Garden State Diner — Restaurant in Melbourne

A must-try all-you-can-eat with mates! Amazing service, great value, but just beware of what to order.

The service here is lovely, and while the place can get busy, the vibes are high with good music and a relaxed ambience.

This is a great place to come with friends, and I’d especially recommend it for groups where you can all share dishes.

I like that this establishment is transparent with their menu and the cost/s, with a copy of the menu that can be found on their website, and an easy booking system where you pay in advance and can choose a day and time to eat.

Drinks are super cheap, with bubble tea for $5 or soft drinks. Tap water is available for free from a dispenser as well. Considering the type of food offered here, I highly suggest grabbing a drink to help cleanse the palate and wash everything down!

I’ve been to this place three times now, but upon the third I’ve noticed a slight change in the food portion sizes and quality. I was disappointed by the popcorn chicken, which were overcooked and dry, and also appeared to have been fried in quite old oil, judging by the darkness of the coating. The sauces aren’t as flavourful or high-quality as I remember them, and I would avoid popcorn chicken from this point onward. The takoyaki is a new addition to the AYCE menu, however, it lacked flavour and a scarcity of sauce didn’t help this. We ordered a chicken wing tasting platter (awesome concept btw), which gave us a nice taste of most of their wings, but again, most of these were dry and rather unenjoyable.

On the bright side, there are still some fantastic items on the menu that will make your trip worthwhile. My go-to is the poutine fries which are perfectly seasoned and very moreish, slathering in a tasty gravy and with quite a light tasting cheese over the top.

I’d recommend any of the items from their fries section, and you can get anything from fried chicken to cheeseburger to animal-style. I will mention, again, that the fried chicken fries I had were not perfect because the chicken was hard and dry, depreciating the dish itself. Any other item with fries should be pretty good though (:

I would also recommend the burgers from here. Keep in mind that they’re very American-style (which I love), but it also makes them really filling! So if you want to stretch your buck out just a bit further, skip (or maybe share) the burgers so you can have room to try other things here.

Overall, it’s not as good as it used to be, but I respect the system of how they operate so seamlessly and manage to create a positive experience each time. Hoping that the chicken issues outlined in my review were a one-off, and I can come...

Don’t be fooled by the sexy pictures and fake reviews. This was the worst place I’ve tried in the world and I’ve lived in several countries.

We arrived around 9pm. The parking was confusing. There were spots marked “cafe” in the parking lot behind the place which we assumed related to the restaurant.

The first thing we noticed when walking in was the sauna-like temperature. We therefore asked to sit outside as it was a cool night, but when we approached the outdoor seating we noticed a complete lack of light. Begrudgingly we returned to dine in the sauna.

Our server was kind and attentive, although she seemed utterly unexcited to be there. Not even our gay 🌈 auras were able to cheer her up.

Okay now for the food—if you could call it that.

We ordered buffalo wings, poutine fries, the OG waffles, and a taro milk tea.

The buffalo wings seemed pre-made and reheated in the microwave to a warm temperature. They were soggy at the bottom, they weren’t very spicy and the sauce seemed a bit off, probably went bad but still were used.

The poutine was the saving grace of the night but not perfect. You generally are not going to get Poutine like you would in Canada here in Australia. The cheese was not curds but rather thickly grated. The fries tasted okay but they did seem deep fried from a frosted state as some were floury inside. The gravy was rich and flavoursome. The poutine was the notably the only acceptable dish.

Next up was the burger. We forgot the name but it has fried chicken, bacon, and a smash patty inside. It looked alright but the meats just seemed off. They definitely weren’t fresh and juicy. The meats just seemed old somehow.

The waffle was a definitely one of the most disappointing of the dishes. They tasted like they were pre-cooked and had already absorbed a lot of oil before they were reheated in the microwave. It was served lukewarm so the fats inside it had somewhat solidified. The butter provided struggled to melt on its lukewarm surface.

Finally the taro milk tea. What a shocker it was. The bobas were old and soggy and the milk or whatever it was in there tasted dull and boring.

Please do yourself a favour and skip this joint. There is definitely something not right in the kitchen, which is why they should make a Hells Kitchen episode out of it. I’d be the first to watch that.

On a positive note, I love the idea of this place. Before I started eating I was dreaming about this kind of place near where I live in western Sydney. I hope they can fix whatever is wrong in the kitchen and make this place worthy of their inflated...

Update: 6months later.. I've been ordering from this place again, so my opinion is a bit different now. I haven't ordered seaweed fries since (to avoid extra salt) but often times we order and get different pieces of chicken than we should. Sometimes smaller quantities (but still better value than kfc springvale road opposite the bunnings/aldi) ... anywho garden state is a great thing that exists, biggest issue is food consistency, and don't order online on a saturday night, food will likely be a different order than usual. if you can put up with inconsistent food, you will still enjoy it.

Original review below:

Hard to find ting mama via google maps but here it was. Ordered uber eats from ting mama here.

Wasnt a fan of the flavour of the popcorn chicken nor the seaweed chips. Reason being the flavours were too mild on the spicy popcorn chicken and they instead went the easy route and heavily salted it to compensate for the lack of flavour. But ive gotta say it was prepared and cooked well, great texture to the chicken. Yes There is that combination flavour buried under all the salt.. it makes use of the chicken well. That said. Ive had better tasting popcorn chicken for a dollar less but the portion sizes here were good. Unfortunately the heavy salting and lack of "special spicy flavour" that they advertised means i wont order again. Some people will definetly enjoy it just not for me. But yes the portion sizes were on par with competition. Its literally just the flavour that needs a lot of work. Thankfully chips wasnt soaked in oil either that definetly helps but yes too much salt. The overuse of salt at these places is an annoying trend that needs to go away. Too much salt makes binge eating food from here a chore rather than a delight. As it is everyone has too high a sodium in their diet and not enough magnesium. Heavily salted takeaway only compounds the problem and loses...