Enjoyed my meal here. It's a Hare Krishna place, which means it's low-cost Indian-inspired food,…read morecooked for the masses and served buffet-style. Lots of curries and things like that. You pay one flat fee and it's all-you-can-eat. Govinda's is a bit more special than most Hare Krishna places, though, in that it's a little bit better quality and has way more of a range of options. It has one bar devoted to salads and their dressings (fresh green mixed salads, couscous salads, quinoa salads, etc.) and one bar devoted to hot foods (pasta, several types of curries, samosas and other fried snacks, and a sweet dessert). Govinda's is also one of the only vegetarian places in Surfers Paradise, and as it is 100% vegan, you don't have to worry about sneaky dairy or egg ingredients when you order. The downside of all this is it is more expensive than most Hare Krishna places -- the ones in other cities tend to be in the $9-12 range (even as low as $6.50 here in Melbourne). We paid $16.90 each here at Govinda's! We were hungry so it was worth it -- we filled our plates once at the salad bar, then went back and filled our plates again at the hot cooked food bar, and then finally a third time for dessert. Some of the options were better than others. I really loved the satay peanut sauce at the salad bar -- I drenched my quinoa salad and green salad in it. Delicious stuff. I also enjoyed the lentil curry, and the fried pakora was super yum. I wasn't as wild about the pasta -- it was very plain. But in general, everything was tasty. The dessert was halwa (semolina pudding with sweet sauce) -- not very pretty to look at, but tasty. If you don't want to spring for the all-you-can-eat, you can also order individual plates of things, but it didn't look like it was as good a value for your money. You can also order at an extra cost any desserts from their display case and any extra drinks as well. (Free tap water otherwise.) Service was a bit blunt as it often is in this type of place. But not too bad. Atmosphere-wise, very similar to lots of Hare Krishna places, although this one had very little religious messaging on the walls, very unobtrusive -- most people would never guess it was a Hare Krishna place. Nice enough seating and decor, and very clean. I loved all the colorful throw pillows against the benches. Definitely recommend if you're in Surfers looking for a healthy, filling meal that won't break the bank.

Excellent food! Very happy every time I go Nice variety of…read moreproducts and very tasty!!

I went here the very first week they opened, so there were maybe a few teething problems, but I…read moreenjoyed my meal and I'm pretty sure good things will come of this place. Orchid's tucked into a little shopping arcade in between the beach and Surfer's Paradise. Not the most charming atmosphere, being in a sterile shopping arcade, but the cafe itself is cute and has nice decor. Everything here is vegetarian with a few vegan options. I would have preferred to see a few more vegan options, to be honest. I got the vegan shepherd's pie and it came with mashed sweet potato instead of regular potato -- a nice surprise. Everything tasted nice, although I felt the portion size was a little small for the price. It also took them forever to serve me -- again, I'm sure it was just teething issues as they'd literally just opened and hadn't even have their glassware and stuff delivered yet. I also got a vegan cookie from the display case containing baked goods -- average but OK. What really stands out here is the service. I'm not sure if the lady serving me was also the owner/manager but I suspect she probably was and that this place is a one-woman shop. She was incredibly sweet and friendly and very apologetic for the wait. Her awesome attitude alone would make me want to go back. It's honestly great to see another vegetarian place in Surfers Paradise besides Govinda's so definitely get out there and show her some support if you're in the Gold Coast area and want some healthy plant-based food :)

Had a chance to be at Gold Coast in dec 2017 along with my wife. We were quite eager to try out a…read morenew place for dining and were searching for a 'All Vegetarian' restaurant. Were were delighted to know that what we were searching for was just 50 meters away from where we were staying and we thought it to be a blessing that we will be able to eat all 5 days at an 'All Vegetarian' restaurant. But it was a weird moment for us when we saw 'Poached Egg' on their menu.Upon inquiry, the lady owner gave a lame response 'it is just served as part of our breakfast menu' , we are 'All Vegetarian' for the rest of the day. We could not get across this response but still we tried to ignore it for a while as we were super hungry. we had a quick glance at the menu she had put for us on the table and then chose to eat pizza.I requested the lady owner if she could bake us a Pizza but she need to make sure the cooking ware she will use doesn't have any traces of egg or items that contain egg. She didn't understand what i meant and kept on clarifying what exactly we needed. We decided to let her make pizza for us , her own way. While she prepared to bake pizza for us, we realized, she didn't had the raw material to make Pizza for us and she did quite a few rounds to the shop just next door (a Sudanese shop that sells every possible meat based delicacy) to gather the mozzarella cheese, chilli sauce. We asked for Chilli flakes, she said she doesn't keep those. And we wondered what sort of restaurant that was.The pizza made for had a pizza base with a weird taste and smelled like a rotten veggie. We somehow managed to eat what was presented as Pizza but we ended up with an upset stomach. I strongly suggest not to visit this place unless they change their definition of a 'Vegetarian Restaurant'

