We live overseas and booked for a reunion dinner on a Sunday night with old Melbourne friends and being an ex Melbourne Greek girl, i thought Gazi, a modern Greek inspired restaurant, would be a perfect venue. However it was a terrible disappointment on many levels. First of all management does a greedy two session sittings for dinner. You can start at 6 but then have to be out by 8 pm, or start at 8.15 pm .. We opted for 8 .15 pm so we could relax... Hah! As it turns out, even though we booked three weeks in advance they jammed 7 of us onto a table for a maximum of 5 which meant we were sitting uncomfortably close together.. Too cosy even for good friends! I could not even reach into my handbag to get my iPhone out so hence no photos with this review. We all wanted to catch up on each others lives after a year apart but the stereo system was pumping out loud music at a level more suited for a bar and you could only hear those immediately next to you , guess at what was said across the table and try to communicate by shouting at the top of your voice . Make up your mind Gazi. Are you a Bar or are you a restaurant?! "Gazi" in Greek means sit down and make yourself comfortable. So surely it is supposed to be a restaurant where people can eat and share food and enjoy each others conversation, but this was not possible.. When we asked the "front desk" for the music to be turned down they didn t. The food mostly did not resonate either. The dips were small servings and pretty average in flavor. In my Beef souvlaki , the beef was one big lump of meat sitting in a pita bread. Tasty but not really souvlaki meat. One of our party had the baby snapper and that thank fully was more true to the spirit or greek cuisine.. Shades of how my dear mother cooked her fish. The "green" salads were a very ordinary and some of the desserts were a modern re interpretations of greek classics but did not work at all...Loukamedes (imagine small deep fried small doughnuts) which are traditionally finished off in Greek cuisine with a drizzle of honey or sugar syrup, were bizarrely sitting atop a sauce of melted Nutella and strawberry ice cream.. It did not work in our collective opinion. The creme brulee was topped with Katiefi pastry soaked in a syrup so sweet that when combined with the creme brûlée, all of us abandoned it after one sickly sweet spoonful. By this stage we were no longer enjoying anything about Gazi. We gave up , asked for the bill and left . Outside on the pavement we were finally able to hear our conversations. I am sorry , this does not happen to me very often, but on the basis of this experience, I simply cannot recommend this restaurant to my readers. read more

Gazi is a great greek joint. The steak is delicious. I also recommend the greens. The service is fast and efficient, considering the large crowd in the restaurant. Even though the food is delicious, the portions are pretty small. Overall, a great establishment! read more

I have been several times for different meals and have been consistently impressed. Lunch kebabs are amazing, dinner variety is superb. Menu Recommendations: The kebabs are a great fail safe and are delicious, fresh and filling. My fave was the beef. The wallaby poutine is fantastic and I would recommend to anyone! The saganaki is divine. It can get a bit loud in there because of the cute decor pots on the ceiling and so if going in large groups it can be hard to hear the other end of the table. Would both recommend and go back! read more

Utter Ambrosia When seeking a decent, moderately price place to dine on one of our infrequent dashes into the city Gazi caught my eye. I found it via the FlyBuys Dining booking site (you get 500 points for booking via them). It was one of the most booked restaurants (among dynamo's like Crown's Conservatory and The Windsor) but with a much more affordable price tag. Myself and my husband decided to give it a go. It was the best decision of our day. In a word: phenomenal. We opted for the seven course 'Doing It Greek Style' menu and each course was, literally, a palate party. The complexity and harmony of flavours showed stark evidence of a well developed and utterly divine menu. The two starting dips - tzatziki and taramosalata - were a brilliant and delicious combo. The tzatziki was fresh, cool and light whilst conversely the taramosalata provided a rich and strong flavour that served beautifully as an accompaniment. The accompanying pita bread was likewise warm, fresh and beautifully, simply seasoned. I've had Greek grilled cheese before (albeit an American take) and this version knocked the pants off my previous experience. It was warm, creamy, not overwhelmingly oily and just deliciously simple. It's pairing with the sweet and sour cumquat created a truly complex sweet and savoury combo that utterly immersed and delighted the palate. The mains were equally as remarkable and delicious. The tuna was perfect. Having extensively toured Japan I like nothing better than remarkably fresh, great cuts of tuna cooked just enough to bring out the flavour but still pink inside. This grilled tuna was precisely that. It harmonised amazingly with the perfectly cooked wood fire grilled chicken. Though different tastes they melded perfectly together as a whole. The chips were a great Aussie accompaniment. I think it's a sign of an exceptional meal when you can eat something, don't particularly love the taste and yet nonetheless respect and enjoy the intricacy and brilliance. This was the case with the lahanosalata. It was the only part of the meal I didn't particular enjoy. But I appreciated it nonetheless. Finally the dessert - loukomathes - hit us first with its amazing aroma and next with its divine richness. It was deliciously simple and utterly sumptuous. Overall a remarkable meal and one I'd recommend for anyone looking to satisfy and delight their tastebuds. My husband honestly refers to it as the best meal he's ever had. I understand the sentiment. Furthermore, perhaps most importantly, it isn't a lot of money to shell out for well balanced, delicious food you'll remember fondly. On more personal note: I did not realise this was dynamo chef George Calombaris' restaurant till after the fact. Well done mate! Always thought you were a sincere and lovely bloke but now I've proof you're truly a stellar chef. read more

