Zaaffran Restaurant - Dossa Enterprises Reviews

One of the best places for Indian food in Sydney. Every dish is cooked and presented in Master Chef style.

The Chicken Biryani is a must try at this location. You need to order 20 minutes earlier for the Biryani.

I have also had the best Salmon dish in Indian style here.

The prices are a bit expensive. But given the location of the restaurant and the quality of food, it is worth a visit for special occasions.

First time at Zaffaran yesterday & absolutely amazing! First class all around.... will definitely be back & would certainly recommend.
Kev & Dee

Tried the bbq banquet, the quality and detail was excellant. Bit disappointed with the quantity.

Felt unwelcome, way overpriced for size of serving, bill had card surcharge already applied even though I was paying with cash, I let it go as I will never return, came 5 years ago and it was excellent, pity.

Must try - Butter chicken (Spicy) & The rose brulee (dessert)

Delectable, authentic Indian food and friendly staff. Zaaffran is one of my favourite Indian restaurants in Sydney! Value for money is great for a group of 3-4 people.

From reading your feedback, I will never go there AT ALL.. I was thinking to take my wife for a nice dinner but I become really angry man when I deal with arrogant people!!!!!! So, I am not gonna ruin our day.... :) thanks for let us know about how bad they are...

Excellent Indian fine dining experience. Awesome quality of food. Though a bit noisy due to families and friends gathered together, would give 5 stars for review.

Pretty average. The food is nothing special but the views are good which is just about all the place can hang its hat on. Got the BBQ banquet which was incredibly slow with only one of the mains having come until we had to follow up (almost two hours after we initially arrived) and ask what s coming next. They insisted the deserts were all that was left which prompted us to look up the menu and asked where the ribs were of which the guy still insisted it had come but he ll make sure it did at the kitchen. unsurprisingly he came back with it and didn t exactly apologise. We re also pretty sure this wasn t the only main that was missed but we were full enough to we were fine to call it there. Overall if you re eating in darling harbour I d like to think there s much better options

Indian food at its best in Sydney. A great view on Darling Harbour coupled with some classic Indian cuisine, you cannot go wrong when you are in the mood for Indian food in Sydney CBD. Best ones - Chicken Tikka, Lamb Madras. Also try the buffet option ending with an amazing dessert of Rasgulla, Gulab Jamun or Indian style ice cream!

Service and food are amazing, loved the lamb curry, its a must have.
Special mention to our server Sujit, who went an extra mile to enhance our good experience.

Zaaffran's booking vouchers are subject to 6 pages terms and conditions...

Good food, great view of Darling Harbour, conveniently located

Incredible Indian food with great service in a smart, waterside setting. If the weather is nice request an outdoor table on the balcony to take in the Darling Harbour views. Looking forward to returning and trying more dishes.

Disappointing customer service. They have no idea how to attend waiting customers.

Nice location and atmosphere but the food is lacking that wow factor. With the minimum spend and public holiday surcharge I won't be coming back.

Food was average, decent portion size. Gets very busy during the weekend.

Bit over rated. good to take overseas visitors for dining and show off Sydney but not for food.

Consistently delicious food and great customer service with a lovely view and ambience. We visit often and haven't left disappointed yet!

Best dinner, came here first time on birthday and got special treat... food is good... time is excelent and service is awsome.. going to come again.

barramundi curry was creamy, sweet and salty-just so tasty! Service was attentive and friendly. Lamb korma is not too oily or heavy-I like this one better.

I have been to this restaurant on various occasions. 9-10 years ago it was definitely one of the best Indian restaurant in Sydney but that is not the case anymore. Managers are far to rude and the wait staff very inexperienced. Food is still ok. Nothing special. We booked a table for 3 and while we were waiting for our table to be ready 5 groups of people were offered table before us. None of them made any booking. They were all walk in. The waiter poured beer all over our table. Didnt even apologize. There are much better restaurants in sydney with better food and service

Something different from the usual Darling harbour food. It's tasty and staff have always been great on my visits.

Had a group birthday dinner here and the service was great even though the place was really busy.
Interesting menu - great view

Average food, but service has been pretty bad recently.

