Sahra By The River

Really like this place! The service was fantastic, very friendly and attentive. And the food is great. I started with the garlic prawns (yum!), had a mix of lamb fillet and lamb kafka skewers with salad (very yum!), and finished off with «Aysh Alsaraya» (Lebanese panna cotta, syrup, pistachio, orange blossom conserve, and pomegranate… yes, yum!). The location next to the river is quaint, and it had a good Saturday night vibe. Only bummer is that they have a slightly limited menu on the weekends.
It’s too bad I don’t live closer to Parramatta, or else I would definitely add this place into a regular dining rotation.

Can’t wait for them to reopen and see the new décor!
I’ve been to Sahra by the river so many times over the years, with family and also in large groups.
The service is good and friendly and food is great.
It is a little pricey but in line with all restaurants in Parramatta.

We had a mixed experience last night. The eggplant on the maghmour was great, while the rice and chickpeas nothing to write home about. The sambousik and shanklish weren’t bad and the staff was friendly enough.
I’m not a huge fan of the belly dancing, it’s cute the first time you ever see it but it quickly becomes something you put up with because you happen to like a restaurant. The only problem is when they keep the music going loudly after the routine finished. We happened to be sitting under a speaker and at first I was going to ask them to turn the volume down a bit and order desserts and Arabic coffee, but it for so annoying that instead of continuing to wait to catch a waiter’s eye, we got up and paid at the counter. Hence the 2 instead of 3

I’ve been to Sahra a few times now & they always provide an excellent level of service & the food is amazing.
Booked for 15 ppl on a Friday night, the day before & it wasn’t an issue. There was a coeliac & a vegetarian in the group & they were well accommodated.
The belly dancer is highly entertaining as well.
Highly recommended!

I didn’t have many expectations for this place, it’s away from the Church St restaurants, hidden down the back of a building behind a (decent) Korean place. The service and food here though were really good.
There’s a good variety of dishes and drinks on the menu and the staff are all very friendly. Everything from the dips with bread to the generous mains were tasty, and there were some things on the menu I’d not seen before such as Lamb Shawarma and Jallab, a rose water/​grape drink with sultanas and nuts in it (nuts indeed!)
Parramatta has only a few Lebanese places, so if you’re not up for a trip all the way to Granville or want a nice view of parra river with your meal, I can recommend Sahra.

We had the Harem banquet menu between the 9 of us. The service was a bit slow, but very nice people. Food was really good, not very greasy and a good variety.

One of the major drawbacks to living in Newcastle (yeah, yeah, there are many!) is the fact that there are no Middle Eastern restaurants.
As such, I’ll take every opportunity in seeking out a good Middle Eastern restaurant when I travel, and boy is Sahra good!
I went for Sunday dinner there on a rainy afternoon and it was quiet, but by all accounts on Friday and Saturday night this place is packed. At the weekends they only serve the banquet options (there are two) and our party of 3 selected the Harem Banquet at $ 45.
It may seem steep, but you get a little of everything and more than enough food. Starting out the usual selection of dips and bread, I was particularly impressed by the Baba Ghanoush. Rarely have I tasted the smokiness of the smoked aubergine (that’s eggplant to my Americanised friends) come through so strong in the flavour. It’s one of the best I’ve tasted. Along with the dips you get Tabbouli and Fattoush salads, both of which are excellent.
Coriander potatoes and mixed savory pastries follow, before the meat of the meal (so to speak) in the kebabs. By this time, you’ll be stuffed, but when you taste the lamb fillet kebabs, you won’t care and you’ll power through.
I didn’t have room for dessert, which is sad because I can only imagine it would match the excellence of the banquet. The service was excellent too, friendly and very attentive.
Even if Newcastle does catch up with the modern world’s food scene and open a Middle Eastern restaurant, I’m still more than happy to make the trip to Sahra.

I met my partner here for a birthday lunch — it was very quiet, there were only one or two other tables filled. The portions were huge, we ordered fatoush and lamb skewers which was more than enough for two. The dishes are more expensive than most people would pay for lunch (around $ 21) but given serving sizes, the price is justified. It would be great for a big corporate lunch or something, provided that there were no client meetings afterwards — this food is heavy on the garlic.
Service was fine due to there being so few people in the restaurant. On subsequent occassions service has been less friendly. This part of Parramatta is dead on the weekends, so you would be better placed heading to somewhere on Church Street for more atmosphere if coming on the weekend.