Restaurants’ scenic views rank highly in state table

Wollongong's picturesque seaside location and the quality of food and service have helped two of the city’s restaurants make bookarestaurant.com’s top-10 list of restaurants in NSW with a scenic view and the top-10 list of restaurants with modern Australian cuisine.

The restaurant booking site’s top-10 lists are rated by real diners, making the recognition for the Lagoon Seafood Restaurant and Seacliff Function Centre and Restaurant even more important, according to Lagoon restaurant manager Andrew Harrison.

Seacliff ranked No 5 on the top-view list and No 10 on the modern Australian cuisine list this week, and the Lagoon was No 9 for its view and No 6 for its cuisine.

Seacliff Function Centre has been ranked among the top 10 restaurants in NSW for its scenic views and modern Australian cuisine.

‘‘We quite regularly make their top-10 rated lists,’’ Mr Harrison said.

‘‘And at the end of the year, they do a top-rated 50 restaurants in Australia and we have actually made the top 50 for both restaurants before.

‘‘You are rated by people who dine at your restaurant. It is not a popularity vote; it is a critique with an actual rating on the website.’’

Mr Harrison said it was great to be rated so highly by customers who dined at the Lagoon and Seacliff, especially because at weekends, more than 80 per cent of clients were from Sydney.

He said many came back time and again once they had experienced dining on the Wollongong foreshore.

He said making both the bookarestaurant.com lists would help to market the city and its growing restaurant scene.

‘‘We are in some fine company when you look at the other restaurants ranked there,’’ he said.

‘‘And bookarestaurant.com is the biggest restaurant booking site. It adds to the prestige for the two restaurants and it tells everyone in Sydney about what we have down here.

‘‘We are lucky to live in such a beautiful scenic region.’’

Source: The Illawarra Mercury, 1 November 2013