Review Hellenic Republic - Brighton

Came by for lunch and when asked, was able to do the Feed Me meal which consisted of 6 dishes as well as a glass of wine for $35. It started with Prosseco, followed by bread, hummus and olives. I generally don't eat olives as they are usually too salty for me but these were quite nice, aside from the large ones. The zucchini chips were amazing, crispy and tasty. This was followed with roast chicken served with feta on chips and a Cypriot grain salad, all of which were delicious. The chicken with the grain salad was quite tasty, and the chips on top of that made a really filling meal. I was there quite early so was able to get a table without a reservation. The service was really friendly and it was fairly easy to get the attention of someone if you needed it, even when busy. Aside from their menu, there were also other options that were on the wall. It was a really filling and delicious lunch.

It’s useful to book here! It’s very busy and popular. The food was delicious. The staff were friendly and attentive. We left full and happy and I’m sure we’ll be back.

Good food. Reasonable prices. Garlic pita bread with sea salt and olive oil is yum. Would like a bit of chillie and spice in the food. But all in all, love the food and the atmosphere. Super friendly staff

After visiting Gazi in the city, we were keen to try George Calombaris’ Hellenic Republic. Excellent experience with amazing Greek food in a cosy atmospheric seating. We visited on a weekday night and the place was packed full. Service was excellent. Every dish was delicious but can highly recommend the Patzari (roast beetroot) and the Kotopoulo (Chicken from the spit). Beautiful taramasalata too. Can’t wait to return for more.

Lovely food! Not memorable though.. maybe expected too much! Excellent service though! Cannot fault it! Lovely people!

It’s pretty hard to fault this place. The atmosphere is lively, the staff are attentive and friendly and will take time to ensure you are comfortable. The food is like it just came out of your mums kitchen. We left feeling full & nourished, the lamb shoulder could’ve been carved with a spoon and was a real highlight We had the banquet which did not disappoint. We will be back soon

WAY OVER PRICED!! Get better quality and value elsewhere. Service - poor to average I visit Melbourne’s most well known restaurants regularly, this place prices their food far to high for the quality, quantity and calibre of venue. Melbourne has several other Greek restaurants to choose from which are better quality and value.

Absolutely delicious food, everything was exceptional including the service, wished I lived nearby so I could go back again easily!

Went here for a feasty Christmas lunch. The meals served were so generous in portion, and we loved the variety. On the menu were the spit roasted pork, tuna tartare, octopus, poached prawns, saganaki and karydopita with salted caramel and vanilla ice cream for dessert. My personal favourites were their staple saganaki and the tuna tartare. The rest of the dishes were okay; the pork was a bit dry and the dessert was a bit like a breakfast muesli. Service was friendly although a bit slow, but overall we were content with the lunch experience.

Absolutely packed to the brim, Hellenic Republic is bouncing back since the news about Brunswick. The food, though small serves, is divine and hands down the best lamb I’ve ever had. Also, George was our waiter and bought food to our table. Cypriot Salad and Cauliflower stood out along with Chicken off the spit. Tarama dip here is also on point, hitting the high flavour notes. Will come back again.

Came by for lunch and when asked, was able to do the Feed Me meal which consisted of 6 dishes as well as a glass of wine for $35. <br/><br/>It started with Prosseco, followed by bread, hummus and olives. I generally don't eat olives as they are usually too salty for me but these were quite nice, aside from the large ones. The zucchini chips were amazing, crispy and tasty. This was followed with roast chicken served with feta on chips and a Cypriot grain salad, all of which were delicious. The chicken with the grain salad was quite tasty, and the chips on top of that made a really filling meal.<br/><br/>I was there quite early so was able to get a table without a reservation. The service was really friendly and it was fairly easy to get the attention of someone if you needed it, even when busy. Aside from their menu, there were also other options that were on the wall.<br/><br/>It was a really filling and delicious lunch.

Friendly and professional service. Great portion of meal. Taste great. Our favourite family restaurant!!!

Love how the staff engaged us as we entered. The fact that George C was in the kitchen mentoring the kitchen staff through service just shows his attention to great food and service. He also came out of the kitchen to engage with guests and even did the honors of serving my Soufflé. Sorry no pictures, was too busy enjoying myself with the GREAT food and service.

Food is so good, such a good greek place to go grab food, very nice to go with a group of people, had space to fit people, does get a bit busy so you might have book

Absolute favourite restaurant! The lamb! The dips! The saganaki! All delicious and the staff are just so lovely! <br/>

Everything was mediocre - menu, food and service. I was looking forward to a solid Greek feed, however all the servings were small and missing flavour. Especially the taramasalata which is my favourite!