Excellent service and great food only down side is the music, it's a little too loud and a bit tasteless. Music aside definitely a regular dinner spot. Great casual dinning experience read more

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I see complaints of the music being loud *yawn* go to a library then. It was great, it meant we could chat and laugh without drawing attention to our table for simply having a good time and felt so jolly exactly how a traditional Greek dinner would be at home. Between 5 of us we ordered 2 cheese entrees and a dipping bread entree. Holy, the cheese was just incredible! Highly recommend, we tried bc the waiter suggested it.. Speaking of which, fantastic service! He was Greek and oh so hilarious. For mains we got a chicken off the spit, pork belly, ribs, salad and bowl of chips and boy oh boy were we all full! Had to get a doggy bag. Food was so delicious, if anything, the ribs could've been eaten by one, the chicken EASILY fed 3 of us, worth the cost.. Overall, I'd go back again :) read more

The food was quite good.. Most memorable the huge bowl of chips, but I have to say this was probably one of the worse acoustic experiences I have ever had in a restaurant. Impossible to hear friends even shouting half a meter away. If the staff haven't been provided with ear plugs they should be, the terrible noise is a health hazard, my ears were ringing still the next day. read more

My dinner at Gazi was excellent. We ordered the 7 course tasting menu and it did not disappoint! Food was amazing and we were so full at the end. Music was very loud but the atmosphere was fantastic. The waiters were so attentive. I would definitely recommend dining here. read more

Yum yum yum yum YUM!! I had a really terrible experience at the press club so was very please to hear that it had been revamped to Gazi..less fancy more casual. The Greek style street food is absolutely spot on..great taste and great value. We went with a team of six and ordered a heap of share dishes. Three dips and breads, saganaki, eggplant, lamb cutlets, chips, a couple of salads and of course the mini souvlakis!! The waiter was so knowledgable and not in your face but attentive. The food came out in a steady stream and all was delicious. Perfect for a rainy Sunday lunch in Melbourne... read more

Came here for dinner while visiting Melbourne! The place was definitely the place to be and the food was great as well. My partner and I are pretty health concious - but that can be hard eating out. This place had something for everyone, chips and yummy souvlaki all the way to quinoa salad and roast chicken! The griddles cheese is amazing and worth the splurge! read more

Probably stating the obvious, but what an incredibly professional restaurant. We treated ourselves to an early Valentine's lunch today, booking Gazi without knowing too much about the place. Don't let the seemingly simple 'greek feast' vibe and incredibly boisterous atmosphere fool you. The staff here are meticulous, and I can't recall feeling this looked after for a long time in a 'paper napkin' kind of place. We went 'Greek Style', opting for seven courses as opposed to ten. Frankly, even the seven courses had us beat. From the unbelievably fragrant and mousse-like tarama, succulent seared tuna, saganaki with honey and figs, perfectly seductive grains salad (featuring barley, lentils, quinoa, pomegranate, cumin, yoghurt, cauliflower, puffed grains ) all the way to the honey/nuttella/walnut loukamathes, each dish featured spectacular attention to detail at every level. Absolutely no wonder the place was jam packed, and the staff are like a precision team of happiness ninjas. Can't wait to try the rest of the menu. read more

Great food. Good atmosphere. Good service. Nice decor. Make sure you book in advance as you won't get a seat otherwise. Does Greek street food well. Worth a visit - yes, but would I go back? Once is probably enough in a year. read more

