Melissa Oakleigh — Restaurant in Melbourne

We had been coming here for quite some time and used to be happy with the meals & service. Sadly, I've had to update this review because our visit last Saturday was so disappointing, we've decided not to return.

Meal servings have suffered with shrinkflation and prices have soared. The lamb on my souvlakia was tough - if you can't cook lamb to perfection, to me, you're not Greek. Every other adult at our table was disappointed with their meals too. They'd all been there in the past & were not thrilled this time.

Service was slow and difficult to get someone over to our table, mind you, there were hardly any other customers there so it shouldn't have been that hard. Maybe we should have taken that as our first warning as it used to be busy all the time.

You may like to check the cleanliness of your glasses too - ours were all dirty and had to be wiped thoroughly before we used them. Probably should have checked the cutlery too.

To add insult to injury, I noticed today on the bill, we'd been hit with a 10% weekend surcharge. I checked their website - nothing there about a weekend surchage and not even in the fine print on the menu. They only indicated that there was a 15% public holiday surcharge.

My email to the manager today to express my concerns was met with a defensive response from manager - Arafat. Not a Greek name so I wondered if the restaurant was under new management since our last visit.

My meal shown in the photo was $35 + 10% so $38.50. I'd be embarrassed to serve that at that price - especially when 2 of the 3 souvlakis were tough.

We're voting with our feet & eating elsewhere next time as a result of all the reasons mentioned above.

Update 16 Sept 2025:

It's a shame the manager was condescending, patronising, defensive & dismissive in his responses to me as the initial complaint I made was only about the weekend surcharge which was nowhere on their website or physical menus. It wasn't mentioned over the phone when the booking was made either. We had already made the decision not to return after our experience explained above but were happy to move on. I just wanted Melissa to fix up the issue with their surcharge. We would have just copped it as a $470 bad experience & left the review as it was previously. We were never after a refund and weren't going to be bought off. We're decent people and pay for what we consume. The next time we spend that amount, it will be going to another restaurant that values our custom and feedback more. We weren't going to be bought off by a refund for changing our review.

By trying to paint me as a racist for asking if the establishment is under new management, given that Arafat (the manager) is not a Greek name, shows the lengths this place will go to to attack the patron instead of addressing the problems with the restaurant - and there are many.

Simply shameful and disrespectful to those who support their business....

Such careless staff. A truly shocking experience. Come here if you’re after mediocre food and zero service, but heaven forbid you have any kind of medical emergency, because this place will happily leave you to die.

We dined here tonight to celebrate both of my parents’ birthdays and chose the outdoor seating as we had our dog with us. There were hardly any other guests outside and it felt like the second you sit out there, you stop existing to the staff. We were ignored entirely and had to go inside every single time we needed something, even just to place our order.

When the meals arrived, everything seemed fine at first. But within 10 minutes of starting her barramundi, my mum became violently ill. She began throwing up, so we went inside to alert the staff and asked for a bag. Two older men (one in a black button-up, one in a white button up -- I assumed a manager) handed us a garbage bag, and then simply went back to what they were doing. NOBODY bothered to come outside to check on her.

My mum was throwing up nonstop for over 20 minutes and could not even speak. In that time, my sisters and I had to repeatedly go inside to ask for napkins, more water, and eventually takeaway containers because we just wanted to leave. Not once did any staff member come over. In fact, they actively avoided eye contact to avoid the responsibility of having to come over.

I’ve previously worked in hospitality for years, and I cannot express how outrageous this was. Ignoring customers is bad enough, but to ignore a customer who is visibly unwell and in distress at your restaurant is unbelievable. They agreed to remove the barramundi from the bill (the absolute bare minimum), but when we went to pay, they got a young staff member to serve us instead of facing us themselves. She looked horrified when we explained what had happened. Meanwhile, the men who had ignored us all night hid out of sight, clearly to avoid any accountability.

I very rarely leave reviews but I was so shocked and disgusted in the lack of care and professionalism we experienced tonight. We were willing to move past the shitty service at first but after that situation we are horrified. Decent food is not worth the beyond...

If you're looking for a DIVINE experience, Melissa is the place to tickle your tonsils with. One of my bestie's and I called in yesterday, on our way home from a long drive from Ballarat. In all honesty, the dine in experience was the best part of my day!

We were lucky enough to secure the last table outside, watching the world walk by and it was just perfect. After a long drive the cappuccino was exactly the pick me up needed.... but OMGiddy Aunt, the melt in your mouth calamari was the most exquisite I have EVER EVER tasted. We finished it off with a shared trio of dips and that too was scrum-diddley-umptious!

Whilst the food was great, actually beyond great, it was delicious! The most exceptional part was the service! It's a rare commodity, these days to go somewhere and not merely have the waiters and waitresses interact with you authentically but also actually engage in some light hearted humour. Our needs were met quickly, promptly and intuitively but it was the jovial interaction that made the day! These guys KNOW HOW to CONNECT with people and that is such a rare, rare beautiful gift.

I wish I had taken a picture of our meals...but truly, it looked so ravishing and tasted as good as it looked, so much so, that we had our 'laughing gear' around it before the camera was even given a thought!

All up. This was one of the most pleasant and enjoyable, not just meal's out, but fully rounded gastronomic and social experiences I've been blessed to have been delighted to engage in, in a while.

HATS OFF TO the staff and chefs at Melissa, and THANKS FOR A MAGICKAL MEAL that recharged our batteries and hearts.