Review Zara Restaurant - Coburg

Great place to catch up on a meal if you missed the supermarket. Love the guy who works there he's so friendly but won't drag you into a conversation if you are feeling shy. The food is good, it's not quite fine dining but what can you expect for prices like this at 1am? There's a range of items from quick and dirty donor kebab or if that is a beneath you there's also freshly cooked meats and pastries. Lots of dips too.

We booked a family dinner and were extremely disappointed with the entire experience on the night. The service was extremely poor and it took ages for our food to be ordered because of the poorly trained staff who had difficulty with the English language. We should have left then... We had to ask several times for water and were only given a half filled jug. We ordered the banquets and were disappointed with the small portions and the staff ignored us when we tried to attract their attention to complain about the food. ( they were more interested in playing with their phones ) The place was dirty and dusty and the toilets were terrible. We complained to the bald owner upon leaving and an argument ensured..... he was politely informed to undertake a course in how to respond with customers. This advice was free unlike the overpaid meals we had will never return nor recommend this dreadful eatery ( it's not a restaurant ) to anyone. Give this place a miss

Was here twice for family functions and the food was terrible ! Everything stank like it was overdue, I asked for chicken as I don’t eat lamb or beef and they put the chicken out on a dirty plate and I found left over beef or lamb on the plate, I tried the chicken and immediately spat it out it tasted like dirty dish water! Service is horrible they don’t listen and leave the dirty plates sitting there on the table, toilets are very dirty and it smells of bleach and dirty wet towels. Over priced if you have a family function I suggest eating before going or afterwards.highly outdated food only good thing is if you have great company your able to have a dance and drink.

If you’re looking for a place to get quality Turkish food from, look no further! The best Kebabs you’ll ever eat as well as the owner being one of the most nicest you’ll ever meet. I always come back for more!

We went in for dinner, excited for our meal. The place was dirty, 3 staff members. I ordered the chicken platter with rice and salad, the chicken was dry, no flavour at all, rice was hard, gave me a salad with Italian dressing (at a Turkish restaurant), the Turkish pizza meat was raw, they only gave us one piece of each meat which was $30. The staff ignored us hiding in the kitchen when we complained about our food, horrible service, disgusting food, dirty floors, out of date restaurant. Horrible and do not recommend to anyone who considers coming here.

We walked into the place to see dirty and dusty decorations, dirty floors, crumbs everywhere, barely anyone in the place. Only had 2 waitress running around, under so much stress. Drinks were forgotten. One order was a sizzling chicken platter, rice had no taste, chicken was dry, hard to swallow. Another thing we ordered was the full kebab, it had one spoonful of the tasteless rice, chewy meat, dry chicken, horrible looking small salad, and had the serving size for a toddler, that cost $30. Too expensive, bad quality food, expensive, not worth the price, alright service at best. Overall just not a good place to spend your night, had to go to a kebab van after it was that disappointing, do not spend your night here…

Restaurant was completely empty and staff werent able to wait on 2 tables. Extremely expensive for the amount of food purchase. Food was mediocre at best. Eftpos machine didnt seem to work when bill was high. Never again. I should have realised to avoid when they had availability on a Friday night and only 2 tables to serve. KEEP RIGHT AWAY.

No garlic or tomato sauce on the kabab the bread was burnt 🥵 I rang and explained the meal was a total disaster. She did say they didn’t burn the bread. We will not be returning to Zarahs again That was 😣

Food was very good, however we were only ones in restaurant with 4 waitresses who didn’t ask us once if we were ok. We had to keep getting their attention to ask for simple things like servers for our food.<br/>

I have been to this restaurant countless times and while the decor hasn’t been updated since the 80’s I enjoy the fuss free food. The pricing is also extremely affordable.<br/><br/>I always order the iskender which arrives on a sizzling hot plate but a banquet is a good option if it’s your first visit. The warm Turkish bread is so yummy it’s easy to get full on endless baskets so be careful, but do ensure you have it with either the eggplant and or spinach dip.

No idea why there are 1 star reviews I was a little hesitant in coming here after seeing those but had some friends organise dinner. I am In disbelief that anyone would rate this place a 1? Service is literally lovely as is the food. The staff are so friendly and attentive and the older guy up the front is the nicest person. We got the $35 banquet. It is good value with all you can eat and unlimited soft drinks. We are not Turkish but there was live music which was good fun and provided a good atmosphere. Will be coming here again! Thank you

very bad !always the boys in restaurant is looking for fight,food ? I don't have the word for taste and quality and you are not safe at all in restaurant Never again

Unfortunately I have to give this restaurant the lowest score because the food quality. The falafel was not home made as you expect. It was dry and flavourless. The service was friendly however.

