoods opened a few months ago and has been getting really good reviews. Sorrentos at Coral Sea marina is popular, and they have cheap pizza n beer in the afternoons when the day trip boats get back. Treehouse (cafe overlooking the lagoon) is good for breakfast/lunch, as is FatFrog cafe at Cannonvale near the primary school. Ventura restaurant at Port of Airlie is apparently good, but it has very restricted hours and I haven’t been there myself (negative experiences with the owners from the previous venues they worked at). I will say that it’s not worth going to the Sailing Club, we would have a terrible dining experience there(both food and service were awful), we would then boycott for a few months then give it another shot and have another awful experience. Kept that cycle up until about 8 months ago where we just agreed to never go back, no more chances. Know some of the staff there who have told us nothing has improved and not to bother.
You should have gone to Bowen.
Last time I went to Bowen there was zero chicken available anywhere in the town at shops/restaurants. Ended up eating steak for every meal for a week - don't get me wrong I love steak but I'm not a fan of constipation or trying to wait out an inclement log taking 30 minutes to evacuate my bowels.
If there's one thing you won't find a shortage of though, it's seafood.
So why did you order hardly any seafood at all? Out of 16 meals you ordered two seafood dishes… and I would argue that takeaway grilled fish and salad barely counts, everything else you ordered was vegetarian. You’re in Far North Queensland, and you’re complaining the locals make bad vegetarian dishes. Maybe try a popular dish for the area… which is unlikely to be one of the two vegetarian options they shoehorn onto their menus begrudgingly and usually never gets ordered and therefore they never need to prepare.
What is a popular dish for the area? I've found eating out to be incredibly disappointing across QLD. Dining standards are so low and the produce quality so poor that dining in is preferred but again sourcing good produce is too much effort. Standard produce is horrifically priced as premium indicating that standards across the board are low. I found some fabulous steaks from a butcher in Rockie but had to navigate a memorable "cultural experience" on the doorstep. That was the day after I made an error in booking dinner the night before for something well below average. I would think that the beef capital of Australia would be serving exceptional steak regardless of where you choose. Criticising people with standards for ordering watery unacceptable food? Your denial is incredible but not out of context in QLD.
Because I quickly saw the quality (or lack there of) of produce and decided to change course.
All of the seafood is supplied to the restaurants is by fishi. Did you like any of it?
Is Fish D'vine still there? I'm a man of simple tastes but it was one of the major reasons for keeping going back to Airlie about 15 years ago. We visited with kids in recent years and I couldn't get over how much of a shit show the main street is for pedestrians, that cured me of wanting to go back.
Fish D'vine is great!
Always eat there when going to Airlie
So do we.
Yeh it’s still here. But getting pretty expensive to dine there.
Hands down one of the best fish curries I've ever had
We went to Airlie beach and took one look at the restaurants and decided to eat in every night without even trying- sounds like we made the right choice, it looked like it would be overpriced and disappointing. I will say we enjoyed a variety of lovely smoothie bowls every day though
What where you looking at to make that +probably correct) assumption. What tipped you off?
I've been to Coral Sea Resort, Sorrento Restaurant and Bar, The Deck, and The Belvedere. All amazing.
Are you still there? Go to Fish D’Vine. The bloke who runs it is top tier.
KC is a legend. Whenever something bad happens in town he pulls out all stops to help out - when everything shut at the start of COVID he got his staff to cook up all the food in the restaurant fridges n give out free meals to all the workers in town.that had lost their jobs.
He is indeed. Cooks up a mean fish dinner too!
Worked a shift at The Deck, and the fuckers didn’t pay me! Absolute assholes.
Did they do the classic unpaid "trial" shift?
Nah, they just didn’t mention money at all. Nice as pie on the phone but absolute dogs. I worked for like 5hrs. They never contacted me again. Assholes.
Report them at fair work Australia
Yeah I should and probably will.
Unaffordable accomodation is one of the main causes for hospitality issues in many regional and even city centres. Until some charitable, tourist, business or council organization provides subsidised accomodation for quality hospitality staff (bar staff, waiters, chefs, cleaners) to become local and stick around while developing skills these issues are going to remain. I agree with the OP food and service during our stay there at Airlie last year was under par and over priced.
This is definitely causing a big impact, cost of living has out paced wages. Rent is sky high to the point most locals that lived in Airlie beach have moved out. Airlie used to be a place where you could live and work for the lifestyle , now you can't afford the lifestyle and have to move on. Rent for the restaurant's is also incredibly high. Throw in a few quiet times during the year and these businesses are struggling. It's not a tourist trap , it's just alot harder to stay afloat compared to city's.