Being cattle driven into a restaurant and out by a certain time is not my idea of a good night out. I won’t go here again just because of that. Nice decor and the chairs are in keeping with the decor but soooo uncomfortable. On the upside, good attentive service and largely very tasty food. No Greek salad in a Greek restaurant... mmmmm! This place might be a better place for lunch outside on a sunny day. I’ve been told the equivalent place in Brunswick is better than this one in brighton.

Amazing Greek Food FULL STOP 😍 I wanted to try this place for ages because I saw it on 9s Postcards and it did not disappoint. The meat honestly just melts in your mouth. Not your everyday souvlaki place thats for sure... awesome food, service and decor 🙈

Wow, what a great place!  Didn't expect the food to be so good and the service was exceptional. Our waiter was brilliant.  My wife is a walking test tube, dietary encyclopedia. He was able to answer all our questions and recommend exactly what she could and couldn't eat.  It was not as restricted as we found in other places. Wines were great and he even convinced us to try some Greek wine, a real surprise, as my last trip to Greece we didn't really like the wine.  My red was excellent and the wife had a nice dry white from greece. Definitely our new fav place in Brighton.

Awesome food, service and ambience will be back!  The seafood is to die for.  Whole Lamb shoulder amaaazing.  First time I've tried Greek wine and boy was it great.  Almost as good as Hungarian wine!

Compliment to the chef. Menu looks simple - was a bit puseld by the few main choices- but turned out to be great. The waiting staff was helpful and recommended sharing -and I should have listened. Portions are good sized and filling. Would go again. Feed 2 generously under $100 without drinks.

Beautiful venue, attentive staff and good food. <br/><br/>Went for dinner last night and we ordered the trout with a few sides and oysters to start with and everything was delicious. Fresh oysters that were beautifully presented and we loved the dressing they used for their iceberg salad. The trout was cooked perfectly and did not leave that unpleasant fishy taste in your mouth. Yum! <br/><br/>I think I have to come again next weekend to try more of their menu.

Hellenic Republic is celebrating 10 years at its Brunswick store with a special masa menu which will be available throughout November across all Hellenic Republic locations.<br/><br/>The 10th birthday masa menu features 10 of Hellenic Republic’s most iconic dishes from the last 10 years - a banquet style menu with a vast range of dishes which includes a selection of small tastes, meats and dessert. There is also the option to have your courses paired with beverages (which we highly recommend).

Wow. Interior of this place will be the first thing you notice! Reminds me of a nautical/Greek odyssey theme. Hit the omega 3 banquet with an extra dish for that saganaki. Seafood was great 👌🏼favourite however was the baklava dessert

I went to hellenic republics vegan night and was so impressed. Every one of the 12 dishes was outstanding. I want a bucket of those zucchini chips to myself!!

Hellenic Republic is by far the best thing that’s happened to Brighton. Healthy food and a happy bright environment with great lunch and dinner options and not to forget the $10 Moët glasses. 😁😁🍾🥂<br/>I always walk out of here feeling so content . Great value great food options and everything is so so delicious. Try the saganaki with figs, the white Tarama and the TO DIE FOR grain salad .... Well done George Colambaris and thankyou for bringing Hellenic Republic to Brighton.

Booked in for a Thursday (after 8pm) meal with my wife. The restaurant is very well fitted out and apportioned, with a bar included.<br/><br/>Service overall was actually quite pleasant and food arrived promptly between courses, there was nothing to complain about.<br/><br/>We ordered several entrees, including the pita bread, tzatziki, tiganites patates (fried chips) and sheftalies (lamb rissoles). All tasty, particularly the patates, which have feta cheese crumbled through and the sheftalies, cooked beautifully. One minor quibble was that some of the pita bread was over cooked.<br/><br/>Ordered the BBQ prawns and octopus as our mains, and both were delectable.<br/><br/>Also ordered the lettuce salad and that was the one disappointment of the meal. The iceberg lettuce was all white and pretty much no green to be seen, which makes it taste on the bitter side.<br/><br/>With all that being said, it does make for a fairly expensive meal ($27 eachfor four prawns and less than 200g of octopus is a tad on the expensive side. <br/><br/>Over $120 was paid for the meal all up, so it isn’t going to be a place I’ll go to a lot; however the meal overall was very good and the service was good too.

The food from here is very good. As a family we always get the feed the family pack takes the stress out of choosing it has everything you need from dips to dessert. Last time however, half our order was missing which was extremely inconvenient as the food we did have got cold as we waited for the problem to be fixed, the staff was extremely respectful and apologetic for the mistake and gave us gift cards for our future visit which I think is extremely good service.