Food is touch and go, but the service needs to be rectified if it wants to compete with other Turkish Restaurants a footy kick away. It's dark and lacks atmosphere - a make-over and proper service will help Zara immensely

Came here last month.. we ordered the banquet. The only good thing was the Turkish bread. Oh and the belly dancer was amazing. The three different dips all taste the same... The food was just meh. Not good for large groups.. <br/>

How this place has a 3.2 rating is beyond me. Doesn't even deserve a 1 but I'm feeling generous. <br/>Disgusting food, very poor service with rude waiting staff, didn't get any water even though we asked 3 times and when we mentioned it to the cashier he said 'so? It's just water'. You should be closed down!

Have been coming here for years. Service is absolutely terrible each and every time we come in. The food on the other hand is delicious and very reasonably priced. Iskender is the best!

I've been coming to Zara's since I was a child - it's my favorite Turkish! Bread and dips are the best I've had - always fresh and hot. It is a family restaurant and that's why I keep coming back.

One of the best meals I've had.<br/>We decided to order the Turkish Feast and it was absolutely brilliant. The staff were also very friendly.<br/>We'll definitely be back!

Our favorite place to go especially when we are all starving. Service would be a lot better if the wait staff could learn how to smile. The boss is quite a cheerful fella though. That aside the dips are always so fresh and the bread is always so good!!<br/>There Turkish lamb pizza is awesome and they also make a wicked potato salad that is nothing like the Aussie version.<br/>Roughly $70 for the 4 of us when we visit and we are always nice and full.

Came here for a work function dinner thingy, we paid about $50 a head so for that price I was expecting an absolute meatfest. It was far from it with huge wait times, the entertainment was nothing flash, the dj was quite boring but what dj isn't.. Quite a few workmates were complaining about the food and someone mentioned something about ants. By that stage I was quite hammered and the meat very dry and there was no meat mountain which made me frown. Nothing hit the spot for me except the dirty Big Mac on the way home. Win some you lose some!!

Blergh.. Baaaad kebab. Meat had bits of bone in it. Almost broke my tooth. Garlic sauce was watery. Not good. Threw half of it out. Admittedly I got it late. But it shouldn't matter. Quality is quality. And quality it was not.

A place specifically for functions and events. However casual dining is enjoyable if you know what you are after. Iskander is spectacular.

Was the Only place in Melbourne I'll get a kebab from, although the prices have gone up and the breads gotten a little smaller over the past 15 years it's still the best lamb kebab with garlic and chilli sauce you can get. But it's just so tiny now it's hardly worth the money, there's other places around that are giving more for the same. Place has been slipping for a while. <br/>

Terrible. Quality of food served here is very very bad. The meat smelling badly, all you get is load of Turkish bread, cola and smelly food.

Poor service. OK tasting food, poor service though, they were out of multiple things for 6pm dinner service with no one in restaurant, took ages to get food, asked for bread twice before it came and our small salad came after we had finished entrees and mains. Wouldn't go back.

Our Favoiurite. Have no other affiliation other than my family have been going to Zara's for more than 10 years, the food is great and the atmosphere friendly. Being a family run restaurant the kitchen and wait staff may often be family, and on Sat night with the back room full as it regularly is (and that says something), so they can be run off their feet and you may have to make yourself known!. On Sat, we booked for 18, we have seen the belly dancers enough times so sat in the front section, pre-ordered the feast banquet (its easier with a big group), and an excellent time was had by all including a few new to Turkish food. Bread, dip, salads, meat (recommend the pide) its not complicated but its good and lots of it, we have never had to ask for more! If it is your first time, don't fill up too early on the bread and dip, and try the EFE's beer. Take away kebabs to eat on the go or in trays to bring home is a also a good option we have used more than a few times.

Zara is a good introduction to Turkish food and as far as banquets go, this is one that certainly won’t break the bank.

Horrible. My friend and i came here for valetines day. I had made reservations, once we arrived our table was not ready and it took half an hour for our drinks to come out after i left my chair twice to ask about them. They then bring me white wine when i asked for red, the waiters are in their own world. It took a whole hour and 20 for our entrés to come out, we ordered 3 and only two came out. I lost it. I spoke with the owner and not even a sign of remorse just excuses. Zara do not know how to run a business i was appalled with the lack of hospitality and ignorance from the waiters. We paid for our entrés and left not even an apology for their stuff ups. I really enjoyed the cheeseburger we got on the rd though.<br/>DO NOT COME HERE. WORST EXPERIENCE EVER!!!!

