We had recently moved back to Queensland in early 2002 after 4 years in South Australia and were living in an inner Brisbane apartment. One Sunday we decided to drive down to Sanctuary Cove for the first time. We were strolling around looking through the various upscale shops in the shopping village and spotted a long line of people waiting to enter George’s Paragon Seafood Restaurant around midday. We then saw the sign promoting half price dining and that explained everything.
After looking at the posted menu board and seeing things we loved like Moreton Bay Bugs and Lobster we decided to give it a go. On this first time lunch visit we ordered 2 serves of Barbecued Moreton Bay Bugs. The service was prompt and my goodness we had a fabulous table overlooking the yacht marina. The restaurant had a very Grecian luxury feel . . . maybe a little over the top but hey everything was great so far.
Our meals came out and for the price we paid the serves were quite generous. Our BBQ Moreton Bay Bugs tasted sensational and the side of Fries was fresh made & crispy. We were pretty impressed all round with the great value of our meals, the friendly efficient service and the ambience. We’ll be back ! And we returned in a couple of months with some business friends of mine and we all ordered Lobster. Our meals came out in good time and looked tremendous.
The serves were half a lobster shell filled with chunky mouth watering Lobster meat. The half price deal on the mains was certainly a huge enticement to make the one hour drive from our Brisbane apartment. Back then the half price deal was only on offer 2 days a week . . Saturday & Sunday I believe. We were definitely going to come back. In the meantime we moved house to a luxury ocean front townhome fronting North Stradbroke Island still about a one hour drive from Sanctuary Cove.
Good quality seafood restaurants were hard to find in Brisbane and were usually very expensive so we decided it was time to return to George’s. In 2005 we brought 2 of our new friends from our townhome complex. They were huge seafood fans who had just relocated to Brisbane from Melbourne, Victoria. This time we ordered some of those live Lobsters from the tank . . . even with the big discount they were not cheap but worth every cent.
And then we were gone from Australia when we moved to California at the end of 2006 so my American wife could be closer to her family. On our most recent visit to Queensland we were staying with good friends in Arundel and within hours of getting off the plane at Eagle Farm we made it to George’s for a lovely lunch just like old times. It wasn’t half price that day however my Oysters Kilpatrick appetizer and my serve of BBQ Moreton Bay Bugs tasted fabulous !