Would not go again. Were “out” of almost everything on the menu and the staff were rude and poorly trained. Nice atmosphere but that’s just about it.

The only Hellenic I hadn’t been to yet, and I have to say it was splendid!<br/>We had the fava dip and some beautiful gluten free bread, with the special saganaki and the peppered figs. The meat was able to be divided into 1/2 chicken and lamb as we couldn’t choose between the two! Again, beautifully prepared. We got the cabbage salad and of course- the famous chips! The service was flawless and I would definitely drive that extra few kilometres to eat here at Hellenic Republic in Brighton again. Keep up the good work! <br/>

Great looking fit out that was very busy at 6pm on a Friday night - bookings recommended. Staff were super friendly and service was great. Once order were placed food was in front of us within 5 minutes! <br/>Amazingly tasty food. Can’t go wrong with the garlic pita bread.m, tzatziki, saganaki, Cypriot salad and the lamb ribs. All of it was perfect. We will be back!

Just decided to come in for a coffee.. ambiance is great. The coffee is excellent and the service was very good. They just needed a reminder on our daughter’s organic coke. Overall, a very good experience

Normally swing past here once a month when in the area. Get past all the hype of it being the master mind of George Columbaris’s and look further at the food and the atmosphere. The food is pretty dam good. If the weather is o.k sit at a table in the street and enjoy the people and dogs wandering up and down. I don’t recommend specific dishes normally but you would be hard pressed to go past the lamb shoulder, the Greek style slaw, Zucchini chips. Staff are friendly and very accommodating.

Fantastic! Everything we tried was amazing, especially the lamb ribs. Service was friendly<br/>and efficient. I really enjoyed the ambience and decor of the restaurant. We will be back.

Enjoyed a wonderful meal here on a Friday night. The place was pumping however staff were very friendly and extremely attentive. My dining partner is gluten free and the staff were more than happy to help us organise our selections. The fava dip was sensational to the point that I’m dreaming about it days later, as was the spanakopita that I devoured entirely by myself! The bbq chicken was divine, which went perfectly with sides of carrots and chips with feta. My only small complaint was that we felt crammed in like sardines however I guess this can’t be helped when a restaurant is so popular! Looking forward to returning and trying more from the menu.

Hellenic Republic offers a funky nautically inspired decor, friendly and helpful staff service, and scrumptious Greek food. Came here with the fam bam and decidedly had to have most of the menu items! First up, I did admittedly find the menu a little confusing, with no clear delineation of entree and main options. We did need to request insight from the waitress, who too, admitted that the menu is oftentimes perceived as confusing. Essentially everything is designed to be shared, ask the waitress or Google about what some of the Greek dishes are if you are not familiar with Greek food (there are no explanations on the menu), and don't expect any of the lamb dishes to come with any salad/carbs/sides. Good ratio for about 5 people would be 2 meat dishes, 2 salad dishes, chips, spanakopita (spinach pie), and pita with 2 dips, with a couple of other tasting dishes (i.e. olives and saganaki); so essentially order widely! Otherwise, go for the $55 tasting and have no worries for your meal! Highly recommended dishes: lamb shoulder, lamb sausage, tiganites patates (i.e. chips), and saganaki with peppered figs. For dessert we had the baklava and loukoumades (Greek donuts), with a swig of fresh Greek coffee. The baklava was delicious and was put together nicely with a vanilla parfait centre which was a lovely twist on an old classic. I did enjoy this place and would like to come back with the family in the future. I would however love to see a simpler, cleaner menu that does not require additional explanation; it should speak for itself.

Pseudo Greek. Service very patchy with average food. That being said a pleasant addition to a very WASPY locale. So many better options.....

The portions here are slightly small for what you are paying, although the food is really delicious! The restaurant looks great but the staff are really letting them down. We called to make a reservation and were told that there was no room, when we walked by and seen it wasn't that busy we got a table straight away!

Nice place to stop at after the movies for drinks and nibbles. Saganaki (haloumi like cheese with peppered figs) was delicious, and the Kotopoulo (chicken) was quite nice. The Tiganites Patates (chips and feta) was rather disappointing - very bland. Staff were lacking in warmth, but were still professional. Will probably try place again. Would give it a 3.5 if I could do half points.

Bright and airy room with a good fit out. The place feels Greek and the atmosphere, even with only a third full, feels good.The food is disappointing. Not bad, just not really good and a couple of real misses. "Like empanadas but better" no and no. These are pretty flavorless and encased a a very dry pastry. The fried zuchinni were an improvement but still tasted very much of he deep fryer rather than the vegetable. The Octopus was good. Dish of the day was the Saganaki with Figs. Sweetbreads were fried and a big disappointment. I love these things but you have to know how to cook them and I don't think deep frying is the right treatment. Donuts and baklava were very good. An inconsistent place but the atmosphere is good and it is not overly expensive.

