Buba Local Shuk — Restaurant in Melbourne

Utterly terrible

First, we were offered a $65pp set menu, only to discover after we had started receiving the starters that our mains had to be cancelled because they had run out of fish the NIGHT before, meaning half of the main course options weren’t available - which was severely limiting for my pescatarian friend (who ate chicken due to lack of options). To make matters worse, after our mains came out (we only reluctantly agreed to get the mains to stay on the set menu because we specifically wanted dessert) we were told the only attractive dessert (imo) of 3 options was not available—a fact they also failed to mention upfront and when we elected to stay on the set menu despite our main orders being cancelled.

There was no apology, just excuses about how they’d had a great / busy night the night before and didn’t prep properly for the night we were in.

The service was overall terrible. Wine orders, requests for water & gluten free bread options were forgotten, leaving us waiting far longer than necessary, without anything to eat (initially) or drink (later). We had to hunt down staff to pay - they were sitting having a chat together, seemingly determined to ignore customers. There really was a general sense that no one cared about the quality of our experience.

The food we ate was between poor-basic (GF bread was brought out 15 min after the dried-looking dips had arrived & was burnt but turned upside down, I didn’t touch my main and took it home for the dogs). We did not get what we ordered or wanted. The service was terrible and the pricing was ridiculous for what we got - $95 EACH ($190) for dips that would total 200gm, 1 eggplant and 0.5 cauliflower that we shared, 2 unwanted (& in my case, uneaten) mains and 4 glasses of wine. We were charged for the desserts (the set menu is $65pp & wine was $15 per glass) but we didn’t realise until after we had left as the waiter had said he’d removed them.

We walked away feeling that we had absolutely been taken advantage of. Utterly...

I booked this place after reading the reviews. We had a booking, however, when we arrived we were asked to sit at the bar because there were no tables, that for me was red flag number 1. After we were allocated a table we sat down, ordered and waiting an hour for food and drinks just to be extremely disappointed. The drink I ordered was supposed to be the sweetest drink on the menu however it tasted like the smell of nail polish remover, needless to say I didn’t drink it. The food was very very ordinary, we ordered a chicken shawarma which when we got it was nothing like a shawarma, it was an open shawarma and we had to wrap it ourselves. The hummus plate with lamb was very bitter, not happy at all. Cost us $97!!!! Absolutely ridiculous! If you’re middle eastern or you love middle eastern food, DO NOT GO TO THIS PLACE! You will be disappointed. Two others were leaving as asked us what we thought and we told them the truth, they agreed, so it wasn’t just us. Unfortunately, we did give the staff feedback, however they didn’t seem to care. There was a girl there who was on her very first shift, she was lovely and she’s the one who told me that the drink I was ordering was the a sweet drink, she apologised after I gave her feedback on it, however it wasn’t her fault as this is what she had been told by the other staff. If there was a 0 star that’s what I’d be giving this place. Avoid...

RESPONSE TO OWNER: Why then did the waitstaff become flustered and embarrassed and apologetic. You can barely read your menus and when you have a screen flicked in front of your face in that lighting instead of a printed invoice, of course people are going to miss your 'accidental' surcharge. That, and your disgraceful attitude toward any patrons you obviously thought were cheap because you incorrectly assumed they were dining early to take advantage of your 'happy hour' shows your true colours. Stop arguing with your diners, just for starters. An apology - as we received on the night - would have been a better strategy - as would a touch of humility. You really are not all that and there are many, many other options nearby. Get off your horse. Disappointing experience. On top of the very, very poor quality service there was an 'accidental' surcharge of $30 that, had we not asked for a printed bill, we would not have seen. Sneaky and you didn't earn it, guys - not even close. It was also implied that as we had dined early, we weren't eligible for 'proper dinner service' as we were there for 'happy hour'. We weren't; we were there early because we had a show to go to - which we nearly cancelled because dinner had been just such an awful experience. Do better, and stop arguing with your diners - they may...