Zara — Restaurant in Melbourne

IF I COULD DO ZERO RATING I WOULD!!!

Had my birthday last night. Closed off the whole restaurant. Paid for 100 guests which was the minimum guest number payable. We only had 83 people and still they struggled to accommodate the guest amount. False promises were made when booking in and let’s say the night was a disappointment. We arrived and hour early to guest arriving to ensure everything was set up, to find the place still not cleaned from the night before. The place was a mess, and not enough staff to get it sorted in time. We had to help by moving tables around, replacing the dirty table cloths with clean linen and help place all the plates and cutlery , and just finished prior to guest arriving. We had the venue booked till 12am. Food wasn’t served on time, nor was it enough for the guests. All night I had to follow up soft drink refills, and food consistently missing on tables. No service throughout , staff looked lost and unsure with what needed to be done. We were promised that no guest would go home hungry, that food will consistently be brought out, it was us following up with the most simple thing like bread. The staff kept taking the guests glasses and cutlery, and at one stage put a bucket on the table and started emptying a guests plate to clean up while they were still eating. I asked them not to remove or start cleaning because people then think the night is coming to an end when it’s only 10pm, that people are still using their glasses too, but they kept cleaning. Instead of enjoying and making memories, all I did was run around, stress and kept following up with the staff what was missing and needing to be done. The simplest thing was a guest asked for a black coffee in which was served 5 minutes prior to some people but she had missed out, but was told sorry kitchen closed and the kettle stopped working .

Let’s not forget the outdoor jet heater they have inside the room. This shouldn’t even be used indoors, but all night it just smelt like heavy gas. The owner did not care at all. In his eyes he had made the almost $5K so he didn’t care with how his business was running.

I would NEVER recommend this place to anyone.

If you’re thinking of booking your event, think again and save your money because the owner is a yes yes yes to please prior and then doesn’t come through with the promises.

My special day was ruined and I wouldn’t want anyone else to have the...

my family has been coming here for at least 20 years. Amongst this time, their food quality has decreased and their service has become quite appalling. We came here last for Mother's Day and this will personally be my last time. As usual, we ordered the king's banquet and mentioned over the phone that we had 5 vegetarian guests. To start, they brought out bread, bread and more bread. Then, about 2-3 tiny plates of potato salad for a table of 20. Each person got about 2 potato slices on their plate!! Same thing with the pide (everyone got 1 tiny slice) Dips were boring and all tasted the same. Waiters and staff are so inattentive and careless and make you feel bad about asking for more food. Lemon squash was also diluted and flat. We paid 35 per person × 20 ($700), you can afford to feed your guests more than bread and water! Their was a miscommunication amongst the owner and his wife as apparently he didn't know that there was vegetarians dining at Zara's. My sister went over to the register to say that we were really hungry and not satisfied. His wife then came over to the table and had a very rude attitude. It really isn't that big of a deal, be accomodating and nicer to your customers and you may actually have a full restaurant for once. Her and her mother continued to roll their eyes at us the entire time. Well done Zara's you have lost loyal customers due to your stinginess, money hungry and...

I went to Zara Restaurant for a NYE's event. Firstly, the weather was sticky humid, I walk in, only to discover that there was absolutely no air-conditioning.

We asked several times to turn up the air con and along with the body heat & food, the temperature in the back of the restaurant was absolutely awful.

I later discovered that the air-conditioning was on 26⁰,(it was approx 29⁰ that day) I assumed it was evaporative cooling because it did absolutely nothing.

Everyone was sweating, people danced but tired out quickly & there wasn't enough water & it wasn't consisten

The music was WAY too loud for such a small venue, to a point where I had to wear ear plugs.

Lastly, the event was BYO & there was no drink menu given to us. So, we had a conversation with the waiter, who we couldn't hear because of the music & it was just really awkward having this unnecessary conversation, when a drink menu would've sufficied.

No one was inside for the majority of the time due to the temperature inside the building.

Lots of smokers outside, didn't create a back area for smokers. So, all smokers were out the front of the restaurant.

Lastly, this night was only enjoyable because I managed to dance with my mum who created the entire atmosphere of the night.

Zara Restaurant should stick to small restaurant businesses & save the events for...