Pepper Lunch — Restaurant in Melbourne

I don’t know what the food is like. I could not even get past the stupid ordering machine.

To the manager or owner,

I went to your restaurant for the first time yesterday because of the good reviews your food had on google. It was a halal Japanese restaurant, which is good because my Mum really likes Japanese. However, we tried to understand how items are ordered using your ordering machine and honestly we could not work it out, including me and I work in IT! My wife POLITELY asked for help twice and the staff completely ignored us. We were MADE TO FEEL LIKE we were the STUPIDEST PEOPLE IN THE ENTIRE RESTAURANT because we did not understand the ordering process at Pepper Lunch. It was the first time we went to Pepper Lunch and it was SUPER OBVIOUS! I spent several minutes looking for the QR codes on the tables inside the restaurant and we were at the ordering machine for at least 15 minutes. NO STAFF CAME TO HELP US. They showed ZERO EMPATHY for our situation. Check your CCTV, the time window I am guessing would be 6:45pm to 7:20pm on the 28th December. After at least 15 minutes of trying to work out the ordering machine, I was angry and went up to the main counter and told them how much the queue had grown and for a copy of the physical menu! The staff member, short south east Asian lady responded angrily and said that was not an option gave me a DEATH STARE and walked off. NO APOLOGY, NO ATTEMPT to deescalate. After that occurred my family and I left about a minute or two later.

Possible solutions (If customer service is a priority):

Have a staff member monitor the queue and check if customers are struggling with the machine and ask if they would like help!

Hire more staff! I counted just four staff in total. Two in the kitchen and two in the dining area. There may have been a couple more but I could only see four.

Possible solution (if customer service is not a priority):

Just run a takeaway only business. You can Hire less staff and pump out orders faster so your profit margins would be...

Date/time of visit: 28 May 2022 @ 7:00pm (approx)

This was my second visit to this particular Pepper Lunch (the first was years and years ago), I have also visited the one in Hawthorn (years ago), and one in Tokyo (in 2019). Pepper Lunch feels like it is kind of a fusion of Japanese-western (Australian/American) foods. For me, some things work, some don't. I didn't like the Pepper Lunch meal I had in Tokyo but I have liked the meals in Melbourne.

So, for this particular review - the ordering system was via touch pad (ipad-like) at the entrance to the restaurant. This was painful and slow. Payment was via the same touch pad using EFTpos machine attached to the pad. Then you had to wait to be seated. This whole process put me off Pepper Lunch (until tasting the food). Pepperlunch used to have paper protection around the sizzling plates to stop sauce/fat splashes onto skin and clothing. This no longer appears to be the case. The chicken katsu curry was delicious. The curry sauce reminded me of Japan, having good Japanese flavours. The chicken katsu wasn't what I would consider a traditional chicken katsu. However, the breadcrumb on the chicken was delucate, light and the chicken katsu was cooked very well. The chicken was kind of sliced but I would've preferred a knife to cut it properly (you are given a spoon and fork). The curry sauce was served separately and you add it to the dish. Be careful vecause the dish is extremely hot and the curry sauces sizzles and spits when added to the hot dish. The curry on the hot dish can also evaporate, which was disappointing but I had enough on the chicken and rice to ensure the flavours remained. This dish made up for the painful ordering process. My partner's sizzling kimchi pepper rice (with beef strips) was also enjoyed - my partner loves Pepper Lunch. Drinks might be slightly over priced. Chicken Katsu sizzling curry was good but may also be slightly overpriced. Kimchi pepper rice price was fine. Overall enjoyed the meal and...

I loved to have lunch here until my recent experience with your rude server. My friend and I ordered classic pepper rice and scallop curry rice separately. Your staff served my friend’s classic pepper rice and my curry sauce alone together without any indication. We even asked her if that was curry, and she told us it was classic pepper rice. Based on her answer, we naturally thought the sauce is not for curry but pepper rice so we mixed them.

Later on, she found that and blamed us that we shouldn’t mix them because that sauce is for the curry. She blamed us in a very impatient and rude voice, which makes us so confused. How could we know the sauce is for the curry after she served it without the curry rice itself but pepper rice and didn’t give us any explanation?

I didn’t want to play the game of “whose fault” so I asked her how can we solve this problem. She kept her impatient voice, telling me it was not her fault and asking me to buy another curry rice over the counter.

It’s my first time being treated this way in a restaurant and it’s also my first one-star review here. I didn’t want to start any fight. I just don’t understand why she needs to be so impatient and rude to me.

Although I loved Pepper Lunch because of its affordable delicious food, I won’t want to visit it (or at least this one) any more. I’m not asking for five-star services but just being...