Shams Restaurant — Restaurant in Melbourne

By far the worst dining experience I have ever encountered in my life. Today we took a family member to this restaurant for a birthday lunch along with some other relatives. To our dismay one particular staff member who served us and who’s name remains unknown was quite rude to us. We were 5 adults and 7 children in total so considering each table seated 6 people we placed 6 of our children on a separate table to balance everyone out. The staff member initially claimed we said 7-8 people but brought along 6 additional kids. We placed our order, which mind you was not a small order and he had the nerve to tell us that that’s not enough and that we will need to either buy a whole meal serving for each of us including the 3 year old child we had with us or pay $30 per seat so basically $30x 12 people ($360) as apparently we are taking up space. He said that this would be charged in addition to our order. We were all gobsmacked to say the least. I mentioned to him how we came all the way from the western suburbs for someone’s birthday lunch and this is how we are treated. He showed no care in the world and insisted we pay $30 per seat and continued acting as if it’s some reception or function centre or some all you can eat buffet. That’s when we all got up to leave and again he showed no care in the world and simply packed up the menus and walked off with them. Many fellow customers and diners noticed what happened and asked us why we are leaving. The table behind us who also had around 10 people including their young children at their table said they had no trouble in placing their order and were not told to pay any $30 per chair. They were also taken aback by this staff members rude and absurd behaviour and customer service towards us. We all ended up going to another restaurant nearby where we had a decent meal and received proper customer service and most importantly respect. My message to that particular staff member who served us at Shams restaurant today is that I urge you to please go take some classes and lessons on customer service and restaurant dining etiquettes. If you continue to treat your customers and diners in this manner and fashion then you will not only ruin the reputation of your restaurant but also bring forth further losses to your business operations.

Regards a very unhappy and discontent...

Visited this establishment due to the recommendation from a local Afghan resident. Entered with excitement and a watering mouth. Left utterly and bitterly disappointed. Orderedna mixed kebab with Turkish bread. Received a stale, rock hard, rotten meat wrap, covered in stale Lebanese bread. Not Turkish bread as advertised. The meat was pulled out of a filthy, sweating, prison styled stainless steel pot, when there was clearly fresh meat spinning directly infront of me, on the spit. It was literally like eating cardboard mixed with rubber. Utterly deplorable! This honestly has to go down as one of the the WORST kebabs I've ever consumed. Abhorrent, deplorable, disgusting and pathetic! Stay well clear of this hideous established, rude, abrupt, unclean, stale and not fresh food. The remnants of the so called 'curries' sitting in the baymorie are reminiscent of what exits my colon after ingesting lactose, being severely lactose intolerant. What an absolute disgrace! The healt department needs to pay a visit to this dump. As it's like swimming with your mouth open down the river...

Reached there hour and a half before their closing time. At the time of ordering we were informed that any of the dishes from first 2 pages aren't available because they will be closing in sometime. Ordered their BBQ and yup it was tasty. Overall food was good and tasty. But the service is way beyond sub standard, which leaves a bad mark overall. Asked them for fresh water but after 10 reminders I was asked why do I need it 🤔 I added one more dish while eating which was served but without any salad and bread, which was part of the order. Then came the time for payment, which was the worst part.. i asked for the receipt as I need it for official record where I was first asked what is it and later told we don't provide unless you pay cash. I told the guy at the counter that I need it for official record and he was like if I have asked him to look at his accounts.

Won't recommend to anyone unless all the other restaurants...