El Jannah Chicken Preston — Restaurant in Melbourne

Absolutely awful! Seriously, if I could rate it a zero, I would. Was excited to try El Hannah’s Preston after reading a Broadsheet article that was literally so thick on the praise I was salivating reading it. I hardly ever write reviews, but I’m driven to write this one because I feel duped. Anyway, after waiting in line at the drive through for the better part of an hour (indeed very busy, that was the only truth in the Broadsheet article that we experienced) we ordered grilled whole chicken and chips and tried a fried chicken burger. So we go home and can’t wait to tuck in, only to be absolutely disappointed. I’m talking barely edible terrible. The chicken was burnt to blackness, all you could taste was burnt charcoal flavours. The famous marinade was imperceptible except for a few noticeable ingredients like paprika and lemon - I swear I tasted lemon and could see the red of the paprika in some non-nuked cracks and folds. I’m no masterchef but I’m a pretty good home cook and I can tell you I don’t get those ingredients anywhere near my chicken because they have a very strong propensity to draw out the moisture from the chicken during the marinade phase, rendering it dry even before it’s cooked (or in this case nuked on the bbq). Other than that the marinade was just salty, no other discernible flavour…pretty awful actually. The chips were nothing special either, I’ve had way better. The fried chicken burger was basically decent, according to my son, but nothing special there either. Sooooo what’s with the hype and reviews about this place? Seriously? This wasn’t just one bad experience, this is how they do it. Now that I look at pictures of the meals online, you can tell they’re overcooked and dry too. We threw out most of the chicken and the chips (made the mistake of accidentally ordering the family chips which were humongous - wish they showed the size of container in pictures)…so suffice it to say, not going...

Staff here don't know how to read an order or what comes with an order. I ordered 5 tenders it clearly states on their website it comes with complementary gravey which that order. We preordered giving them 45min to prepare. When my wife arrived at the drive through she quoted the order number. They had it ready but there was a second gravey missing we paid extra for. My wife told the staff it wasn't there which they replied "you only get one" my wife showed her a screen shot of the order where it's a separate item ordered and we should get 2 as the tenders come with a complementary one. The staff refused to give what we paid for. This is the second time within a month it's happened at this store Preston on High St. Now had this been the first time I get mistakes happen but it's the second and last time I had to speak to the manager who gave me the gravey just to make me go away. I explained it's clearly on the website for all to see. The staff don't know the menu and to not even check after been shown it's clearly been ordered ect..is just annoying and embarrassing. I'm not going to die over $2.50 but they clearly will when I paid, showed proof, and it's on their menu and still don't hand over the item. I'll be going to KFC for cheaper chicken not this overpriced stuff. Owe also the regular chips are not what you think it's like it's for kids not adults also comes with a hefty price. Again KFC better chips cheaper and far more provided. They charge like $12 for large chips that s enough for 2 people. Go to fish & chips order $12 chips and 5 people would struggle to eat it all. The difference is ....NOTHING it's salted just like every...

Online order 0190 W824. Driver sat around for half an hour after picking up our food, top box handle was broken, no large garlic sauce as ordered, NO seasoning on the chips and roast chicken, not even EJ sauce on burger, chicken was dry and fried pieces had feathers stuck in leg and wings. We are autistic muslims with food related difficulties and this was severely distressing. Over $60 for what didn't even include the standard we expect. Not even a year ago for my birthday you provided genuinely 10/10 food, while you still served those delicious chicken ball/bite things, blew our mind with flavour and service (dine-in). We have forgiven previous mistakes and shortcomings from ordering online such as again, delivery driver sitting for HALF AN HOUR AFTER TAKING OUR FOOD, but this felt personal as we reprimanded your last driver face to face for this reason.

Pay your delivery drivers fuel costs or have them covered so they don't ruin your quality of food for a start, as they only appear willing to drive with no less than 3 orders at a time which is intolerable behaviour. Secondly, hiring, training and paying your employees adequately are the basic and fundamental qualities of running a successful restaurant.

I'd laugh if we weren't so hungry and poor now, which is ultimately what makes this so offensive to begin with. We can't even laugh at the ridiculousness. I'd say Dine-in might be a drastic improvement if the food wasn't so bad this time. Each online ordering experience has declined in quality and value, for anybody who got this far and thought some God given halal chicken would be delicious, like...