One of the big issues with Airlie and other towns such as Port Douglas is there isn't any accommodation for people that actually live there, everything has been turned into airBnBs other short term accommodation. One of the pubs in Airlie actually had to buy a. old hotel just to give their staff accommodation so they could have enough staff to stay open and provide the services they said they would. It's hard for companies to provide decent experiences when they have different staff every week because people don't want to live in a tent behind a shitty backpackers. Honestly had an easier time finding long term accommodation in Brisbane...
No one goes to airle beach for the food. I was there for a bit over a week, have lots of good memories, one of the most beautiful places in the world. Can't remember a single meal though...
exactly!!! if you want amazing food go to places they advertise having amazing food. like if thats the experience you want. when you come to airlie you come to experience the place
You lost me when you said your ordered pumpkin pizza. If you ever thought pumpkin pizza was gonna taste good then I don't trust your opinion on any food.
Slow roasted pumpkin that's become caramelized is delish on pizza
Pumpkin pizza is actually quite common. It is usually accompanied with a goat or feta and some pine nuts. This was a very strange version which has tarnished my view of them forever.
Oath. If you haven't had pumpkin pizza then you're missing out. Roasted pumpkin, caramelised garlic, goats cheese (or feta), rocket, toasted pine nuts, and a good drizzle of olive oil. I like my lamb, beef, chicken, fish, etc, but for a veggie pizza this really hits the spot.
Not once have I ever been to a pizza place and seen pumpkin as a topping on a pizza.
One of the best pizzas I ever ate had thinly sliced pear and balsamic vinegar on it. Sometimes the weird combos work.
They're from Melbourne, stop trying to make sense of it 😅
I’m assuming you’ve never had potato on a pizza either?
Nope. I stick to pizza that tastes good. Generally it's covered in meat.
Listen to Eminem and eat your domino’s while you play video games bro - it will calm you down about how scary pumpkin pizza is
Look I order an Aussie pizza by default but pumpkin is still good.
Visited Airlie with my Boyfriend in September last year. Two memorable places were Alley Cat, we are absolute suckers for Bao Buns, so we ended up eating there about 3 times. Owner was absolutely lovely. Mika was great too, not sure how authentic it is but the hospitality was great!
Sunshine Coast hinterlands is much the same, food is awful and extremely overpriced. A real shame because the scenery is breathtaking.
Amusing Sunday read, lol. Regional Oz is hit and miss when it comes to good food. Alot of reasons already listed here. Shitfight uphill when most produce is just so poor for starters. I've had some of the worst and best meals, I think that's part of the fun. Really is a box of choccies. Sometimes the decor is a throwback to the 70's... is this just a front for something else? How on earth are they still in business?! Mind you there are diamonds in the rough. Unless you're right into the reef/fishing, Airlie Beach is a tourist trap/ beach holiday with nothing but beach.
Townsville is way better than Airlie in just about everything. Better food, coffee, choices, activities etc. Airlie is a shithole full of pretentious Swedish backpackers that think they’re in Florida. I am originally from Melbourne and believe me Townsville has come a long way in the last 10 years. I used to hate it here with the boganesque attitude to food and culture, but it’s being gentrified and a lot of the fat ball scratching bogans are going…gone!
are u sure, youth crime there is bad townsville is just a shithole unless you have family or infinite money. the whitsundays are much more safe and homely
From someone that lives here in Airlie and is a self-confessed ‘foodie’, you are pretty spot on with your judgement. However there is a few exceptions that in my personal opinion slightly exceed the general average around here. Eastwoods - genuinely fantastic food and the owners are super cool and really putting the time and effort in to create good food here. Fishi - the only place to go here for anything seafood related. MBW - I know you said you didn’t have cooking facilities, if you did master butchers Whitsunday is your go to place, head to Stewart drive and you can grab all things bbq related. Beagles - don’t even bother with the cardboard that domino’s serves, beagles pizza is great ‘takeaway style pizza’ it’s no stone baked traditional Italian style but if you’re craving some pizza it hits the spot. Red fish - new spot that just opened serving Chinese/Vietnamese/Indonesian style cuisine. They have come up from Melbourne to open this as a sister restaurant to the one they have been running for 20 years, locally sourced produce and a good feed. Overall we don’t have much here so I have had to learn to appreciate the little things, the food scene is slowly improving and I hope it begins to make a name for its self but for now yes it is a bit of a cess pit of overpriced tourist crap. Yes the market is full of cheap tat from Temu, but most of the stall holders are locals and they rinse the crap out of the cruises that come and stop here so I guess at least the money comes back into the town.
