Abla's — Restaurant in Melbourne

ORDERED FEB 2025: 🦕 Mixed dips: combination of labnee, hummous and baba gannouj ($21.00) 🥔 Lebanese Potatoes/Batata Harra: Potatoes fried with garlic, coriander, chilli and salt ($16.00) 🥗 Fattoush: A green salad with radish, tomato, cucumber, capsicum and Lebanese fried bread ($18.00) 🍡 Kafta Mishwee: Four skewers of minced lamb, seasoned with parsley, onion and spices, grilled and served with tabouleh ($34.00)

It was $45.17pp between two people here.

REVIEW: Minor price increases on the mixed dips & lebanese potatoes compared to last year.

❤️ The food is still delicious and plentiful. The lebanese fried bread within the fattoush salad was crunchy and adds incredible addictive texture. Service is still second to none, offering more pita if you've still got some mixed dips remaining on your plate!

Definitely still book before you go. It packed on a weekday! ORDERED 2024: 🦕 Mixed dips: combination of labnee (home-made naturally thickened yogurt), hummous (Chickpeas blended with tahini, garlic and lemon juice) and baba gannouj (smoked eggplant blended with tahini, garlic and lemon juice) ($20.00) 🥔 Lebanese Potatoes/Batata Harra: Potatoes fried with garlic, coriander, chilli and salt ($15.00) 🥗 Fattoush: A green salad with radish, tomato, cucumber, capsicum and Lebanese fried bread ($18.00) 🍢 Lahem Mishwee: Two skewers of lamb fillets, marinated and grilled, served with tabouleh ($32.00) 🏺 Jug of limonda: Home-made lemonade with rose water ($14.00)

It was $40.60 for my portion!

REVIEW: The food was fantastic. It was filling and flavourful. A couple of my favourite F words 🥰. Shoutouts are for the mixed dips with its refreshing olive oil and its generous pita servings which you can request for more once it runs out! Then, the crispy lebanese potatoes which isn't shy with its spices, and the fattoush with its crispy fried bread. I think fried food has a soft spot in my stomach 🤣.

💓 It's great food to share between friends, with a jug of limonda refreshing to have with our food. The food in general gives home cooked food vibes without compromising on the restaurant quality!

Abla's has tight steep steps and I'm unsure if there's accessibility access. The area is well decorated with a bathroom upstairs as well. When you go, it's worthwhile booking at Abla's because they get...

4.5/5

Abla’s is a restaurant serving homestyle Lebanese food. It is named after Abla Amad, widely known as ‘the queen of Lebanese cooking’. The fit out is cosy but sophisticated with clean, white tablecloths and dim lighting.

Between the 4 of us, this was more than enough food and we took some leftovers home. Everything came out gradually, we waited for some dishes longer than others. The Batata Harra are always delicious, they are a must-order for us when we go to a Lebanese restaurant. They are slightly spicy and tangy. Their mixed dips were perfect – generous portion, packed full of flavour, served with Lebanese bread, my favourite was the Baba Ghannouj.

The meats came with a side of tabouleh (which we completely forgot about when we ordered and the bowls were big). The chicken was succulent, nicely seasoned. The lamb was a bit too chewy for our liking, we definitely preferred the chicken. The lamb sausages weren’t anything special but still good. If you like chicken livers, I recommend trying them here. They had a lovely garlic and lemon dressing which was addicting. Both salads were faultless – exactly how I’d have them at home.

This is not a place where you will be ripped off, despite the prices being higher than an average eatery. Portions are so generous, just how your grandma would feed you. We struggled with putting the plates on the table as it was too small for the 4 of us, it was more like a 2-seater which became a little annoying. But overall, I highly recommend! This is quality Lebanese food, perfect for a date night or when you miss your...

Feels awful to give a venue of such significance a bad review but the service completely ruined our night. The sign outside says ‘BYO’ so we brought our own wine; when we get inside we’re told it’s not BYO. I bring up what the sign says outside and the server (young woman with dark hair) says (in her most surly tone) “well the sign is 45 years old…” as if we’re meant to know? There’s nothing on their website or socials to indicate they’re not BYO either. We get over it and order a bottle of wine and food. Chicken wings are brought to us instead of the chicken livers we ordered; again the server acts as if that’s our fault and angrily walks away. Throughout the rest of our meal she just dumps dishes down without telling us what they are, doesn’t offer more pita bread when we’ve run out (a lovely older waitress that came onto the floor later and unfortunately only served us once did so this is clearly something they offer customers throughout their meal) and generally just makes us feel like a burden for being there.

I understand how tiring and stressful it can be on a busy night, but to take it out on the customer is unacceptable. When we got the bill from her there were no basic pleasantries like ‘thank you for coming’ or ‘how was your meal’; she just asked if I wanted a receipt then walked away. The waitress’ attitude ruined the meal for us and we wouldn’t recommend or return...