Saleem Indian Restaurant — Restaurant in Melbourne

I wouldn't say Saleem is the only bad South Indian restaurant in Melbourne, but it certainly ranks among the worst in terms of food taste. While the ambiance and service are great compared to other places and the restaurant is spacious, the primary aspect of any restaurant should be its food, which falls short here.

We ordered fried rice, chicken biryani, chicken noodles, roti, chicken stuffed roti, goat curry, and chili chicken. The chilly chicken, goat curry, roti, and chicken stuffed roti were good, and the food quantity was generous. However, the worst item was the chicken fried rice. It seemed like they forgot to add salt, sauce, and egg; it was just rice and chicken mixed together. The chicken biryani was also disappointing and did not meet expectations. It seems like the chefs do not know how to make biryani. If given the chance, I would prepare chicken biryani for them to show what it should taste like. Before listing an item as chicken biryani on the menu, they should learn the real taste of it, or they never will.

Although the goat curry was tasty, the pieces were not cooked properly and needed slow cooking to improve. The noodles were average, and the chili chicken was good. They do offer free tea, which was nice.

My reply to your review feedback:

Even if it's North or South Indian cuisine, I know the taste of both North Indian biryani and fried rice. Please check your kitchen CCTV for yesterday's fried rice preparation. Whether it's a lack of a proper chef or the chef lacking cooking knowledge, I don't know what happened, but that fried rice is not like anything found anywhere in the world.

I am not a chef, but I can prepare both North and South Indian styles and let you taste them, if you are genuinely willing to know the...

We ordered around $150 worth of food to celebrate a birthday and boy it was the biggest mistake ever. The quality of food is horrendous and by far the worst indian food I've ever had in Melbourne. The Biryanis were a soggy mess lacking any flavours or aromatics. I was shocked and angry that they dared to call the abomination they served as a 'biryani'. The prawn and chicken dishes tasted horrible and smelled really bad. Chicken 65 didnt even have a kadi patta which goes to show this restaurants knowledge of south indian food. We had to resort to throwing out their food rather than serving it to our guests as were worried it might make us sick. This is by far the WORST indian restaurant in Melbourne, and I say this as someone who has tried pretty much every indian restaurant in the cbd and inner suburbs. I wish I had read some of the ratings here before spending $150. If I could give a minus 5 rating I would gladly do so! So if you're reading this review, you've been warned and try to avoid...

I usually don’t write reviews, but I felt compelled to share my experience because of how disappointing it was. I ordered biryani from this place expecting a flavorful, aromatic dish, but what I received was far from it. The rice was stale and dry, with absolutely no trace of the rich spices and ingredients that typically define a good biryani. There was barely any meat and the entire dish tasted like plain rice mixed with salt. No aroma, no texture, and certainly no effort in preparation.

It honestly felt like leftovers were just reheated and thrown together without any care. Biryani is a dish that should be bursting with flavor and cooked with passion, but this was bland, underwhelming, and frankly inedible. I couldn’t even finish a few bites.

For the price I paid, this was incredibly disappointing. I hope the management takes this feedback seriously and improves the quality of food and attention to detail. I won’t be ordering again...