The staff was so kind and helpful. They provided was a heater because we wanted to sit outside. Our…read morefood came out fast and was very yummy. The food portions were greatly sized and the presentation was amazing! Best food I've had during my time in Australia!! Also great gluten free options too :)

This is a truly authentic Persian Restaurant and the amazing customer service from the owner is one…read moreof the main reasons why my partner and I keep coming back here. They have such a huge menu with all different variations of salads, kebobs, soups, stews, drinks and many other items. My favorite is the Joojeh Kebob which is a boneless chicken skewer. This dish is offered among several different options however we try to avoid rice as much as possible so our favorite plate is the Noon-O-Kabob. The dish usually comes with a side salad but we can't eat the dressing due to dietary restrictions so the kind owner has always been willing to accommodate. The Shirazi salad is also a favorite and is full of delicious flavors. The food quality is fantastic and I know this first-hand as I grew up having a Persian best friend and her mom's cooking is something I always miss. I'm so glad they have reopened as we were able to dine at their restaurant for lunch today. My partner has very limited days off but the time he does have off he always requests we get Shiraz for lunch or dinner. Definitely recommend this place to others! Plus if you're visiting as a tourist their prime location in Surfers is super convenient. We commute from Robina but it is definitely worth the drive!

This is a second location for the Cardamom Pod, a vegetarian (apparently vegan) brunch place (the…read morefirst is south of here at Broadbeach). The location itself I'm not a huge fan of. It's not close to the beach or on the tram line, so it wasn't the easiest thing to get to. Moreover, because it took a while to reach, I arrived just after their breakfast had ended and their lunch started. Looking at the breakfast menu, this was a tad disappointing. That being said, the crunchy tofu rolls I ended up were ethnically indiscernible but tasty, combining a Vietnamese presentation with a very Indian-ish dipping sauce and some marinated mango. They were amply spicy and sweet, and with avocado accompanying the tofu, reasonably filling. Their menu on the whole is quite lavish (and expensive). And yet, despite being a pricey pure plant-based restaurant at a non-ideal location, it was kind of busy. Gold Coast, man, I'm telling you. Most parts of the world, there aren't too many fancy vegetarian restaurants and the ones that exist sometimes struggle, but I just can't stop running into them here, and they're doing fine. I imagine I'll be back for some of their chickpea flour breakfast dishes sometime.

Decided to give this place a second chance after trying it during the COVID pandemic when they were…read moreonly doing take away, their food was not to their usual standard. Sorely disappointed with the service this time and didn't even get a chance to eat. From the time of ordering to leaving waited over an hour. Full story is we didn't have an appointment but me and my friend wanted to see if they had seats anyway. There were two tables opening up but the hostess told us to wait and gave us some attitude about it. We shrugged it off and waited about 10min for the table that was just empty the entire ten minutes. When we sat down we looked over the menu and then ordered about 5 min later with the same hostess lady. She unkindly told us that the gnocchi was sold out which is fine but she still had an attitude about it. Then after ordering we waited about an hour and saw people who had come order ate and left. We had been chatting and had ordered a big meal so thought maybe our food took longer to prepare but after an hour we were hungry and impatient and asked the hostess about an update and she said "what food" and we reminded her that she took our order and she just said "omg I forgot" she had not put the order in. In the hour she had not checked on our table even tho by this time half the restaurant tables were empty they weren't that busy. Terrible service. The food however does look and smell amazing from the tables next to us.

I managed to locate this rather under the radar vegetarian place (at the northeast end of the…read morestring of shops on this island), only to find they weren't offering anything made to order. Instead, it was a cafeteria-style place. They had printed menus to that effect, and I am a bit baffled as to how someone else was able to review a place with this name and this location that was completely different. Did they change business models? I may update if I find out. But rating it for what it is rather than what I expected it to be, it was still kind of a disappointment. A large platter yielded several basic offerings-lentils, vegetables, potatoes, and noodles-none of them bad but all of them relatively banal. The highlight was probably a salad that came on the side, but even that had been sitting out a bit too long. All of which makes this kind of an off-brand Govinda's, which isn't great because there is a Govinda's a few blocks away and closer to the beach. They had some special deals for students and, interestingly enough, cab drivers. To all of Gold Coast's Yelp-reading taxi drivers, you might want to check this place out.

