YASSAS - THE GREEK WAY (CRAIGIEBURN) — Restaurant in Melbourne

They lost our service before we even had a chance to try! Our first time we had planned to have dinner here since they opened. We had 8 people (1 toddler) and before turning up, we checked the website for availability. It was allowing us to book for 8 people. We arrived and asked for a table - the place had maybe 3 groups of people in. One staff member checked with a female I'm assuming was a duty manager after he asked us if we had a booking and we told him there was plenty of availability on the website so we didnt book. The female staff member also asked if we had a booking, we responded the same, she said she will check. She looked at her computer screen for 2 seconds and said "Sorry we are fully booked for tonight". We let her know that thats not how it appears on the website. She said that it is allowing for 1 - 2 people to book. We let her know its actually allowing for 8 people. She said she will look into it and we walked out. I then went back onto the website and booked a table for 8 - at 5.30pm and it confirmed my booking. I sent a message to the restaurant to let them know that we had just been turned away for a table of 8, yet we just booked one. They responded saying that they were very sorry and they in fact had a table ready for us? So they confirmed it, the female staff member had in fact lied to us when she told us they were fully booked. To turn away service of 8 people that were prepared to spend on the per person platter menu plus some, would be pretty disappointing for the owner to hear. It was too late by the time they responded, their lack of wanting to provide customer service and work turned us off and we won't be returning. We walked up the strip to La Porchetta - in my opinion, a much better option!! The staff and service there exceeded our expectations and they weren't even aware of our poor experience at another restaurant!

My word of advice to the owner - hire staff that want to work, because the ones you have are losing money and turning away service. They cost you at minimum a $500...

On arrival we waited in a small queue for a couple of minutes, a few staff wondering about not doing much, but obviously they have a system in place so we waited to be seated looked over the menu, not a bad selection. We chose the $39 three course meal a good choice of food. The dips and entrees came out on the same plate which was fine, 2 good size bowls of dip but only 6 small portions of Bread so after finishing the bread I asked for some more bread and was presented with a plate with about 12 pieces of bread I really only wanted maybe two or three more pieces so left the rest waisted, the meal was okay but certainly not the best Greek food I’ve had, the drinks menu was viewed but seemed pricey so we just had water. Paid the bill and realised we were charged for the extra bread, which is fine but can I suggest that you should serve a little bit more bread with the dips I also overheard the waitress say they always ask for more bread, overall I’m undecided if I would go back. We have finally come back to Yassas to see how things have changed, and we were very pleasantly surprised to see that they have made some changes and now have a very good service from start to finish and the menu although the same as our first experience was most enjoyable with a little time between courses which made for a very enjoyable experience. The service was 100% We will definitely be back....

Beautifully presented restaurant. Atmosphere is warm and inviting. Not sure if we were greeted by all staff but atleast one or two. Waitress was nice but needs more thorough training. For example, after food comes out, she should come back to ask how it tastes. Plates were not cleared until we asked. We had to keep flagging her down so needs were not anticipated. She was a nice friendly girl though. Food was good but hard bits in meat on gyros platter. Don't think it was salted and taste was just lacking. I think the portions were not enough considering the price for the share platter. And I do agree with other reviewer about olives should be pitted. A manager should really have stopped by the tables to introduce himself and check on each table - that is how you make people feel important and welcome, and it is the perfect time for guests to bring up anything like I am writing now, then they will have a chance to improve it. I'm only suggesting all this so your restaurant can get even better!... feedback not intended to hurt...