I love the premises and my mousakka was delicious and filling. Why the low rating? Mostly because of the bad unfriendly attitude of the staff, really appalling. The smell of the dishes around was delicious but their menu is mostly bbq seafood. Don't take me wrong, I love bbq fish and seafood, but that's not specifically Greek or anything I cannot prepare in my backyard. I'd like them to do a bit of more varied small dishes. If the staff had been neutral or good, it's a place I'd go back and the rating would be higher. But my rating is about the whole experience not just the food. They can easily improve the service and the menu.

We were staying in town and wanted to try something different for a change. Greek food! Hellenic Republic was a name we had heard of but never had the chance to try so we ordered the $55 degustation set to try a bit of everything.<br/><br/>Everything came in small tapas-like portions except two rounds of the dips and bread was too much to finish. The prawns were very fresh and the cheese of a good portion where it won't become too salty for your palate. The lamb main was a bit dry but it went well with the salad. The rice pudding dessert was nice but was a little bit too much caramel. The set could have fed 3 people quite easily.<br/><br/>The decor kept true to Greek roots and service was professional but slow at times due to a busy full house evening.

yes I did have all that to myself and I don't care what anyone says.<br/>great food and ambiance.<br/>beautiful lady at front counter couldn't be any more helpful or delightful.

Came here with friends, our table wasn't ready at the booking time and we were left standing somewhere, it was a bit awkward. The table service was then quite good, the waiter made a few jokes and was helpful to explain the menu, which I thought is a bit difficult to understand. There is no gyros on the menu, which was a bit disappointing, but overall the food was fantastic. The Haloumni cheese with syrup and mint was to die for! Mousakka was very good as well. The chicken from the grill was ok, but nothing special and a bit underwhelming. The beer was very expensive ($12 for a bottle), but overall the evening was nice and enjoyable. I would go back.

We dined on 25 January for lunch. We ordered the Hellenic Health lunch meal. 4 of the dishes we were told we were going to get were incorrect - we wouldn't have ordered it had we known what we would actually get. The dishes we got were overall terrible, two dishes I couldn't eat past on my first bite. So both the customer service and food were poor - worse restaurant meal I've ever had actually. There was no feedback form on the website so I sent feedback to George's website directly - it's been almost a month with no reply so I'm assuming they weren't interested in my feedback. If you go, I'd say stick to their meat and grain salad that they are known for as surely they can't get that too wrong. But I was highly disappointed.

Place looks amazing. Food was just average, nothing special that wow me. I find the overall food was a dry, greasy and lacking of something. We ordered a few appetizers and main dishes with sides. Surprisingly the basic chips were overcooked and burnt. I didn’t understand the serving of watermelon slices for dessert as that’s more of a Chinese restaurant tradition where they serve complimentary free cut fruit at the end of a meal. The waiter service was not consistent; one tried to take the dish away too quickly when there clearly was still some food leftover. The pouring of the champagne was inconsistent, some had more and other had less champagne. I expected more out from the food but felt quite let down. Not too sure if I will give it another go unfortunately as I was really keen on taking family and friends to dine there since it’s a local place for me and my husband.

Didn't have a booking and got a table for 3 straight away. The staff are super friendly and very fast service! All the food was beautifully presented! Will be back to try other menu items! Great addition to the bayside area!

Didnt have a booking and got a table. The place is so beautiful and well styled. The staff are very lovely and super chatty. It was a hot day and they had aircon issues. The speed of service was very fast. All good was well cooked and presented beautifully and tasted the part.

We came here for lunch on a hot Melbourne Sunday. 39c and very humid too. The airconditioning was not coping with the extreme heat or the crowd inside, so it was quite unpleasant. All that aside, the staff were totally incredible with the way they worked. Just so pleasant and super-helpful, bringing extra ice and plenty of water. Can’t fault anything they did. The shared Masa banquet that we all enjoyed was so tasty! George, if you are reading this, your staff deserve medals, or a pay rise, they were all fantastic!

