Review Smith Kebabs - Melbourne

One of the worst HSPs I've ever tasted, despite it's 4.4 rating on UberEats. The meat was charred black. It's not the first time I've had a bad HSP in my life, from soggy chips to overly wet sauce to uneven meat to chip proportions. But this is the FIRST TIME WHERE THE MEAT IS OVERCOOKED AND BLACK. My plastic fork broke trying to pick up the meat. I would chew it in my mouth for 20 seconds and the sauce was unevenly placed, only covering the top portion of the HSP. The chips were lacking, although they were one of the better aspects of the HSP. The sauce absolutely sucked and I will never order from this establishment again. Not to mention I paid for a large HSP and this is more like a "medium" or even small compared to other stores. For anyone wanting to try quality HSP, I can only confidently recommend Hasir Kebabs at this point. Every other place is too inconsistent

Worst HSP ever. I ordered my food from Deliveroo and they send me uncooked meat. I become sick after their HSP. Who is responsible if someone will have really bad impact from this. Please never buy from this shop. This will make you sick as they just to make their order it does not matter to them whether it is cooked or out.

The kebab I ordered for $16 no less... Was very light on meat when I ordered mixed and to add to it the lamb was overcooked & too charred. Whilst I appreciated the quick service the quality of the kebab left me feeling that this one wasn't very nice at all - more (not overcooked) meat & less of LOT.

Decent Quantity. Taste was good. A bit expensive according to the experience.

Need to clean up!! Staff didn’t care that the floor or outside was full of rubbish!!! I couldn’t eat from the store, as I’m of the impression of “if the can’t clean the front of house, how can they clean, “back of house “? The thing is I don’t understand, I do understand you’re busy but that no excuse for the mess! It was so messy there wasn’t a single table free from mess! If you’re so busy, maybe another staff member to clean up the mess would be good. The. That would create clean tables for other customers to dine or even walk in the door. First impressions last. It was pure filthy. I did ask for a table to be cleaned and was told “to busy” I’d post a few photos but that would put a lot more people off.

Came in on friday last week at around 11:30pm, I walked in and instantly I was delighted by an employee as he asked me how my day was. I have never in the last 2 months of living in the Melbourne the CBD experienced anyone asking me how my day was. Thank you for just being genuine and the food was great!.

Ordered a kebab and HSP at 3/4am on a Saturday I do understand the night is busy but I was extremely dissatisfied with my service. Was given the incorrect order by a well grommet man with a bread and was handed it not even a minute after I ordered my food I had a bite or two out of it and realised it was incorrect so I went to return it and simply just asking for fresh food and the correct order, employees proceeded to act confused and as if they couldn’t hear me, they didn’t want to make me fresh food and kept trying to find an excuse to not replace my food the lady working on the early hours of the morning of the 12th said they would heat my previous food up even though I said the order was incorrect and exclaimed they could only replace one of my meals even though both of my meals were incorrect and they were for two different people (myself and my boyfriend). After a while going back and fourth the employees continued to have extremely bad customer service and after thanking them for their time they didn’t respond and gave me dissatisfied looks. Not to mention the kebab was full of old fatty meat and was extremely thin. I work in customer service and if someone asked to replace something I’d do it without arguments because that is within consumer rights. I recommend some customer service training to improve in future with these particular employees.

I’d give it a 0 if it was possible. HSP was cold and poor quality, overpriced rubbish. Obviously the place isn’t meant to be a 5 star dining experience given its target audience is drunks but a little bit of quality and effort into the product you serve wouldn’t go astray. Don’t bother here, go to the kebab shop across the road.

Better than expected HSP. Sometimes I’m just craving the sinful heart attack meal of a HSP and Smith Kebabs was there to serve me. Just a regular HSP that had the right ration of sauces, and the chips were nice and crunchy. No cheese, but I can live with that.

