Marine ecological restoration aims to rebuild degraded, damaged, or lost marine habitats or ecosystems through human interventions. However, most of the early research efforts have focused on developing methods and techniques for planting species in small areas, with mixed success. With growing expertise, efforts are now focused on outplanting key species into larger scale areas to achieve greater ecological and societal benefits across multiple habitats. Here we review the success of three intertidal and subtidal projects in rebuilding lost ecosystems in southeast Tasmania. Our results show there are still multiple challenges, which should be considered to improve restoration outcomes. The key considerations for future projects include interactions between species and their environment, ecological tradeoffs and future proofing.