Marrybrown - Burwood One — Restaurant in Melbourne

Marry Brown is a great entry into the Australian fast food scene and is well worth a try. Everyone has their own experience of course, but I certainly enjoyed mine.

It’s a little unfortunate that they’ve had to endure a rather heavy weight of some perhaps unfairly negative reviews. It may have fallen victim to its own hype and popularity, with a lot of the early criticism seemingly aimed at lengthy queues and wait times and a related quality compromise, possibly driven primarily by a peculiar desire to be amongst the first to try out a fast food restaurant. It’s hard to imagine what such a place can do to keep up with what might have been essentially unsustainable demand for a simple restaurant without the luxury of a reservation system. I’d recommend taking most of the reviews thus far with a grain of salt as even some of the more favourable reviews are equally dubious - just give the place a crack and make up your mind.

For our visit, the restaurant was spacious and clean - a far cry from the usual sight of used boxes strewn across tables and floors of half-trodden on chips often seen in other fast food restaurants. Service was good - time permitting, people walking through the doors were warmly greeted by cashier staff. Ordering was quick, provided you can decide on your order within a reasonable timeframe. There’s just the 2 self service kiosks - could potentially do with more. Food was ready quickly within about 10 mins - we went at around 6pm on a Friday evening. If longer waits worry you, it might be worth trying to go at a slightly off-peak time to spare yourselves from any potential disappointment.

The ultimate chicken burger was as delightfully delicious as it was simple, and reminded me a little of my experience with a Popeye’s chicken sandwich. The ultimate burger has a modestly spiced chicken thigh, cheese, pickles and mayo, sandwiched between 2 reasonably soft buns. It’s not much to look at, but with the juicy tender piece of chicken it’s very very tasty. Whilst it’s not quite fair to compare the nasi lemak to that of a restaurant, I think the Marry Brown version holds its own - the sambal was quite nice, the chicken was crispy and juicy, and the portion overall was quite good. I’m not used to having papadams with nasi lemak, but regardless it didn’t really last the journey home.

The fries and onion rings were okay and do the job that they’re supposed to. Our fries weren’t quite as good as the consistently tasting fries we’re used to at Maccas, and the onion rings are on par with that of Hungry Jack’s.

Overall, it’s tasty food that adds something different to the Australian fast food scene. I’d certainly come back again, and everyone else should give it a go and just make their own...

I'm seeing a lot of negative reviews, and I don't think it's justified. It's very difficult to open a fast food restaurant and get everything right from the get go, especially as a first in a new country, with all the challenges of supply chain, logistics, staffing etc. Anyone complaining about the long wait times clearly lacks a soul, the place is extremely busy, of course you're going to have to wait. This place has the best fried chicken I've ever eaten by far, and I've had some pretty decent fried chicken in my time, from many different countries, the fried coating is extremely crispy and has a phenomenal seasoning, the flesh is unbelievably succulent, and it gets to you hot! (careful of your fingers) The spicy chicken curry, perfectly balanced nasi lemak, surprisingly flavourful fried rice, both original and spicy fried chicken have face melting flavour, the crunchy and salty french fires, the cloudy soft bread rolls, the powerful chickeny gravy, everything that I've had so far has been fantastic! I regret not lining up to be one of their first 100 customers, I really could use the 9 piece bucket every now and then. I hope Marrybrown succeeds here, I really do, because KFC ain't got anything on this. I had a minor quality control issue with one of my items, I approached who I believed to be the franchisee or perhaps a manager (someone who definitely gave a damn), who's been floating around to ensure operations go smoothly, he was very receptive and investigated the matter right away and resolved the issue for future customers. He dropped off some ice cream as a thank you. A little bit of understanding goes a long way people, please learn to appreciate that things don't exist out of thin air, that it takes hard work to build things that are worthy...

update giving 1 star. The manager or owner has paid someone to create bots and post loads of 5* reviews. Its so obvious. This is disgusting and poor for such a big company!!!

I thought long and hard about how many stars to give MB. I'd say 3.5/5. We were lucky to get there (11.30am) just before a crowd appeared and because there are only 2 kiosks (till closed) the que formed quick. They really need to add a 3rd or even 4th.

The good - the chicken was extra crispy and juicy. Tasted really good. Even the breast part was juicy and I usually hate the breast. I like the seats and the kiosk is easy enough to use. You can't make any substitutions or adjustments unfortunately. The food was fresh (we only ordered a 5pc bucket, chips and drink this time). I also liked the hand wash part too. Comes in handy!

The bad - we ordered 5 original pieces, 1 was extra spicy and another had a bit of a kick. The extra spicy was a chicken wing and yes for all that money you get a tiny chicken wing as one of the pieces, which is really poor tbh. I did try to give them advice not to use the same tongs when serving the original and spicy and to be careful when serving as other customers could get a lot more upset than me but they just looked at me as if I was speaking in Alien. As others have said, the big family meal deal buckets aren't available which is a con and they must fry each piece of chicken one by one which is why they're so slow when the crowd is big.

Overall I live close and I'd come back now and then when ever the place looks quiet but I do think they need to take on board the advice and criticism people are giving. Some unfairly and...