Castaway Restaurant - Cairns

Deliciously prepared dinners especially Barramundi Steak menus looking into the pool garden areas added atmosphere. Menu was imaginative but could have been a little more extensive, However whatever was served was uniformly excellent. Service was attentive yet not intrusive. Room is large comfortably spaced between tables so a quiet meal was possible for those yearning for some intimacy. Wine selection was basic and could do with tweaking up. More modern background music would add to the ambient mood. Overall, all the dishes savoured were of high quality and represented good value.

Have had a couple of dinners there now. The first was the Barramundi, which was not bad, but also had the Salt and Pepper Calamari and the Osso Bucco which were fantastic. Located in the Ibis Styles (cnr Lake and Florence Streets). Was certainly above the quality I was expecting! Will be back.

We ate 2 dinners at the restaurant. The Thai tofu curry was great for $18. The sirloin steak for $36 was not good value. The vegetables were not hot and the kipler potatoes tasted like they had been cooked a day ago and reheated. Very disappointed with the meal.

We were staying at Ibis Styles and went here for dinner as it was conveniently close (in the same building! Thank goodness for our Accor discount, as that tempered our disappointment somewhat. Coconut prawns quite nice. Fish OK but overpriced at $32 for what was basically fish and chips. Chicken schnitzel with veges OK but bland. The only flavour was in the very small amount of mushroom sauce and at $28 perhaps a bit pricey. The meals were basically pub food but at an inflated price. We have had similar but tastier meals at pubs for half these prices. The worst thing about our evening was the lengthy time it took to get our main meals. There were only seven other people in the restaurant, yet we waited around 50 minutes for our main meals to be served. One man arrived a long time after us but received his meal 15 minutes before we got ours. The waitress could see we were getting irritated/bored with the delay but there was no explanation surely something had gone wrong in the kitchen? Perhaps our order had been overlooked. An explanation would have helped. A most disappointing evening.

I had already enjoyed breakfast in the restaurant. Another late tour day finish and we were too tired to venture elsewhere. I forget what my wife ordered but I ordered the burger with trimmings. We enjoyed a bottle of SB. My burger was very good, tasty and filling, just simple food and nothing fancy. My wife recalls that she enjoyed her meal. Busy on the night and short staffed as a result. Friendly cheerful service.