The food here is a version of Indian (call it fusion or as you wish). To be clear- I am not referring to the amount of spice and whether it is chilli hot. It just lacks the burst of flavours that you will find in authentic Indian cooking. You pay for location, views of Darling harbour and service. If latter is what you are after, then this is the place.

Worst experience ever
Wrong people at right place

Very rude service.
I was able to book a table but as soon as i mentioned a child as well, very rudely i was told no tables are available.
They should just write no children allowed instead of changing tunes once children are mentioned.
Would never bother with such rudeness, definitely other wonderful restaurants around that deserve your money. Don't bother wasting it on Zaffraan.

What great food and service. Service from Prakash was outstanding and his recommendations were spot on. The banquet was a great choice for the 5 of us. Their boat show discounts are an excellent idea. We will go back.

Service was ok. Papadam was ordered but never came till we asked for it. Was charged more for naan bread. Food was ok.

Zaaffran was one of the best Indians that I had in Sydney.I have been a regular at this place ever since I came to sydney 4 years ago.

Completely disheartened to say its not anymore.

With the new Menu the vegiterian options are very few. We ordered Paneer Butter Masala which we always use to order and it was so bland. You would not pay 27$ for that curry. Other thing is that you need to order 35$ per person. I wouldnt mind that if the food was good and I could have made it a take away.

We also order chicken makhani, the taste was not the same. It was curry very sweet. I think that the chicken was from the tandoor, the taste was just wierd.

We order butter naan and smelled like Garlic. The naan was soggy and not crisp.

I am not going to go to zaffarn every again!!!

More like an indian fusion than straight Indian food. Obviously awesome location, service average to above average. Would recommend nearly everything except any of the fish dishes!

One of my favourite Indian restaurants. Delicious curries and mushroom truffle naan.

Paneer and the black dahl curries were so good.

My favourite dish, biryani is also a must have!

The place is too expensive and the quality of the food does not match the price. Sea-food and vegetarian dishes are yuckk here, only come here if you are hard-core chicken lover. The quantity is too less as compared to the price.

Worst indian food ever had in sydney and very expensive. Just it is located next to harbour it is costing like anything. My recommendation if you want to have some good indian food try some other place. Will never come back to this restaurant.

A group of us celebrated a friend s b day there last night. We sat at the balcony with a beautiful view of Darling Harbour city lights. The staff were friendly and attentive in explaining the dishes and gave us a few recommendatons. We enjoyed the gol guppa, papri chaat, a few curries and most especially the chicken biryani which was baked in puff pastry. And I loved the mushroom naan which I ve never tried before - so much flavour in it I could eat it by itself without dipping into the curries. The tamarind rasa cocktail was delicious too. Will definitely revisit for the amazing mushroom naan & biryani!

Fifth visit here - always exceptional food and service. Have tried most of the menu, some dishes better than others . Stick to the classics - paneer , gol guppa , aloo gobi, beef vindaloo, naans and biryani - cannot go wrong. Will be back next holiday

Today we went out for dinner at Zaffran. Since they apparently had vegan options among their vegetarian ones, we considered the place vegan friendly.
When we got there we saw multiple vegan options for entrees and side dishes.
But the only dairy free main dish was a salad, and, as health conscious as vegans are and as crazy as it sounds, we still enjoy warm, cooked food once in a while, especially when it's cold outside. So we asked whether their yellow lentil dal could be made without dairy or animal products and the waiter said there was no problem. I repeated multiple times, just to make sure, that we wanted a vegan meal, not a vegetarian one, and that it meant zero dairy products.
Once the main dish arrived, I felt the taste of dairy in the dal. So I asked the waiter if he was certain that no dairy, no ghee or whatsoever was used. I asked if he could check. He said it was fine.
But it wasn't. You see, me and my mother, who both ordered the same dal, are HIGHLY intolerant to dairy. As soon as we finished the dish, we both had the most painful, horrific, traumatic digestive episodes we've had in a very, very long time. I'll spare you the details. We've both made the decision that from now on we won't eat on any restaurants anymore unless they are fully vegan. Thank you Zaffran for the lovely experience.

Pathetic experience.. Host is very rude. I guess host does not have an idea about quality customer service. Food taste doesn t match with the quality of garnishing. Never recommend this place

Food was good and the banquet at 50% was good value. However, a few peope in our group fell sick after eating here.

