Falafel Omisi — Restaurant in Melbourne

My advice: stay as far away from this place as you can.

I honestly can't understand the good reviews here, it would have to have been the most disgustingly unhygienic dining experience I've ever had. I can tolerate the bad food...from the grainy, tasteless hummus to the wilted salad and over-cooked falafel. What I cannot tolerate, however, is the filth. Oily furniture and tables covered in left-overs were only the start, we had to send back half a dozen pieces of cutlery (including 4 forks) because they were covered in encrusted food from previous users. Even our stack of plates was interspersed with pieces of cabbage. Staff are also evidently unaware that handling money with the same gloves that you are using to prepare food is, in fact, illegal (Chapter 3 of the Food Standards Code, go look it up).

Cooking for others is a responsibility that should be treated with the utmost respect, irrespective of whether you're a restaurateur or a home-cook; people are relying on you to not make them sick. In my opinion Falafel Omisi is a prime example of how to show blatant apathetic disregard, if not outright contempt, for...

What Happened?! You used to be great.

Unfortunately I don't get to come to this side of the town too often anymore, but I have made an effort today as I was in the area. Full of excitement, I was greeted by the owner and instantly I felt at home. תעשה לי סביח בפיתה בבקשה (Please make me a Sabih please). All the salads, the dips the smells have flooded my brain with memories of the distant past. Boy, was I waiting to bite into this juicy pita, filled with all the goodness, but nothing has prepared me for the level of disappointment I was about to experience.

The only flavor saver was the Zhug and Amba, all the rest was flat and boring, no flavor whatsoever. The eggplant was not crispy and very stringgy, the salads did not have any flavor, the pita fell apart completely halfway through and I have ended up with a messy shirt and a broken heart and dreams. I can only describe this in 2 words חלש...

They served pretty good felafel. There was great salad and humus, umba, tehina. I walked in and there were masks sitting under the computer register on the counter but the man serving was not wearing one. I told him to put on a mask and he refused and just moved the conversation along to the order. Luckily he had gloves on and there was very good air flow so low chance of virus transmission. Plus it looked relatively clean. However there were kids in there and high traffic so very disappointing. Got to respect the lore of the land guys plus demonstrate basic common sense to people trying to protect themselves from exposure to unwanted sickness. People wear masks in other...