I dropped by shortly after midnight on a Sunday. There was one person in front of me who had ordered 5 pizzas and I told the lady at the counter I was happy to wait. It took her 10 minutes to get around to taking my order (which she did after the guy in front had left with his order) and another half hour to actually make it. <br/><br/>I’m used to waiting a little longer when ordering a vegan option, it’s pretty common. But 40 minutes for a kebab? Come on.<br/><br/>The mock meat was also horribly disappointing. It was tasteless super wet sludge. Kind of like the consistency of cheap cat food but without any taste or smell. Considering the price point for a vegan kebab is $14.50, I’d hoped for better.

Coming to Smith Kebabs at 2am in the morning after a night at Yah Yah's was a great finisher.<br/><br/>Ordered:<br/>🥙 Mix halal snack pack (regular): mix of halal shredded chicken, lamb on a bed of fries ($12.50)<br/>+ 🧀 cheese ($1.00)<br/><br/>Review:<br/>HSP sits in its own realm when it comes to being a food choice. It's not quite suitable for breakfast/lunch/dinner but it's perfect for a late night out.<br/><br/>The HSP was perfect. Dirty, dangerous and delicious, the chips was generously salted with chicken salt. Add the classic combination of garlic, chilli and bbq sauce and you've got yourself a winner.<br/><br/>They also have $1 potato cakes which was crunchy and affordable!!<br/><br/>-1 because the sitting options were limited, and trash was stacked to the high heavens on tables and in the bins 🤔

Vegan mock meat is not mock meat! Avoid at all costs. It’s some type of vegetable that they just put a lot of on top of chips. Worst hsp ever! Consider investing in actual vegan mock meat or renaming your products to reflect the actual item that people are wasting their money on. Because this product is beyond expensive! Rip off! Would never go back!

Vegan options are extremely overpriced, especially the hsp. Jackfruit is so cheap and they barely do anything to it, it's barely cooked and doesn't have much spices on it. They are also very stingy with the chips.

Intrigued by the sign in the window offering vegan mock meat options. Tried the standard kebab version which comes with hommus, tabouleh, onion and other salad, to be shared. Asked to split a kebab and got a half kebab each on a plate with a little salad assortment on the side. <br/><br/>Reasons for 5* rating :<br/>- we really felt a generous spirit behind what was served<br/>- everything was tasty and fresh showing respect for ingredients - the purple cabbage particularly was deliciously lightly pickled and the tabbouleh gave just the right flavour to the kebab. The mock meat was a jackfruit in this case and stood in well for chicken. <br/>- efficient, friendly service and quick preparation <br/><br/>Very worth returning - will plan to drop in next time we’re in the area.

Absolute worst food, worst service and worst experience ever! We ordered a halal snack pack which arrived cold, soggy and partially frozen. We called to ask for a replacement and were told to call back in 10 minutes. On the second call she forgot why we were calling midway through the call! We were eventually told that there is nothing that could be done and we had to keep what we were given. Dont order from here - they have no concept of food standards or customer service

Horrible delivery experience. Will not be ordering again. It was 30 minutes late, and everything was cold, soggy, inedible and falling apart. I ended up throwing it out and eating two minute noodles instead.

One of my worst delivery experiences of all time. Was a bit peckish so I decided to Menulog some food. It said it would take an hour which isn't great but it's not too bad. An hour and 15 passes and it's getting late so I call the number and I am told it's going to take another 20-25 minutes, what more can you do. It arrives 40 minutes later, waiting an hour and 40 minutes for a kebab with chips is actually way too long. But not only does it arrive this late I get a call from the delivery driver who just says kebab, I go out the front he isn't at my door but in my driveway and I open my door he doesn't walk up just stays in the driveway, so I walk down grab it say thanks and go inside. I then open up my order, a warm can of coke, moist soggy and Luke warm chips and a kebab wrapped in tin foil so tight that the only way to open it is to basically destroy the kebab which was a sloppy oily mess of slop with dry and old bread and chunks of tomato barely sliced. Basically this is the worst kebab I've ever had, and I've had some bad ones. Terrible.

