Zayt & Zaatar-est 2016 (Campbelltown) — Restaurant in Adelaide

Chose this restaurant to take the family for Mothers Day as the menu looked great and we enjoy this cuisine. Now before I begin; I understand it can be a busy night as it was Mothers day, but I'm sure they had plenty of time to prepare for the evening and have extra staff on hand. I booked a 7pm sitting for 10 people (2 hour allocations). Was called at 6pm to be asked to come at 7:30, as they were very busy. We agreed and thought a 9:30 finish should still be fine for the children that would be with us. We arrived to people still eating on our booked table, but were told that they'd given our original table to someone by the same name by accident. Seemed highly unlikely as it was booking only and our time had been adjusted. We wait 20 minutes while they finished and the table was cleared. Sat down and all chose and ordered reasonably quickly. 20 minutes later one of the waitresses realised we had no cutlery/plates so they bring it, apologising as only half of us would be able to have the remaining napkins available. Drinks came out not too long after, but the night continued downhill from then on. At 8:35, 1 of 2 diminutive entreés comes. 25 minutes later 3 kids meals. At 9:10 we asked where the rest of the meals were and was told it was 5 minutes away. 25 hungry minutes later they then tell us that it will be another 2 minutes! Another frustrating 10 minutes goes by. One of the staff walks out to go join the other staff for a smoke, enjoying their own meals ready while we waited. He comes past and says "You're next to come chief". We watched 2 or 3 other tables be given their meals. It was not till 9:55pm that we received our meals! This experience was horrendous. It's the longest we've waited for a meal by at least an hour. This was by far the worst experience we have had with waiting and being lied to by the staff, and trust me, we once made the mistake to dine at Cathay court where the 'all you can drink' was flat 2 litre Coke bottles in a warm mini bar fridge!! To be fair, the older gentleman was very kind and apologetic and was very good with our kids to eventually bringing out extra food for them as they had all finished an hour prior to us. He also refilled our jug of drink on the house. If it was not for him, this would have been 1 star and we would not have felt it right to pay the full bill. In the end, the food was nice but it really wasn't enjoyed, and being lied to a number of times just so we didn't leave was not acceptable. I felt bad for the girls serving as they couldn't do much more to help the delay. Will not be back, unfortunately. So...

Firstly let’s start positive. Thank you for the lovely message on the bag. Very thoughtful and made me smile. (See photo attached)

The Mixed Skewers Platter Was 80% delicious. The kafta is tasty flavour wise but is of chewy consistency because the meat has been over mixed causing the stretchy tough texture and chewy consistency. Plus if they were made evenly in thickness will give you an even cook as the thicker end was cooked well but the thin end was over cooked and dryer. The chicken was well cooked and tasted delicious other than some extra salt. The meat skewer was good and edible just needed my salt seasoning but tasted great when mixed with garlic. As the Toum (Garlic) was well made and delicious. Went really well with the tasty hot chips. The Grilled Onion 1/2 wasn’t pleasant. I think to improve it should be sliced in to thin pieces and the cooked like the Spanish onion way. Grilled Tomato was good other than more salt needed.

The Humous in the mixed platter box was ok. Had a burnt flavour taste (yes tried separately with a clean fork) needs a little more lemon and salt added to it.

The Fattoush needs the radishes and capsicums to be diced in smaller pieces and the cucumber a little larger. But flavour wise it was great and tasted close to what we get in our hometown of Beirut Lebanon. Oh and I’m so pleased that they placed the crispy bread right on top to avoid it being soggy which was perfect.

The samboosk was a MAJOR FAIL AND DISGUSTING the pastry shell you can taste the yeast fermentation leaving a very unpleasant taste in your mouth making you spit it out. The mixture inside needs to be reconsidered and needs more of a balanced ratio in the filling where there is an even amount of meat and pine nut ratio. As well as the ratio in the pastry shell needs to improved. As the ones I received had like 10% filling to 90% pastry. Also definitely not worth 1/2 the price that was charged. Understandable pine nuts are expensive but the company needs to reconsider this as well as taste and check each new batch that’s made of their products before selling to the public. As it was truly unpleasant.

Unfortunately id rate it a 3/10 and didn’t hit the craving of lebanese food like my hometown of Lebanon and the reviews I read prior to ordering didn’t line up.

Thank You and I hope you take this feedback into consideration to improve your restaurant and customer...

UPDATE TO THE BELOW: Management handled the situation amazingly so clearly this is just an issue with 1 staff member and management has assured me that they are dealing with the matter internally. I would like that to be considered when reading this review

Original review: I am not one to leave reviews however the disgusting behaviour that has come from this establishment is unacceptable.

The timeline is as follows: 7:22 - Called Campbeltown branch to let them know we are running late for our 7:30 appointment at Westlake. The guy on the phone who claims his name is Habib and he runs Westlake branch said that he is very busy and under the pump and doesn’t know what’s happening at Westlake which is fair enough. However, he advised us that he would be letting them know we are arriving late and hung up the phone WITHOUT EVEN ASKING FOR OUR NAME SO HE CAN CONFIRM WITH THE WESTLAKE BRANCH. Sorry Habib but who are you going to confirm for? The air?

7:45- arrived at Westlake branch and came to the realisation that the branch is closed

7:50- my aunty who has really wanted us to try this restaurant while we are in Adelaide called back the man on the phone from previously. She asked him to speak to the manager as he failed to advise us that the branch was closed. If this man decided to think a little bit he would’ve realised it closed and told us and saved us at least some of this 1 hour drive. Keep in mind my aunty is a regular at this restaurant and I can’t imagine why at this point because the customer service is atrocious. The man on the phone DID NOT GIVE THE PHONE TO A MANAGER even tho she asked for the manager by name (Nidhal). Instead he says to her “ohh yeah that branch is closed”… thanks Einstein

I realised my aunty didn’t ask for his name so I called back to ask for his name and he replies with “oh yeah ur the complaint lady.. my name is Habib good day” and hung up on my face

At this point I was fuming. I decided to call back and realised he’s blocked my number. I took my cousins phone and called this man back. He hung up on me AGAIN when he realised who I was

I am not going to a restaurant to argue with the incompetent workers. I am going to it to enjoy.

I am a believer in the fact that 1 man does not define the establishment, however, if this is the people you chose to hire then I don’t want...