WORST EXPERIENCE. I had my Hens night there last night and it turned out to be the worst experience. I arrived and the tables were not set up as I had requested, excuses were made. I had to be firm for them to finally acknowledge my requests. Waitresses were constantly speaking in another language that I could understand and all I could hear was them bad mouthing us. The service was ridiculous!! Wait staff were so rude and arrogant, they were so slack that I was so disgusted in their way of working (i was a waitress for 5 years) wait staff refused to or had excuses for everything I requested. The food was horrendous, it was delayed, cold and not fresh. As if that wasn't bad enough, when people had a chance to eat properly the waitresses cleared the tables and was quite rude. During the night they were too busy about how quickly then can get us out. By 10pm they were trying to clear the tables. We were told that we would be served extra dips, set menu, unlimited soft drinks, desserts and coffee. We got a bit of dips, cold crusty bread no extra food and we were told they had no desserts or coffee left The restaurant was empty apart from my function? I actually cried because it was the worse experience I've ever had. The last thing they charged me over, I paid for 25 people extra that weren't even there and the agreement was I would only pay for the people that actually came. Stay away people!!

Don't waste your time!!!. A very disappointing evening went out for birthday celebration we booked we confirmed the booking , we also phoned to say we are going to be late.<br/>On arrival they had no booking and no table ready, we we stuck in a back corner while they scurried around for table wear and cutlery.<br/>Still no wine glasses!!! <br/>The dip bread and salad all arrived and went the next course a sizzling plate of meat nothing else<br/>After 20 mins more meat lying on the thinnest bed of rice for 6 people. <br/>This was just to hard no. Serviettes when asked we got three! Unfortunately the staff did not speak much English so weren't really able to help, entertainment wS to start at 838 it was after 1030 before a belly dancer emerged.<br/>Anyway to some it up we were made to feel like unwanted guests at a family occasion that we had gate crashed !<br/>The only positive the food when it did arrive was tasty . <br/>I wouldn't want anyone to go through this they really need to decide wether the public are valuable to them or not .

Dirty good. It is not the cleanest place, or the nicest looking but the food is good, good price and good portions.

Great KEBAB and grilled meats.. For take away Kebabs... Highly Recommended.

I organised a party for my wife's bday...had like 20 people ...an it was FUN.the customer service that have was top notch.unlimited food..although I would have preferred having more variety and may be even the mains for extra money .certainly one of the best memories.thank you guys !!!HIGHLY RECOMMENDED !

GREAT FOOD. May not be the greatest fitout but the food is to die for! Such a nice man always smiling and friendly, very welcoming. Bread & dips are amazing & the meat is always cooked to perfection. One of our favourite places in town!

Horrendous. Ate there a number of times and gave up as the lady who owns this place is the rudest person to run a restaurant i have ever been to in my life. The service in this place is appalling and why anyone would go here is beyond me.<br/><br/>I would not eat there again if you paid me

Meat cooked so well. Every time I have been, the meat is always cooked to perfection. I have not eaten in, but takeaway has always been great and the staff are always very welcoming.

Do not waste your money or your appetite. Overpriced trash.

Lamb cutlets. The best lamb cutlets in Melbourne! Love love love. Service here is on the poor side of variable but the food is great. Love when the belly dancers visit too!

TURKISH (not so) DELIGHT. Went to Zara with one friend. Firstly they sat us at an oily table. We sat at the oily table attempting to get anyones attention to take our order for over 20 minutes. Finally we managed to order the house special comprised of the ' chef's selection of vegetarian dishes' and we also ordered a 'falafel plater'. Two sizzling plates arrived consisting of oil drenched sticky white rice, doused in yogurt and what appeared be leggo's tomato paste. It did NOT taste any better than it sounds... hot, oily, tomato pasty, disgusting. We couldn't taste any of our vegetables and found it hard to decipher between any of the said 'vegetable dishes' that the 'chef' had so kindly selected for us. It was simply a mush of hot,oily , tomato pasty, disgusting vegetables.<br/>Now did we mention our falafels? These babies were barely bigger than a 20 cent piece, dry, flavourless and came with the hefty price tag of $14 for the hot, oily, falafel dish (these were also doused in yogurt and Leggo's sauce).<br/>We considered making a swift exit and never ever returning or paying for that matter, but unfortunately we have a moral consciousness, and no balls, so ended up reluctantly parting with our hard earned pennies. When we asked for the bill we were directed to the cashier's 'desk' at the front of the restaurant where a man (or chef) who appeared to be very preoccupied with his meat stick (spit?) reluctantly came over after some time to assist with the painful paying process. This man (or chef?) guided his oily hand to a piece of scrap paper on which he spent several minutes struggling with some basic mathematics. Once he had miscalculated ( in our favour thank heavens) he then guided the same oily hand to my key card which he snatched from my grasp to jam into the eftpos machine in an abrupt, almost violent, manner. He then proceeded to re-attended the cherished meat stick. During the entire exchange no words were spoken.<br/>However the Zara restaurant did have a few saving graces<br/>1. Entertainment- sick turkish keyboard beats and disco played by some middle aged man legends. Loved it.<br/>2. Turkish bread and dips. Were surprisingly delightful <br/>3. Was farewelled by cute turkish boy, possibly man chefs son or nephew. Had a delightful smile. He was a real sweetheart and his smile sweetened the bitterness at the bottom of our hearts.<br/><br/>ONLY GO FOR DIP AND BREAD! ONLY GO FOR DIP AND BREAD! ONLY GO FOR DIP AND BREAD! ( and cute nephew man guy/turkish disco)