Absolutely WORST kebab I have ever had in Melbourne. I'm not one for leaving bad reviews however people need to be warned about this place....I should have known better when I saw dim sims, potato cakes and pizza in the window of a kebab shop. <br/><br/>Let me tell you all what was wrong with the kebab. <br/><br/>1. The bread was old. Bread is so important in a kebab. Whether it's Turkish bread or Lebo (pita) bread, it needs to be fresh and soft. This pita bread was at least 2 days old and dry and crumbly. There is nothing worse than 2 day old pita bread. <br/><br/>2. The garlic sauce was NOT garlic sauce. It was cacik (tzatziki) without cucumbers. Garlic sauce is soooo simple to make it really boggles the mind how someone can stuff it up so bad. It is a mixture of yogurt, salt, garlic and some water to thin it out. THAT IS ALL. No herbs or mint and it is NOT meant to be thick, spread on like a dip. I asked for extra garlic sauce, as I do with all my kebabs and it ended up becoming a stew. I will explain why further down.<br/><br/>3. The meat was dry and was NOT kebab meat. Kebab meat has it's own special herbs and spices that make it so special. It is shaved in thin slices and remains intact in long strips. This meat was dry and cut up in chunks just like souvlaki meat, but was tasteless and dry. Needless to say, meat is the most crucial part of a kebab.<br/><br/>4. The making of the Kebab was ridiculously amature. The order a kebab is made is very simple. Bread, lettuce, tomato, onion, meat, sauce. That's it. These geniuses went bread, sauce, salad, meat. What does this do? Well firstly, it means the already dry meat remains dry. Most crucially though, that old dry bread I told you about earlier? It's now drenched in a thick paste of a crappy dip that slightly resembles a garlic sauce. This means that the bread is now very soggy and due to its dryness, is breaking apart at the seems. Every time I tried to unwrap the foil, chunks of the soggy bread that are now GLUED to the foil are ripping off with it. <br/><br/>5. The price was ridiculously too much. Unless I got overcharged and didn't realise....we paid $48 for 2 lamb kebabs, 1 mixed kebab, 2 cans of soft drink and one bottle of soft drink, when I could have sworn their menu said $7.95 per kebab. I'm an idiot for not checking properly but just put faith in the store. <br/><br/>I don't think I need to go on any more, the entire ordeal was quite ridiculous, including the fact that it took them about 10 minutes to prepare. I did tell the worker there that I was extremely dissatisfied and told him a few things they could improve, whether he took it on board or not who knows. All in all, I don't know what type of clown can have the brains needed to open a business and yet make such a rubbish product. <br/><br/>STAY AWAY!

Not Really!<br/>Many years have passed since a kebab has passed my lips.<br/>There's something fine about a good kebab when you do finally get the urge.<br/>Its a bit like walking on grass with no shoes on....back to basics, satisfying and mighty fine.<br/>Ordered a no frills lamb kebab with salad and garlic sauce.<br/>I cant say that this is the worst I have had, but it was certainly not the best.<br/>Although the place was clean and the service helpful, the lamb was a bit on the tough side.<br/>The Lebanese bread and salad contents were good.<br/>Get one thing wrong with a simple snack like this, especially the hero, and the whole thing turns to ordinary.<br/>Not really worth the calories unfortunately, IMO.

Do not recommend!!! Bought a container of chicken today and took one bite only to find a black hair in it...disgusting! I noticed the chicken wasn't freshly sliced off the spit either it came straight out of a container onto the grill so who knows how long it had been sitting in there. No thanks!

After a night of moderately heavy alcohol consumption I began my journey in search for a meal that would conquer the end-of-night-hunger within me. With minimal options so late at night, we took the tram to the only kebab shop that lit the night sky and what a magnificent find it was. While my companions went for the traditional HSP, I faced a dilemma - I wanted an HSP but a moral stance against meat hinders me from this great joy. In the face of this adversity, the angelic Zareena appeared and suggested something I believed to be beyond comprehension: the falafel HSP. <br/><br/>Now I know what you're thinking here. Could the falafel HSP really stand up against the traditional HSP? Wouldn't the falafel be dry amongst dry chips? We've all been burned my unsatisfactory falafel before. I answer these objections by stating that the falafel at Smith Kebabs is just as magical as their chips, and when combined with the necessary cheese, as well as garlic, barbecue and chilli sauces, we have quite possibly the greatest meal I've ever had the pleasure to eat in my entire life. When I finished I was sure to take down the name of the shop and the lovely lady who served us so I would be sure not to forget (see photo).<br/><br/>I'd like to personally thank Zareena for opening my mind to this life changing experience and I hope anyone reading this now has the motivation to try this delicious HSP at the legendary Smith Kebabs.

