Play Pokies at SOPO in Southport

The woman who took our dinner order had a pretty sour attitude.
Trivia got moved into the function room so has no atmosphere anymore. You have to walk downstairs to go to the bar and collect your own dinner.
The place used to be pretty good but seems to have gone down hell over the last couple of years.

It was a Saturday night. We arrived at 630. There was no parking and people were parking anywhere. The waiting time for food was over 1 hour. Half of the order came through the other half didn\'t. We ended up cancelling the order as we had already waited for 2 hours for food. The soup order came without spoon as they couldn\'t provide it because they didn\'t have any spoons. None of the orders came with cutlery. The food itself was just ok. The bar was equally busy. No glassware.

I wanted to like SOPO Palm Springs because the live music was excellent, but the restaurant itself was one of the worst dining experiences I've had.

We booked a table for five. One meal arrived within about 15 minutes, giving us hope, but then everything fell apart. Eighty minutes later, we discovered that two of the five meals had never even been entered into the kitchen because no docket had been created. Those two people never received their meals and, to the restaurant's credit, were eventually offered a refund.

The timing was completely chaotic. Soup didn't arrive until around 20 minutes after the main meals, making it completely pointless. We were originally told we could swap the soup because of the delays, but then it suddenly appeared anyway. It was so bland that our table ended up making a game of guessing what flavour it was supposed to be.

The food quality wasn't much better. The calamari was burnt on the outside yet somehow soggy at the same time. The chips were pale, lifeless and tasted like the cooking oil hadn't been changed in months.

To make matters worse, the atmosphere behind the counter was absolute pandemonium, with staff yelling at each other throughout the service. The bar manager came across as rude and as though they didn't want to be there, which only added to the poor experience. It genuinely felt like a real-life Fawlty Towers episode.

If you enjoy waiting over an hour for food, having parts of your order forgotten entirely, and eating disappointing meals, then this might be the place for you. Otherwise, I'd strongly recommend eating somewhere else nearby, where the food and service are consistently far better. If you're determined to have food from SOPO, you're probably better off ordering Uber Eats than dining in.

The live music deserved five stars. Unfortunately, the restaurant experience deserved one.

First time visiting on a random Sunday afternoon (May 17th), we stopped in for lunch on a whim as we'd never been before. For context, we're early-40s with 2 young kids. We loved it! There was live music from a musician called Tommy Chinka, who played an array of easy-listening popular hits and was fun and interactive with the crowd. Our 2 kids (5 years and 18-months) had great fun playing with each other in the kids room (blackboard w/ chalk, bean bags, large soft blocks, and tv with DVDs available at reception). The kids had chicken nuggets, I took advantage of a $20 pizza and pint offer, and hubby had chicken schnitzel with pepper sauce. All delicious! The atmosphere was fantastic, lots of golden oldies enjoying the music (we were a little out of the main demographic) but it didn't matter at all, everyone was having a great time and the atmosphere was infectious. Staff were lovely and friendly, and we were greeted by a friendly security guard as we walked in from the reception area lift. Only (very minor) issue was that it was hard to find a menu for the bistro! Kids LOVED the soft serve ice cream and sprinkles that came with the kids meal. Overall, a really good experience. I'll definitely bring my Dad here when he comes up for a visit, I think he would love it!

Great food for a pub style meal and great special\'s, their week day $16 meal and a drink is a bargain!! Large venue too, with convenient smoking area and a little kids area not much but enough for them to go play in.