Jasmin1 Lebanese Restaurant Auburn — Restaurant in Sydney

Coming into this relatively small location surrounded by massive competition was interesting. The place was empty at 2pm Saturday afternoon while the competition was full. Here's my take. FOOD food was amazing, some portions were tiny while others like meats were good. Quality of the meat and food was excellent. Far above competitors. SERVICE Lovely young girl (maybe 13 yrs old) was taking orders. Polite and sweet but obviously not professional as expected in a fine restaurant. drinks ordered took 15 min to arrive and the coke from the fridge took 17 min. (she obviously forgot). Mazza which should have been out in 5 min took 20 min and followed by salads 5 min later and meat 5 min after that. Seriously? This killed the whole feel. I understand and agree the food was freshly made but putting cold mazza on a plate should not have taken that long, especially when we were the only ones in there. we didn't see the young lady after that. No how's the food, so you need anything, no water, no would you like another drink? Nothing, the downside of using young family in service I guess. The owner was busy on his laptop in a corner table and should have known better. The competition will get food out in under 10 min and although this place is a restaurant making fresh food, you can see why it was empty. ATMOSPHERE a TV was on the food channel. Awfully quiet. Seriously why would you not have Arabic music on, create an atmosphere. Feels like someone died. Why would I come when down the road it feels full of life. Decor was lovely. OVERALL Come for the food if you have 2 hrs to spare (can only imagine what's the wait time if it's busy). Food is great no doubt, everything else feels lazy and like they don't care. Easy to change if they want to succeed, but explains why most decide to go to the many competitors around, after all people go out in part for the food but also in part for the experience. With this they failed. Hope they can address it...

12/10/24 - 5 stars

Recommended by a friend if I'm ever in Auburn and certainly does not disappoint! Service is friendly and quite fast. The ambience is bustling and a bit rowdy as expected for a local and casual eatery.

Food is probably the best combination of value and flavour I've had in Sydney but make sure you're hungry or have friends to come with as servings are generous. At only $28pp, the Banquet 1 was more than enough for our group of mostly hungry guys.

Tabouli: S, 8/10. I'm not much of a tabouli expert but this was fresh and tasty.

Fattouch: S, 8/10. First time trying this and liked the crunchy texture. A little bit watery.

Babaganoush: SS, 9/10. Creamy and smoky but not overwhelming. Really good

Hommous: SS, 9/10. Straight up creamy and nutty goodness. Complimented everything else we'll

Toum: S+, 8.5/10. Maybe not the most garlicky but still really good.

Falafel: SS, 9/10. Warm, crunchy and fluffy inside.

Pita: S+, 8.5/10. Fairly ordinary but appreciate it being cut up into usable pieces already

Mezze (for 5 people we got 2 plates) Lamb: SS+, 9.5/10. The best by far. Tender, juicy and aromatic

Beef: S, 8/10. Aromatic but a little dry

Chicken: A, 7/10. Quite dry and chewy. The lone disappointment in an otherwise...

This restaurant is located in close proximity to the Auburn station. The reason I chose to go there is because I have heard that they were providing authentic Kabsa rice.

I went on a Saturday noon and the restaurant was busy. I can't expect to be immediately attended. Upon checking with a wait staff there I was told that I could choose to sit anywhere. As soon as I sat down, I was provided with a menu. I immediately chose to order "Lamb Kbseh" (called as kuzhimandhi/കുഴിമന്തി in South India) which is what I had determined to buy. The wait for the food was very short. They served me the food within 5 minutes.

Lamb Kbseh has got a bed of yellow rice with a huge lamb piece on top of it and garnished wholly with dates and cashew. They also provided me with a salad consisting of lebaneese salad items, olives, onion and tomato. It came with a bowl of raita (yoghurt - similar to what you get with the Biriyani in an Indian restaurant) as well. As I was about to finish my lunch, they served me a special lime tea (called as sulaimaani/സുലൈമാനി in south India) with a great taste.

Most of all, what makes me even happier is that whole of this costs just $14. I will certainly go back over again and I will recommend this place to as many...