The Top 18 Places to Eat Near Dee Den
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Rank 2. Honeysuckle Restaurant
Modern Chinese
A white-clad building on Ballinger Road with a breezy alfresco deck that earns its Sunshine Coast address. Honeysuckle is a modern Chinese restaurant built around sharing plates, where Australian produce gets folded into East Asian technique, char siu kangaroo sitting comfortably alongside more expected company. The room leans relaxed, aqua tiles and cane pendants, and the menu runs from yum cha at lunch to something more considered by evening. It holds an Australian Good Food Guide Chef Hat.
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Rank 3. Soka
Japanese
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Rank 4. Orleans Restaurant and Bar
New Orleans French
A cocktail bar and restaurant on the Sunshine Coast that takes the French Quarter seriously enough to earn an Australian Good Food Guide Chef Hat, which is a commitment in Maroochydore. The kitchen runs French technique through a New Orleans lens, so the menu leans toward bold flavors and premium produce rather than Parisian restraint. Handcrafted cocktails make it worth arriving early, and the room is polished enough that you'll want to linger.
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Rank 5. Bella Venezia
Italian
Red velvet booths, blue velvet seating, and a Champagne garden facing the Esplanade, all under one roof at this Italian restaurant inside the Pacific Beach Resort in Mooloolaba. The kitchen leans into Sunshine Coast produce and seafood from the nearby port, turning them into the kind of composed, plated dishes that earned a One Chef Hat from the Australian Good Food Guide. Dress a little, linger over pasta, and let someone else worry about the drive home.
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Rank 6. Fish House Steak & Grill
Steakhouse
Right on the Mooloolaba waterfront, this steak and seafood restaurant pairs dry-aged cuts with line-caught fish in a room that leans into natural textures and open-air ease without feeling like a beach shack. The menu moves between land and sea with the confidence of a place that knows its crowd comes in after a long day on the water and wants something a little more than a burger. It holds an Australian Good Food Guide One Chef Hat.
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Rank 7. The Long Apron
Contemporary French
White tablecloths and rattan chairs look out over the Sunshine Coast Hinterland from the terrace of this fine dining room tucked into the hills above Montville. The kitchen leans French, drawing on local produce to run a seasonally shifting menu, and the pacing is deliberately unhurried. The Australian Good Food Guide has given it two Chef Hats, and the drive up the escarpment is half the point.
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Rank 9. The Tamarind Restaurant
Contemporary Thai
An open timber pavilion set in the rainforest above Maleny, with the kitchen running Thai-rooted contemporary Asian cuisine and a degustation menu for anyone who wants the full tour. The food trades in the kind of sweet, sour, and spicy balancing act that looks simple and isn't. Two Chef Hats from the Australian Good Food Guide. The retreat around it is lovely, but the restaurant is the reason to book.
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Rank 10. Bask
Modern Australian
White-clothed tables and fresh native flowers set the tone at this modern Australian restaurant tucked into the shops along Peregian Beach's main strip. The menu moves through creative, produce-led cooking, and on warm afternoons the alfresco tables spill out toward the square. The Australian Good Food Guide gives it two Chef Hats, which tells you roughly what to expect from the kitchen's ambitions. Long lunches are the move here.
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Neon signs, Japanese-style murals, and wooden furniture set the tone at this share-plates Asian restaurant on Weyba Road, where the room feels like a group project between four very opinionated friends. The cooking pulls across Southeast and East Asia without apology, landing somewhere between playful and serious, which is roughly the same place the cocktail list sits. An Australian Good Food Guide Two Chef Hat spot that doesn't feel like one, in the best, most accidental way.
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Rank 12. Lanai Noosa
Modern Australian
Waterfront tables face the Noosa River directly, which makes lingering over a long lunch feel less like indulgence and more like good sense. Lanai is a Modern Australian restaurant built around shareable plates, sustainably sourced seafood, and native ingredients, with a mood that's polished enough to feel special but loose enough that nobody's rushing you. It holds two Chef Hats from the Australian Good Food Guide, and the sunset view does a fair amount of the heavy lifting.
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Rank 13. Embassy XO
Modern Chinese
Seed pod lights cast a warm glow over dark timber and silk Asian furnishings, and the surf at Sunshine Beach is right outside. This is a modern Chinese restaurant where the chef runs his own farm inland at Cootharaba, so roughly three quarters of the produce travels a short distance before it becomes something with XO sauce or coconut tom kha. The lounge bar with its winter fireplace makes a case for arriving early and staying late.
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Rank 15. Lucio's Marina
Northern Italian
Sunset views over the Noosa River set the scene at this Italian seafood restaurant in Tewantin, where white-clothed tables and cane pendants signal that the coastal-lifestyle aesthetic has been taken seriously. The Galletto family has been feeding people here for generations, drawing from Northern Italian tradition and leaning hard into local catches. The Australian Good Food Guide awarded it a Chef Hat. Order something from the water and watch the light change.
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Rank 16. Rickys River Bar & Restaurant
Modern Australian
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Rank 17. Locale Noosa
Italian
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