Samaras Restaurant — Restaurant in Wollongong City Council

The food is very pricey for my liking, and I only eat expensive food that is high quality.

The portions were slightly too small for my liking too. I was very full by the end of it, but I still would've liked to eat a bit more.

Like, why were half the meals over $30? I don't care about inflation, just bring your prices down. If all businesses just drop their prices then we can reverse inflation overnight! There's the solution!

Also, the plate had a chip in it. My food expert next to me pointed out the fact that bacteria can spread in those cracks. So this was a failure to follow health and safety for customers and employees.

Also, there was a stain on my knife. Like, how hard is it to clean a knife. Lucky we got a second knife, because I wasn't going to touch a disgusting knife with a limp lettuce leaf stuck to it.

Also, they were skimpy on the vegetables. How cheap are vegetables? Put more on the plate. The potato was a miniscule amount. I was stunned.

The glasses that we drank from were also gross. They appeared to be old since the scratches on the logo of one was grossing me out.

The chairs were nice tho. I also liked the air. But it was too busy.

When I make a reservation I expect the room to be clear for me. Not 100 other guests in my way.

Also, one Asian guy kept staring at me. How rude?!!! Was he a spy, listening to us?!!!

I personally would not return.

That's why I am...

BE CAREFUL WHEN BOOKING FOR A GROUP! The owner doesn’t understand English very well and messed up my order. She told me that I could have a certain number of people and if 2 didn’t show up it would be fine but any more than 2 not showing up and we would have to pay for it. I agreed that’s fine and made my booking. All but 2 showed up and they tried to charge us for 4 people Not showing up! I asked why and was told the owner wrote down the number of people we had coming which was wrong. I explained that wasn’t the number I booked for and that’s all but 2 of my group showed up and I was told that would be fine and was told “she isn’t good with English so it’s an easy mistake for her to get numbers wrong” and then they proceeded to still try to charge me for the extra numbers. I had to explain 5 times back and fourth that we only had 2 hot show up, the other 2 seats weren’t even booked by me and was told oh well you have to pay for them. I refused to pay for her mistake and asked to speak with her but She refused to speak with me directly and kept sending Other staff. Absolutely disgusting treatment towards your customers! And I’m appalled that they admitted they made the mistake but try to force me to pay for it....

In brief: Not recommended. We had a very bad experience. Lebanese cuisine is about generosity, good food and great service which absolutely couldn't find at Samara's.

In detail: we ordered tabboule, hummus, chips and Tawook platter. Took them 20 min to serve the hummus which should be ready to serve. 10 min later we got the BBQ, before the tabboule and the chips which is unusual in Lebanese cuisine where the tabboule and chips are considered as entrée but that's not the issue. The "tawook " was undercooked, the waiter offered to re-cook them and came back after 10 min with the same skewers infused with lamb meat smoke, possibly because they are grilled next to each other. But that's not all, the "tawook" was not tasty at all. Actually, it didn't taste as tawook, there was no marination. Only chicken and spices. I love tawook but this time I could not eat 1 piece. We left all 5 skewers on the table. The waiters were not good to us. Forced us to pay the full amount and let us understand that it is our fault that we trusted this restaurant and it's our fault we didn't like the food. As a Lebanese I know what to expect from a Lebanese restaurant but Samaras didn't meet my...