The chicken and lam kebabs they are really yummy and they served very fastly.. I wanted to come here again and again..the quality of good is very nice and the way they behavied was pretty good

I love the hsp here.The taste is very good.I really the like food over here,it is very tasty.The taste of kabab is very good.Very friendly friendly and experienced staff in the shop.The owner is very good and friendly and delivery is within time.

Delicious food <br/>Delivery is very fast and awesome service .<br/>I love their Hsp , always go there to have it 10/10 <br/>Will be back again and again guys .

Awesome food very good service nice and green fresh food love this place I will recommend everyone to come and try the food it's really awesome

Fast service, fresh food, and the most fantastic hsp! Great fast food, and everything I saw other people eating looked super as well !!!!!!!

Great spot for a late-night snack in Melbpurne! The chips are cooked fresh upon ordering, and the meat is re-cooked after being shaved. love you

Last night we hade a meal delivered arrived in 30min very fresh kebabs and salads thanks for delivering guys will order again <br/>This is KEBAB KING

Worst HSP ever.<br/><br/>We ordered the lamb snack pack (with extra tabouli, we just like tabouli), got it delivered.<br/><br/>I remember having some last year and didn't think this place was bad at all. In fact last time I rated a 3.5. Now, I have to take that back and title this meal the worst HSP I've ever had.<br/><br/>The chips were soggy.<br/>There was oil pooling on the bottom (how??)<br/>The meat was absolutely terrible. I've attached a picture that is pure fat. This meat is old meat, not fresh at all, not prepared well at all. It's either got burnt bits, chewy (to point I couldn't eat past 3 bits), or all fat.<br/>The cheese wasn't melted (again, how??)<br/>They were late (by 20mins)<br/>The HSP costs $20, and with a delivery fee of $5 - I would've much preferred getting some loaded fries from McDonald's or something.<br/><br/>I will be very careful when reading Zomato reviews now. There's true quality reviews that give you an honest analysis, and then there are some that should not be believed.

been on holidays from UK i read about them on newspaper so excited meet the owners of smith kebabs very humble and kind person i tried the food it was so delicious everything was perfect meat, sauce, salad love it

Mate i had a lunch at this place the food is awesome specially lamb kebab just work on Cambridge street you will be seeing me again   and again with my work mates i m sure they will like your deals

Worst place to eat.<br/>Had lunch today at this place. The lady staff was very arrogant. <br/>Rather than scraping fresh meat, she reheated the already scrapped meat on the pan and served. The meat was hard and chewy.<br/>I would not recommend people to eat at this restaurant.

Terrible service - we ordered kebabs and chips, two hours later our food was delivered despite 7 phone calls and the delivery boy sending a screen shot he was only 3 minutes away. Food was not kept in a hot box, so food poisoning city !! We asked for a refund and the manager hung up in our ear. Kebabs had no salad and none of the extras we ordered.

In a single word - shite. Go across the road to Fitzroy Kebabs or three shops down to Biggie Smalls. I understand it's a kebab shop but you should have some pride in the food you sell.

Got a halal snack pack tonight. The chicken was amazing, so credit where its due. But there was minimal hummus, when i asked for double.The cheese was barely melted, the chips soggy and cold. You guys should really be cooking the chips much nearer to fresh if not when ordered.I would also love if you guys were to use cardboard containers over polystyrene. That stuff is nasty as and is horrid to the environment.

This place has saved my hangover for years.<br/>Every time i go out of a club they are always open and once i even ordered some delivery at 4.30 am and they came to the rescue!<br/>Quality is ok and they are nice people.<br/>Give it a go!

