Safari in Annandale

1 Not Recommended

Food  1      Ambience  1      Service  1      Value  1     

Don't bother, they don't deliver on what they offer. We booked for a special event & they cancelled on us in the afternoon on the night. Using kitchen issues as the excuse & not offering any compensation. Do yourself a favour & book somewhere else, this restaurant is destine to fail.

Apr 14, 2012 

5 Average

Food  7      Ambience  5      Service  2      Value  6     

Unfortunately, I don't have much positive feedback to add to the negativity shown below.

The only positive feature was the good food (it takes a while to cook but it tastes great), my chicken tagine was beautiful and tender and the flavours very authentic.

However, the service really lets the place down, it was just a waitress and kitchen staff. The waitress looked unhappy and indifferent towards serving customers and was generally unfriendly and didn't appear to be very approachable. She would disappear for up to 15 minutes at a time (probably to help cook) so some customers had to go to the back kitchen to get her attention! It just seems as though they don't seem to understand that the whole dining experience (i.e service, atmosphere as well as food) is what brings people back!

Atmosphere was pretty good apart from when the music stopped for twenty minutes (until I asked the waitress to start the music up again) and the place with 5 tables of people was very quiet and easy chatter was more awkward.

Overall not a great experience and not a place I'll be going back to.

Apr 14, 2012 

2.3 Not Recommended

Food  2      Ambience  2      Service  2      Value  3     

Going downhill very rapidly! Warning, go to the Sahara at your own risk! No redeeming feature here. Booked for Sunday evening - a small group of 4. 1 waiter...and 1 little old man in the kitchen. The kitchen staff wasn't interested enough to attend. Atmosphere was non-existent.

Food was in short supply, nothing like what was advertised. Looks like this place is slowly going out of business! I was embarrassed that I had suggested this place to eat!

Mar 06, 2012 

4 Below Average

Food  7      Ambience  4      Service  1     

Like a number of other reviews here, service really lets this place down. The food we ordered was actually quite good, a lamb tagine of slow cooked lamb shanks and a nicely herb fish tagine, but both lacked vegetables and the lamb was a little too salty for my taste but the sauces with these were good. I would have ordered a side of vegetables had I realised how deficient in this area our dishes would be.

In Morocco my experience was of really good all in one tagines, meat and veg all combined. Our entree of a chicken bastilla was reasonably authentic, interesting and challenging for our tastes in its sweetness, but glad we had it. But, the service, booking was not a pleasant nor easy experience and like many of the reviews here, we found the service inept, abrupt, inefficient and verging on rude.

We were surrounded by tables of other disgruntled diners. We were on a voucher and it was the last night, so I had some empathy for the fact that they may be over-taxed, until I read all the similar experiences on this site. One guy seems to have the task of filling the water glasses but not removing our empty plates. He just poured across them. It took two hours to get our entrees and mains, and we gave up on dessert (not sorry after reading the descriptions on this site).

While the food was quite good, the attitude and the service mean that we will not return. It is a pity that this place, along with a few others, do not realise the whole point of a deal is to get you to go back! Now talk to us about Padi in Surry Hills, after a visit with a coupon (25% off) we have become ardent fans and regulars there.

By the way, for ambience: we could hear ourselves speak, a plus after too many restaurants with too much noise. Tables are close together, but overall no complaints if it were not for the undisguised frustration of our fellow diners. At least that provided us with some real entertainment while we waited for our meals.

Mar 02, 2012 

4.5 Below Average

Food  5      Ambience  4      Service  4      Value  5     

Overall the (one-ish) wait staff might not have been the most competent, but there were a number of other tables on the Saturday night. Admittedly, we came here with one of the food deals/vouchers. But so did everyone else in the restaurant (not the most promising of signs).

In terms of ambience, the blue neon lights coupled with what felt like a thatched roof outside-in (for half of the restaurant) seemed a little drab.
Food was ok to start off with, shared platter with some taste to it. Mains were a marginal step above, aside from the odd hair in the lamb skewer/fillet. It is slightly hard to tell whether the food is simply reheated from the fridge, though (maybe I'm being lenient).

The desserts then went onto a weird note... pudding with caramel sauce, neapolitan ice cream or tiramisu? It seems like it summed up the atmosphere of the restaurant altogether and just 'gave up'.

For the amount we paid from the voucher before, I would reiterate that it was... okay. Definitely not somewhere you'd want to take someone to impress them. Sorry to say but unlikely we'll be making a return visit.