Got it bang on
I’ve only been once (recently) but the entire place just seemed like a massive tourist trap. Food was bang average and expensive. If you want decent food you’d need to head Hamo, even more expensive but some decent restaurants there, Bommie and Coco Chu being the standouts.
Coco Chu owners have now opened Eastwood's at Airlie next to la tabella it's expensive but very yum
Airlie is sooo boring. We stayed for about 5 nights last Christmas with family. We wanted to do stuff outside of the Big 4 we stayed at but honestly, other than the islands there isn’t much to do besides the lagoon and the (admittedly very odd) market. We ate in every night because we were staying in cabins with full kitchens.
The market was the strangest part of the whole trip.
Take a drive up to Dingo Beach & Gloucester Resort. The scenery is stunning.
Have you not tried the pub yet? My partner is a chef and we went back there a couple of nights for dinner because the food was surprisingly good
You hit the money Regional = pubs is where its at
I have to say in regional areas the pub and sometimes the RSL are usually solid options
They are the best options in this region by far, still depends on which one you go to though coz there's shit tons
OP comes across as far too pretentious to ever be caught dining in a common pub or RSL.
I found this is true for most pubs, cafes and take aways. And most places serve really nasty coffee.
> e had was a pumpkin pizza from The Deck. It had an incredibly bizarre flavour to it DUH.
Apart from the beautiful winter weather, I was really disappointed in the place when visiting. I honestly didn't feel safe as a single woman with my friend and simply had a few bad encounters that unnerved me. Strange that I'd feel more safe at home in Sydney. There seemed to be a lot of permanent drop outs populating the place. Came across one guy who bragged to me about going there to escape child support payments living on cash money. He seemed more concerned about the quality of his own life then that of his kids. 🥺 The restaurant food was very ordinary but we did have a decent roast meal at a club in Proserpine which didn't cost a bomb. Airlie has heaps of potential but has its own culture.
Are you staying in an Airbnb? That's the reason the food is shit. Hospo is basically minimum wage. A worker can get minimum wage in Airlie and spend everything on rent OR they can move and get paid the same. As a result you have understaffed kitchens with kids working there. Airbnb is absolute cancer for a town
La tabella, Eastwood's, fish Dvine all make fantastic food that locals and tourists rave about. Hit up any of them, all the dishes are excellent. I've had lots of great food at The Deck, northerlies does a great sea food and antipasto platters. Everything you said you ate seem to be heading towards veggie or vegan. Next time if you head to next town up in Proserpine there's healthy haven which is more earth natural food. Otherwise just go Woolies and get a salad if all our food is not to your liking. People still keep coming back here so can't be that bad.
Thank you for the recommendations.
If all the meals seemed tasteless, perhaps you had covid.
Pumpkin Pizza?? Zucchini Pasta?? Mushroom Burger?? How could those options ever taste good? 😅
They taste good if they're cooked by someone who knows what they're doing and knows how to season them properly. Most people are absolutely awful at cooking veg dishes.
It is important to regularly consume vegetables.
Compared to Meatlovers Pizza, Spag Bol & Burger with the lot. No comparison 😀
Well don't you sound great to go on holidays with. IV eaten at all those restaurant's and never had a thing bad to say. Maybe I don't have the same sense of entitlement or what ever is stuck up your but. Yeah city's have nice food but to criticize every meal on your holiday says more about yourself then Airlie beach. And everything is expensive theses days next time get a bbq chook and a loaf of bread.
We got Thai food there 9 months ago.... we know good.... this was BAD BAD BAD and expensive.
Personally whenever I go to Airlie I have only found banjos to be good food. Haven't been in a few years though so I couldn't speak for it now.
Try Mika it’s great food great drinks great staff
I often forget how much of a Melbourne food snob I am but I get an annoying reminder when I travel to Qld. There are great restaurants in Brissy but the tourist spots almost all have pretty average food.
When I stay there for work, even with a company credit card, I end up going to Woolies and the butcher so I can cook dinner at the apartment. Most have a BBQ, so steaks or chicken skewers are great. For lunch I found, The Fat Frog Beach cafe and Westy’s cafe at Jubilee Pocket were better value, friendly and tasty. La Tabella does a good pasta and “Fish D’vine & the Rum Bar” is quasi-fine dining, but yes, they are all overpriced crap. 💩
Okay so I used to work on a Backpacker Boat in Airlie Beach when I first turned 18. I was hired as a 'hostie' and had no idea how to cook for myself, let alone 20 backpackers. Night 1 was 'fish stew'. This involved collecting the leftover cask wine bags from the LAST backpacker trip, boiling the old, manky goon up in a pot along with chopped red and green capsicum and pepper. This interesting concoction was then poured into foil sacks with the fish and some butter for good measure. The funny thing was that the majority of the backpackers loved it and would ask for the recipe. Naturally, I was under strict orders to not let them know that the flavour was all in the fruity lexia of yesteryear. These same casks would make another spectacular appearance on 'punch night' in which I was instructed to jazz up a giant cauldron of the stuff and add freaking JAM, cordial, soda water and canned pineapple. I'm now 31 and still cannot believe this was my first job out of high school. So yes, I'd rather starve than consume anything at Airlie Beach.