This people can't even make a kebab. What the he'll when did Indian People think their the best kebab maker I only know that Turkish and Greek people make the best kebabs not INDIANS they touch the lettuce with their hands it's disgusting I will never ever buy it food from Indian people. THE SMITH KEBABS OWNER DOESN'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT KEBAB AND THEY ARE DISGUSTING THEY TRY TO STEAL THE KEBAB FROM TURKISH AND GREEK PEOPLE!!!!! MAN GO WASH YOUR HANDS 😷😷

Great place for kebab. Fun guys working here. Always a pleasure when people take pride in their food! Prices have gone up a little since being on tv, but will still happily pay for it for sure!

This is my everyday go-to lunch place ! Pretty decent for the price ! You also have some combo options with kebabs and gozelmes ! Place also gets packed for lunch ! I usually prefer the takeaway

Ordered Spinach and Feta Gozleme and a Falafel Kebab loaded with extras tonight. I was apprehensive at first as I got food poisoning from their other take away place Smith Pizza but the person I was with was cocaine addled and adamant that we get food from this here, so I caved and we got it. Estimated time was 60 mins, came in 40, delivery driver was rushed and abrupt and left my gate wide open in the wind after double parking in the street. Food was hot and of reasonable quality though which is what counts. This place was ok, and they do a reasonable felafel kebab, but there's definitely better places out there.

Full disclosure: I really dislike Turkish food (or at least its Australian incarnation) because it always tastes like a substandard fusion of Lebanese and Greek food (and yes, I'm fully aware that a large number of Greek dishes are actually Turkish in origin, and no, I'm not biased on the basis of my ethnicity.) Boring, bland, and most importantly, NOT ENOUGH GARLIC. <br/><br/>This diabolical fast food outlet seems to trade exclusively on its obscene hours of operation and the fact that drunk people will eat almost anything. Everything on offer here looked and smelled utterly revolting, with the exception of the gözleme, which were made to order. In fact, the spinach gözleme is the sole purpose for this review. It was bloody good, and somewhat surprising given the plethora of repugnance served up at Smith Kebabs (since when were pizza and potato cakes Turkish? Moreover, calling what they advertised as "pizza" by that name is an affront to the real thing, as it bore more resemblance to plastic vomit purchased from a joke shop than to any item of pre-regurgitated food I've ever encountered.) <br/><br/>Gözleme aside, dine here at your own peril. Unless you're going out of your way to contract food poisoning (I've heard many a horror story about the aftermath of purchasing a mystery meat based item from this place.)<br/><br/>EDIT: ENOUGH WITH THE DAMN HALAL SNACK PACKS ALREADY.

Ordered Large mixed kebab meal. On the board said: 2 dips and bread, choice of rice/ chips. Large serve $16.95. We get less than 20 chips, one dip, no bread, tonnes of salad, a little bit of meat. And waited for 30 mins even though there're not many orders. I feel like I've been ripped off, when asked the staff, I was asked to not blocking other customers and to leave. . Staffs didn't know what they doing, feel ripped off ....Taste was just below average.  Shouldn't have trusted SBS promo. On TV they look like they're passionate for their food, and focusing on customer service. But when you're there, you kinda regret shouldn't have trusted what people say on TV, totally different vibe and suddenly, feel like should have gone to the one opposite. Never again trust SBS, Never again going to Smiths Kebabs.

DO: The Kebabs obviously (lamb was good). The Gozleme and the Baklava are also a must. <br/><br/>DON'T: Be put off by the decor, fitout and patrons. This place is an institution and a great place for supper. <br/><br/>TIP: They were on the SBS documentary screened not long ago with the episode is looped on the TV inside. Very humble people - very hot and authentic kebabs done right. Ask for extra sauce!

Whatever you do, do not buy the pizza slices. They look like kind of like pizza but they taste like card board and death. Worst "pizza" I have had in my entire life, no doubt. I couldn’t even make worse pizza if I put serious effort in to making something awful. Any frozen pizza you can get in a grocery store will be heaps better. This is just on a different level of bad.