Authentic Turkish food. Best Turkish food in Melbourne. Authentic, simple and well priced. We have been going here for years and the food is always good.

Zara Restaurant-Terrible. We attended Zara restaurant over the weekend.There were 18 of us.The seating was so badly organised that one could not sit at the table.The owner did not care.He was too busy cooking.Before the food arrived there were screams from young girls in the restaurant.They were terrified at seeing a dead mouse in the dining area near the stage.It only got better.We recieved 1 very small bowl of salad initially (see photo) to share between 18 people and the dips were not enough.We constantly had to ask for soft drinks,bread and dips to keep everybody happy but to no avail.I will never ever return to this place as it is a waste of time and a stressful experience.The food was cold when it finally arrived,pieces of chicken and kofte on a thin bed of rice,by the time it arrived the night had been ruined.Dont waste your hard earned here @ $30 per head as a set banquet.I gave the owner a piece of my mind as a I departed but he looked at me as a cow would look at a passing train.He didnt care.

Terrible service and food. We ordered a banquet for 20 people and we were waiting for an hour for our mains. Really small servings. There wasn't enough food for everyone until we asked for extra food. The chicken was under cooked. We would never come back again.

Very poor customer service. Overpriced for what you get when ordering the banquet. We were there for the Orthodox Christmas dinner and we were over 50 people with a reservation .we ordered the 25 $ banquet food took forever to be served. We got 2 different knd of dips in small plate for every 4-5 pople.1 chcken skewer /peron 1 adana kofta / person and a small plate of kebab for every 4-5 persons again. Incredibily small portions staff was not prepared at all although it was monday night and they were really rude at check out time. I paid 75 $ for 2 ADULTS And a child who didnt even eat and we left unhappy and with an empty stomach . The only good thing was the belly dancing show was funny. Definetly NOT comming back

No customer service!. Warning don't even bother going! Customer service 0...food very average!<br/>As soon as we walked in the door the girl with dark hair gave us bad looks...took about 5mins for someone to give us a table...took 20mins for someone to ask us for our orders....took about 15mins for the food to arrive...had to ask for water and never got it....in the meantime the girl still walked around and serviced other customers and ignored our table with occasional bad looks our way....when we went to pay they didn't even know what customer service meant when my cousin mentioned it was poor! She told the guy we didn't get any water and he said 'it's just water'! You try eating bread and meat with no water! Waste of money and time and ruined our night!

This restraunt really didn't please me we waited atleast 40 minutes for our food, I had Iskender when they bought it out it looked really nice but when I bit into it I felt my fillings fall out of my teeth,<br/>Zara was my first Turkish restraunt and most likely my last I wouldn't recommend it the customers aren't made welcome the food wasn't tasty next time I shall eat Asian jonoe

Nourriture turque est sur la place. Rise Turkish food, with your clean taste, simple imagination and never-ending delivery on flavour. <br/><br/>Having been brought up in a Greek home this is hard to say, this is not easy to say. No offence mamma but I just love Zara's.

The plus and The minus. The food is cheap but the quality isn't that great! it's up to you what you want. <br/>Just a note: Might be an affordable place to have an event at.