Reviewing from a visit a few weeks ago now. We arrived to be seated, then staff wandered off and left us for ages, before finally returned to take order of two $25 'express' lunches. After 40 minutes being seated we finally got food, no one had even asked about drinks. The food was a very mixed bag. The grain/cauliflower salad had NO seasoning whatsoever, the fish too although it was nicely cooked hadn't seen a grain of salt. The dessert was literally just watermelon with very sour curdled greek yoghurt - no greek honey, or mint leaf or anything to make it restaurant quality offering or give it some love. Despite 'cheap' lunch price If you went to trial food on the back of this you wouldn't return. Luckily we have been to the kew outlet which was far superior. I also noticed the toilet seat in the ladies was the old scratched one from previous restaurant! Really? Surely all those things should have been replaced. It screams of quick opening to get bums on seats and its poor. I ate FAR better food on a tiny Greek Island made by a lovely old Greek lady who cared about the food she made. This is a very poor representation of Greek cuisine which though simple should be delicious. Hopefully it has improved since then . . . . . .

Lunch on a Tuesday and the restaurant was full. We ordered the Hellenic health banquet which is a small tapas style food served in a round tray. Substantial enough for small eaters. The highlight was the $10 glasses of Moët. Absolutely love the 9 grains salad, so fresh and delicious. We will definitely be coming back.

‘Euro in the heart of Brighton’<br/>Tried their Hellenic health lunch option which consisted of 5 small dishes (desert included) as didn’t want a full on meal!<br/>The small dishes included a Pan fried swordfish with Taramsala, some Spanakopita( like Burek and could of had more), a green salad with cauliflower and some fresh tomatoes followed by a desert (Greek yoghurt with watermelon).<br/><br/>I thought the food items were pretty tasty and I liked the way they were presented in what looked like an old fashioned round baking tray from the early 1900’s. Ok <br/><br/>

Got the masa menu which was 55/ person and was not starved. The starters were amazing with the pita bread fluffy, added the fried zucchini which was spiced in something super special. <br/><br/>For mains it was chicken, lamb chops, Cypriot salad and tzatziki. The meat was a little disappointing but raised by the amazing grain salad and spectacular tzatziki. Added the chips to this and although we’re quite greasy from the garlic oil it was hard to stop eating them, the crunch and feta added to the richness, definitely could’ve gone without but had to try. <br/><br/>For dessert we had a rose water rice pudding with salted caramel and a biscuit crumb on top which was unbelievably rich but oh so amazingly delicious! <br/><br/>Service was good but not great with many staff left wandering and lack of attention when we first arrived at desk. <br/>Would definitely go back and eager to try more of the seafood but of course with the grain salad added!

Came here to see what all the hype was about. The food was tasty, staff courteous and good atmosphere. The booking process is a little clunky. We ordered a cocktail and ozo, and then I had whole baby snapper and chips. The snapper was cooked well. My wife had grain salad, cauliflower and lettuce. The meal was good and look forward to visiting again soon. Good addition to Brighton landscape.

Another Hellenic Republic restaurant has landed in the Church Street Brighton strip! A modern almost nautical fit out with a good feel despite being a tad noisy. As I have enjoyed dining at HR in both Kew and Williamstown the menu is pretty much the same, the food really flavoursome and service friendly.

Came here for lunch today and really enjoyed the food and service. We had lamb shoulder, chicken, skewers, chargrilled octopus, taramosalata, tzatziki, pita bread and a horiatiki and greek salad with chips. Nice to see a traditional style greek restaurant in Brighton.

Incredibly disappointing. Went there two days ago for our anniversary and having pre-booked, were seated right by the spit rotisserie having shown our displeasure at being seated in the doorway. Not long in to our stay, a large panel of plaster fell from the roof and hit up against the glass between the rotisserie and where we were seated. We were incredibly lucky the glass didn’t shatter. No-one came to check if we and the nearby tables were ok. What’s more, no-one had offered us water as yet, nor asked to take our drinks order. Eventually a waiter came over but by this stage, we’d decided to spend our night at another establishment.

Firstly, it’s great to have a Greek joint in Brighton. While the ouzo, dips and pita are all delicious, the lamb cutlets were over cooked, under juiced and chewy. It felt like eating charcoal! We kept asking for more lemon to soften the texture but there was no saving those cutlets. They never should have left the kitchen. Willing to give it another try as it’s still new.

Very uncomfortable chairs, came home with two bruises on my thighs. Please clean (devein) the prawns in Prawn Saganaki next time I dont want to bite into uncleaned prawns. Not pleasant. Otherwise food tastes good.

Food is great. Service is very underwhelming. Understand it's only recently opened, we visited the place twice since it's opening and the service was very slow and unorganised on both occasions. We loved our experience at the branch in Kew, but the Brighton one is a little underwhelming overall.

Very disappointing, noisiest place I’ve ever been. Can’t hear someone sitting next to you. Food was very oily & service slow - took 30 mins to get a drink, which we collected from the bar ourselves. Gorgeous looking venue, but looks like cashing in on name. Such a shame as love Brunswick.