Fiji Cafe & Sweets — Restaurant in Melbourne

Very very horrible experience. Went to the fiji Cafe to have lunch as i was looking forward to eat really good food. We ordered a couple of dishes: chicken Palau, aloo chicken, lamb curry and roti's. After waiting for so long food was served and as we reached our third bite my friend found a fly buried in her chicken Palau. She immediately stood up as she could not believe that she was eating something with a fly burried in it. I called the waitress and told her that we found a fly in our food, she just casually took our bowl of Palau and said that she will be back. My friend immediately left the resturant as she couldn't bear the sight and experience and felt like vomiting. After no response for 5 minutes the waitress came over and casually said that I have removed the Palau from your order and can enjoy the rest of your food. The fly in the food looked literally cooked. I immediately stood up saying that we will not eat or pay for any food and she said in a rude way, "oh no, you are paying for the rest of the food". I asked to speak to the owner and she came over after 2 minutes asking what went wrong. I explained everything to her and at the end we came to a conclusion that we will only pay for the amount of food we consumed, which was only 3 to 4 bites. We were leaving to pay at the counter when the girl came to take the payment, and said your total without the Palau is $55. I asked her politely that the owner herself said that we can only pay for what we ate. She kept fussing that the fly in the food wasn't thier fault. I mean, if it's not them, then who is going to take fault. The girl who was the waitress claimed to be the owners daughter said that the fly in the food is not in thier hands as its summer and there are flies everywhere. She kept saying that they will go into loss and that I have to pay for all the food as the fly in the food wasn't thier fault. I am not saying that they have intentionally put the fly in our food, but like other resturants, they could have been more carefull. But no, they were full time acting casual like it's ok if we find a fly in our food that we will pay for. After so much fussing around and arrogant attitude, the owner came forwards saying that it's no use arguing with them, just pay for the drink and she was angrily tapping on the register. After all the the girl( waitress) said to us we don't need your service in future. We felt very bad with this experience as we are also from Fiji and this type of treatment was unexpected. It's not that we don't understand these kinds of situations but, with a little kindness, understanding and apologies we would have ended on a good note. I am attaching all evidence so that they don't claim for this to be a fake and...

Food: bland & disgusting Better off getting pre-made ones you get from supermarkets There are things called 'seasonings' - learn to use them.

Presentation: non-existent Meals purchased from fast food joints are more presentable Meals came with nothing on the side (even though it really needed it). -- Other restaurants for the same price come with: --- Dips --- Pickles --- Chutney --- Dressings

Service: below average at best, unprofessional at worst. Should hire more staff members rather than having one person struggling to manage everything. -- You have one person: --- Doing cleaning --- Serving customers --- Answering calls --- Taking payments --- Waitering

Wait time: horrifically long - well way over 60 minutes at least Was tempted to simply cancel my order and go to another restaurant, probably should have. -- Food was not worth the long wait time.

Hygiene: questionable. I saw some snacks and sweets just left out in the open without anything covering them. -- You think with a global pandemic running around, the store owners would take this matter more seriously.

Price: unreasonable. Food is not worth the cost. There are other restaurants of similar style who are: -- Cheaper -- Faster -- Have better food. -- You get more

Sweets: Unpalatable at best. Nothing like what it used to be. Brought their iconic red jalebi -- Had a soggy texture -- The taste had a weird oily aftertaste --- I spat it out and threw the rest in the bin ---- Think it might have gotten stale --- Felt sick

Interior design: did actually like their interior decorations choice.

I believe that the only reason anyone would dine here is that they either: Came here years ago (back when it was good) and thought the quality would be the same. Were recommended by someone who again dined here back when it was good. Saw many of the outdated 5-star reviews and was lured by that Have recently moved here and thought this place would remind them of home.

The people who are giving it a 5-star review either: Never actually dined at a proper restaurant Are so used to paying such outrageous prices for such low standards; -- which is actually quite sad because just a few blocks away there are restaurants that are...

Food is nice but the service is so inconsistent. I recently encountered an issue with my takeaway order from your establishment, and I must admit, I am rather disheartened by the experience.

While I have consistently enjoyed the quality of your food, I was quite surprised and frustrated with the inconsistency in service during my most recent order. Specifically, the pulao rice dish I ordered arrived in a smaller 500ml container, whereas it has traditionally been served in a 650ml container. If you change the size of the portion of the takeaway dish, you also need to change the pricing.

Upon contacting your establishment to inquire about this discrepancy, I was informed that you had run out of the larger container size but had purportedly packed the same quantity of food. While I understand that unforeseen circumstances may arise, it is imperative that such changes be communicated to customers prior to their order placement.

To draw a parallel, imagine visiting a renowned fast-food chain like McDonald's and ordering a large fries, only to receive it in a smaller packet without any prior notification. It is simply unacceptable.

Consistency in serving sizes is crucial for maintaining customer satisfaction and trust. I urge you to take proactive measures to ensure that any deviations from the usual standards are communicated transparently...