OMI Knox — Restaurant in Melbourne

Extremely disappointing and borderline racist encounter at Omi Knox today. I had asked if their meat is halal, and instead they dismissed me , said they refused to make me food and said they're too busy to ask. Note, 2 employees were standing around. I raised this concern to them but they dismissed me and ignored my concern. The manager in particular said they have no time to cater for my needs and refused to make eye contact with me.

I implore OMI to reassess their services and understand this sort of behaviour is not appropriate for anyone.

Note, Omi used to serve halal chicken and I absolutely loved their dishes previously. Ive been a regular customer of other OMI branches and the knox branch. But they have definitely lost a customer today.

Update 16June2025: OMI responded and kindly addressed my concerns.

"Please allow us to clarify the information you were requesting: At OMI, our chicken and Wagyu beef suppliers are Halal certified. For seafood items like fried fish, unagi, salmon, and soft-shell crab, our understanding is that seafood is considered Halal. Our sauces contain no pork or lard, though we would like to highlight that our Teriyaki sauce includes sake (alcohol) as one of its ingredients. However, this is fully cooked off during the preparation process. Additionally, separate pans and utensils are used for cooking pork dishes to avoid...

Ordered the “ultimate” wagyu rice bowl. Was pretty disappointed with what I received. Their attempt at the tomago (egg) was a hard fail. No form and you couldn’t even scoop it up with the fork they give you. A spoon would make more sense especially if you’re serving up an undercooked egg. The amount of edamame and pickled daikon was really stingy. My regular OMI in Glen Waverley serves up 4-5x the amount of edamame and daikon that OMI Knox did. Given this is a franchise I would have expected more consistency. It was not busy. I had a late lunch at 2pm and it took them a few minutes to serve up my dish. So no not busy. Hope they do a better job of it in the future. Would I recommend? Not in its current state with my experience and knowing the standard they...

Received poor service at the Knox branch on the afternoon of Wed the 8th Jan. I first smiled to her and said hi. The person didn’t even smile, no greeting. Just like a robot. This isn’t the first time this has happened.

To end on a bright note, however, I would like to leave positive feedback for the Omi in Chadstone. Lady was so polite and friendly, even after I found a small hair inside she repeatedly apologised and replaced my Udon noodle soup. Now THAT is great customer service. It’s just a shame Chadstone shopping centre’s car park is a nightmare even during school/work weekdays. Otherwise, I’d keep going back again and again.

The Knox branch could take a leaf out of...