Gold Coast seafood restaurants: the region’s top 10 as voted by you
With the ocean on our doorstep, our seafood restaurants have some of the freshest fare around. After counting the votes, we reveal the top 10 seafood restaurants on the Gold Coast.
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With the ocean on our doorstep, our seafood restaurants have some of the freshest fare around. After counting the votes, Amber Macpherson reveals the top 10 seafood restaurants on the Gold Coast.
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10. The Lazy Lobster
Shop 2/300 Marine Pde, Labrador
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Located in the Labrador foreshore with views of the Surfers Paradise skyline, this restaurant is all about quality in its seafood and service. The Lazy Lobster is passionate about using seasonal ingredients, updating its menu throughout the year to make the most of fruits pulled from Gold Coast shores and harvested in the hinterland. The hot and cold seafood platter is one of the all-time favourites, featuring half a lobster, prawns, crab, oysters three ways, fish, calamari, scallops, chunky chips and seasonal fruit. A decadent seafood feast calls for a delicious dessert, and the creme brulee is regarded as the restaurant’s best after-dinner treat.
9. Terraces Restaurant
Sheraton Grand Mirage Resort, 71 Seaworld Drive, Main Beach
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Schools of fish, stacks of oysters and casts of crabs awaits at Terraces, an all-you-can-eat seafood affair. The buffet restaurant features fresh local seafood, a variety of traditional favourites and sumptuous desserts from the swish Sheraton Mirage restaurant. Experience a taste of Australia’s coastline with Mooloolaba King prawns, Sydney rock oysters and Tasmanian Salmon, as well as a range of delectable a la carte options including panko crumbed snapper, Moreton Bay bugs and shrimp and chorizo pizza. For an easy festive feast, Terraces is taking bookings for Christmas and New Year’s Eve meals.
8. Ashmore Road Seafood and Steak
528 Ashmore Rd, Ashmore
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Ashmore Road Seafood and Steakhouse manager Jason Carkazis says the secret to his restaurant’s success is simple. “In a nutshell we’re a family run restaurant, focusing on family clientele and value for money,” he says. The signature barbecue bug is a crowd-pleaser, with the crustacean sourced anywhere from Bundaberg south and served with a “special secret sauce”. The lobster mornay is another popular dish cooked in house in a house-made broth. “All our sauces are all house made,” Jason says. “We don’t order any sauces in.” The restaurant is open from 11am every day (including Christmas), so there’s always plenty of room for you and your shoal.
7. Shannon’s Steak and Seafood Restaurant
1/941 Harbour Village Pde, Coomera Waters
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Sparkling views of the Coomera Marina pairs perfectly with a quality seafood menu at Shannon’s Steak and Seafood Restaurant. Highly regarded by northern Gold Coasters, the restaurant is worth a trip upstream if you’re looking for a relaxed dining experience away from the hustle and bustle of the tourist hubs. The Coomera Waters restaurant has an extensive menu of seafood, main meals and pasta dishes, with diners recommending the 250g daily caught Queensland snapper and the Moreton Bay bugs as top catches. For the more adventurous palates there’s the saganaki scallops served sizzling in a hot pot, or the prawn curry with “Shannon’s famous curry sauce”.
6. Moana
Capri on Via Roma, Surfers Paradise
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Moana has developed a strong local following since opening in late May this year. “It’s spread by word of mouth,” co-owner Danielle Niuhulu says. “Everyone has been very supportive, it’s been amazing.” Danielle says a deal to kick off the working week has put the neighbourhood in a frenzy. “The lobster mornay — we have a special for it on Monday and Tuesday,” she says. “It’s quite big, you just get a side salad with it and herb potatoes, that’s all seasoned. (Customers say) that it’s fresh, it’s the best they’ve had. The sole (dish) is also popular, it’s a big flounder with marinade and spices. Everyone loves it, they find it really difficult to find in other restaurants.” Moana will host a four-course Christmas lunch on December 25 for $150 per adult or $60 per child.