Had a very average experience. Our group of 4 ordered the banquet and the food was 'okay' but definitely not what you'd expect considering the price and reputation of the restaurant. Felt more like getting a banquet at a take-away. The souvlakis were genuinely delicious but the main meat course were a big disappointment. The swordfish skewers were a bit tasteless and the 'meat' dish was a deboned rotisserie chicken. You would think that in a banquet they would offer a red meat. One of the two sides being chips with feta (don't remember the name) - was a little too take-away for my liking. The food was in general very simple, but not in the 'simple' way that is full of flavour of fresh ingredients, more that it was a bit lazy. The restaurant itself looked like it was trying to be edgy. Very noisy, quite literally having to yell across the table and a bit uncomfortably warm. The men's bathroom is lit up purple, in the same fashion dodgey bathrooms have to prevent drug use - thought that was a bit tacky. The service was overall quite good. We felt they were a bit pushy at the start, having a different waiter (quite literally) approach us every 30 seconds prior to ordering asking whether we were ready yet. But otherwise, service was quite good. Finally, the drinks - not having a wine per glass option under $13 was a bit cheeky I thought. That is priced higher than most fancy bars and creeping into cocktail price. I felt, over all, the restaurant was trading on Masterchef hype - there are many better modern European eats to be had in Melbourne. read more

Best souva's I've had (I had the Beef, Chicken and Duck) they all come with chips inside, personally all souva's should come with chips standard, why not? The taste justifies paying just over $10 per souva considering their size. Can't exclude the chips on the side served with olive oil and crumbled fetta, a must try. read more

I sent a message on Yelp to make a reservation, and received a call 3 days later, with the excuse that my yelp booking enquire went to their junk mail!, and then missed out on the booking! Recommendation save your money go to another Local Greek restaurant instead! read more

Mmmm...mmm.mmm! I went to Gazi for lunch with the family. It was the first time I had been here and I had heard good things. The wait staff were friendly and attentive. The food was sublime. I wanted to have food babies with the saganaki and baby fig dish and actually ordered a second helping. My brothers (unnecessarily) ordered more of the lamb which, given Greek-ness of the venue, is its specialty. The desserts were equally sublime! I was here on my dad's dime, as were we all - hence the extra ordering ;) but event then everything was reasonably priced. read more

Not your typical Greek restaurant. What struck me at first was the music with "Good Golly Miss Molly" not quite blasting through the ceiling speakers, but a bit more than loud. Enough to drown out the conversations going on around you. Spacious with a fantastically designed ceiling of upside down clay pots that looks like a topographical map of the outback. At 5:30 on a Friday night the restaurant was 1/3 full. By 6:15 PM it was at capacity. The staff is friendly and very good customer service. Ordered the grilled chicken and pumpkin salad. Both were very nice. The pumpkin with feta cheese (goat cheese?) and nuts was great. Perfect texture and not as sweet as I thought it might be. In addition to the standard Greek beverages, they serve local beer on tap and in bottles. Greek food, like Spanish, is best when with a group to share, but this place offers half portions of some main dishes and two salads if you're going it alone. And to conclude the evening, "Thriller" was playing on the way out. read more

Gazi - Grilled chicken and pumpkin salad. - International Near Me - Melbourne, VIC

I can't really complain about too much food but I will. There was too much and it was all basically delicious. The servings were gloriously rich and generously adorned with sauces and accompaniments galore. I loved the home made pita and dips. I also loved the smell of garlic oozing out of every fixture. The service was good enough - though I always had the feeling they would rather be out the back smoking or chatting up sexier ppl then me. The pita wrap was a bit tasteless and superfluous given it was followed by a feast that would make john candy blush. All in all if you like a slightly modern take on Greek you'll be pretty happy. If you're the sort of guphumping old dick who hates things out loud just to hear the sound of his own boring and irrelevant noise then who cares what you say. Choke on a bone. read more

Best soy latte in Melbourne's CBD. Always go there before heading to rod laver arena when I can. Great service and fantastic quality.

Really average. Love Greek food but this missed the mark. Much better places to eat in Melbourne. Wait staff nice but ill informed. Our "Souvla's" were dry. Great salads though! read more

Beautiful place, great food - all ruined by a near-scare. Told server about nut allergy several times while ordering. She did her part by alerting kitchen. Each dish brought to table, I asked food runner to ensure it was nut-free. One of them - gyro pita - she went back to double check, and quickly came and removed the plate. I asked what happened. They changed the recipe recently and served it to me with a CASHEW sauce!!! Thank God I am so careful/paranoid and asked over and over again and that the server double-checked. HUGE fail. Manager was cheap and comped one dessert. Total carelessness on behalf of the kitchen. They could kill a person. Gazi: learn a thing or two from Chef Ming: https://www.ming.com/food-allergy-awareness/ - Once you have better standards in place, you'll have a 5-star dining experience. read more

Loud and dark. Don't expect to get to know your date there. The food was tasty. Too much bread if you get dips AND a souvlaki. Greek chop salad comes with too much fennel on the lavosh. Just okay, and a bit pricey. read more

Fantastic! Been there a few times and always been blown away. Highly recommend for anybody wanting Greek food with a twist!

