Review Tiba's Restaurant - Brunswick East

Update Sept 2018: Tibas never let's us down. The servicing is great, the serving sizes are large and the flavours consistent. Love this place! Tibas in Brunswick and Lygon are both excellent restaurant with consistently high quality dishes. Fresh toubouli and perfectly grilled lamb chops. Very generous serving sizes

Looking for some traditional lebanese food this is the place. Tasty dishes with lots of varieties amazing environment, staff is very responsive didn't had to wait too long for food after placing an order.

Great food and authentic atmosphere!! This one is even nicer than the one at Sydney Road. The food is abundant, affordable and delicious. The service is friendly and efficient. Both thumbs up: we are loyal customers!

Generous portions, amazing authentic taste only downside could be too much fat dripping from shawarma. Now my favourite place for Mediterranean food

Wonderful restaurant! Reasonably priced, great portions and delicious ! The Garlic dip is a MUST.

Update: used to be five stars, but the quality of their food and service is going down. The food is half burnt and half row, there is only two girls need to handle the whole restaurant. ------- Best Lebanese food I've tried in Melbourne, has variety of dishes on the menu

This is one of the best Lebanese I've tried. Staff are friendly, restaurant is clean and well laid out, menu is easy to understand. The mixed grill is so much value for $24, it's enough for 3 people! One of Lygon Street's best.

Honestly this is my favourite spot in Melbourne. I would go here everyday. These guys are humble but do everything well. Please keep doing what you are doing. The serving sizes are monstrous. Falafel is to die for, huge chunks of goodness. I don’t know which legend is making the dips but keep him/her on! Did I mention the free bread? I miss Tiba’s

Great service and great food thank you.. Love the kibbe!

Overall I thought the mixed grill was ok. Portion god to share for 2. But found it to be salty. I drank so much water sfterwards

Tiba's is an excellent venue. Very generous serves and truly authentic Lebanese cuisine prepared with passion. <br/>Service is efficient and even when busy, turnaround time from kitchen is impressive. <br/>Lamb cutlets are delicious.

One of my favourite restaurants Melbourne I've been too many times to count! Generous portions, affordable prices and quick service what's not to love.<br/><br/>Food: Tiba's has broadly Muslim clientele with a prayer room at the back so no alcoholic is served. Prices have increased recently with the sharwarma meal going from $16.80 to $19.80 and the mix grill from $24 to $29. Nevertheless, the massive portions (shareable between 2) and free bag of pit bread per table ensures Tiba's remains incredible value. Main meals are generously accompanied by a delicious salad, cucumber drip, hommos, pickles and rice. The meat is incredibly well seasoned and not overly dry or processed. Pastries aren't as generously portioned, though you can't complain for the price. The drinks menu is basic but has the usual coffee, tea and soft drinks.<br/><br/>Given the difficulty of parking on Sydney Road, Brunswick Station, the 19 Tram and bus stops are all nearby. While Tiba's looks straight out of the 1980s, who cares when the food is this good! I've never left unsatisfied and they are open daily for lunch and dinner.

Tried out Tiba on Lygon Street as we would usually visit the one on Sydmey Road. They have been around for awhile now and is known to many locals and regulars.<br/><br/>Their items are perfect for sharing and their mix grill platters are really good. It comes with the different dips, salad and rice. They do have pita bread on the table as well and it goes really well with the dips and salad. I really enjoy their rice and would usually order more to go with the meat and salad.<br/><br/>The meat is so tasty and nicely marinated and the kebabs are so good. The other dish that you do not want to miss is the fried cauliflower, it makes the perfect entree or side and it's really good.<br/><br/>The staff here is really friendly and attentive

This was our first time at Tiba’s on Lygon Street, we usually dine at Sydney Road one. The venue feels more spacious and brighter. The food is tastier and has great friendly customer service.<br/><br/>We had our go-to order:<br/>-Mixed Grill comprising of Garden salad, Tabouli, Yogurt & Cucumber dip and hommos dip served with rice, Lamb and Chicken shawarma, Shish kafta, Lamb Cutlet and Sausage. Yoghurt cucumber dip was swapped out with babagnooj.<br/>-Fried Kebbe <br/>-Chips<br/><br/>Everything is delicious, the meats are well seasoned and juicy. Kebbe was packed with flavour and the tabouli is light and fresh. The mixed grill is large, but you are hungry and like a lot of meat, I'd recommend getting an extra meat dish. Bonus, we had complementary a basket of fresh and fried pita bread. To finish off we offered delicious tea that had a hint of cinnamon. This is a great place to dine with family and friends.

