Al Aseel Restaurant Penrith — Restaurant in Sydney

Food is good but service is horrible.

I came here twice in 2 weeks recently and the first time I went with my family which was a group of 6. The service was terrible the first time we came.

We were notified at the beginning that they were out of lamb and Kofta, one of my family members came late and ordered the Kofta to be told it was available and that they had one serving left only for the waitress to come back 20 minutes later to tell us that was incorrect and there was no Kofta so we ordered something else. The night continued with food taking a long time to arrive and incorrect orders being brought to the table. They ended up giving us free dessert to compensate and we figured it was a one off.

The second time I came back was a week later with a group of 4 friends. I was weary of ordering lamb or meat just in case it was unavailable again so I went with a chicken dish. I also asked to swap the toum for hummus to which the lady replied “we can’t do that” even though they did it the week before and it wasn’t a problem. After close to half an hour later, the waitress came back and says they are out of chicken. Once again a repeat of my experience the week before. It was so dissapponting being heavily pregnant hungry and waiting to be told it’s unavailable. Once the food finally came, like last time it was mixed up and incorrect. Like last time they gave us dessert on the house to compensate.

The food was tasty but the service was horrible and after reading reviews I can see many have had the...

This restaurant started well in the beginning, now it just leaves you disappointed more and more, it has come to the point that I will never return. The banquet offering has minimised every visit but the price has stayed the same. Didn't even get our pickled antipasto! We had a table of 9 with 6 wanting the banquet and 3 wanting to order their dishes. The only rule on the banquet is min of 4. We separated the seating to ensure the banquet diners sat together and when we asked for the refills that came as part of the offer we were refused and told no due to the fact that only 6 of the 9 had the banquet. The others never touched the banquet dishes and the manager stood over me and argued with me even though we had clarified this at the order point. I was pretty disgusted how a pleasant family gathering became a stressful ordeal because this restaurant changes its selection and rules at there own whim. Another family member that was not involved asked a staff if they could take a picture for them on their phone and he looked at her phone and said no and walked away. So if I could give 0 stars I would. We will never attend again found a better Lebanese restaurant close by in Emu Plains that have better staff service and menu options that are more transparent on what you are actually paying for, this will be our place to eat in future. Also the Al Aseel in Greenacre make the Penrith Alseel look like it's run by peasants...

My wife and I both suffered severe food poisoning after eating chicken shish tawook on Mother's Day.

After eating her lunch, my wife attended a concert in the evening and was forced to leave with severe gastrointestinal symptoms. I only ate a very small portion at lunch. That night, I ate my meal while my wife was out. I awoke in the middle of the night and was severely ill with both vomiting and diarrhea for the next day. Neither my wife or I ate any other food.

When I called Al Aseel to report what happened (I didn't ask for anything just to let them know), I was shocked at how the Manager Jess attempted to gaslight me.

Jess claimed it was impossible the source of our food poisoning was Al Aseel. Ironically, Jess admitted they served over 200 diners on Mother's day but couldn't even imagine a scenario where they rushed through an order of chicken skewers that weren't cooked properly. I even noted that my wife and I had our orders packed into one take away container which is highly unusual and a sign of how busy the kitchen must have been. Jess continued to categorically deny Al Aseel had any responsibility.

Jess was obstinate and rude on top of the food ruining my wife's Mother's day and causing me to miss a day's pay. Clearly the kitchen rushed out an order that was not cooked correctly.

If you order food here particularly when they are busy or understaffed beware. I hope I never have an experience this bad...