Almustafa Lebanese Restaurant

Almustafa,
You and I both know that you don’t deserve a rating of 4.5, at least if the experience with which you provided me last week is anything to go by.
Says who? I hear you murmur in an accent from which the Lebanese influence has clearly diminished. Says a young lad whose mum and grandmother educated him on what Lebanese food that is made with love and experience tastes like.
Nothing of the kind was placed in front of me by you. In fact, every single dish was lacking in authenticity, and for the most part in taste. This is a shame as you have an important role to play in communicating important aspects of Lebanese culture and you should be fulfilling it.
Pick up your game, Almustafa.
Sincerely,
James

We have never been so thankful for a blocked sewer. Let me explain… we were going to a show at the Seymour Centre and were going to grab a bite to eat at a little hole in the wall place on City Road. But the sewers were blocked and had huge crews of people working on them. The smell was… interesting and not conducive to dining, so we retreated round the corner onto Glebe Point Road and found this place.
We were in a hurry so didn’t have time for a full meal but what we had was fantastic. Beautiful spicy sausages. Baked kibbeh. A sort of lamb ravioli with rice and an amazing goat yoghurt sauce.
They had some beautiful looking desserts as well but we didn’t have time. They also had a huge range of home made traditional pickles that I am dying to try.
We will definitely have to go back for a more leisurely meal when we aren’t rushing to be somewhere else.

One of my all time favourite restaurants in Sydney.
Décor? fine… Service? usually pretty good but not always stellar… But the food? Oh me oh my. Just sit me down at the table with good friends, some wine, and a cushion lounge banquet and I’m good for the next 2 days. Did I mention this is pretty much the only set menu banquet I can eat in Sydney? Being a near vegetarian (I eat chicken only) almost all the stuff is Elsja proof. Oh and the lamb kabob– they happily change it to chicken for me… no hassle or «let me ask the chef» malarkey.
I can’t even pick my favourite dish. Would it be the hommus, baba ganoush and pita bread? Maybe the coriander potatoes. Or what about the amazing falafels? Just thinking about this makes my mouth water. Topped off by some melt in your mouth baklava… holy cow I just died and went to Lebanese heaven. Even garlic burps at 8am the next morning are well worth it for this delectable feast (just don’t breath on anyone).
Did I mention… free.food.refills. Yup. If there’s anything you want more of– just ask.

Fantastic food. Great location and ambiance. Chicken shawarma and hoummos were delicious.

I have come here three times now and have tried almost everything on the menu. The best dishes, in my opinion, are:
DIPS — hoummos with lamb and pine nuts; yoghurt with cucumber (tzatziki)
SALADS — fatoush; tabouli
MAINS — lamb mansaf; shishbarak; chicken shawarma; samkeh-​harra
SIDES — potato coriander; falafel; kebeh (baked or fried)
If you come in a large group, I’d recommend ordering a la carte rather than any of the banquets. A la carte will get you more food for the same amount of money, with a better variety of dishes.
Service here is generally quite friendly, although the last time I came there was a minor hiccup with our bill. When I went to the front counter to pay, I pointed out to the owner that one of the dishes we’d ordered hadn’t been served to us, and I requested that he remove it from the bill. He checked my story with our waitress, who insisted (rather aggressively, I thought) that she had brought the dish out. After the waitress was out of earshot, the owner told me he was ‘in an uncomfortable situation’ because the waitress (note: I call her a waitress because she served us our food, but she could have been a manager or co-​owner) had ‘been working at the restaurant for 20 years’ and ‘wouldn’t lie’. I maintained that I wasn’t lying either. To his credit, he accepted my story and removed the item from our bill.

Really fantastic lebanese food. Maybe not as traditional and exciting as you would find further west, but still a winner. I can never go past their baba ganouj and hommus. As mentioned, the corriander potatoes are a must as is their fatoush. The lamb kebabs are to die for (** where applicable, make sure you partner also partakes in the garlic sauce) and the Chicken Shawarma.
Great for trying lots of different dishes with big groups. There is a cusion room upstairs if you’re lucky enough to get in. They also allow BYO (not sure of the charge) and have belly dancers at dinner.
Always book ahead. I’ve been knocked back more than once after trying to just walk in. They are always packed and will do their best to fit you in, but to avoid disappointment be safe and book.

You know a restaurant is good when it’s hard to get a booking and its great when its hard to get a booking even on a weeknight. Almustafa is just on the fringe of the CBD at glebe and this makes it immensely popular. You don’t have to travel to far or to the more popular lebanese suburbs of Sydney to enjoy hummus.
The night I went, they had belly dancers sashaying across the restaurant. The ambience is fantastic. It is cosy and romantic with the dim lighting.
You may have had potatoes in a hundred different ways, but you have to try their potato coriander. It is unique and I’m not sure if its authentic lebanese, but it is definitely delicious.
The other dishes I loved were the Fatoush and Baba ganouge.
Have you noticed restaurants with table cloths are more expensive irrespective of the quality of food? Well, this is a table cloth restaurant but not very expensive and the food portions are by no means small.
They do offer a wide range of options for the Banquet menu and also have an Ala-​Carte menu.
Once, they got our order mixed up and apologised by giving us complimentary Falafel balls. Yumm-​O!
Why am I holding back on the fifth star, reservations can be hard on Friday nights. Wish they would expand soon or better yet, open one up near my home!