The Horn African Cafe & Restaurant — Restaurant in Melbourne

What a memorable experience at this restaurant…for all the wrong reasons! Arrived at 8:30pm for a birthday dinner reservation. On arrival, the staff member who greeted us (an older male wearing no shoes) said to us the kitchen is “under the pump at the moment”.

We placed our order within 2 minutes of being seated (we already knew what we wanted before arriving - the set menu) and his response was “well…everyone else has already ordered so you guys will be last”. He just stood there hesitating as if he was considering not taking our order. Extremely awkward as a customer as we didn’t know how to respond…if your restaurant takes bookings for 8:30pm then you shouldn’t be making the customer feel bad for ordering food when they arrive!

We then waited over an hour for the starters, which were essentially samosas (one each). The menu said they came with sauce but there was none on the plate. Other than that they tasted like a standard supermarket samosa.

Onto the main, which arrived after another 1 hour of waiting. This was a combination of different stews served with injera. Some tasted quite nice, others were average. Certainly the only saving grace of the evening was the goat stew. We had to ask several times for napkins and also ended up putting our used glasses on neighbouring (empty) tables because our table did not get cleared in between courses and there was no room anywhere.

Last up was dessert, which we regrettably waited over another hour for. After about 45 minutes of waiting, the older male with no shoes came up to us and said “alright well you were the last ones in and you’ll be the last ones out, we need to pack up now”….we let him know that we were actually still waiting for our dessert and he obviously had no idea despite being the one who A: took our order and B: was bringing out all our food. Again, this was incredibly awkward as a customer being told to leave when we were still waiting for our food. Dessert came out and they were the blandest “donuts” I’ve ever tasted. Essentially deep fried batter with no flavouring and some home brand vanilla ice cream on the side.

Initially we thought the food was just taking a while as we had arrived at the end of the dinner rush and the kitchen was busy, but by dessert we were the only people left in the restaurant…and our bland batter still took over an hour to arrive.

Over 3 hours to have one of the most average meals ever, being made to feel like a burden from the onset. Could not recommend this...

YOU BETTER GO TO FOOTSCRAY!!

Made a booking for 10 people (they asked us to come around 8 since it was busy and was a last minute booking so fair enough) we ended up coming in with 13 people but they said not a problem, and we got a bigger table. We waited over an hour for our food, luckily there was some live music but honestly was horrible service. You have a table full of 13 hospitality workers and business owners so we have empathy - but really some servers were clearly stressed and extremely unpleasant , we had to ask for water several times, had to order or sodas and teas several times, I had to go find someone to take our order, and the worst part of it all…. They ran out of injera after allowing us to order of $400 worth of food. They’re excuse was we only expected 10 of you… but you made accomodation for 13 and they saw the amount of food we ordered so maybe suggest we get something else? Rather than have a table full of dishes we had to eat with our bare hands and spoons. I went to the kitchen to ask for more they said nope we ran out, I asked for bread or something they said they don’t have anything. I then had to ask for a manager as we didn’t even get half way through our meal before we ran out of injera. Finally this guys comes around with half a loaf of bread, and offers it to us - but after he said we catered for 10 orders of injera so this bread is a gift from me… mate - you own the place you should know how to make instant injera or have some in the freezer or in a tub fermenting already. LIKE WHO RUNS THIS PLACE? IS ANYONES HEAD ON? From the FOH to the kitchen to the white man runnings the show, learn a little something about habesha culture and community. Learn how to make your own injera so you can actually feed paying customers, learn to be honest and not money hungry westerners.

I’m an Eritrean backpacker, I brought my travel family to come here for a home cooked meal, to feel a little bit of my home country and culture but this was the farthest thing from feeling like habesha community. I wouldn’t recommend coming here if you actually appreciate quality service. It’s a shame because the food isn’t that bad. But I’d rather commute to Footscray and give the real community my support next time, not these westerners.

Of and to the only young lady that helped our table, who took our order thank you for being the only bright light in that venue, we...

After reading some of the low recent reviews came here for the 1st time the other night deciding to give it the benefit of the doubt. Honestly wish I hadn’t & my 1st time here is also my last. Despite making a reservation was greeted with such unfriendliness with the younger male worker looking at the clock & telling us the kitchen was about to close. Why take a booking at a time when your kitchen is about to close? We advised we’d order straightaway. At the table the even more rude female worker stood there again repeating the kitchen was about to close. I wish we’d got up & left at that point but decided to stay & order. Ordered 3 Vegetarian dishes & they were honestly the smallest portions I have ever seen in a restaurant. The beetroot dish was just that! Just chopped up beetroot with no flavour or sauce- how can you charge $20 for that? The Eggplant dish was absolutely swimming in oil & the Daal was really bland. What’s the point of providing lots of Injera if there is so little food to eat it with? Also ordered a bottle of the most average Shiraz (rewine) & was charged $44 for it. Had to go looking in the back of the restaurant for napkins. Spent $106.00 here for 2 people & we left hungry. Sitting in the front window drinking our wine the lack of hospitality continued & the very clear message to leave was reinforced by chairs being stacked, rubbish taken through the restaurant & then starting to vacuum around us! Owner came over & said they were closing & asked how it was. Told him I’ve never felt so unwelcome in a restaurant. Thanked me for my feedback but wasn’t bothered. Very sadly experiences like this make me reluctant to eat out. If you are reading this please don’t waste your...