The Coolangatta Hotel - Coolangatta, QLD

Bradyn Silis

Disgusting behaviour from your manager! I was chatting with my twin brother, just catching up and out of nowhere the manager storms over and tells me to leave. I asked him what was wrong, who he was and he had the nerve to claim I was being aggressive and trying to fight my own twin brother! Can you believe it? It was around 1:30am new years and we were just talking not even raising our voices. I mean come on it's my twin brother! We're not exactly strangers. It's clear the manager had an agenda and he fabricated this whole scenario just to cause trouble. I'm still trying to wrap my head around it. What kind of person does that? It was a ridiculous, baseless accusation and it ruined what was supposed to be a fun night. I'm still shaking my head over the whole ordeal.

Roshan De Silva

Great venue with a smattering of racism

I'm not usually one to write reviews, but I felt compelled to share my experience at the Coolangatta Pub.

The venue itself is excellent. The music on both occasions we visited was amazing, and even when we walked past, it was absolutely pumping. The food was of a good standard as well—I thoroughly enjoyed the meals we had. However, what really let this place down was the exceptionally poor service.

We stayed in Coolangatta for 10 days and had an amazing time overall. Throughout our trip, I often commented on how polite and friendly the people were at various venues—special shoutout to the Coolangatta Surf Club and Xenia Greek Restaurant, where the service was nothing short of exceptional.

As someone who has lived in the UK for 20 years (I’m half English) and now in Australia for over 20 years, I was genuinely surprised by what happened at your venue. On our first night in Coolangatta (29/12) at 6:30 pm, I went to the bar to grab a drink. There were three people either side of me waiting to be served, and my brother-in-law was three people back further down the line. Every time the young woman working behind the bar walked past, she ignored me and served everyone else—all of whom happened to be a little lighter-skinned than me.

When my brother-in-law (who is white) got to the front of the line, he was served before me, even though I had been waiting longer. We were both gobsmacked. What made it even more baffling was that the young woman appeared to be British herself.

Hoping this was just a one-off incident, we returned the following evening. Unfortunately, it wasn’t. The same young woman was now working the food service counter, and the same poor service was extended to everyone who wasn’t white. My wife, who is from southern Italy and gets very brown in the summer, even laughed at the absurdity of it all. Needless to say, we didn’t visit again.

It’s a real shame that the actions of one racist individual have tarnished what could otherwise have been a fantastic experience. Your venue has so much going for it, but until this is addressed, it’s impossible to recommend wholeheartedly.

Raymond Reditton

For the last three weeks, i have taken my family to the Coolanaggta Hotel. The service has always been excellent. The food is fantastic, and the atmosphere is second to none - except for the climate control. My family and I have walked away with the (sniffles) for the third time this month. We were looking forward to Music Bingo, but not tonight. The hotel has no control over the temperature of the air-conditioning. It was 10-12*c inside the public bar. It was like walking into a cold room of a bottle shop.

We asked the staff if they could change the temperature. Unfortunately, it was not available. However, management can turn the air-con off. It's not rocket science management. Look around at your patrons and see if they look cold ( watch their body language) or if a patron requests to have air-con turned off. We know this has been a major issue with the hotel for the last ten years. Turn the air-con off if you have fewer than 15-25 patrons inside the public/sports bar. I noticed around 5:00 pm that patrons moved from the public area to the beer garden, even though it was cold outside.

Jeff Crichton

Was there Saturday 24th November. We arrived at 3pm an hour before the band we were wanting to see started and were holding an unreserved table for when our friends arrived. 5 minutes before the band behind some Tool named Nick informed us we had to move to another table so some old rude people who had no booking could sit there instead ?‍♂️ so I asked Nick “Do you know what hospitality means as you work in the industry” and his reply was “I don’t care” so arrogant… unbelievable… should be fired immediately

Trevor Gerdes

Staff completely unhelpful. Food is tasty, but not plentiful for pub food, 3/5 for value.

We visited 2 twice in consecutive nights with a group of 12.

Night 1, casual racism. Brother in law who is not white, was ignored at the bar for 5 mins while 6 other white guys, including myself who walked up after got served.

Night 2, trying to organise a table for 12 in a not busy room, staff were completely unhelpful and rude when trying to gather together tables, and enquiring whether it was ok to gather tables.
Don't expect food to arrive in reasonable times for large groups. Some of us were finished before others food arrived.

Doubt we will be back unless desperate

Lollie Pop

Get a new COOK

For the love of GOD
&
For the good of your own livelihood & the future ability to paid your bills & staff
GET A NEW COOK

We won't be back

A ridiculously
DEEP DEEP DEEP
fired seabasket
clearly very old seafood

Seemed like coles prawns
Lol
A joke

Lol
Nobody should have to ask for sauce with their chips or steak

Get it together maganment

( very old seafood here everyone )

That's why it's sooooo deep fired ?

A joke

Ralph Robin Pabillaran

Almost perfect, but bar staff ruined the vibes completely!

I visited Coolangatta Hotel last night, and what could have been a 5-star experience was ruined by one bar staff member. I tried to buy a simple soft drink, and despite showing my school ID with my date of birth, the guy at the bar refused to serve me because it wasn’t a "PROPER ID." I get that there are rules, but I just wanna buy a gawd damn soft drink! He acted like he had something to prove, which really dampened my night.

Thankfully, the girl who served us our food saved the evening by giving us a lemonade on the house after I told her what happened. The food was great, and her kindness definitely made up for the earlier incident.

So, while the food and atmosphere were spot on, the experience was soured by one staff member’s unnecessary power trip. Big props to the girl for saving the night, though!

But seriously what was wrong with that guy?!

Jamie Foster

Food and staff were great until one gentleman who seemed to be running the Tuesday Pool Competition was extraordinarily rude and dismissive- when asked to join the comp he abruptly said “it starts at 7:30 I will come find you” without actually acknowledging my partner and then proceeded to walk back past our table multiple times ignoring us and going ahead with the comp. Great tourist location if you’re looking to pop in and out but came across as a very exclusive and unpleasant locals club otherwise unfortunately.