GaramMerica Original Warteg Nasi Bungkus Australia — Restaurant in Melbourne

I arrived to find a not a single free table indoor and 2 vacant table outdoor, piled up with dirty dishes and rubbish from the long gone customers. Queuing for the single cash register, I picked up the greasy plastic covered dog eared menu and chose beef rendang, chicken curry, sautéed potato and green beans and jackfruit rendang.

Seeing there was no empty tables to dine in, I opted for a "take-away" and was given a number. While waiting for the order, instead of crowding the area, I decided to find a seat outside in the building lobby. There was a clear signage just outside the door suggesting that no food or drink to be consumed in the lobby. Not long as I sat, an unfriendly sour faced person in a black "garam merica" t-shirt marched towards me to tell me that I wasn't allowed to have my meal where I sat, to which I politely replied that I was waiting for my take-away order. Did she think I was blind or maybe "Regaleatsmelb" was correct by commenting "... not one English word is spoken by staff and or its customer"? So far, the experience has started to affect my appetite...

But then suddenly I saw a small empty table by the glass wall and requested for my order can be reverted to dining-in.

Despite a crowd of women in the background supposedly ladling ready cooked dishes from the bain-marie for the individual orders of the full house crowd, it still took 15 minutes for my order to arrive.

My first impression when I took the first spoonful was - "the best rice"! It's actually HOT, compared barely warm rice served at other Asian food outlets, fast or otherwise. That's a winner for me :-)

With the temperature outside hitting 30 degrees and no sign of any effective cooling system in the place, I was struggling to completely enjoy the meal, albeit very flavourful. Hence, decided to re-pack my meal to be enjoyed at home. Should've stuck to my take-away option...

Having lived in Indonesia for a few years, and seeing 97% of the day's customers were Indonesian, the other 3% Caucasian with their Indonesian friend; I'd say this environment really suit the crowd.

Hot, humid, cramp, noisy, messy, and despite "hundreds of staff" working in the background, snail's pace service at the ready. If you can put up with all that, you might just enjoy...

Used to come here often, but since they increase the price, we haven't came for a while. Saturday morning we decided to come and take away some food for picnic. It was only 11:10am and not much queue there. I ordered some items from the menu, just to be told that some items were not ready yet. I ordered fried rice for my kid. Only to be told that the kitchen was not ready for a la carte until 11:30am. So we decided to wait and canceled our picnic plan. My friend who ordered the food was given nasty look by the cashier staff because she couldn't hear the staff talking quietly behind her mask and because we changed our mind to dine in there instead of take away. Just some feedback for you, 1. Put a clear sign near the cashier that you are not accepting any a la catre orders until 11:30am. If I knew earlier, I would not waste my time queuing and waited until 11:40am to get my food. Why not making sure all the nasi bungkus items are availabl before u guys open? They were shouting, blaming each other for the miscommunication in regards to the menu availability in front us. Very unprofessional. 2. My kid did not even eat the food because too spicy for her. They put small amount of chilli paste into their 'no spicy' nasi goreng. The staff did not even bother to separate the chilli from their nasi bungkus. Or give options of non spicy food. The family next to us also struggle to fed their kids coz their kids also did not like the food coz too spicy for them. This is not kids friendly restaurant. 3. There was no sambals in our nasi bungkus, a little amount of gravy, and the taste of the chicken was also BLAND. The beef was rubbery. They increased the price, but the taste and food quality are declining. 4. For that expenssive price tag, train your front staff to treat customers with respect. She needs to understand that people change their mind all the time and how to deal with it politely. Basic customer service is not there. Will not come back anytime soon. It's not worth the hype...

was really looking forward to trying GaramMerica Melbourne, but unfortunately I had a very disappointing experience. I visited on a Friday and found a black hair in one of the beef dishes. My friend brought it to the staff’s attention, and they said it wasn’t human hair, it was “cow hair.” They didn’t apologize, replace the dish, or offer any kind of solution.

I went back myself and politely asked again. A staff member repeated the same thing, that it wasn’t human hair. I was getting upset, so I said, “It doesn’t matter whose hair it is, I don’t think the hair is even edible.” Eventually, they agreed to get me an extra beef tendon dish. Just when I thought things were being resolved, a short haired woman (possibly the manager or owner) came over, snatched the dish from my hands, threw it in the bin aggressively, and rudely asked, “What do you want?”

She said there was no point giving me a new dish because I “wouldn’t like it anyway,” so I had to pick something else instead of the beef tendon. I was shocked by her attitude. I didn’t even ask for a refund (even though we had paid in advance). I just wanted the situation handled with a bit of respect and understanding.

In the end I was handed a different dish (chicken) with no apology, and in such a careless way that the food almost dropped. I was the one who said thank you, she didn’t say a word. I only had one or two bite of the original dish with the hair, and how they treated me afterwards made me feel disrespected and upset.

I understand mistakes happen in food service but it is how you handle them that matters. Sadly this experience left a really...