A lovely lunch stop for a Masala Dosa with Jaggery tea. The…read moredosa arrived with all the accompaniments full of simple subtle flavours. They even included Semolina Halwa which finished my lunch perfectly along with a sweet jaggery tea. Would have loved to try one of the lassi on offer ... next time. This is not an up market high priced sort of place but offers simple, flavousome, ayurvedic vegetarian indian fare ... and thats just fine by me.

This place is an open but sheltered cafe close to the water in Southport, whose appearance greatly…read moreexceeded my expectations, hippie-ish vibe and all. You probably can't do better for a vegetarian brunch. The pancakes I got were vegan, with coconut ice cream on top, and I couldn't tell the difference to regular egg and dairy ones, honestly. A presumably healthier rice and lentil dish is among their other breakfast offerings if you want to be good. This being the beach, I didn't.

I've been vegetarian for over 20 years and have been to countless vegetarian restaurants. This is…read moreone of the better places to eat. Good decor, very open, kind and helpful staff and flavourful food. I ate everything on my plate and enjoyed my time here. Their prices are fair when you see the portions of food they give you. I will be returning for more.

The food and service were both subpar. My family and came and ordered take out at this cute…read morerestaurant tonight. The inside was cute and intimate. However, the food was extremely bland for Indian cuisine. I ordered vindaloo shrimp (prawn's is what Aussie Call shrimp), garlic naan and rice. My Vinaloo wasn't extra spicy like I requested. It was mostly saucy with only one potato in it, and My naan wasn't garlicky. My cousins both got mango chicken which both said was too sweet and mostly sauce with no meat. My big sis was the only person who was somewhat satisfied with her veggie curry. For my meal to be $42 it definitely was a waste of money because I wasted most of it. Disappointed we didn't like the Indian food in Gold Coast cause I'm on vacation from California. Had to write this review since I can't get a refund...

I bypassed several very nice alternatives to try this restaurant, including Tian Ran Vegetarian…read morewhich is a couple of doors down. This place is not exclusively vegetarian, but they do ask everyone if they're vegetarian/vegan and offer separate menus, and there is quite a bit going for it from a plant eater's perspective. It's a small place, and has oddly blue mood lighting (blame them for the picture quality on my food pics), but nice enough and not far from the end of the light rail line. What I got was a lentil soup, which was pretty tasty but not that substantial or filling for the price (wouldn't order it again) and a bread and chickpea combo. The latter wasn't all that great of a portion either. Those were some grade A chickpeas though, the medium spiciness level hitting the spot perfectly. The potato-filled bread to dip them in was not bad either. If I came back again (which I might), I'd order a main dish. I might also get takeout, as there's a 10% discount, and I could get food from here and Tian Ran for the same meal, which sounds awfully appealing. Anyway, as Australian Indian restaurants go, this one seemed competently run and I liked what I got.

I had a negative experience with this business. They franchised a location in Columbus, OH. This…read morelocation closed, but they sold my mom a gift card a week later. On behalf of my elderly mother, I have contacted the primary Gold Coast location about this at least 5 times over the past 6 months. They have never emailed me back. However, I noticed that they always watch my stories on Insta so I called them out and eventually they did respond to me on insta saying they will "look into it" and trying to blame the franchisee. Obviously, the Columbus location is closed and the right thing to do is for the primary business to return my mom her $80. They apparently just want to take advantage of senior citizens.

This was a lovely little bar on the main street in Coolangatta. In fact it was one that I simply…read morestumbled across as I was wandering around here during the evening. Okay, it was rather quiet when I came, and it is probably more a restaurant, though they do have a bar area out the front where you can sit with your drink. As well as having a nice selection, I also found that the staff were really friendly. Yeah, I actually really liked this place.

Food was delicious. This place has 900 reviews with a 5 star rating on google! Portions were a bit…read moresmall but amazing tasting. The spicy lamb vindaloon was actually spicy with a lot of flavor. Butter chicken was sweeter than I'm used to but still delicious. Chicken tikka masala was really good. I hadn't tried cheesy garlic naan before but OMG it was delicious! Service was fast. Food was hot. Really enjoyed eating here!

Service was fast food was about a 3 out of 5 Vindaloo was ok a bit salty and not really as hot as I…read morewould have liked. The butter chicken was a bit too sweet. The goat Madras on the other hand was spot on. Hence the 3 star rating. Location was good alfresco eating was the better place to eat because the restaurant is real small.