Don Don

Very fast, great bargain!
It only takes a few seconds and your food is ready to go!
Also the staffs are very friendly.

The food was delivered in seconds over the counter and the generous portion means you wouldn’t go hungry for a while. The price was very reasonable. We had salmon sashimi on rice, it was good. The dondon box was okay too.
Overall, it is a quick and cheap option for lunch if you are in the city.

Came about 3 times a week when I worked near because im stingy but lazy to make lunch. Nowhere else are you going to find food this good and such a decent quantity for that price. $ 5.9 for tofu curry Don… a dollar more for chicken. Half the time you get it before they give you your change…
Cash only.
5 stars if you’re on a budget. Tourist probably try other places whilst here.

I don’t think I believed my friend whe she told me not to worry as the wait is really short, especially when the restaurant was packed and people were still ordering. Obviously she was delusional!
I was very wrong. Having placed my order for terriyaki chicken, I waited maybe 3 minutes before my meal was ready. I know the Japanese are efficiently, but this was just lightening speed!
Don don focusses on a small menu at prices under $ 10. It is often littered with RMIT students or people after a cheap and cheerful meal. It represents great value with comforting portions and always hits the spot!

Don Don is perfect for starving students, or anyone else on a budget. Everything on the menu is under $ 10 and the serving sizes are plentiful. Mind you, a big portion of the meals are white rice. The menu is limited to the basics and includes a few vegetarian options as well as miso soup and tea. The place was packed on a Tuesday evening, but the food quickly flew out of the kitchen. Disturbingly quickly… before I’d even managed to pull the correct change out of my wallet, my meal had hit the counter.
This place isn’t pretending to be something it’s not. It just does what it does well — cheap, filling, and fast.

Don Don box was superb and would highly recommend it. Will definitely try out the curry dishes the next time I come again!

Don Don has been known as one of the most affordable first sources of food for freshman RMIT students for over a decade. My sister introduced me to it way back when she was here for studies, and now it’s my turn.
Featuring a fairly sparse menu, they are nonetheless one of the most affordable in the CBD, as well as providing fast and efficient service whether for dining in or take out.
Nowadays you have a much larger selection of Japanese food in the CBD, notably Hanaichi being a direct competitor just off in the QV. However, Don Don continues to be one of the first tips passed on to all RMIT students looking for a quick bite.

I don’t expect much from their food here. I visit this place for a quick, fast and relatively cheap meal (living that great student life). I was surprised of how many people this place could accommodate — it looks tiny from the outside!
The food isn’t fantastic but it’s not completely horrible as well. Try their chicken curry don if you are feeling indecisive.

Cheap and cheerful.
This is a small-​ish, high volume restaurant with very basic Japanese fare.

The best place for cheap eats! Super fast and super tasty. Everyone is polite even thought it’s always hella busy. Just decide what you want fast because the line is always long and the people don’t like to be held up!
Probably have to take away since it’s always so full.

Not sure why I love this place so much… I just do. I like how you can be struggling to put away the change in you pocket after ordering and you chicken curry don is already prepared and waiting for you. And that familiar saucy goodness smell like a lost friend to this docklands weary office worker. Worth the occasional tram journey to get to. Can you tell that I’m a fan?

Curry chicken was really good (yum!) and portion was generous for what it cost.

DON DON BOX — Beef Sukiyaki, Chicken Teriyaki, Steamed Rice & salad for under $ 10.00.
YOU HAVE GOT TO BE JOKING.
It must taste like crap? WRONG…
I have just described the Don Don Box. Not only is it cheap, it tastes great. And who says «Japanese always leaves me hungry»? Not at Don Don.
How do they do it for the money? I am guessing — Economies of scale. There would be 200 people through here at lunch time, both dining in and takeaway. The place is small, cramped and great. Don’t expect any fine dining or any table service, just cheap and cheerful.
The menu is small, simple but good value for money with the Don Don Box being the most expensive item on the menu. No deep fryer so don’t expect tempura, and no sushi. They have selected meals that can be cooked to order in minutes.
Even the beer is reasonably priced…
Lunch Hint — if you get there about 10 minutes before the hour, you will get a seat — (Most people start lunch on the hour and there is a rush) — No reservations. Don’t forget to say hello to Sharon for me, it’s like she never takes a holiday.
I don’t know if the Lt Lonsdale Street store does dinner, but the Swanston Street & Bank Street (Sth Melb) stores are the same but are open for dinner.

Cheap eats with good choices for all. Japanese fast food, as it were, but not the regular maki rolls etc. Love the tofu or chicken curry myself, but everything is good and the price is hard to beat. Nothing fancy, but you didn’t come here to have your curry bowl wiped and presented to you with micro herbs.