Was there on Monday and had fish curry and beef ribs along with some starters. Great food and great service. Would definitely go back.

My first time to have fine dining Indian cuisine. It is really yummy , best nan bread ever...

I love it the first time, but the second time it wasn't very good.
And the service was not really goodas well.

Good food pairs with the perfect location! The view is fantastic and the vibes are awesome. Recommended.

Unreasonably expensive, below average quality. Very unhappy with the experience. If you love to spend a lot and eat a below average meal or you do not care about what you eat at all, here is the perfect place for you.

The same food could cost $16 anywhere else but we spent $138.

Really enjoyed the vegetarian banquet and the service was also very good. Best Indian food I've had in a very long time.

We had a great night out at Zaffran for great price with a Groupon. The BBQ banquet menu for 2 was delicious and the wine was very good too (photos on Groupon are pretty accurate). We also ordered a Briyani as there was 3 of us ~ it was one of the best we've had. Great location too, an unobstructed view of Darling harbour from their balcony!

The food is good, ambience is good, the location is great but the service is a bit dull. Not downright bad but a bit dull. Especially on crowded evenings but still overall a recommended place to dine on weekends and otherwise. Definitely will go again.

Food is fine but the few staff members not so helpful..

Nice views and atmosphere. Staff and boss was friendly and provided great service. We had a big group and caused them some confusion but they happily accommodated. Great food and we had a great team lunch! Thanks

Best Indian in the CBD and a good view of the harbour.

Verity of Indian food with delicious tastes. I highly recommend it. I got 50% off.

Nice place and ambience. I particularly liked the view from the restaurant. Had the veg banquet and the dishes were definitely worth going again. I was also amazed to hear they have levels of spicy ness - low, medium, hot, South Indian hot as well. I feel the banquet rates can be a bit low.

Extremely pathetic, if you have a big order than it will be fine, manager and staff will be around you other wise they don't care and rude dealing. Food is 5/2 and quantity 5/1. Absolutely not recommend.

Worst Indian food you can try in Sydney!

My partner got a freaking iron nail in her starters! Yes, really?!

We had a guest from overseas and he got a straw like material in his naan (presumably from the basket which they serve naan but we had a metallic basket)

I had called to reserve and also asked where would be the nearest place to park and they recommended Wilson parking and they said they would help getting a discount for the parking if we reached before 9 pm. Sounded good.
After we dined, the lady at the counter acted dumb suggesting "oh the parking counter is closed now". We reached before 9 and they had said your parking is sorted but in the end made us look like fools.

The manager and staff who served were friendly though. They apologised for both the mishaps but an Indian fine dining in the heart of Darling Harbour providing this kind of service is unacceptable.

I wish there was a negative score I could give.
Please avoid this place like a plague!

Should try the barramundi curry, pairs well with garlic naan

It's ok. Expensive compared to other Sydney's indian restaurants. Worth paying for location not for food. One major thing " 5$ per person additional charges to get the table on Sunday and public holiday..!!!!" Because of big name I think owners become greedy.

For the 'touristy' location on Darling Harbour, this I'd actually consistently very good indian food. If I'm looking for good lunch venue then this is probably ideal. However not something I would do for dinner. Might just have been the 1 time we were there but service was all over the place.

We enjoyed the water front view, courteous service and delicious food (e.g. Mahi Sartaj, Butter Chicken).

The servings are of decent size to match the price.

The minimum spend restriction is not enforced.

Worth visiting. Highly recommend.

After a very long day (4am start) I finally got to the restaurant at 9:45pm, they made me welcome and stated the kitchen closed at 10pm. I ordered straight away, the waiting staff were very attentive and the food arrived quickly and was delicious. At 10:36pm I went to the front desk to pay my bill (there were still people eating in the restaurant), when I had done so the old lady at the front desk said "next time you should come earlier so we don't have to rush around" I said sorry but I have been working, she just said "so have I" Very rude old lady who should not be customer facing. The food was excellent, the old lady so rude after I had paid - never again.

