Il Pescatore Restaurant - Port Douglas

This is our favourite seafood restaurant in the far North and we regularly drive up from Cairns to enjoy the ‘Seafood Extravaganza’ which is available on Friday and Saturday evenings.Set in the recently refurbished Sheraton Grand Mirage Resort, the restaurant is palatial to say the least and offers a variety of seating options, our favourite being the downstairs indoor area overlooking the magnificent lagoon pool, (upstairs as well as outdoor dining options are also available).The sensational variety of seafood on offer always includes staples such as freshly shucked oysters, prawns and scallops. Others tantalising marine morsels that often grace the buffet include crayfish, smoked salmon, crab – either blue swimmer or brown, as well as a variety of fish dishes.There’s an extensive hot food buffet station which boasts foods with an international flavour, (a chef is stationed here and is always at the ready to prepare dishes just the way you like them). Two additional buffet stations provide an array of breads, grilled vegetables, antipastos and desserts. The staff are always friendly and efficient and willing to go out of their way to ensure your dining experience is a memorable one. By our third visit the maitre d and some of the senior wait staff not only knew our names, but our favourite wine and even our preferred table!Dining at Feast Restaurant is always a wonderful experience. We usually choose to extend our time at the Sheraton by spending an hour or so listening to live music in one of the lounges or bars after dinner.

While the main course is ordered off the menu, starter and dessert is buffet style, food quality was ok given it is 5 star hotel, steak is good quality meat, at nearly $70 a head it have to be. Other select is just ok.

Malcolm was our waiter and he was very attentive. Wait staff seemed friendly.The oysters were freshly shucked and lovely. The prawns were also locally sourced and fresh.Unfortunately the crab was terrible, it tasted gritty and watery and found out is not locally sourced.Hot food was good: seafood panang curry was lovely as was the chicken casserole. The chef was happy to cook stir fry fresh for people to order.There was also a good antipasto bar, salads looked boring.Dessert was okay but not grande.Overall we enjoyed ourselves but perhaps the price of $85 was too steep for the quality of the food.

We stayed at the Sheraton for a week and ate at Feast for breakfast - fabulous- such a lot of choices, loved the omelette.We had pizza on one occasion - very nice. The seafood Buffet - Great variety, so fresh.

We dined at Feast on our last night at the Sheraton. We were actually pleasantly surprised at the pricing but compared to the room service prices, the restaurant was very good.The meal was most enjoyable and beautifully presented. The service was good albeit a little slow.