Pepper Lunch

If you want to have a quick, hearty lunch, this is the place to go. If you are a first timer then you have to try the classic pepper rice. Don’t forget to add egg. If you are not a big rice eater then don’t order the lot. It cones with an extra bowl of rice. Better get the extra meat. If you don’t like rice, you can change it to pasta, see pic no 3. Recommended if you wanna have a quick lunch, no queue when we eat there.

We arrived here at 7pm and on google your website says you shut at 8pm. Already ordered and the woman waiter tells us they are shutting and doing us a courtesy by staying open for us?! Then as we get our food proceeds to clear our table mid-way through our meal?! Quite rude to say the least. You might want to update your trading hours on google or at least close your shop off to the public if you were “shut”?! Or at least tell us you are closed before we place our meal and spend in your restaurant. Poor service!

Tastes nothing like the original Pepper Lunch. Both the prawns and scallops were really minuscule and super salty. Salmon pieces are so tiny. It was a miserable meal

Taste as usual as expected, waitress very good services with big smile. Full house during dinner.

great spot for a fast and tasty meal.they have touch screens at the entry for you to order and pay - youll need to wait to be seated thoughif you have never had pepper lunch before the food will come out on a hot plate - essentially the meat will be served raw (unless its chicken) for you to sizzle and cook it to your likingjust mix it through and add some sauces as you mixservice is decent, the place was kept quite clean upon my visit, and there is a good amount of seating inside

First time eating here. Food was amazing and was always kept hot thanks to the hot plate. Service was quick and friendly staff. I will definitely be coming back for sure and recommend this place to everyone.

We ordered through the machines however the money machine was not working. So I walked out to the waiter and said it’s not taking money can I order with you she look at me funny and said what you mean it not working then came to the machine pressed few buttons then said come Pay at counter! I asked for still water she looked at meAgain funny and looked at a place that had paper Taps and said help yourself!I ordered the chicken spicy curry it was ok, just way to much rice not much chicken! Chicken was a little dry!my partner order the chicken katsu said it was very dry considering it was deep fried! He also orders the apple and mint drink it was full of apple syrup no mint!Could tell the staff didn’t want to be there, which is a shame to see

Date and time of visit: 20 November 2022, 7pm.Pepper Lunch appears to have a good consistency across its Melbourne restaurants: menu options, cooking, taste etc.The main drawback is the system for ordering food and it wasn't any better here. This was a major bottle neck. You order via a touch screen prior to entering the restaurant. This helps the staff but I'm not sure it really helps the customer. I don't know if I prefer it over a QR code ordering system at the table BUT the QR code ordering system will very easily allow you to order more items off the menu after you have started your meal. I wanted another drink part way through the meal but the line at the ordering system at the restaurant entrance was long and slow. So there was no pint - my partner would've been eating alone for 5 to 10 minutes, and my food would've become cold. I went next door, instead, to Woolworths after my meal to get a drink (which was cheaper, anyway).The food was great and fun. I ordered a meal similar to a meal I had at the city store a few months prior. This time though, I waited for the dish to cool a little prior to adding the sauce. Add the sauce too soon and it will boil off. The dish was the chicken katsu" curry with a added serving of onions. It was delicious and the curry reminded me of the chain stores in Japan (e.g. Coco Curry).Prices may be a little high for what you get. Especially the soft drinks (like Coca Cola etc) - they are overpriced. But the food is tasty and tastes fresh and food prices are going up everywhere

It was my first time visiting Pepper Lunch, and I was impressed!The meals are totally customisable and there’s so many options to choose from - I was kind of lost on what to choose!Service was very quick and the store was almost full of customers with limited seats - so you know the place is very popular.For my first meal, I went sort of plain because I wasn’t sure what to choose. Chicken and a mild curry sauce on top. Next time however, I will definitely go all out with the toppings.Perfect for a quick easy lunch, and an even better warm, hearty meal for a cold winter’s day. I hope to be back soon!

Having been to many a Japanese family restaurant (in Japan), we were happy to give Pepper Lunch a go (family of 4, with 11/16yos) - however, this was a giant mistake. Overall it wasn't even meh, it was untasty and an incredibly disappointing caricature of the Japanese real thing. It looks like they have tried to operate this business with a skeleton staff, to the point we cook our own meals (I know that's the point). We will not go back; especially for the price. In Japan this is more like food-court food; but this place doesn't even have food-court quality.Pros:- A hint of being in Japan.- A moderate range of foods- the waffle fries were appreciated by the family.Cons:- You need to order at clunky terminals (prior to entering the restaurant) - that are slow, confusing and just poorly made to find things. I almost gave up several times it was so slow to do.- there seems to be no table ordering available- The staff didn't easily find certain dishes using their own tools, and were mostly trying to fix the order-machines rather than providing an inviting experience.- For a family of 4 this can take a long time. As there are only 4-5 machines (and they are hard to access as they're all in a line into the store); so expect to wait even to get a chance to see the menu.- We couldn't select seats until we ordered (and couldn't even properly see what seats were available). As there is limited seating, it's pot luck if there are seats available.- Table service was minimal at best; and not friendly.- While there are a reasonable number of dishes, they seem to lack basic ones (or they are hard to find).- The food (the most important thing) was near inedible. The hamburg turned out to be what looked like an over-cooked frozen hamburger patty (this is NOT what hamburg is - and even then it was more like cardboard than meat).- The premium cut steak (which they advised to try before adding sauce) was weird tasting - it wasn't off, but it also didn't taste like any beef I knew. Maybe it was turning (or was some weird body part I don't want to know about). My Japanese wife thought it tasted like there was something artificial added to the meat. It was not pleasant at all; and the sauce doesn't hide it when added. All of my family didn't enjoy the taste of any of the food (with the exception of the waffle fries)- Whilst we may have different expectations to most - I cannot advise eating the rice. It was not well cooked.- The cost is out of proportion to what you get - a dish with some sizzle meat, and corn and bean-sprouts plus basic (un-tasty) rice. We only had 3 basic meals and it cost us nearly $80. Drink prices are ridiculous - which is the same everywhere in Australia (to be fair).