Review Grand Diamond Restaurant - Dandenong

One of the best Afghani restaurants in Melbourne. Been there countless times and it hasn't disappointed. Don't expect fine dining or service, but the food is delicious. The qormas, kebabs, barani banjan and mantu are between good and excellent.

We had the buffet and the food was average. Some of it tasted stale. Customer service was poor. My friend couldn't Finnish the plate and asked for doggy bag but was refused.

Terrible rice, out of date rice. Terrible mince kebab, got hair stuck in the kebab. Got the owner but he could not be sorry, rude customer service. Never going there again. At the end we wanted to pay for our drinks, could not eat the food because our appetite was killed. But the owner did not take the money but my friend threw his $50 dollar. They need to learn and get better for other customers.

Great food in general. but some menu items doesn't taste and feel they way it should. Such is your fresh OJ taste horrible, your beef karahi is way to tough to be chewed. I think you should only sell those items which you can cook really good. trying out different items without any expertise and costumer feedback is a mistake. Great place and good vibes.

People at this restaurant have no human sense. Me and my wife ordered a kebab platter and a buffet. I took a bite from my wife's plate. The waitress came and showed me their rules. Which is if I take anything from my wife's plate then I'll have to pay for another buffet which is $20. I paid $15 for the kebab and $20 for the buffet and they would charge me another $20 for taking a bite from wife's plate. Left the restaurant and offered to pay for two buffet and one kebab platter.

We went there last night with our friends. Food was ok but customer service is so low that our family decided not to go again. Staff need to be trained how to talk to the customer. Lady from reception keep requesting us it's time to leave while we finishing our meal. They were also asking us how many drinks in very rude way while paying our bills. Our guests came from Singapore and were really disappointed from their attitude. I think no body deserve this ......so rude.

Great food and ambience. An excellent venue for large groups. Service is good, if only the hotel staff could break a smile now and again, that would be 5-star! Takeaway and dine in are both great options.

Am advising to avoid this place. They have unhealthy food. Somebody told me they guys make 1 dish freeze it for months and give you after too much heating. I tasted as well and got stomach problems for a week. Rice are never ever fresh. This place is abuse to food quality.

Outstanding food! We have takeaway every Wednesday & are working our way through the menu with zero disappointments so far. Incredible value for sumptuous meals. Highly recommend the mantu, ashak, chapli kebab, kofta, eggplant with tomato & capsicum sauce, stuffed flatbread; just everything is fantastic!

Been here a couple of times and I will never get sick of their food here. My favourite is their chicken kebabs - so delicious and their servings are always very generous. Everything is also affordable, highly recommended 😊

Place used to be good but not anymore .. the buffet food was cold .. rotis were ordered separately but they were cold n chewy <br/><br/>Will not recommend getting the 20 aud per adult buffet ..<br/>Instead try something from the menu which might be fresh

Been here a few times and the staff are very friendly. <br/>I find the curries and veggie dishes too oily, but the kebabs and hot naan are good. <br/>We came here a bit for the Iftar buffets deal during Ramadan- heaps of food but the standard buffet. <br/>The pro’s of coming here is that’s is affordable and you walk out feeling very full.

Definitely one of the most yummiest and authentic Afghan restaurants. If you go here you have to try the rice, bread, and kebabs. Fresh food, great atmosphere, friendly staff and a welcoming place for all. Could do with a bit more salad with some of the kebab dishes.

Horrible service. Don't know about the food because we were astonished at how rude an owner could be so walked out. <br/>It was closing time and we sat to dine in but some of our other guests went to another Afghan restaurant like 4 mins away Salang (thank god) <br/>When we just placed our order we cancelled it like a min later and the owner goes crazy on us. We kindly told him that our guests went somewhere else but he just said "get out". <br/>Incredible! One very miserable rude man.

People at this restaurant have no human sense. Me and my wife ordered a kebab platter and a buffet. I took a bite from my wife's plate. The waitress came and showed me their rules. Which is if I take anything from my wife's plate then I'll have to pay for another buffet which is $20. I paid $15 for the kebab and $20 for the buffet and they would charge me another $20 for taking a bite from wife's plate. Left the restaurant and offered to pay for two buffet and one kebab platter.

Love this place! Been here 3 times. Great value and very tasty authentic Afghan food. Not a fancy place but comfortable and great food and prices.

We went here yesterday & were disappointed that our friends & family were right. This establishment used to make great food & the kebabs were always amazingly tasty but they have let their standards slip. We used to be regular customers but now will not go back. My husbands lamb kebabs were all burnt, when we informed the waitress she brought another which was cooked well but tasted powdery as it had been over marinated. My chicken kebabs were cold by the time they brought bread to the table but still edible, we requested chili which they didn't bring. There only seemed to be one waitress working & two others just standing and talking to each other the whole time we were there. I would have been slightly empathetic if they were busy but besides us there were only four other customers there. Not returning!