Great location. Especially on fireworks nights. The food was pretty decent. Not too rich which is a great relief. Portions were sizeable. The Dal and Bhindi sabji were decently enough done. The naans and rotis need some work. The butter chicken was reasonably all there. Decent rating on food quality and look. A bit expensive but then, what isn't in good Ole Sydney? But what's with the absolutely appalling disregard for even basic customer care? I actually overheard a customer being ticked off for being a few minutes late for his reservation! Agreed that if the food was truly memorable one may even overlook all the rudeness and plain inefficiency. But the fare, while decent, has miles to go before taking memorable territory. So word to the management and staff. A few basic lessons in etiquette won't hurt. And if some of the staff hate the job so much, better to quit rather than torture everyone Including self. Will I return? Maybe. Will I recommend to friends and family? Probably. But with a strong caveat about service standards.

This was my second visit- Zaffran was always INFAMOUS for its ridiculously rude customer service and poor behavior of the staff but the food always pulled it off.

This time on the 09/03/2013 visited with friends from Canberra for dinner. Sunday quiet night. Waiters were as usual super rude and ill mannered, not surprised. Food was just YUCK. Utterly surprising We ordered everything vegetarian- The taste and consistency of the curries just not up to the mark. The Nan breads-oh my god- the small suburban Indian restaurants do a lot better job.

Its expensive and everything negative. NEVER going back.

Can see you going down, not too late buck up.

Good quality indian food by the happening harbour side.

Had the bbq dinner plates a selection of interesting entrees, mains and desert. Pretty dissapointed overall, felt really try hard and tasted very similiar in flavor (mainly cummin). Staff were actually very accomadating, friendly and the service matched it, efficient and easy. Good enough location, just didnt rate the food which is what we mostly want when going out for a meal.

The food was delicious. We had a chicken biriyani for the main. It came with a pastry lid which seemed quite unique to me. It was like a fusion of Indian and western food.

The view out side was breathtaking. The staff were friendly and the service was great

A mix of authentic Indian food (the biryani is great) and modern finesse (beetroot patties, beef ribs). The service has improved significantly compared to around two years ago (when we used to go there for the food in spite of the service...).

I will start off by saying the food is not their forte. I could keep going on about how our experience was and how slow the staff was but it would be unfair to blame the staff serving us. Communication in any business is like a pyramid. If the information correctly flows from top to bottom, the process of getting the food from the kitchen to the table will flow smoothly. In this scenario - i feel the top is a bit clueless and the bottom cant really help. After visiting the venue, I googled it and realised we could have used a discount voucher, there are tons of them available online. I guess you go the voucher lane when you are really quiet- it was very quiet when we visited. I hope they can understand where they are going wrong and rectify it. Hopefully, next time we see the venue busy and can have a more positive experience.

I had lunch today with my grandson and we both found the food exceptional. Service was great and the ambiance just right looking out over Darling Harbour. Would definitely recommend.

Food was quite bad and ur only paying for location

Biryani is great and even the prices are reasonable if you use the dimmi 50% off deals

I have never been so mad at a restaurant where I wanted to write a review on it. This was possibly the worst restaurant I have ever been to.
No one greeted us at the door. We waited around 5-8 min before the front lady rudely stared at us and beckoned us to come inside the restaurant where the front desk was hidden.
She very impatiently told us Look. Just sit on the couch and wait for 10 min as we are very very busy
The restaurant was half empty.
We waited around 30 min and were finally seated and ordered our food.
We order 3 currys and some naan.
THE ABSOLUTE WORST FOOD I HAVE EVER EATEN. The curry looked pale and texture was completely watery. The naan was soggy and the service was terrible.
We looked around to see other tables and their food looked as bad as ours.
After that disaster, we went to pay at the front desk with that rude lady from the start and she tells us in a flat tone oh I forgot to tell you this before you sat down, but there is a $5 surcharge per person as it is Sunday. I forgot to tell you as it so very very busy oops
My table had four people - so that worked out to $20 just for coming into this stupid restaurant.
The food was very pricey with each curry ($30)
So our total bill was $120 for the worst food and service you can imagine.
Do not waste your time here.

Amazing experience.That should probably be 6 out of 5stars. Superb Indian Jain food options available. A perfect lunch date destination for us. We cannot forget the complimentary Ras Malai Dessert we got. Thank you.