SAVANNA AFRICAN RESTAURANT — Restaurant in Melbourne

I will start with the positive. The meal was absolutely amazing. So so yummy. Go the vegetarian share plate. This is some very authentic African food. Xx

That being said....

The reception and service was pretty rude. We arrived and we had a booking. Even though no one else was in the restaurant, the front of house felt it was necessary for me to find the booking through Facebook messenger.

Once that was sorted she put us on the nearest table that had a "reserve" placard upon it. I doubt it was for us.

Again, the food was amazing and especially all of the vegetarian dishes.

But I was quite dismayed by the service as we wanted to do the vegetarian and meat option for 3 but we we told that there was no way that the meat could be separated from the vegetarian section. This is needed if you have a vegetarian at your table and we all just want to enjoy.

We were told that there was no way we could separate the meat options from the vegetarian dishes and we had to order extra if we wanted a meat option.

That is fine but I find this just a tad inflexible. Not to mention that the restaurant was not fully booked so I'm not sure why there was confusion when arriving.

I'm not one to be demanding. I really like to go with the flow and enjoy a new experience with friends. But this lady......

She was just plain Rude!

Yummy food - 4.5 Atmosphere -...

The injera was a complete letdown, more like a soggy dish rag than the fluffy, tangy bread it should be. The wot was overcooked and lacked any of the rich, spicy flavors you'd expect. Instead, it was bland, greasy, and unappetizing. The kitfo was a sad, grayish pile of mush with no seasoning or texture. To make matters worse, everything was served lukewarm, which only added to the disappointment. The restaurant itself was far from inviting; the tables were grimy, dirty and putrid to say the least . The overall atmosphere felt more like a rundown cafeteria than a place meant to showcase Ethiopian cuisine. When we voiced our concerns, the manager's response was a dismissive shrug. In short, if you’re looking for authentic Ethiopian food, avoid savanna at all costs. The lackluster food and atrocious service make it a place best left forgotten

And mind you she had the audacity to charge us $2 for a container when we asked for takeaway stingy woman she is. HORRID!!!!!!!!! Sad to say me and my family are going to sleep...

Ethiopian food is a wonderful tasty cuisine.Have been to other Ethiopian restaurants before but this was our first time at Savanna. We walked in happy to try this little red and white themed restaurant. The place only had a couple seated - waiting for their order. All other seats were a EMPTY! We picked a seat, a grumpy lady comes to us and says “sit the other side” I am not squeezing into the corner seat- mind you not much space at the seat she was suggesting for two tall and grown adults to comfortably sit.That was unprofessional to begin with as we were made to feel it was inconvenience to choose our seat . The place only had 2 people who were waiting for their meal!We proceeded and tried to make the order. She kept insisting us to order the 2 people share meal- but that was NOT what we wanted! This lady has NO customer service whatsoever, she was rude and made us feel uncomfortable. We have been to many great restaurants and Sadly Savanna doesn’t have the warmth and customer service. We got up and...