I had ordered the chicken kebab with cheese and mayo. Unfortunately I had to warm it up at home as it was cold and after doing so, had to remove the chicken as it was dry and full of gristle! The shop was run down and dirty and the staff were not using gloves nor washing hands after handling money! Definitely would NOT recommend!

Never again, I stumbled in for a late night snack on the way home. A couple hours after eating the doner kebab my stomach decided it didn't like it. I've been bed ridden all day today and had to take the day off work. I've got gastro from eating at this joint. Probably should have picked up on it last night:<br/>- handling food and money without washing/gloves<br/>- meat undercooked<br/>- disgusting meat shaver used to cut undercooked lamb - which is then blasted on grill.<br/><br/>unsafe food handling and I usually have a cast iron tummy.

Terrible low grade of meat, I feel sick thinking about it.<br/><br/>BTW, interesting how there was a swarm of one time reviewers in September 2014 with Indian names!  If the owners/employees/relatives are wishing to post false reviews please be a little more creative as it is unbelievably obvious.

This kebab shop owner is Indian he thinks he's Turkish what a liar.<br/>He's kebab is so disgusting. This kebab shop smells so disgusting even their foods. EVERBODY DONT TRUST TV PROMOS THEY DO THIS BECAUSE THEY CANT SELL THEIR FOOD!!!! HE THINKS HE IS THE KING KEBAB BUT HE IS NOT A KING KEBAB!!!!! <br/><br/>THE KING KEBAB IS FITZROY KEBABS ..<br/><br/>There are 2 kebab shop in that area their names are Fitzroy kebab shop and Istanbul kebab shop I bought a kebab from there now their kebab is delicious ..  <br/><br/>IF YOU WANNA EAT KEBAB GO TO FITZROY KEBABS AND ISTANBUL BECAUSE THEIR KEBAB IS THE BEST !!! I been going to Fitzroy kebab like 10 YEARS AND THEIR KEBAB IS THE BEST!!!

Should have checked reviews before ordering. Don't trust the TV promo on Best Kebabs - it was grizzly & dry - strange taste. Dirty old shop, server handled money & food - not recommended - should have gone back to across the road - cleaner & been there over 20 years. Very disappointed .

Worst food ever. Almost vomited (actually did). Service slow and unfriendly. Never go there !! If I could put a 0 rate, I would. I need to write at least 140 characters so I do it but I don't want to spend more time talking about this place.

Tasty kebabs. Extra ordinary kebabs i have ever ate over here <br/>thanks you guys

One of my fav shop. Best world class kebabs<br/>:)

Mouth watering turkish food ever tasted. I was on way to smith street , feeling hungry so landed on Smith kebab where I had my tummy filled in affordable $$$$$$$$ , then started my journey and this is my every day routine...<br/>Thanks<br/>Smith kebab for wonderful foods...

Gozleme. Spinach gozleme fresh I

Fantastic. Good kebabs I have ever had in melbourne

Love their kebabs. Good and fabulious

Mr vee. Awsom food quick delivery and well maintained really happy

Tasty food. Good and awesome kebabs <br/>Love their style of Turkish kebabs

Chicken kebab. It's very tasty and yummy love the place and friendly staff awesome

Wow. Good and tasty matters over the food here<br/>Love this place

Fabulous and delicious food. Delivery was too fast they reached me with in few moments and the food was yummy and healthy <br/>I will order again and again.... (~_~)

Clean tables and restaurant. <br/> low quality kebab. Off-putting taste and oily. Not recommended.

Delicious kebabs on smith st. Lovely kebabs full of flavours and healty salad and tasty meat ....................lov to dine here always.

The delivery man is so kind and friendly!!! good service and awesome food especially the chicken kebab !!!! love it

An absolute joke! Got the wrong order, called, back n forth 3 times- lady insisted i got the correct order. Followed up by a man who told me it got misplaced. Delivery and take out is to be easy and simple. Dont waste your time!

Disappointing. All three times I've ordered delivery food, I've had items missing, and on the last occasion a couple of weeks ago I had someone else's order completely.<br/>The lamb is too dry, and dips pack no punch. Other items were wet. All a bit bland.