Feb 29, 2012 

2.3 Not Recommended

Food  6      Ambience  1      Service  1      Value  1     

Oh dear. We are in the car on the way home and left after asking 4 times to order main with no luck. We waited 90 minutes and had the mezzo plate which was nice but the service was very very abrupt and we had to help ourselves to cutlery. Men's toilet ok though. Lets be positive.

Feb 26, 2012 

2.8 Not Recommended

Food  4      Ambience  1      Service  1      Value  5     

Normally I would not bother to write a review but last night was probably the worst dining experience I have ever had service wise. Myself and a friend had never tried Moroccan food so thought that we would give it a go.

We were running about 15 minutes late for our booking so I tried calling the restaurant about 5 times and the phone just kept ringing out. When we arrived, I heard the phone in the restaurant just ringing and ringing and the waitress walked past it more than once without bothering to pick it up.

We were greeted very rudely and even though the restaurant was no where near full the waitress kept grumbling about where she was going to seat us. We were made to wait at least 10 minutes before we were even taken to our table. Once we had sat down we weren't given menus for another 10 minutes.

There was no music on or anything and it was nearly silent in the place, it was very strange and it felt like you couldn't talk at all or make any sound.

We were using an online coupon deal which we had handed over on arrival and the mezze plate was brought out to us after being there for half an hour. The food wasn't actually too bad, I have no idea what anything was because it wasn't explained to us but it seemed to be just a selection of dips and some turkish bread. We still had no water on the table and our food and drink orders had not been taken.

The waitress came and took the wine list and menu away from us as another table needed it but still refused to take our order. We tried getting her attention numerous times to order food and wine (and to ask for some water for the table) and we were either ignored or she made mumbling sounds and waved us away with her hands saying she would be back.

There were other customers who were trying to walk into the restaurant but she was just ignoring them and kept complaining to other tables that people were coming in without a booking, it was all very strange.

After an hour we ended up just walking out because we obviously weren't going to be served anytime soon.

Feb 24, 2012 

5.3 Average

Food  8      Ambience  1      Service  5      Value  7     

We had coupons, and we booked for sat night and then looked at the previous reviews! We were expecting the worst but thought "what the heck!" What a very pleasant surprise.

The ambience is dreadful, with personal clutter at the entrance and no background music whatsoever. The waitress was flustered rather than rude, but the service was pleasant and very quick. The antipasto platter was really bread and dips, but varied and tasty.! The 4 mains we chose between us were all tasty, hot and delicious. The wine was opened at our table and definitely not "cask" wine.

The desserts were a little disappointing, quite nice but not authentic, and yes it was neopolitan ice cream (but a good generous serve!) My advice? go and see for yourself, a good value coupon meal.

Feb 19, 2012 

2.3 Not Recommended

Food  3      Ambience  3      Service  1      Value  2     

Do Not go to this restaurant is my best advice to you! we bought an online deal, thinking we'd try Moroccan for the first time, and since it's in our suburb, it seemed a great idea. Wrong!

Firstly, to try and even make a booking was ridiculous as the phone is either permanently out of order, or when I was lucky enough to get through to the voicemail, no-one called me back!

I had to contact the deal suppliers as I thought the company had gone out of business. I eventually was given an email address to make a booking. And still a bit of an ordeal as the response I got was just downright rude. My feelings were not good but I persisted.

Anyway, we finally were able to make a booking and I really wish I hadn't. It was just terrible. Food was awful, service was confused. There were jokes up and down the restaurant with I think a near mutiny by a group of diners who didn't even know each other!
Obviously the Fawlty Towers references were flying thick & fast.
The couple on the table next to us complained because they found a long black hair in their main meal. This was before we received our main meal of baked fish. I lost my appetite.
I would recommend this place only if you wanted a really good laugh.

Feb 19, 2012 

7.8 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  7      Service  8      Value  8     

Purchased a special deal voucher on whypayfullprice.com.au, booked online via their website and got a phonecall to advise that the night I was initially planning to go was unavailable due to a corporate function. That wasn't a problem, the lady who called suggested alternative booking options and confirmed via email.

I'm no expert in Moroccan cuisine, so can't vouch for the authenticity of the dishes, however, the food was tasty and came out promptly. The staff was courteous and attentive. It wasn't busy on the night we went, however, I don't think its a reflection on the quality of the food or service at this restaurant. It was a Thu night and it seems that the whole area along the Parramatta road is in a bit of a decline, half of the shopfronts are empty, which is unfortunate and surprising given the proximity to the CBD.

Our experience was very different and very positive. Personally I think with the special deal voucher its a great value and is definitely something worth trying. If you want something different to the stock standard Thai or Chinese, I recommend it.

Feb 17, 2012