Dundee's At The Cairns Aquarium

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#13 of 558 Restaurants in CairnsSeafood, Australian, $$ - $$$

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Tripadvisor gives a Travellers’ Choice award to accommodations, attractions and restaurants that consistently earn great reviews from travellers and are ranked within the top 10% of properties on Tripadvisor.

Dundee's At The Cairns Aquarium

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About

Travellers' Choice

2024

Welcome to Australia’s most extraordinary dining experience, where the rich Flavours of Australia come alive, with a 70,000-litre saltwater marine aquarium as your dining backdrop. Well-known for its scrumptious seafood, steak, and pasta dishes, Dundee’s at the Cairns Aquarium provides a contemporary and innovative dining choice for those looking for a romantic dining experience, a venue for your next event or to celebrate a special occasion. Complimenting the incredible sea life inside the Aquarium is our delicious food & wine served up by Executive Chef James Wort. Cocktail events. Sit down functions Gala Dinners. Seafood restaurant Cairns. Fine dining Cairns. Christmas lunch Cairns. As Cairns' premier seafood restaurant and exceptional dining destination, we invite you to book your table today and enjoy an unforgettable dining adventure.

Features

CUISINES

Seafood, Australian

Meal types

Lunch, Dinner, Drinks

Special Diets

Vegetarian friendly, Vegan options, Gluten free options

FEATURES

Full Bar

Gift Cards Available

Highchairs Available

Reservations

Seating

Serves Alcohol

Table Service

Location

5 Florence St Cairns Aquarium, Cairns, Queensland 4870 Australia

Does this restaurant primarily serve Healthy cuisine?

Yes

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Hours

Suggest an edit

Closed now

• Opens at 9:30 AM

Sunday

9:30 am - 7:30 pm

Monday

9:30 am - 7:30 pm

Tuesday

9:30 am - 10:00 pm

Wednesday

9:30 am - 10:00 pm

Thursday

9:30 am - 10:00 pm

Friday

9:30 am - 10:00 pm

Saturday

9:30 am - 10:00 pm

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4.6

597 reviews

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458

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Yes

linds

16 contributions

Fabulous seafood without breaking the bank

Apr 2024 • couples

If you want to enjoy a fabulous meal at a reasonable price, then Dundees is the place to visit! The waiting staff are attentive and knowledgeable , the ambiance is calming with a huge wall of reef fish, the food is delicious! Can recommend the seafood which is fresh and plentiful. A fabulous experience. Probably best to book beforehand if you would like an indoor table near to the aquarium.

Written 3 April 2024

This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

AlanUk84

Chelmsford33 contributions

Faultless, Magical Experience! Book in advance!

Aug 2024 • family

Amazing experience here. I booked months in advance back when I was in the UK. I did request if we could be sat by the tank itself, and I wasn't disappointed. The staff were brilliant and really made the experience more special. Both my children tried the "special" kids' drinks and were amazing when they saw glitter inside their drinks. Food was faultless. I went for the steak, which was cooked to perfection along with some crocodile spring rolls. Both my children have coliac disease, and the staff were able to cater to their gluten-free needs and make sure the cooking area was cleaned and free of cross contamination. And now to the centre piece, the fish tank gives you an imersive experience eating you food as a shark swims past.

Written 7 August 2024

ozrick33Sydney

Baulkham Hills1634 contributions

Amazing food in fantastic surroundings

July 2024 • family

When restaurants are attached to major tourist attractions it’s easy to suspect you are walking into a tourist trap. Not here. The food was seriously good, matched with top shelf service. We were amazed that when we asked a waiter about a shark that was swimming in the large aquarium tank we were seated at, he gave us a very detailed and informative answer. Brilliant. The mussels were superb. Fresh and beautifully prepared with a divine white wine sauce. All guests, including the children, waxed lyrical about their food. We will most certainly be back.

Written 11 July 2024

Kirk E

East Lyme222 contributions

Good food, but crappy service.

Mar 2025 • couples

We ordered a number of different entreés (appetizers) and mains. The kangaroo satays were unbelievably delicious and our drinks were very good as well. The Caesar salads were good and my Garlic Yabbies were delicious. The veggie spaghettini dish was good, but it had too many olives, which were somewhat overpowering. Our friends ordered the hot rock beef fillet, which comes uncooked, but if you like your steak more dive than rare, you will struggle to get it to that temperature. The biggest issue is that our server or someone in the kitchen completely forgot to place an order for a steak and the server failed to detect this error until we brought it to his attention. Unfortunately, everyone finished their dinner by the time our friend's steak was brought out. We asked to see a manager and she was very nice but wanted to know "what she wanted her to do" about the mistake, which we thought was weird. The more appropriate thing to do would be to comp the entire meal that was obviously not ordered! She offered to pay for half the jug of sangria we ordered, so we settled in that. Although the food is very good at this establishment, it is hectic, with servers running all over the place and does not have a lot of ambiance. If we return to Cairns, I'm unsure if we would return to Dundees.