5. Shuck Restaurant
20 Tedder Ave, Main Beach
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Diners travel far and wide to taste Shuck’s sand crab lasagne, a dish co-owner Scott Budgen says can never be reproduced. “People try to replicate it but they never can,” Scott says. “I’ve had it on the menu since the day I bought the restaurant 17 years ago. It’s just different.” No stranger to accolades, the Main Beach restaurant recently won best seafood restaurant in Queensland through the Restaurant Catering Australia awards. Oysters, tempura Moreton Bay bug and salmon sashimi all add to Shuck’s winning formula, but Scott says the drawcard can’t be beat. “We’ve got fresh oysters being Shuck, but most people know me for my sand crab lasagne.”
4. The Fish Emporium
Capri on Via Roma, Isle of Capri, Surfers Paradise
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The Fish Emporium co-owner Tracey Cianci says the season for seafood is upon us so a menu refresh is on the table. “Seafood is very popular in the summer, and some of our hot dishes come off the menu,” Tracey says. “The tempura bug with the chilli mayo, that’s a huge favourite, as well as the chilled oysters and prawns and the cold poached salmon. What I think people love about The Fish Emporium is that the serves are quite decent, and we’ve got really great chef over there. His food is magnificent. It’s evident when our guests coming back every week.” The Isle of Capri restaurant offers a spring fling set menu of two or three courses with some of the most popular dishes starting at $39 per person.
3. George’s Paragon
46 The Promenade, Sanctuary Cove
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Seafood is a family affair at Sanctuary Cove Restaurant George’s Paragon. Father George Tassis opened the first Paragon in the late 1980s, and today operates four locations across Brisbane and the Gold Coast with his children at the reins. “The two most important things that we’ve always worked on is food and service,” Sanctuary Cove manager Damien Tassis says. “We always source the freshest seafood and offer value for money.” The famed day time deal features a page of seafood, grilled meat, pasta and salads for half price everyday from 11am to 10pm. “When it comes to signature dishes, the barouti is very popular, it’s the fish of the day with garlic prawns, scallops and barbecue bug, it’s all done in a garlic cream sauce,” Damien says. “The barbecue baby octopus is also a great dish — that’s done with garlic, lemon and oil.”
2. The Fish House
50 Goodwin Terrace, Burleigh Heads
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Celebrities, CEOs or surfers, The Fish House welcomes them all. The iconic Burleigh Heads restaurant has built a reputation for its exquisite seafood and exceptional service, earning fans from far and wide. “We go to great lengths to ensure that everything is the best quality,” general manager Hawada Zackout says. “The fish comes in daily, so the menu changes twice a day for lunch and dinner, depending on what produce comes in. Our pangolin jewfish, a lot of people come from all over to have that. And our whole baby snapper is crispy fried with nahm jim, that’s become quite famous as well. But even our gourmet fish and chips is famous.” While it’s a popular restaurant for marking milestones and popping the question, Hawada says the atmosphere is warm and welcoming.
1. Omeros Bros
74 Seaworld Drive, Main Beach
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The owner of the Gold Coast’s most popular restaurant has sage advice for those looking to try the seafood that earned Omeros Bros top place in our Best of the Gold Coast list.
“After this month, from November onwards, I just recommend make a reservation,” John Omeros says. “We’re basically chockers every day of the week.”
John puts his restaurant’s success down to consistency and offering a product that’s easy on the palate.
“It’s a great little spot there on the water, paired with fresh seafood cooked really simply,” he says.
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“You can eat Omeros three or four days a week. It’s not a celebration or special occasion thing — you can eat our food on a regular occurrence.”
John lists some of those simple but effective dishes as the whole grilled snapper with lemon butter, crustaceans and raw oysters.
“The whole snapper is grilled with lemon butter sauce, and served with salad and chips,” he says.
“Our oysters are huge, we go through so many oysters. And Moreton Bay bugs — those three are on the top of the list.
“There’s something for everyone. If they (customers) don’t want to have seafood they don’t have to, they can have a really nice steak.”
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It’s not just a place where customers return week in, week out, either — a number of staff have been there for more than a decade.
“Some of my staff have been there for over 25 years,” Johnny says.
“My general manager has been with me for almost 30 years. My head waiter for nearly 15. There’s about six of them in that field.
“The customers feel like they’re in good hands.”
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