The Surf Club Coolangatta

This is a locals place, great view, good food and service, they have a fresh wild fish special daily which we split.

I think this place is great. The food is fresh and comes out quick. The facility is always clean and comfortable. Membership was $ 5 for three years which is quite reasonable. They have a full bar and many drinks on tap. Average cost for a schooner is about 6 – 7 dollars. The place is pretty popular and is fairly busy for lunch and dinner. I think they have the best chicken Schnitty is Cooly! The service is great and they have a sweets counter with some pretty nice treats.

I attended The Surf Club with a large group in celebration the night before a wedding. It was my first time here, and I have to say that this business was not equipped to handle our group. The experience may have been better with a smaller number of people, so keep that in mind when reading this review.
First, this is a members club though entry is allowed for outside guests. Registration at the front desk upon arrival is all that is required. Keno is available, and I enjoyed playing this for the first time. There is apparently also a casino, though I did not visit this part of the club.
Our group mostly made use of the bar and restaurant, which specializes in seafood. The bar has a limit on number of drinks that can be ordered at once, which was a bit of an inconvenience for our group.
The issue we had was with the food. The selection here was great, and I was very excited to try the seafood! To order food, guests must visit the counter, make the order and pay and then take a number back to the table. If you want a hot tea, it must be ordered in the same manner with the food and cannot be ordered from the bar.
With such a large group, however, the servers had major issues keeping track of which dishes and which orders had already been delivered to the tables. Orders would not come out all at once, and numbers would be taken from the table before the order was completely fulfilled. This confused everyone as there was no organized method to handle such a large crowd with a variety of starters, main dishes, etc. Many members of our group waited over an hour for their food to arrive, and one of the couples in our group actually ended up canceling their order completely because of the ridiculous wait. Again, perhaps a smaller group would have a better experience with the service here.
The food itself was good, though not exceptional.
I enjoyed the natural oysters, though a few members of our group found them to be too salty. This is of no fault to the club, though, as oysters can vary quite a bit from different regions. I thought they were delicious and very fresh. The lamb shank was good, and the portion was very large. The seafood chowder was also good, though a little creamy. It was loaded and they certainly didn’t skimp on the seafood. I did not personally try the steak, though some members of the group complained about it being very chewy and far too difficult to cut. Knowing this, I would recommend opting for a seafood dish over the steak.
I actually feel bad having to write this negative review, and I wish I lived closer to properly give this place a second chance and visit with a smaller group of people. I felt obligated to share the experience, though, as many of our group were very vocal in their disappointment. Despite all this, I still had a good time here.