Divan Persian Restaurant — Restaurant in Sydney

!!!AWFUL SERVICE, CUSTOMER BE AWARE!!! This used to be the place we went to at every event but after the experience we had tonight! I can’t express my disappointment.

Firstly the past few times we’ve visited the quality of the food has declined significantly but we still went because of the live music. And the last once or twice the food a little better, so we were kind of glad about that.

The lady at the front desk is on a whole other level, she’s always rude, incredibly aggressive and dismissive. She always overcharges us and has an excuse every time (which is fair enough, no problem), this time we went as a group of 9 and one of our friends brought a drink with him. (Only the 3 out of the 9 drank) they didn’t bring us any cups or gave us any extra service. Later when it came time to pay we were charged for bringing our own drinks which was fine but it wasn’t fine that we weren’t made aware of it. One of our friends payed first and payed for the 3 people who drank and that was the end of it. But when we later told the lady at the front desk we weren’t made aware of these charges before, she started to get VERY aggressive with us and raising her voice. She basically started to argue with us and telling us off, and escalated the situation. When we left we realised that one of the ladies with us was charged extra, so the lady at the front desk asked her if she or anyone with her drank she said yes her husband, being unaware that it was already payed for. We came back to let her know about what happened and the extra we were charged, she started to get red and very angry. We were just trying to tell her that it was a misunderstanding and it was a simple mistake but she wasn’t having it she told us that 5 of us drank (which wasn’t possible since they needed to drive back and the 3 of us don’t even drink). And we were rightfully charged, then she basically threatened us that she’ll “check the cameras” which we were fine with because we didn’t do anything wrong. After getting us to wait for a while another guy came out and showed us a video of one of the guys sitting there (who was one of the people who don’t drink) then after telling him that he realised they were wrong and gave us the money they charged us extra back.

In one of the interactions tonight the lady also said “it’s better for us to not have customers like you guys”.

They lost 9 customers tonight which they clearly don’t care about, only because of their behaviour and the way they spoke to their customers.

In this restaurant there is a huge lack of customer service, you shouldn’t yell at your customers and be rude to them you should at least try to be friendly. You shouldn’t try to fight the customers and make them uncomfortable. Maybe the restaurant should put a more friendly face at the front to represent their restaurant, someone who’s able to clam the customer down rather than aggravate them.

Very sad because we really loved this place but it’s hard to go back to a place where they have no respect for...

The food quality was just ok. The portions for the food were large however the portions of salads were small. The atmosphere and the service was the real let down. The staff were attentive and seemed "busy" but not really on top of their tasks when it came to collecting dirty dishes off the tables or making sure serving cutlery was available or cleaning dishes in between servings...The waitress would just show up to the table with a massive dish, spilling the stew everywhere on the plate expecting clients to make room between the dirty dishes from the entrée so can dump the main dish and leave! The staff seemed to be more concerned about hand drying and wiping hundreds of forks and spoons in front of customers on just another table rather than carrying out essential tasks to make it a pleasant experience for clients.

Overall the restaurant felt cluttered and very very noisy. The live music felt very intrusive, completely forced and quite annoying to be honest. It seemed like the customers were forced to listen to something that the owners liked but not necessary something that was enjoyable for the clients. Instead everyone had to shout across the table so it just become very underwhelming as far as atmosphere is concerned! Prices were typical of other Persian restaurants in Sydney.

Overall I would advise the owners to get rid of the live music and replace it with a soft background music or drastically reduce the audio volume (this is not a night club!) and ask the performers to understand that they are not in a concert hall and everyone is there to enjoy their dinner/lunch and also train their serving staff to clean the tables of dirty dishes between servings and absolutely stop all dish cleaning and drying and preparations works in front of clients!

After main dishes were served, staff seemed surprised we were wanting to order deserts and once again the tables were left in a shocking state after the main and we had to clean it up ourselves. Just not a pleasant dining experience at all.

There are many Persian restaurants to choose from in Sydney and I don't think I would ever go back to this establishment unless I am told that they are under new management or something has changed drastically.

On the positive side I would say their "barg" kebab was very good and their Koobideh dish was also nicely done so for take-away it may be ok but don't bother dining in at this place. Save yourself the...

Food: 5/10 Service: 2/10 Value for money: 7/10 Atmosphere: 5/10

I have visited Divan 2 times and ordered take away once. First time was a year ago and the food tasted unbelievably good. Second time, 6 months ago, when I took some friends there to show off good quality Persiab Food. Food had become bland and less tasty. I was a bit embarrassed. Yesterday I ordered take away, and the food quality was actually really bad.

The Rice cake was not crispy and was tasteless. It felt like it had been rushed. The Kebab was overcooked and smelly (sign of not so fresh lamb). I am only assuming they have lost their head chef, but that is a guess.

Service is terrible, but that is what you expect from all Persian restaurants, where the qualification for a waiter or waitress is their relationship with the owner, not how good they serve clients. They are always late, forget to put in service, or mismanage the order.

This time they actually did something is unprofessional, if not illegal. When I ordered online, I checked the prices on their website and to my calculation, it would sum up to $145. When I went there to pick up, they owner was at the cashier and he asked for $165. I asked about the reason for the difference. He said prices have gone up since last week or so. I mentioned the prices in their website, and he said oh we have not updated the website yet!!! If any other retailer does this, you are entitled to the advertised prices, but not in Divan!

When I arrived home, I realised that one of the items in the order (Gojeh) was missing. I did not bother to complain as it was a long drive and I had already decided that I am not going there again, ever.

On a positive note, the dishes are very generous, and one dish can easily fill in two adults. Also their fresh bread is amazing. They get an extra star just...