Moonlight Restaurant & Lounge — Restaurant in Sydney

False promises, poor service, cold food – a night of embarrassment.

I celebrated my son’s birthday at Moonlight Restaurant and it was one of the most disappointing experiences I’ve ever had. I had agreed to a package, paid extra for specific food items, and confirmed the details beforehand – yet what was promised was not delivered on the night.

The service was extremely poor. There were hardly any staff present, and the ones who were there were dismissive and unprofessional. The cold mezza plates were left empty and not replaced, despite the package stating “unlimited mezza.” Guests commented on this repeatedly, and the staff ignored it. I even found myself doing their job, checking on tables and noticing food was not replenished. The “unlimited soft drinks” included in the package were also left unserved and not replenished.

The hot food was just as bad. Portions were capped, meaning not every guest was served, and unlike other restaurants that ensure no one misses out, Moonlight restricted what was given. On top of that, the food tasted terrible and was served cold. This was especially embarrassing as the unlimited cold mezza was supposed to be the highlight of the package, and even that was not delivered.

The cake cutting was handled appallingly. The cake was cut messily and thrown onto plates with no care. My guests and I felt embarrassed rather than celebrated. When I raised my concerns, the owner Yusuf and event planner Tanya did not come forward. Instead, they sat at the table directly behind us, smoking shisha, watching on but never once asking if everything was okay. They left it to Diala, who was running the bar. She carried the full load of complaints even though she was not aware of the prior agreements. While she tried to be nice at times, her critical and dismissive attitude stood out most. It was clear the owner put everything on her, which was unfair to both her and to us as paying customers.

Overall, the evening felt deceptive and stingy. I trusted their promise to provide what was agreed upon, but I was wrong. The impression was that they wanted guests to buy alcohol so the restaurant could profit more. This completely ruined what should have been a special night for my family.

I regret choosing this restaurant and strongly urge anyone considering Moonlight for their events to reconsider, as you risk being left embarrassed in front of your guests like I was.

For comparison, I highly recommend Summerland in Bankstown. They are generous with food and drinks, professional in service, and truly make you feel celebrated. I took a risk trying Moonlight because I trusted their promises, and I regret...

Came with my family to enjoy an evening of supposedly authentic food. The food was absolutely disgusting. The Dolma ($50) tastes nothing like Dolma… Not sour/lemonish, also 0 spices… this was a real real disappointment… The mixed grill shared platter ($70), the lamb cube skewers were chewy and over cooked, the chicken was stinky and under cooked and not marinated properly, while the kofta was tasteless burned and dry… The wings were edible with no sauce just deep fried chicken wings, the homus, baba ghanouj and garlic dips were barely passable, woolies sells them tastier sadly. The Lamb Mansaf ($30) was edible, the rice was dry, the sauce makes it better, the Lamb shank on it was dry and no spices at all.

Now to top things off, one of the employees came to ask for our review and our thoughts on the food, I told her do you want the actual truth she said yes please, gave her the feedback mentioned above, she apologised and said we will give you a discount, and kindly accept a complimentary drink from us, was impressed by that, finished grabbed the kids and went to pay, the waiter slams me with the bill with the complimentary drinks in it and the full priced bill, that brought me to a shock, I requested the other waiter who spoke with us to join us to discuss and they tell us oh she left while she is inside the kitchen…. Asked them to remove the drinks paid ($150) and left in disgust from the place.

Money doesn’t mean anything we drove 40 minutes to try the food after watching a food blogger talking about how amazing it was… I guess he had his reasons to say this food was soooo amazing…

Complete...

If I could give it 0 stars I would. First of all the service was sooooooooo bad, long wait, the server was covered in tattoos and had back rolls. She smoked in front of the whole restaurant with her friends and the windows were all opened and the owner was sat down and judging everyone and smoking argela. When we started ordering food when my friend asked a question and completely ignored her, later on she completely walked off for 1 minute and she didn’t say anything. The drinks were ABSOLUTELY HORRENDOUS and was PURE LEMON. we basically ordered a glass of lemon and food colouring. The bartender had back rolls and she was pouring a pure lemon juice into all cups. When the food came, we ordered a penne pasta and we got a spaghetti. When we complained about it. She was tearing up and she said the restaurant is too busy to do another pasta. We looked around and it was all empty. We are authentic Arab people and we are ashamed of such restaurant. Truely heartbreaking and it’s impacting the future of this earth. When the bill came, we paid $16 for GST which we didn’t even order or eat any GST. The music Was so sad was making me wanna throw up and gave me a huge headache. I do not recommend this restaurant at...