Sartaaj Indian Restaurant — Restaurant in Melbourne

One of the worst and most confusing restaurant experiences I’ve ever had.

My friend and I were super excited for our dinner booking here, it was a Saturday night but when we rocked up it was empty except for one table. When we walked in we were met with weird looks from the staff standing behind the kitchen window, already the atmosphere felt very off… we should have trusted our gut 🥲

We walked up to the counter and the staff standing behind the kitchen window stood there for another two minutes looking at us and talking to the others, my friend and I felt very uncomfortable. A staff member finally came up to the counter to greet us and we politely asked to sit at one of their outdoor tables as the weather was lovely and it was quite cold inside. The staff member looked at us confused but agreed and so we walked to one of the outside tables.

We sat there for about 10 minutes with nothing on the table until the same staff member brought out a WATER JUG (more to follow about this specific water jug) and two cups with lukewarm water. We remained polite and said thankyou however she walked back inside and for the next 5-10 mins no one came back out to offer us a menu or cutlery? If they weren’t offering outdoor service then they could have just told us that 😭. At this point we wanted to leave because the service and atmosphere were terribly uncomfortable.

We finally decided to just get up and leave as we hadn’t ordered anything yet. We walked back to our cars and sat with the windows rolled down so that we could discuss where to try next. AND THEN WE SEE THAT SAME STAFF MEMBER WALKING ACROSS THE CARPARK DIRECTLY TOWARDS US WITH HER CHILD IN TOW!!! My friend and I were already shaken up from walking off (it’s not something we’ve ever done before) and so we flattened our seats in the off chance that she didn’t see us get into our cars. WRONG!! She walked right up between our cars and asked us what we are doing!! I responded honestly saying that we’d changed our minds and had decided to eat somewhere else and she just looked at me like I shot her dog!

She then asked us where their water jug was and accused us of stealing it?? 😭😭😭 I was literally about to cry I was so taken aback. She was peering into both of our cars during the entire interaction so someone must have actually taken the water jug after we left, (I bet if you checked your security cameras you would see that group of kids outside the restaurant take it), but also hey! Maybe if you paid more attention to your customers then you would have seen that we indeed DID NOT TAKE YOUR WATER JUG!!

My friend and I were shaking the entire drive over to the next restaurant we went to, who by the way, greeted us warmly, provided excellent service and didn’t follow us back to our cars, I would take some notes if I were you...

I had the absolute pleasure of dining at this incredible Indian restaurant, and I must say, it’s the best Indian food I’ve had in a very long time. While visiting relatives in the area, I initially planned to eat at another spot in Marriott Waters, but it was closed. Thankfully, a quick Google search led me here—just a 2-minute walk away—and what a blessing in disguise that turned out to be!

We tried the Butter Chicken and Lamb Rogan Josh, paired with Garlic Naan, and everything was spot-on. Both dishes were packed with flavor, and the meat was cooked to perfection—tender and juicy. The Garlic Naan was light, crispy, and had just the right amount of garlic.

The serving sizes were generous, perfect for two people, and the price was very reasonable for the quality of food we received.

This place has earned a loyal customer—I’ll definitely be back and will recommend it to everyone I know. A...

Arrived for our booking. My friend and I got stared at by the staff as we walked in and felt judged. We asked to sit outside and they stared at us blankly (if that was an issue tell us). They took 10 minutes to bring out LUKE WARM water and never gave us a menu or cutlery and looked up numerous times to see the staff staring at us through the window. We ended up getting up and left to be FOLLOWED asking where we went and accused of stealing their water jug and glasses ?!? sorry but if they had paid attention to their CUSTOMERS they would have noticed we left (and did NOT steal their jug). They should have looked around before accusing their customers of doing something like this. Definitely do not recommend unless you want to receive warm water, no menus, death stares and...