It was with only a few pink notes and coins on my person I went out yesterday looking for «cheap eats» which are not really fun to write about as not much has to be involved in the decision making process to buy something cheap and cheerful and go on your merry way. If you find it disgusting or delightful, you really don’t take the time to tell your friends because what did you lose in the end? A $ 10 note? Surely nobody wants to read about such a tale on here. I suppose I will find out.
So I meandered to Don Don on the corner of Swanston Street and Little Lonsdale Street. It is known seemingly as a popular Japanese teppanyaki takeaway and on this occasion, the queue for service was spilled out on to the street. Still being in a relaxed holiday mode, I had nowhere else to be so I happily joined the queue to see what all the fuss was about.
This is a small venue and doesn’t accommodate many seats for the ravenous diners. By the time I got to the counter and placed an order for a Teriyaki Chicken ($ 7) sweat was dripping down my back and through other crevasses throughout my body. It was hot in this place and with two queues; one for service and one to pick up food, I can’t say it would have been very comfortable for the handful of people that choose to eat in the amazon rainforest-​like conditions.
After ordering, I joined the other queue to pick up my order, I was amazed at how efficient the staff were in getting punters out of there and filling orders. As there are a few tables outside and of course the green grass outside of the State Library across the street, there are other relaxed facilities to eat what incidentally I found find to be tasty takeaway. Cheap and cheerful indeed which beats the flavour of anything that you would get at Melbourne Central. I found very little cartilage attached to the chicken, which was freshly grilled. It is really good value for money in the area and you don’t mind having a good sweat it is worth a visit.
Top it off with a $ 1 large frozen coke from Hungry Jack’s and a $ 7 ticket to see «Quartet» at the Palace Kino cinema and I was able to occupy myself and be satisfied for $ 15 all up for the afternoon. Now that is a cheap Monday worth writing and talking about.

My boyfriend and I were looking for a cheap (and if possible cheerful) place for lunch in the centre of Melbourne. I found Don don and we decided to give it a try. We almost missed it as it is a small place with no big visible sign, but the menu is displayed on the window. It is a very simple menu with only 9 dishes. My boyfriend ordered the teriyaki chicken with rice and I ordered the beef with rice. We were both not disappointed!
The food only took 1 or 2 minutes to arrive, which is perfect as we were both really hungry! The chicken was the best teriyaki my boyfriend has ever had and although I found the beef a bit fatty, it was very good too (but like a previous Unilocaler, I am a bit particular about my meat!). We went back twice within the next 2 weeks and considering the choice of restaurants that Melbourne has to offer, I think that says a lot. We tried their bento box (lots of food! Very good) and also the tofu, which I read is very tasty but I still prefer meat.
The customers there are a mix of students and business men in suit and although the place is always very busy, we always found a table to sit. We haven’t tried to take away but it seems lots of people do it: it’s cheap, the food gets here quick, perfect for when one is in a rush!
We can’t wait to go back to Don Don’s next time we’re in Melbourne!

Can’t vouch for anything else on the menu coz I always get the chicken curry don. Been having it since my uni days struggling for money and even now that I’m working I still sneak out during breaks to order one. It’s that GOOD!
Before you complain about the portions think about how much you’re paying. Besides for something that’s less than $ 7 you can order 2 and still get better value compared to eating out at places that charge $ 15 for a meal and another $ 3.50 for coffee.
And though service may not be on everyone’s list, at least in this place you know you’ll be interacting with actual ppl instead of the soulless robots in Chinatown.

Located just across the road from the State Library, Don Don is part of the staple diet of much of Melbourne’s university student population for several reasons: it’s super cheap (at between $ 6 and $ 8 per meal), fast, casual, and reasonably healthy.
Don Don has a small menu of simple Japanese food, such as the very popular Chicken Teriyaki Don (served on rice with dried seaweed and pickled ginger for $ 6.20), Tofu Curry, Sukiyaki, and the generous bento box.
Whilst it’s not uncommon to find the occasional piece of cartilage in your serve of chicken (which can be forgiven for the price), the food is otherwise fresh and satisfying.
The restaurant has an intimate layout with five or six staff members squashed into a tiny open kitchen, yelling orders to each other and service food with impressive speed. The dining area is quite cramped (with an authentic Japanese street restaurant vibe), which makes it more appropriate for a quick feed on your own than with groups of more than three, as it’s unlikely you would find more than two seats available next to each other (if at all).

In honour of Don Don’s ridiculously speedy service, I’m going to write an equally speedy review.
Went, ate, great.

Have you ever gone to a place where you’ve walked into the restaurant, ordered your food, got your food and heading out of the place in about 24 seconds flat? Say hello to your very little friend Don Don. Serving a mixture of teriyakis, currys, and sushi, Don Don is cheap and flavoursome Japanese food with lightning fast service. Although it caters mainly to students, the food is tasty enough for regular people to eat. The line outside is usually massive at lunchtime but it is the quickest line you can imagine. There is very limited seating inside and a small number of seats outside, so I’d recommend that you get it to take out and go and chill out on the grass at the Melbourne City Library across the road and get some people watching in.
Pricewise, you cannot go wrong with Don Don. A Curry Don or Teriyaki Don will set you back about 7 bucks. The meat is really tender and juicy too. If you are thinking of going to Maccers or Hungry Jacks, don’t do it. Hit up Don Don!
In the time it has taken me to write this review they might have fed the population of a small country…