Westshore Beach Inn owner Jeremy Bayliss said his staff sleeping upstairs heard a crash but couldn't see anything so went back to bed and he only found out about the incident at about 8.30am.
"It's pretty mind-blowing what occurred.
"We're just so happy that we were shut, it caused a massive about of damaged.
"We're unbelievably lucky we were shut long before that."
His staff and customers were a bit "shaken" by the incident which could have severely hurt anyone in the outdoor area if it happened during business hours.
"It's fricken scary."
The driver would also have been seriously injured if he had gone off the road a metre or so to his left or right because he would have hit a concrete pole, Mr Bayliss said.
He must have crossed the centre line as he was heading north and was also lucky not to have hit any oncoming cars because he appeared to have been going at a high speed due to the amount of damage, he said.
"Big hunks of wood have been obliterated, tables, steel stools.
"A wine barrel at the gate entrance flew 15 metres in the air and hit the roof."
Mr Bayliss and the rest of his team have spent today cleaning up but managed to open the bar at its usual time at 11.30am this morning with less furniture and a few boarded up windows.
A nearby resident said she believed the driver fell asleep at the wheel and went through the outside sitting area.
