Nautilus Restaurant

We had high expectations and Nautilus met them. I could give you an itemized accounting of the meal, service, and ambience, but we had five splendid courses (with wine flights) so describing those would take too long, the service was appropriate to the food, and the décor and ambience have been described at length elsewhere. I think the five stars I give it say it all. As for the cost, it is steep, but since the exchange rate is so favorable for USD at the moment, I have no complaints there, and I’ve paid more for worse meals.

The open air tropical forest setting is indeed great, but the food fails to reach the level of pretentiousness advertised with such great effort. The barramundi fish was too salty on one side. The service was quite mediocre — the server made the impression he was simply too good to bother. The silence was eerie.

I’ll start with the conclusion: if you go there expecting an unusual cacophony of flavours (the likes of which you might find in your favourite place in the big smoke that needs to differentiate itself), you’ll be disappointed. This place doesn’t need to differentiate itself. It’s the only game in town, and it shows.
Fantastic setting in a cathedral of palm trees. Solid, attentive but slightly impersonal service. Prices, adjusting for location and setting, are only slightly higher than reasonable.
We went for the 7 course degustation without wines. The dishes included are fine enough. They’re just right for the climate and the mode of the clientele: light and pretty unassuming.
This menu falls into the same trap many degustations do: putting too many standard courses in front of diners early, leaving too much work to be done by the later courses. Move the dumplings up the order and ditch the Spanish mackerel would be my advice.
I may give it another whirl but a la carte will be where I head.
Additional feedback for the restaurant: the system you have for greeting customers needs better signage. If your head waiter is going to passive aggressively seat late people near entrances when there are clearly better tables elsewhere, that won’t be good for business either.

Good food, extremely poor service. There are so many excellent places in Port Douglas, I’d skip this and check the others out (Harrison’s-w/Michelin rated chef, Zinc, On the Inlet, Two Fish). The others I ate at were about just as good, but with fantastic and friendly staff. The pretense «so» doesn’t mesh with this super laid back beach town… it’s not in vogue to be pretentious in any restaurant, anywhere.

We’ve dined at Nautilus a number of times now. The setting and atmosphere is unique and absolutely beautiful. For this alone Nautilus is a must visit, even for just a cocktail. The food should, for the very expensive price points be up it the same 5 star standard, it certainly delivers. To put the price points in context you’ll spend the same amount here as a 3 hat restaurant or 2 Michelin star. All in all it’s a fantastic experience with very good food.

I’m currently in Australia with my husband on our honeymoon and we just ate at Nautilus last night. Excellent meal and service – super friendly staff and great ambiance (even more so since children under 8 aren’t allowed).
You must try the prawn spring rolls and duck dumplings to start, the coral trout as your main and the caramel banana crumble for dessert.

The best dining experience I have ever had. Although the most expensive. 350 for my husband and I. Cocktails, champagne and entrees, mains and desert. Everything was incredible. We spent 5 hours at dinner. A first for us, but really special. If its a special occasion do yourself a favour. Go to Nautilus

On a recent trip to Port Douglas for a wedding, I made a point of booking dinner at Nautilus — partially because I had heard great things, and partially so I’d be able to check in there and annoy friends in Melbourne who weren’t going to the wedding. Suck it, guys.
The good:
The ambience is really amazing, definitely worth seeing — it is literally dinner inside a rainforest. Go at dusk for a cocktail and you’ll be treated to romantic candle lighting and a deep blue sky above, all framed by lush greenery goodness. And for people who are not on a romantic date, fear not — I went with a group of people, no romance involved, and it was just as good.
The food is generally of great quality. Very fresh seafood with some innovative menu choices. The Japanese seafood platter (a popular choice, for a reason) was a delicious take on what is traditionally a very heavy dish; in this version there was minimal deep-​fried action. Be warned though — it’s a large dish, bordering on too much for one person if you’re having entrée and dessert as well.
Service is also, generally, excellent. You can tell they take great pride in having attentive but unobtrusive service, but more on that below. Nautilus also won bonus points for having insect repellent on hand, and a designated area for spraying, so people weren’t forced to inhale grossness while sipping their mango daiquiri.
The less good:
We ordered wine as the first of the mains arrived. It wasn’t overly busy at that stage, but the wine didn’t come out until we had all finished our mains — three of us actually stopped eating for 5 minutes in the hope that we could enjoy the wine with the food, but no dice. It’s not a deal-​breaker in most places, but for somewhere that has such excellent service otherwise, and charges what it does, it’s a pretty annoying thing to mess up.
In terms of the food, the fish on three seafood platters was kind of dry, which was disappointing, but again not a showstopper.
The verdict:
It is pricey, but not as bad as I had expected. We paid $ 105 per head for a cocktail and a glass of wine each, plus three courses. It is a lovely way to eat dinner, particularly for people from parts of the world where rainforest dining is rare. If you actually live in a rainforest and eat dinner there every night, of course I would suggest that this wouldn’t be as exciting for you.
There were a few hiccups that we tried not to focus on, but they unfortunately did detract from what would otherwise have been a pretty perfect evening. Still, I would recommend you try it for a special dinner as it’s a pretty nice experience.

This is my new favorite restaurant on earth! The food is delish and the ambiance is completely amazing! It is known to be ridiculously expensive but it is well worth it.
The ambiance is romantic with high chairs, torches and you are eating oudoors in a rainforrest. This place has terrific service and they really look after you!
I had some Australian foor which was amazingly prepared. Additionally, the service was good as well. Even their chilli margaritas (a twist of spice) was perfect! It makes it even better if you are surrounded with good company, which I was! I loved Nautilus and you really have to go there to get the feel. No positive review can do it justice!