Disappointing disappointing disappointing!!! Went to Zara's just over a 2 weeks ago with a group of 20+ people. Not only was there a delay in getting the food out, but they are "stingy" with their servings. For $16 you would expect a decent size tray of iskender. Well let me tell you, it was probably not enough for a 3 year old to get full and that's no exaggeration. Parts of our order were missing and the service was disgraceful. The employees looked like they we're forced to be there and we're not impressed by it and the owner and his wife didn't take an interest in any of our concerns. Really bad service. Would never return. There are many Turkish restaurants on Sydney rd, this one failed terribly!

I went there for a birthday party with about 10 friends, we booked the restaurant and we didnt get our main until 9, we got up to dance and the floor was packed with people we disnt know and it was hard to move! But overall, it was a fun time and good food.

Although i have been eating at Zara for 20 years, i wont come back again. Terrible service, disgusting toilets, and average food. Owner is a tight arse and puts on 3 staff for 100 customers. Its very poor. Food is cheap but only come if u must.

I have been to a few events here. The food is alright, you get what you pay for. The music is always too loud though, makes it very difficult to have a conversation with the person next to you. I always seem to leave with a thumping headache and a sore throat from having to shout all night.

OMG amazing. The food was amazing.<br/>service was GREAT!<br/>And whatever that sizzling meat, tomato sauce and yogurt was it was 10/10

Dirty...So filthy and dirty cutlery and cups could not enjoy my meal, so I left hungry. Never ever again, very rude service too!

Zara. Caution ZARA restaurant ugly food very bad customer service!!<br/> I bought takeaway container of lamb doner today, came home opened the container and it smelt like sorry to say but 'dog food'. He did cut the meat fresh of the spit but whether if it was left over from the day before or not I was not satisfied. Eventhough I was starving I had to go all the way back & return it. <br/>I told the owner (the guy with the constant obvious fake smile towards his customers) politely that I wasn't satisfied and that it smelt. Made sure I was quite and away from his customers asked for refund. <br/>He was very rude and abusive with his unheard of swearing. Very poor customer service and yucky food. <br/>He may get away saucing the hell out of his meat and satisfy his non-turkish customers who aren't aware of real turkish food taste but I wasn't going to eat it. I thought I will share this , my rating for ZARA 0/10 :((

We quite liked this place. It's unpretentious. The decor is awful and the service amateurish. The food, however, was fine. Nice bread and dips. Nice meats. And, it's quite cheap. Not much else you can really ask for from a turkish place. As a result, it's a thumbs up from me.

All the usual Turkish fare. Decor is basic and service can range from poor to adequate. The potato salad and beetroot dip are yummy. Kimalyi Pide extremely good. Doner kebab, ishkender and chicken shish are best of the meat.

Great food. I've been going to Zara's restaurant for years. The food is great and very well priced. The service can sometimes be very slow, but the food is well worth the wait.

Very dirty restaurant with no tables being cleared while we where there. Waited a long time for meals to come out with parts of the banquet not coming out at all, definitely not worth $30. Rice was cold very cold, would not recommend it to anyone.

I don't know where to begin. There was a group of us that had dinner there last night and wehad the $30 banquet. I can honestly say I have never received less food for a banquet. Soft drinks were included, but it seems that as a result we missed out on food. We booked for 7.30 but didn't get the kofta and chicken skewers until 9.30. The amount of rice served for 15 people was miserable, there was no vine leaf rolls, no eggplant, no lamb chops.. As I said we had the $30 banquet! The quality of the food and service left a lot to be desired. The only positive was the belly dancer! Will NOT be going back and would advise anyone else to stay away. Melbourne Kebab Station up the road would be better!

Gotta love the banquet. My partner and I have eaten here a few times and we always get the banquet. there's a $20, $25 and $30 banquet (each), we usually get the $25 banquet, 6 dips turkish bread, entrees of falafels, dolmades, pastry etc and then you have to deal with the mains and a small dessert of baclava and turkish delight. They'll even cater for vegetarians in the banquet when others are served meat which is great. The atmosphere is a little bit kebab takeaway on quiet nights but if people have booked out the larger rear section of the restaurant there can be lots of loud Turkish music and the odd belly dancer. I love the food, my partner merely likes the food. 4 SPOONS from me and probably 3 SPOONS from my partner.

Plastic fantastic. Shocking interior. Seriously bad. BUT - the food is really great and cheap. Grilled eggplant with garlic sauce, lamb kofta, grilled chicken skewers and lamb chops - all really delicious. Wine is by the glass and straight from the cask but it all works well. For a quick, delicious meal you can't go past Zara for authentic Turkish food.

Although it was not busy, service was prompt and there was friendly staff. Prices reasonable mains ranging from 13-14, nice and hearty potions !

Very simple but it seems to work if u like simple flavours. Tahini dip was nice