Staff at High Street restaurant suffered their latest terrifying ordeal on Sunday night when three masked men armed with a knife attempted to rob the store.

About 9.45pm, two male staff members were ambushed as they took rubbish out the back of the restaurant.

The men demanded money and attempted to force their way into the shop, but staff managed to fight them off.

One staff member suffered a cut to his arm during the incident.

Four nights previous on Thursday night, two men armed with a glass bottle attempted a similar robbery.

Restaurant owner Jerry Yu said this latest attempted robbery was scary.

“They [the armed robbers] were more professional this time, they had masks on their faces.

“I have been here for more than two years. Before July it was fine, this is now four times from July to now.”

Ms Yu said two teenagers had been waiting at the back of the building on Thursday night, but the latest attack was more serious.

“This time there was three, one boy was holding a knife, my staff were trying to close the gate, they were all yelling.

“The neighbours came out and [the masked men] ran away. We called the police and they came straight away, but [the would-be thieves] were already gone.”

Two men also broke into the store in July and smashed a front window.

Central Hunter crime manager Detective Inspector John Zdrilic said detectives were investigating the incident.

“At the moment we’re still canvassing the area for CCTV footage,” he said. 

“We still need to interview a number of people; we are trying to get better descriptions of the people involved.”

Anyone with information should call Central Hunter detectives on 4934 0200 or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.