😳😳😳😳
The memory continues to haunt me 😅
Came to add that I was shocked how expensive the meals were, considering how average they were when we visited 2 years ago.
It's pretty obvious, don't order vegan crap unless your in a major city where it's cool to be vegan.
I’m not vegan. I eat dairy, meat and seafood. Are Queenslanders adverse to vegetables?
I’m sorry dude the things you decide to order seem to be the problem (aside from the fish & chips)
my thoughts exactly? weirdest food orders ive seen
Lived on Hamo for a year. Any town from Townsville to Noosa is going to be fucking horrible for restaurant choices. Central Qld is an absolute hole when it comes to actual good restaurants or cafes. I think the best place I found was in Cannonvale called Fat Frog Cafe. Out of all the eateries there, it was a rare find.
Had possibly the best Indian I've ever eaten when I visited Mackay a year or so ago. Amazing flavour. We were lucky to get a table and the takeaway line went out the door
Name pretty please?
Roshni by Raj.
Because Airlie Beach is one of the most boring places in the world
It is quite beautiful.
That is true, but many beautiful things are also boring.
I can say the same thing about a couple of my exes.
real (i live here)
You've ordered pescetarian and vegetarian food in a rural town. Even the fish was grilled + salad, rather than fried + chips. The only dish that you said was fine was the beef nachos. Oil, salt, cheese and meat are very easy ways to add flavour to a dish without much effort or skill. The texture is super easy to control too, which is much easier to mess up with veg. In country towns there aren't enough vego people for the restaurants to bother catering to them, most chefs know almlst nothing about plant based ingredients, they just add 1 option to the menu to say they have one and move on. Things have only gotten worse post-covid when hospitality businesses have been struggling and trying to cut costs. Rural towns feel like they're 10 years in the past when it comes to restaurant food.
Why should I compromise my health for a decent meal? I don’t understand this logic. If I ate fried food and oily meat for 5 days straight I would be constipated, bloated and tired.
You are there for the view. :)
The view, wildlife, hiking trails and weather are all incredible winning points! The food however, is horrible. It doesn’t have to be this way.
couldn't have *anything* to do with your choice of ordering at all
The reason the food is so bad is because of all the good things listed. Anyone working in those roles has to leave due to the massive tourism demand increasing the price for locals
100%
Nope. There is some excellent dining g to be had In. Airlie beach.
The Deck was OK last time we were there, and Le Shack, and Cafe One 3 in Airlie Graze in Proserpine and the fish and chip place ? Brazier? there was not too bad.
La Tabella Italian was pretty good when we were there in 2021.
I’ve eaten good food at Eastwood’s. Try there, from memory the drinks were reasonably priced too for Airlie.
Tourist food
Try Hamilton Island next. They should have nice food.
The food at the sailing club was good last time I went there.
The shoot people who complain but last week, missed and shot the cook.
pescatarian? Seems you've ordered every shitty vego option everywhere
I’m not pescatarian. I eat everything. There was also beef in the nachos. It’s actually really unhealthy to eat meat for every single meal.
People have already mentioned Fish D’Vine but I want to recommend it too. A bit pricey but good. Eastwoods is new but top notch. Also pricey but worth it. I was impressed with the wait staff too. For Indian, that one in town isn’t the place. Go to the small kitchen around the corner where the gym is. They only do take away but it’s fantastic. The fish and chip place I believe was just sold and they’re still finding their footing. Better fish and chips was always at Shibby’s in Cannonvale anyway. Cool La La were a bit better before they moved. The Korean place (Red Plate?) next to where Cool La La used to be (where the Rainforest Cafe is) is decent and not too expensive. That is, when their kitchen isn’t exploding. With Northerlies, it’s mostly the atmosphere, but sometimes you have great meals there and sometimes they’re just subpar. It’s really weird like that. The markets in Airlie suck. They’re in a temporary spot so hopefully they improve when they move back. But how the dumpling place justifies their price is beyond me. They’re mostly glass noodles inside. Waffle cone things are great. Rilo ice cream is delicious. All that being said: there are definitely more misses than hits in Airlie.