Our group of 4 were big fans of this restaurant. While not being traditional greek it was an excellent modern take on the food. We had the 7 dish sharing menu, which came with 2 dips (these were only okay, most disappointing component of the meal), pita and sangonarki (delish), then the tuna, chicken, kypriany salata, and chips (all great). We were too full for the dessert but we ate half anyway. Service was excellent and very prompt and it had a great atmosphere. read more

Day 4 and still really sick and unable to eat anything; likely due to a dodgy taramasalata. Had lunch with 3 girlfriends. We all had upset stomachs quite quickly and couldn't eat the rest of the banquet. All still having tummy issues. Avoid. read more

Lovely waitress, very busy professional restaurant. Loved the lamb ribs. Desserts were delicious. And an extremely good classic margarita.

We are vegetarians and were able to get a table for 2 on walk in at 830 pm on a weeknight. The service was attentive and solid. We started with the eggplant miso dip which was perfectly puréed and creamy from a texture perspective -- the taste was different from the Mediterranean babaghanoush in that the eggplant tasted oven roasted, not fire roasted and of course the miso was a fusion ingredient. The dish was worth trying but we wouldn't get it again. Next came the saganaki mac and cheese which was DELICIOUS. Perfectly creamy and cheesy, served in a square cast iron with a crisped cheese too -- as good as it gets. We shared the onion bhaji Souvla (Indian onion Bhaji served in an open pita like bread lathered in a yogurt base with a shredded green combo of apples and cabbage?) which was our favorite dish of the night. We had the mushroom skewers which were simple and well executed. We also had the wild green salad side which my wife loved (perfectly tender greens stewed in a tomato sauce served with fried egg on top) and the charred broccoli. The sauce with the broccoli (tasted like a version of muhammara with cashews rather than walnuts) was nice but the broccoli itself would've been better served with a sharper knife to slice through the thick stalk or, if available in Melbourne, substituted for broccollini. All in all, fantastic meal. There us something amazing to us about a Greek inspired restaurant with so many creative and incentive vegetarian options. read more

I cannot stop thinking about the dips at this place. You could pretty much just go and have a meal of them, the flavours punch you in the back of the cheek they are so good. The staff are brilliant, and they will upsell the hell out of you so take some extra cashola as its hard to say no (they are also babes, I should probably mention that too). Awesome place for a drink if you can't stay for dinner. Its even worth a visit just to see the terracotta-potted roof. Well played Georgie boy. read more

We had the tasting menu, and the food was mediocre overall. It did not stand up to the food culture of other places we visited in Melbourne. But the service is what really turned us off to the place. This restaurant had the most disorganized staff of any restaurant we visited in Melbourne. Every step was painful from ordering to getting a check. read more

Excellent food - love the SOUVLAKAKIA range

Food was decent at best. Service was atrocious at best. Horrible experience. Food is no where near good enough to warrant that poor level of service. read more

Arrived without reservation for a late lunch . Staff were really friendly and helpful - really nice atmosphere . Food was great - we shared a saganaki and salad and each had a souvlaki . Food quality excellent - service great . Prices sensible for location and quality .. Will return on my next trip to Melbourne . read more

Went for dinner on the recommendation from other reviews. Would rate the wine selection as 5-star and food as 2 to 3-star. Service was friendly but felt a bit rushed. Bomba metaxa desert was good - but no trace of metaxa found. Overall I would say it was overrated. read more

Amazing, so this is what Greek street food should taste like. A restaurant with a great vibe. Great vegetarian, dips, flat breads, succulent meat, and fish. Try the great value 10 course degustation menu for $69 and compliment with Greek beer and ouzo. Knowledgable and enthusiastic staff. My compliments Mr Columbaris on a great job. read more

If you are going to go, resist the insistence of staff that you should go for the 10 course "doing it greek style" banquet @$69pp. There were quite a few things on the menu that looked good but unfortunately what we got in the banquet (i think it changes so there is no set banquet dishes) was quite repetitive and average. tzatziki and bread, saganaki, one prawn each, one tiny portion of grilled salmon, an iceberg lettuce salad which was really just iceberg lettuce with a bit of shredded cheese, a small souvlaki of your choice but disappointingly lamb isnt one of those choices. I chose chicken which was bland and unseasoned and just chicken, chips and bread..maybe some onion. Then the "main" was a plate of chicken..and a bowl of chips. Sorry but if you are going to market as dirty street food, then start charging street prices otherwise liven up the banquet a little! Dessert was donuts and ice cream. None of it was bad but none of it was great and the most disappointing this was there was so much promise on the rest of the menu and we would have spent less. We would have eaten less but that's ok. So overall, stick to the a la carte menu and just order what you want. If you just want a crapload of food for $69 and dont really care what it is, then go for the banquet. read more