Watergate Restaurant & Lounge Bar

Came here for Christmas lunch. Food was okay– we’ve definitely had better for that price ($ 125/​pp), but also the menu was not thoughtful or creative at all. Was disappointed.

Exceptional dining experience. We were well looked after by our charming Canadian waiter. The space and atmosphere in the restaurant was just right.
The meals were exquisite. I had the chefs selection mixed plate entrée — delicate flavors beautiful presentation. (My wife had the cuttlefish, and said it was the best she had ever tasted.)
I had the kangaroo filet as main, which was perfectly cooked (rare) and so tender. My wife had the duck which she enjoyed.
Also they had a great wine selection.

I had the tofu and it was amazing. My husband had the kangaroo and he said it was wonderful. Service is amazing and prices are quite reasonable given this is Australia!

We dropped in early on a Monday night to discover the place nearly empty. Why I do not understand. We started with cocktails, the plush, amazing. Fresh fruit heaven topped with a flower.
The mains were equally good. Curry duck and prawn pasta. Both had a nice amount of spice, just enough to make you feel the heat but without the burn. Great service. Attentive but not aggressive. Overall, a fantastic and welcome doing experience.

Our dinner here was pretty spesh, not only was the food and service ace but it was our last night in Port Douglas.
It’s set back off the main drag and there’s a fire lantern lit pathway down to the restaurant. Walking down the path, I completely expected to walk on to the set of Survivor and have to take my shirt off, get muddy and lug logs around whilst bitching about my fellow contestants. Alas, all I had to do was sit down, drink a glass of water and wait to be seated at our table.
I was handed a menu and, as with most times I’m handed a menu, I hoped for at least one vegan option or something that could easily be made vegan. There may as well have been a beacon of light shining out of this menu which has an entire page of vegetarian meals — a few of which were vegan!
I ordered the Watergate Salad followed by Sushi Cakes. The salad was crisp, well dressed and had the most delicious candied pecans tossed through it. The pear in the salad gave it a little sweetness and balanced out the bitterness from the leaf greens.
My Sushi Cake was served with plenty of pickled ginger, seaweed salad, wasabi and finely diced carrot and chilli (I’m sure that has a name but I don’t know it). It was a whole lot more spicy than I expected but the rice from the cake combined with bottles of water kept my mouth of incinerating. However, it was all delicious and I’m a wimp when it comes to spicy food.
Our wait staff were all super efficient, extremely friendly and made our last night in Port Douglas a grand experience.

Nice ambiance and food but service was very slow. We avoided the mud crabs per the advice another couple at our hotel gave us. We started with the cuttlefish which was delicious and had great spicy flavor, very Thai. Red snapper main on bed of rice with sun dried tomatoes was good. My husband had the sampler, which was pork belly, some sort of wing, soft shell crab, and enoki mushroom dumpling. The slow service and small portion sizes kept us hungry even after we ate; we had to get gelato after dinner to fill us up.

Up in Port Douglas for a weekend and keen to try the local cuisine. We did our research and noted that Watergate gets a mention in most top 10 restaurant lists in Port Douglas.
Chill’n on the open air lounges, we hit the cocktail menu pretty hard as we waited for our table. After sampling a few we settled on a cocktail called Plush, yummy! Basically a Mojito with Lychee.
The kangaroo was the stand out main course (see pics) — tender and delicious on a bed of greens. Followed in second place by an Vietnamese inspired entre of prawn and scallop on sugar cane sticks.
The standard of service, wine list and food at Watergate is excellent. Highly recommended.

I’m surprised there hasn’t been many reviews written about this place. Watergate is an absolutely adorable place to eat. The outdoor area was had a very nice and really setup for a nice cozy ambiance. The staff was great and the food was quite tasty. I’d probably list this as one of my favorites for Port Douglas.