Finally tried the quail at our go to Lebanese restaurant, loved every bite, seasoned well and most importantly roasted just right! Kudos to the team at Tiba’s for the perfection they serve, please open a Tiba’s on the SE soon! <br/>

More restaurant like than the Sydney Rd version. All the same dishes. Lamb sharwama still the same and just as good. Plenty of seating even though Zomato wouldn’t let you book your preferred time. We wanted 7:30 but was only given 8. When we arrived there were only 2 other tables for the whole night. Went on Romantica Bar afterwards which was lovely for a drink as this place is alcohol free.

The place to go for a Lebanese feast. Simple, fresh ingredients and lots of it, accompanied with a basket of fresh and fried pita. We ordered far too much but they were only too happy to provide us with doggy bags.

A nice place with great customer service. We ordered about 12 different items. Stand out was Lebanese pizza, lamb cutlets and chicken swarma. The meat was cooked perfect, it was succulent and tender. But the best part of our experience was how attentive the customer service was. Probably one of the best.

If I could give it a zero I would. The tabbouli was not fresh, the falafels were very dense and a staff member walked out of the kitchen with his gloves on to move his car outside and kept them on and went back into the kitchen. I will never eat here again. Extremely disappointed with our meal!

Fabulous, just fabulous 👑 $64 for a family of 5 is cheap for a delicious, high quality gourmet! We ordered mixed grill, chicken shawarma and lamb shawarma (and hummus by mistake (the dishes all came with hummus), but we devoured it all as it's so delicious!).<br/><br/>Whilst enjoying the unique flavour of lamb and taboula salad, a lady came offering free 'seven tea' ~ the aroma was beautiful and it had a hint of cinnamon which we love ☕💕 I'm curious to know if the other branches have similar quality to this restaurant 🤩 Would love to come here again with my hungry family.

I'm obsessed with feasts and being surprised... we may have (definitely) ordered more than we could've handled.<br/><br/>Ordered:<br/>Management Banquet: A traditional lebanese way to share a spread variety of entrees and mains ($30pp)<br/>- Entree: tabouli, homos, yoghurt-cucumber dip, babaganooj, falafels and chips<br/>- Main: grilled 1 shish kafta and 1 shish chicken for each person and a plate of lamb shawarma<br/>- Followed by a mixed Lebanese dessert and a bottled soft drink.<br/><br/>Review:<br/>The highlight was the plate of lamb shawarma. Flavoured well, leaving a savoury bbq'ed taste with every bite. As well as the fried complimentary, salted Lebanese bread. Sure the oil left a grime on your fingers, but the ultimate combination of fried and salty food hits and lights up your taste buds in ways I can't explain...<br/>The lowlight was the chicken. A bit too hard, it was overcooked and could definitely be more juiiiicy.<br/><br/>Overall, the service was fast and with the wide open atmosphere it would be great for large group parties. The tables are stacked a bit too close together - pulling out my chair to get out had me questioning my agility but I'm sure that's a small issue that can be resolved.

Went there for my 20th Birthday dinner <br/>What can I say the waitress was so nice and let me modify the order <br/>I got the mixed grill with substitutes , beware these meals are made for people with a massive appetite , one 24 dollar meal can easily be shared between 2 people.<br/><br/>Only thing I didn’t like and this is being super picky was that the staff are very casual and were wearing trackies !! <br/><br/>There was enough food for all of us to take home which was good! Try the falafels they are melt in your mouth amazing leaving you going back for seconds .... even thirds .<br/><br/>Definantly would recommend going <br/><br/><br/>Thanks Tibas in Lygon for a great experience

3.5<br/><br/>Not as good as the one on Sydney road but still delicious and great giant portions <br/>It is not as packed aswell so the food I feel is not as fresh . I love Getting the lamb shawarma platter and substituting cucumber dip with garlic

Loved it. Inexpensive and fresh authentic Lebanese food. The staff were very polite and accommodating. Would definitely be coming back. Highly recommend.

Good Lebanese food, prompt service much better Tiba’s than the one in Sydney Road in both quality of food and service. I always get the mixed platter and it’s very filling.

loved the food but service was extremely poor. no1 came to our table despite the fact that we were looking for them for almost 10 mins. half our order came and rest wasnt served till we reminded them. would go back for the food but will hope they seve better

We went last month over there and we loved the food. I ordered the Veg platter which was great except the eggplant dip was out of jar n tasted awful.<br/>Service was great and food came out fast.<br/>We were 4 people and we all ordered a platter each, it was too much food. 1 platter can be shared easily between two people which I would have appreciated if the waiting staff would have told us.<br/> Don’t mind going again sometime :-) <br/>

Tiba’s has long been a favourite of mine while I’ve been a resident of Brunswick over the last 5 years. It’s quick, cheap and fairly conveniently located. The Lygon St store is a newer location but still serves the same big portions of Lebanese food that is famous at its Sydney Rd Store. The staff are generally friendly and attentive and the food comes really quickly. Always a good option if you can’t be bothered cooking and want something quick and substancial. <br/><br/>Mixed shawarma or the mixed grill are always good options to go for, although if you aren’t a big eater, these two plates could easily be shared between 2 people if you ordered a side as well. <br/><br/>It’s classics Lebanese, nothing fancy or creative about it, and that’s what most people like about it. You know what you’re getting.

