Description: When we arrived in Tangalooma around 9 o’clock, James was starving and I could feel the growling beginning to grow louder in my stomach. In the short time we had before our ATV tour, we stopped at the Coffee Shop, which seemed to be the only place open. I wasn’t sure what to get until James pointed out their toasted sandwiches, with ham, cheese, & tomato only costing $6—not much of a markup, considering all the food had to be shipped from the mainland. The sandwiches were surprisingly good, although I suppose it’s pretty difficult to mess up a sandwich.
There were a couple nice-looking restaurants in the Tangalooma resort, one of which had a buffet with decent choices for $19.50. Unfortunately, all of these places had closed by the time we arrived back from the wrecks at around 2.30 (they opened for lunch from 12-2 then closed until dinner). We had decided it was sandwiches again for lunch until I spotted the Beach Café on the way back from going to return my wetsuit. This café had a much larger menu, and by this point, after snorkeling for an hour and a half, I was absolutely starving.
Unfortunately, when James and I walked over, we realized that more options came at a very high price. It seemed nothing on the menu was under $9—even the bread came in at $9.50. But, as happens with captive markets, we had to pay it, or we had to wait another 2 ½ hours until we were back on the mainland, and that wasn’t going to happen. After much deliberating, James picked the salt-n-pepper calamari, I got the beer-battered barramundi, and we split a garlic bread. It cost me $3 for a coke with that!
We soon found out that the higher prices didn’t bring higher quality along with them. James wasn’t a fan of the calamari at all, and my fish was obviously very overcooked, so I’m sure people on the mainland could have heard me crunching. The garlic bread, which came in the form of a pizza, was so good that we left all bar 3 slices there. All in all, I would say it was a rather unsuccessful meal, although we did at least get some form of sustenance.
I don’t blame Tangalooma for inflating their prices to compensate for transport costs, but I was hoping that in such a high-quality resort, the food would be the same way. Not only that, but the lady at the counter was unfriendly and made faces at me whenever someone in the kitchen yelled to her for help. So, if you haven’t brought food along to Tangalooma, I highly recommend eating the sandwiches at the Coffee Shop instead—they are better value for your wallet and your tastebuds!
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