Written 12 March 2025

TravelDooey

Melbourne377 contributions

Expensive tourist trap

Apr 2024 • couples

The aquarium in the restaurant was large, but not that exciting. The mackerel in the fish & chips was ok, but not as good as others experienced on the trip. The sweet potato fries were very good though. The lettuce in the Caesar salad had grit in it. Ridiculously expensive restaurant. For context, the sandcrab sliders are more expensive than the famous lobster sliders at Supernormal in Melbourne, but they were far inferior! Service was ordinary. There was one bloke standing around who looked like a service waiter. But I never figured out what he was supposed to do?! It seemed like nothing.

Written 10 May 2024

Annie D

Val d'Or24 contributions

Prepared without love

July 2024 • family

Everything is quite expensive and standard menu. I ordered the steak burger, the meat had no seasoning and it was cold. The mini salad arrives without sauce also and still wet from washing. To avoid

Automatically translated

Written 25 July 2024

Debbie-Jo M

1 contribution

Overpriced & average

July 2023 • family

Lovely atmosphere, average service, ok food. We had to call the waiters to remind them we were there k to ask for drinks (& cutlery) on more than one occasion. We were also asked if we would like the bill before our mains were served. Entree calamari was paper thin & rubbery, moreton bay bugs were virtually bitty, but thankfully the crocodile spring rolls were amazing & even out the dish to be ok. Mains - the steaks were tiny for the price ($57 for 200g!!) & the salad was all lettuce with a cherry tomato. The positive was the steak was tasty & tender. Overall an average & overpriced experience.

Written 20 July 2023

MarkVowles

4 contributions

Overpriced and mediocre

Feb 2023 • none

$246 for RSL/sportsclub standard fare. 2 x entre, 2 x mains , 4 glasses wine. Bar decides to chlorine/bleach the area during service so we felt like we were being gassed while dining. Staff were VERY attentive and worked well with a visually interesting setting. As locals we expect more from our iconic venues and please stop charging like a premier restaurant when offering ordinary cuisine!

Written 7 February 2023

Kiks74

Cairns100 contributions

Change in quality of food and service

Aug 2023 • family

We are locals who have visited the restaurant on several occasions since they first opened, previously thinking it was great food and service. However, we recently went and were so disappointed. The quality of food and service from staff has changed, being so poor now. It took the lady seating us, a substantial time to serve us and then seat us. She sat as at 1 table and then asked us to move. Then required a significant amount of time to work out how the table should be positioned. It really didnt require that amount of time or thinking. We orded the fish tacos with the fish being so small (last time it was 10/10), and poorly battered. The chip serving size significantly changed, and was much less tasty then last time. It is quite pricey and we are always happy to pay for quality, however this was a let down and likely wont return again.

Written 2 August 2023

Dundees Restaurant

Hi Kiks74, We take all reviews and customer feedback seriously so thank you for taking the time to share your feedback regarding your recent dining experience with us. As we take a lot of pride in our service and food, I was disappointed to read your review and would really like to get to the bottom of the seating issue and would love to get some more details regarding your reservation. It would be very helpful if you could please share with me the date, time and name the booking was made under so we can identify the staff member that seated you. I have also shared your feedback regarding the Tacos to the chef - it is surprising as we get a lot of compliments about this dish so, once again, it would be very helpful to know when you dined with us so we can identify who was rostered in the kitchen that day to work out what went wrong. Thanks again for bringing this to our attention, we have also sent you a private message and I hope to hear from you soon. Tina Wort General Manager Email: Tina@Dundees.com.au

Written 5 August 2023

This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

michael186311

Canterbury542 contributions

Good food, restaurant not so great

Jan 2025 • friends

Dinner on a weekend for three guests. The food itself was very good - no complaints in that area but the restaurant was a very definite "give it a miss". The dining area is out in the open with no aircon for the sweltering, humid nights, only a fan that doesn't do much and makes a right racket. Service was the brusque side of ok. Seems to me that people go to stare at the big fish tank rather than eat the food ...

Written 31 January 2025

Jon

2 contributions

Wouldn’t Go Back.