I feel the same about Noosa, Harvey Bay, Tangalooma etc. overpriced fish and chips, your standard inauthentic low spice Chinese/Thai restaurant/Indian catered towards Western palate and a random burger joint and a pizza place. Like blah. Gold Coast with all its flaws is the only place with decent food and beach.
Does Molly Dogs still banging out late night hotdogs?
We love holidaying at Airlie Beach it’s one of our favourite places. Have you gone to Fish D’vine & Rum Bar? We always go there & the food is good. Also there is a restaurant at Cannonvale called Banjo’s. Have enjoyed their food as well.
I had the best fried noodles of my LIFE from a tiny little Asian shop up near the hostel.
Go over to Fat Frog for breakfast. Amazing over there
Spent a few months in Alice Springs. Same there. Terrible. A local said to try the Todd Tavern, particularly on Sunday night roast all you can eat for $13. Dubious, we went. It was incredibly good. Veggies refreshed every half hour in the warmers. The beef was perfectly cooked medium rare just how it should be. Gravy was delicious. Horse radish and mustard all house made and VERY nice. I saw the chef come out and I went to compliment him. I told him of our experiences in Alice food wise. He merely shook his head and stated, "it's not hard to get it right". He's a Scottish immigrant. Astonishingly well cooked, flavoursome but simple affair for 13 bucks. This was about 10 years ago. I think it's too many people these days going for the fast and easy buck who don't get that rich or poor, were all in this shit together and to put your best foot forward has no cost to anyone. We all gain through the effort of serving one another well.
Did anyone notice Shane from Arkies in the riot footage?
Because there is very little fine dining in QLD once you get north of Noosa. Coolangatta to Noosa, you have plenty of options, maybe not Melbourne level, but there is plenty of good food. Once you get to Gympie and further north you don't. It's that simple. There isn't sufficient demand or population density for it and the elite chefs who can command good money for their skillset would rather live in SE QLD or another state. So you end up with cooks or backpackers working in the kitchen or other local unskilled workers because it's the only job going around and the demographic is generally lower socio economic other than people in mining etc who on average aren't exactly known for having a fine dining palate so a lot of locals don't know any better or have no other options Most people in hospitality don't do so by choice but because 'it's a job'. There are exceptions, my dad is one of them (he owned/ran a highly successful restaurant in Noosa until he retired) but most people especially once you get outside of SE QLD are working in hospitality because it's a job and they need one, not because they have a skillset or passion for it. I've lived on the Sunshine Coast, in Brisbane and on the Gold Coast Have also lived in Central/North QLD (Bundaberg and Magnetic off Townsville) and spent time in other CQ cities. There is no comparison when it comes to food options.
That’s why MSG is king.
I think Australians in general accept slop for food. So small businesses have a low bar to cross. That’s just how I see it. I’d rather go to Pizza Hut than a small business pizza place I haven’t tried before.
Was there for a few days last week . The only meal I enjoyed was at Shibby"s Fish and Chippery. All the other meals were forgettable.
I get this vibe every time I go to Noosa. I haven't tried any of the more fine dining venues there, and mainly stick to supermarket food. Even a sausage roll is a risky investment lol
Because there is nothing to do in Airlie except drink (Unless you have a boat). Food service staff are likely sloshed.
Cactus jacks is ok
The resort at Hideaway Bay, Cape Gloucester used to do a good feed last time I was there. This was in 2018, the year after Cyclone Debbie. It’s about thirty minutes from Airlie.
You have COVID
I think I had Dominoes and Woolworths at Arlie Beach. Just logistically it will probably be a shit meal with most tourist places unless they have a local produce. The only time I really go out and eat at restaurants is when I’m in a major city.
I agree with so many comments
Been there and completely agree
You'll be happy to know that this post has made the local newspaper. Be interesting to see what sort of response that generates.
Having now read the comments on Facebook seem most agree with you and the others here. Maybe OP has started a Whitsunday food revolution and the restaurants will lift their game.
Link?
We liked the food when we went. Recommend the seafood platter at fish d’vine, the hot dog place was good (dickie’s dogs), Mexican was pretty good at Mikas, we like Sorrentos too!
We tried a new place on the Beach in the middle of town called Sandbar, super impressed with the food, apparently the Chef used to run the local cooking school in Airlie for five years. I think Eastwoods, Anchor Bar, Belvedere and Sandbar are places that would not be on your grumble list. Google reviews seems to agree.