Ratio Decidendi: There’s nothing to dislike about the shawarma serve at Tiba’s – the familiar and friendly cast of grilled lamb, rice, hummus, tabouli, garden salad and a side basket of bread presents as a somewhat balanced and dare I say “healthy” meal that won’t see you leaving hungry. The ‘homely’ feel to the meal however does mean it lacks that X factor that would persuade you to drive across town for it. The lamb cutlets did better at leaving a lasting impression, a tad pink on the inside with the fat well rendered and taken just far enough to imbue a delicious smoky and charred finish.

4 of us , we ordered the managers banquet for 2 people and a mix kebab main course. Food came quickly and it was tasty. The banquet is ideal if you want to taste a bit of everything. We ate our fill and barely finished half of it. So now we got heaps of take away.<br/><br/>Service was good as well as ambiance. It was 3/4 full on a friday night so it was lively but not overly packed. Will defs go back.

If you like middle eastern food then you've most likely heard of Tibas.<br/><br/>Tonight we visited their Brunswick branch which seemed larger than the Coburg one and had plenty of seating. Open floor too unlike Coburg which is separated by walls which I thought was nicer.<br/><br/>As for the food. Pretty solid. Obviously not as good as mama makes it, but overall pretty happy with our meals. Except the felafels tonight were a but dry.<br/>It's great value for money here. The serving sizes are pretty big for average people.<br/><br/>Staff were really good. Attentive and on point. Worth a visit.

Favourite Lebanese restaurant <br/>I always get the lamb shawarma with the dips, rice and tabouli on the side <br/>Always fills me up and is full of flavour ! <br/>My friends love the Lebanese sausages called makanek

It is OK. The food is authentic middle eastern style，and the price is good，around 20 AUD per person. But it tastes ordinary，nothing impressive. Anyway，it is a good local place to drop by.

A great place for cheap and tasty Lebanese food! Service is great - our order was taken promptly and food almost always follows soon after. The garlic dip is a must as well as the mixed shawarma plate.

This place is like Sofia's, but instead of Italian food, it's Lebanese food. <br/><br/>Less restaurant and more a cafeteria style setting: tick<br/>Cheap food: tick<br/>Large servings : tick<br/>Bland flavourless food: tick<br/>Cheap and ugly decor: tick<br/>Loud environment where you can't here the person opposite you : tick<br/><br/>Needless to say, I don't think I'll be returning.

Great place! Featuring one of the tastiest wraps I've ever had.. chicken and lamb were superb. Extra bread on the side (and also the fried version of it). Big portion, fast service. A little point down because I found a live bug on my salad. Will come back once I forget about it 😋

I discovered this place through Zomato. It was actually great. You can get lots of food for 2 People with 40bucks. First of all they bring bread and lots of it in a basket. We ordered mixed grill serve and Lamb Cutlet. Both cane with rice, salad , Tabouli, Hummus and yoghurt. Mixed Grill had lamb cutlet, shish kabab, lamb and chicken shawerma and sausage. Sausage was interesting and had cinnamon. Overall kebab was above average for Australia but still behind local middle eastern in the middle east. Staff were polite and I will visit this place again.

Tiba's on Lygon is so much quieter than Tiba's on Sydney road, which is much more noisy and crowded. Great value for food, from veggies to meat, all very tasty. Very friendly staff, allowing us to talk loud and stay until the very end uninterrupted. The cinnamon tea in fact has a whole cinnamon stick in it. Interesting. And we were allowed to split the bill! Love it!

I love Tiba's ! I've tried most of the menu and have been happy with everything. These days I usually go for a Falafel Wrap for lunch and either a Mix grill or Vegetarian packs for dinner! Tibas is consistent, very fair price, and generous servings.. Recommended for sure👌🏽

Easily the best hummus in town! We had a few set meals and they were all very yummy, the lamb sausage was my favorite! Will definitely be back again!

Food is very good for the price you pay. I would recommend Tiba's on Lygon over the one on Sydney Road because the staff were much, much better.