Came here for dinner last night. It should be noted that this was my first time trying Afghani cuisine. For entree, I had Mantu dumplings which were delicious. Unlike oriental dumplings, these have a yoghurt and lentil sauce accompaniment. Main course was Qabuli Palaw. A huge serve of tasty rice and off the bone lamb shank. To finish my dinner we had Pistachio Qulfi. It was so good! There's a great balance of spices and nut in it and whole pistachios too! The servers were friendly and helpful. Would recommend :)TLDR; Great value and delicious.

Came here for a birthday. Was very surprised at the food. I wasn't expecting to like it. We ordered a whole bunch of dishes, i tried the chicken and spinach dish which was very tasty. <br/>2: tried the lamb curry which i wasn't a massive fan off. was also very oily. <br/>3: chicken kebabs also very oily but the taste was lovely. Seasoned well and very moist.<br/>4: lamb kebabs not a fan off..  cant really explain why, but just preferred  everything else. <br/>5: side salads were ok but the dressing on it a lil tangy. <br/>6: beriyani  i have never been a fan and the rice tasted like plastic.. (everyone else likes it )<br/>7: the Afghanistan bread was amazing!! yum.<br/>would i go back? for another family birthday sure..   would i go out of my way? naar.. but i sure don't need a cheeseburger after this meal. heaps of food and very filling! 11 of us and $160.00 total ! Very good value.

I had a food coma after the feast but we did go over board and order a lot of food but the servings were large! Home style Afghan that was fresh and had great flavor! Apologised that the service may be a little slow but really it was'nt at all!

Love love this place. Never fails to impress me. Great food. Been coming here for a while now. Staff are friendly and attentive to your needs. Great fund in Dandenong.

I've now been to this very nice and clean establishment about 5 times and they have never disappointed. The food is very nice and priced very well.

We tried Afghani for the first time and we weren't disappointed. The food was very tasty, the staff were very helpful. It was a little cold in the restaurant but we still enjoyed the food. It was very well priced, we couldn't finish what we ordered and we didn't over order. We took food home and it cost $15. The raita was AMAZING.

My first ever Afghani feast! It was indeed a blast. Ordered loads of food and all tasted great. Ocra was great. Dumplings were weird but still delicious. Lamb satay was marvelous!! Chicken satay was above average. Chicken curry was amazing. All of them accompanied with a warm, crispy outside yet soft in the inside bread. Great great experience!

Overpriced as compare to the market. Not a good quality food do they offer. Staff is way too slow. Maybe they're charging for the restaurant rent.

Bad food and overpriced. Don't Reccomend booking any functions here or ordering the banquet menu. The food was horrible, Shola looked & tastes like grey glue and we were charged additional fees for drinks which were originally quoted in the price. It was embarassing to be served such bad food in front of our guests. The other local afghan restaurants serve much better quality food for the same price.

Terrible food. I have to admit the service was great but the food not so impressive. Bought chicken Biryani was very disappointed with dried unflavoured rice with the taste of just hot chilli powder with three pieces of chicken with fat. Another time I bought lamb kebab and half of the container was fat instead of meat. 2 star out of 5.

Our first afghan food experience was terrible with microwaved yet cold food on table. Salads were not. Had a feeling food has been kept for days in the fridge. Taste of leftovers. If the staff's recommendation of their best dishes tastes this bad??? Wouldn't go there again.

The bread very very hard to eat food come very late service very bad hope improve

Surprisingly the food was great despite the exterior of the place. Good kebabs, eggplants. Quite authentic. Recommend

Yum Yum Yum. I tried out this restaurant about 6 months ago instead of going to our usual kebab shop and what an awesome decision.<br/>The food is fresh and lovely and very cheap. Very surprising its priced the same as the take away shops yet its a nice medium sized restaurant with much more service and its fairly newish.

Afghantastic!. I enjoy taking hospital assignments in Dandenong even though it's a long train ride from where I live in Melbourne, because it gives me an excuse to eat at some of the interesting Afghan restaurants there. I might not want to eat at any new ones, though, because Grand Diamond is SO good. I was drawn in by the decor on the restaurant's front windows -- enticing images of roasting meat, dishes of rice and other Afghan delicacies. The food was as fine as the photography.<br/><br/>I ordered something called Zerishk Palaw, a type of palau/pilaf, because it had barberries in it. I had never eaten these. If you haven't either, imagine a piquant dried fruit about the size of a currant, with a flavour that's like a combination of cranberry and caper. They were speckled throughout this palau the way sultanas are in other versions of the dish. The rice was perfectly cooked, each long, thin grain standing on its own instead of clumping. Different seasonings were used in the cooking so the rice was a colour combo of orange, yellow and green.<br/><br/>Diners can choose their own kind of korma with this dish, and I had the lamb. It had a mild flavour, not much fat, a bit of a spicy black pepper kick at the finish. For only $14, this was a HUGE feed. In addition to the massive pile of palau rice, the meat portion was generous, there was an entire chopped-up Afghan flat bread, plus salad and a tiny dish of chili sauce to add some ripper taste if you like it hot. This was one of the best and cheapest ethnic dishes I can remember eating recently -- a diamond indeed.