It's part of human nature to reminisce. The danger in reminiscing is that it so often leads to disappointment. Just like calling that holiday fling you met a few summers ago "for old times sake", going back to restaurant you went to over two years ago that you loved...is a big mistake. It needn't be, in fact in theory you'd like to think time improves things....but as life would have it, that is not always the case.

A couple years ago I went to Coast Restaurant (Roof Terrance, Cockle Bay Wharf) for lunch. I went there with my parents as a "congratulations you finished your studies and topped the state" meal. It was divine. It was Spanish cuisine meets South America meets Modern Australian...bizarre but it worked. It was tasty, unique and so unlike most other fine dining places...in fact even your main was filled with plenty of complimenting side dishes (that's right, I was FULL after finishing my meal!).

Years down the track, I kept remembering that meal and thought I would take my lovely boyfriend there so that he could experience it for himself.

I am lucky he is still with me.

I am not sure as to which part of "bad" I should start with.

The oysters were so inedible I did something I rarely do...I sent them back to the kitchen. I kindly expressed to the waif looking school girl waitress that it wasn't so much the pools of water coming out of the shell that bothered me...it was more the fact that I couldn't separate the actual oyster from the shell. I didn't make a fuss or ask for more, I just didn't want them anymore.

She returned with the same plate of oysters and said that she had the chef spoon them out from the shell (causing more puddles) and that the reason they were like that to start with was because their oysters aren't shuckled (so I assume that when the menu talks of their "shuckled oysters" they were talking about someone else's?). Needless to say I still didn't eat them.

The main was OK. It was duck. Sorry, it was "Roasted spice rubbed free range Southern Highlands Aylesbury Muscovy duck with ...some sort of fruit..." but for ease let's just call it "the duck". I'm afraid "OK" is all I can say about it. It was nice, but no flavour seemed to pop out and it really did leave me a bit hungry at the end. I expected more from a meal that had over 10 words in its name.

At this stage, I would like to point out that the waif school girl waitress had developed "attitude" at my not wanting to eat the oysters and had both stopped serving our table and begun giving us filthy looks...nice touch to the night.

Following our main, we were given dessert menus to peruse. It's a good thing I'm not one for desserts because after 1 hour and 15 minutes, still no one had asked us if we wanted to order dessert (even though by then we were really familiar with the dessert menu). It then took us 20 minutes to get someone's attention for the bill (the waif girl made a non-verbal point of not attending to us), and another 10 minutes to pay.

I have no idea why some restaurant owners don't realise that the staff they employ is EVERYTHING. If they can't find someone that knows something about food, at least hire someone who has a little bit of class, manners, elegance and looks as though she's eaten at least twice in her life.

I will just say though...the fact that diners were so blatantly ignored meant that you could sit leisurely and enjoy the view. My boyfriend and I had a wonderful night chatting away while waiting to be noticed...and sometimes the finest moments of life are found while waiting.

But as an eating experience? Don't bother. It's not what it used to be and it doesn't compare to any of the other restaurants in Cockle Bay. The food is expensive and forgettable, the service is lousy and though they will call themselves "fine dining" there is really nothing "fine" about them. Correction - the door man who takes and returns your coat was absolutely charming...it's a pity we only saw him twice.