The food here never disappoints! It's always fresh and value for money. You can tell their dips are fresh and made from scratch. There could be less salad and more meat but that's just a minor critique-you get what you pay for. The place is clean and the waiters are polite. I love seeing the variety of people who come here, from hipsters to middle easterners, you never feel out of place! FYI no alcohol allowed, but this is what makes this place even better and adversely teaches diners that you can be sober and still enjoy company and food!

Good food, cheap shwarma, kebab and dips however i feel that religious practices and culture takes over many of the restaurants good points. BIG black board in arabic writing at the door. Ok wanna tell me that in english? Yes its slightly cheaper than the predecessor adonis which i loved, but comes with negatives.<br/><br/>To put it bluntly. There is a prayer room up stairs that is constantly used and loud. During ramadan time the restaurant was blasting out prayer chanting on the speakers. And the waiters look on high edge even though the resteraunt is empty. Its not a good vibe for someone that likes atmosphere and food combined. I would recommend Mezza on lygon as everyone looks more relaxed, friendly, they serve alcohol and its totally secular.

If your after traditional lebanese food this place is the go, its just like how the lebanese do it at home. We just ordered a banquet and it was so much food that we couldn't even finish it. All the food was pretty good and fresh and so was the lebanese bread to go with it. Pretty good place if your hungry and the food comes out quick.

I went here tonight with some family. We ordered a number of platters, all of which were really tasty. A good selection of grilled meat and salads. <br/>I've only had Lebanese once or twice before so it was great to try this restaurant tonight. <br/>The only unfortunate surprise I had was that you can't buy alcohol and it's not BYO!! OMGosh, I was looking forward to a beer. Eek, hahaha

Super quick, easy and tasty. Highly recommend this place. Lamb value pack and lamb kebab wrap are the go to for me. Excellent fresh food, can't go wrong

If you care for your money, don't go here. <br/><br/>A disappointment to a very reputable restaurant. Sydney Road (Tibas) has and always will be amazing but this 'newish' franchisee was nowhere near the level we expected.<br/><br/>'Worst hummos' in Melbourne was made here!

Always a great option when in this part of town and in the mood for some Lebanese food. All of the classics done properly and reasonably priced. The blood sausage is a particular highlight, as is the perfecly cooked felafel.

I was really excited to try this restaurant when I found kibbeh nayeh on the menu. However, when ordering they said they don't serve it anymore. On the upside, we tried the mixed platter that had a mix of everything with rice, salad, huge piles of hummus & tzatziki and a big basket of bread. Very very filling. Worth the money.

Definitely not as good as the first Tibas restaurant on Sydney road which might explain why it's always half empty... We ordered the lamb shawarma pack and chicken shish pack to take away. Unfortunately the chicken shish turned out to be chicken shawarma which I only realised once I got home. The meat was luke warm and very oily & the tzatziki was overly garlicky. They also didn't have any ayran which for a Lebanese restaurant I would have thought would be standard & is certainly always in stock in the Syd rd restaurant. I would go out of your way to get to the Syd rd restaurant over Lygon st if you want the real Tibas experience.

I already wrote a review for Tiba's on Sydney rd but I wanted to write one here as well. Some people say that food changes with location but I think that Tiba's has stayed true to their claim of fresh and tasty food. I recommend this place highly and it has made me a lover of Lebanese food!

This restaurant had a great ambiance while serving good food with generous portions and fresh dips and salad. The Turkish Delight is worth trying.

Tasty food, good value, child friendly, no-frills service. Good for an informal meal with family or friends. Not as crowded as tiba's Brunswick (yet)!

As an old customer of Tiba's from Sydney Rd Brunswick/ This branch is definitely on par and very consistent with the Tiba taste as everything is fresh and tasty the service here is also fantastic especially for big groups. I have been here for dinner and the food is so tasty especially the shawarma plate. Definitely will be back to this branch.

Cheap, tasty, quick and fresh. Really, what more could you ask for?? It's a favourite weekday dinner stop for me. If you have a chance to dine in, the service is always friendly!

The food here is always fresh, tasty and extremely cheap. If you want good and cheap Lebanese food, this is the place to come to. Customer service is ok but often they confuse the orders.

Epic portions of delicious grilled meats, salads and dips. Can easily feed two people with their $19.50 mixed grill, but if you're feeling gluttonous then their special plates come with a few surprises (quail anyone?). Strictly no booze, which actually makes for a nice change of pace for a meal out!