Dec 2022 • friends

I was looking forward to see this place. The marine aquarium backdrop was amazing. The staff were attentive. But the quality of meals and the price was a massive let down. A family Avenue that "want-to-be-5 Star." We ordered 2 sets of sliders $27 each as we had another party to attend later in the afternoon. Two little burgers 2 main ingredients drizzled with some sauce, nothing extra ordinary for $27 each I expected more, even with presentation. Yes if I was in a 5 Star Hotel may be? All the other meals ordered at the table were ordinary at around $50 shocking! Drinks and cocktails were overpriced too. Would I got back? No. But appreciate the experience the Marine fish were the highlight for me.

Written 30 December 2022

Dundees R

Hello Jon FNQ79, Thank you for your review. We are disappointed to read that the quality of the meals and the prices at our restaurant did not meet your expectations. Like many other businesses in Australia, restaurants are facing the challenge of increasing produce prices. As a result, menu prices have had to increase in order to keep our doors open and continue providing delicious meals for our customers. We are sorry if this has affected your experience at our restaurant. While we are fortunate to receive many 5 star reviews for our food and service, we understand that not every dining experience will suit everyone. We appreciate your feedback and will take it into consideration as we strive to continuously improve the quality of our food and service. We are glad to hear that the highlight of your visit was the aquarium and hope that you will consider giving us another chance in the future to deliver a more enjoyable dining experience for you. Thank you for your understanding. We wish you a very Happy New Year.

Written 4 January 2023

This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Mary-Jane S

11 contributions

This is a MUST PLACE TO VISIT!!

Sept 2024 • family

Unbelievable restaurant with great food and great staff. The waitress Tahnee was amazing and looked after us beautifully xx she was kind and thoughtful and even organised a birthday treat for my daughter xx the atmosphere is amazing seeing the aquarium as you eat. My daughter loved the kangaroo loin dinner and the rib eye would of been the best steak I have ever eaten xx compliments to the chefs ❤️❤️❤️

Written 14 October 2024

Vanessa T-G

Baughurst333 contributions

Food could definitely be better.

Nov 2022 • couples

2 adults ate 29-11-22 6pm Friendly staff brought us drinks and took our order. We ordered Tomahawk with Lobster @ $ 236 It was a special occasion as we're are on our very belated honeymoon, then end of our 1stweek away from UK & wanted a special meal. Watching the fish in the aquarium was lovely. Food arrived on a high serving rack, way too high in my opinion, getting the food off the rack was difficult, table was too small for so much food, we felt squished and the plates were also too small, I had to ask for another plate to put Lobster shells on, that should be there as standard 🤔 meat was very under seasoned. Luckily one of the sauces was just the seasoning it needed, but it was trial and error to find the right one of the 4 provided. 🦞 Lobster was delicious 😋 We shared a dessert, Baileys trifle, which actually wasn't that nice at all, grainy texture. The food could have been better. I didn't feel that it was value for money. Although my husband who won't complain left a sizable tip, staff were excellent though.

Written 29 November 2022

Dundees R

Hello Vanessa, Thank you for your review and for sharing your feedback with us. We are sorry to hear that the quality of the food and the overall dining experience did not meet your expectations on your special occasion. We understand that this was a very important evening for you, and we apologise for any disappointment experienced. We appreciate your comments about the high serving rack, small plates, and your meals and will take this into consideration as we are always striving to improve the dining experience for all our guests. We are happy to hear that you loved the lobster and the service you received and we truly do hope that you had a wonderful honeymoon in Australia.

Written 4 January 2023

This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Mariusuk

Sheffield19 contributions

Poor quality food

Aug 2023 • couples

Considering the generally very good standard of food in Cairns, Dundees at the Aquarium is not trying hard enough. While some of the dishes my girlfriend had were acceptable (not great but not bad), both of mine were very poor. The avocado and bug starter was disastrous. A mass-produced pastry case more suitable for a cheesecake was filled primarily with guacamole and an overpowering flavour of lime and topped with a minuscule fragment of crayfish. This is then swamped in superficial dressings to make the dish look less sad. The deep fried barramundi was soaked in oil while the chips had a strange, powdery texture. Prices were slightly above average for Cairns so Dundees really needs to do better.

Written 17 August 2023

Handysmith

Ryde324 contributions

Cafe style with restaurant prices

May 2024 • couples

We also dined at thier sister restaurant at the waterfront which is more upmarket. This is more a casual cafe style with an aquarium as one wall. Prices are expensive but offers a wide range of choices. Dining beside an aquarium is interesting if you have never done this type of experience. Walk up is possible and you can see the aquarium from the street. Surpised we weren't offered a discount to the main aquarium after spending a lot for our meals in the restaurant which is a lost business cross selling opportunity.

Written 26 May 2024

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DUNDEE'S AT THE CAIRNS AQUARIUM - Updated 2025 Restaurant Reviews, Menu & Prices - Tripadvisor