Gold Coast restaurants recommendations

I am looking for the name of good quality restaurants

Do you mean expensive, or good cheap'n'cheerful too?

Can be either expensive or cheaper.
You tend to paid extra for good quality food but doesn't always guarantee you will walk away with the best experience.

We know the Gold Coast very well ... and have been going there for 40 years plus, however we don't eat in regular restaurants a great deal (hardly ever).

But four "experiences" we really like are :

• Food Fantasy - upscale buffet at Jupiters Casino (we lunch once a year)
• Peter's Seafood (great) - behind Palazzo Versace at Fisherman's Wharf
• Twin Towns Services Club at Coolangatta (very Australian)
• Kurrawa Surf Club Broadbeach - overlooking the ocean

Broadbeach has about 90 eateries, and I guess Surfers Paradise has about the same ... most of them are touristic, but that isn't necessary a problem. I'm sure some foodie reviews will pick the eyes out of them.

" You tend to paid extra for good quality food but doesn't always guarantee you will walk away with the best experience. "

Quite so and having lived on the GC for quite a few years, experiences often change with turn over of staff that is high on the GC as with most touristy locations and whereas I have had friends get a nasty after experience from what could have been considered a more stable restaurant, good tucker and experiences can often be found as you would seem to know from non expensive places.

One thing for sure, the Gold Coast has so many different restaurants spread over a big area and it can depend on whether you favour a particular cuisine as to where you want to try but then go to places either side of Surfers Paradise such as Main Beach or Broadbeach and you have a big variety to choose from and I have to say I was always looking at different venues rather than favouring any particular one with I suppose one exception only because it was close to home for Asian food and that was My Place on Ashmore road about 2-3 km. away from the Gold Coast Hwy.

Further afield from Main Beach and Broadbeach, you can go south as far as Coolangatta to find many places there to check out and also going north to the Sanctuary Cove village is worth checking out for lunch.

I also found that some of the Surf clubs had reasonable restaurants where you could look out over the ocean, there not being so many paces where you can actually do that, Oskars at Burleigh Heads being one and a fine place too.

Depending on how long you are planning on being on the Gold Coast, I'd just meander around the various precincts to see what might appeal to you, have a look at menus and pricing etc. and see how you go.
I had quite a few great value dining experiences via Shop a Dockets, there being quite a few restaurants that would offer two for one deals and there is a high class Italian joint near Broadbeach but on the GC hwy. (away from where most restaurants are at BB ) where I went on a 241 docket and whilst food/service and surroundings were superb, you had to be careful with the wine list with some bottles at over a $1000 but still some around $20.

In summary, one of the best things about GC is the restaurants choice, some you would go back to, others just in the so so pack but I never myself had what I would call a bad experience.

I follow one clue when deciding to eat any cuisine anywhere in the world, and the Gold Coast is no different, if the place isn't busy, the locals don't eat there.

Hmm ... that might work I guess ... but the corollary is probably debatable - if a place IS busy, does that mean "locals" are eating there, or is the place just full of tourists who don't know any better, or don't care?

Plus I have never been totally convinced that "locals" (whether on the Gold Coast or in Outer Mongolia) are necessarily good judges of the best place to eat.

Hopefully there ain't been too many tourists in Bali of late enjoying their street vendor BBQed dog shasliks, especially if any of the dogs had rabies = might be a few cases of Bali belly emptied into bowls or worse!

http://alfrescogc.com/ this is our favourite restaurant on the Gold Coast, great food and fantastic service.

RSL in Surfers produce good meals,
Northcliffe Surf Club - Surfers
lots of nice places in Broadbeach, I use a similar guide as JBInternational, if the place is busy it is usually a sign of good food.

One restaurant I have enjoyed on several occasions was Little Italy in Southport.
Unfortunate earlier this year it finally shut its doors for good.