Went into tiba at around 6:00pm on 19 April 2015. Was seated and waited for around 20 minute to even be served. The restaurant was practically empty and the staff were more concerned about talking to each other than taking our order; they completely ignored us. The staff didn't even seem to notice when we left without being served. Went next door and got chicken and chips which was delicious. Do your self a favour, don't bother going - service is terrible.

Nano. I liked the staff and the food was very good, it was cheap too. My kids enjoyed the shish chicken and my husband loved the lamb and for me it was first time to try Lebanese sausage, it was delicious.

Currently more consistent than the original Sydney rd vender.. The extremely popular and much adored Sydney rd institution has spread it's bready wings over to the booming restaurant strip on Lygon St, with excellent results. I think perhaps because it is a new restaurant with shiny new kitchen facilities, the food seems to be more consistently fresh and clean than it's predecessor. Reminds of why I fell in love with Tibas in the first place many moons ago. <br/>A side note: always find it amusing when people complain about the service at Tibas, you a literally getting piles of food for next to nothing, it's great value cheap food (with free bread) which doesn't typically go hand in hand with amazing service. Perhaps try to avoid the busy times for a smoother experience, or even take away!

Our food took over an hour to be served. Many people were getting their food before us however there definitely were not enough staff on. We had to remind the waitress what we had ordered but part of our meal was still forgotten. The kababs were good however the overall experience was terrible. We asked for a discount because of how late our meal was and how much had been forgotten. We were told they couldn't do discounts and we were offered some sweets instead, which we found pretty patronising. Would not go back simply because of the service.

Best food great waitress with beautiful smiles.cant wait to go again and again! You all should try it ❤️

Great value for money.. Food is awesome nice and tasty..

Vegetarians too!. LOVE Tibas on Lygon! The vegetarian plate is delicious, the falafel's are fresh, crunchy on the outside and soft in the centre. Fresh salad and delicious dips. Generous serving of bread on the side. Placid an kind service.

Top spot. I'm a lamb lover and this place meets my stringent standards. The decor is a bit crummy but I'm more interested in the food when I eat out, especially in this area lol, and the quality is good here (I've only been in twice). I heard about this place from my Leb buddies who know a thing or two about good eats, I also recommend.

Brunswick East is renowned for it's abundance of great dining options and unfortunately the new Tiba's restaurant on Lygon doesn't quite stack up. An overly large restaurant that lacks music, general ambience and warmth. Food doesn't get much more exotic than what you'll find at a souvlaki van and the 'no alcohol' policy doesn't particularly appeal to an Australian market.

This has actually got to be the worst resturant I have ever been too! The good was average, however the service was pathetic and the seating arrangements were terrible! If you want a nice and quiet place to enjoy your meal I highly suggest NOT TO EAT HERE! WONT BE GOING THERE EVER AGAIN!

Average. Ordered the banquet for 2. Lots of food but very average and some bland. Slow service.

Takeaway. We ordered a chicken shawarma and a falafel wrap after eating them from the Sydney road branch. Putting it nicely, we were sorely disappointed by the low quality of food served. The meat was dry, there was almost no sauce on the wraps and tasted bland,unlike the wraps from it's sister store. The only saving grace of the place was the chips, which were good bang for buck. My advice would be walking down to Sydney road and getting the authentic deal there instead.

Good experience but room for improvement. I am a fan of the original Tiba's and was keen to try his one. Overall good experience except I found the service to be very slow and inconsistent. Otherwise, good food and nice interior

Great lamb!. The lamb dishes are excellent here. I came here twice and had the lamb shwarma lunch and shish kebab lunch on separate occassions. Both times, the lambs were cooked to perfection: not dry but juicy enough. The sides were also good with generous amounts of hommus, yoghurt dip, tabouli, pickled vegs, salad, rice and lebanese bread. Quite a balanced meal! Highly recommend for $12. Although for some reason they never give you the soft drinks that is advertised. Still, it was pretty good value.

Great affordable food. Was really happy with my experience tonight. Just went for a spontaneous night out with my partner, and we were both amazed at how much food you get for your buck. Really fresh, huge servings and really tasty. The service is average, but friendly. Not the most chic interior, but the food trumps all the cons. Highly recommend it.

Why are you closed on a Tuesday. Love Tibas! Amazing food and very well priced. The only thing I am disappointed in is that both restaurants are closed on Tuesdays. Can't you open at least one on a Tuesday & close the other on another day? Please....

The food was amazing! The service was great!<br/>Definately will be going back. <br/>Oh did I say the food was AMAZING!

Tasty, reasonably priced food and great service. Will come again. Shared a vego platter with a friend and some vine leaves- definately order those! Couldn't resist some baklawa to take home. Everyone was lovely and checked that we were comfortable :)