• Ignorance Is Not Bliss

  Rating - Overall: 1  Food: 3  Service: 1  Ambience: 2

  

  drewski
  Rookie Reviewer
  Member since Feb 10
  Rating: 0

  28 Feb 2010

  Bosphorus stands as the only restaurant that I've been to that I've simply had to leave as my patience wore out. It's not that the customer service is bad, it's that there is NO customer service. At all. We left after almost two hours and had spent only twenty minutes of that time eating, the rest of the time was spent waiting or trying to get the waiter's attention. Even in the most mediocre of Turkish restaurants, they will give you some bread and olives during the wait - not this one. This is made worse by the fact that the waiting is what you'll spend most of your time doing. Looking at an empty table and empty glasses.

  This restaurant is very fortunate due to its location which guarantees new business (repeat customers are very unlikely) but this also means that they care little about looking after you once you're in there. If they're in the business of wiping over tables and disappearing for long periods of time, they are doing very well. As a decent restaurant, however, it is appalling. I wondered to myself that if I'd died at the table, they'd probably only notice after they'd run out of tables to clean. The fact their location means that business is almost guaranteed means that you are likely to feel utterly, utterly dispensable in there.

  I was more than happy to spend money in there on sweets, coffees, more drinks and little extras to go with my main meal but the fact that we were completely ignored the entire time meant that eventually gave up after the main meal because of the time and constant pestering it would take. Even asking for a second round of drinks took thirty minutes and needed to be asked twice. Perhaps I needed to have a neon sign on my back that said "I have money to spend and food I want to order" to get some attention, but alas, I did not. The reactions from couples at the tables on either side of me also indicated that they were frustrated by the same level of neglect. I wonder how much money they lose on an average night just because people decided to leave early...

  The sad thing about this is that the food was actually quite nice when it did arrive. It was nothing mind-blowing but certainly worthy of three/four stars. However, the fact that it takes a Herculean effort just to get to that point completely ruins the experience.

  In short, it's a restaurant that has two contrasting sides: on one hand, you have the lovely decór, but then you have those horrendous Fablon tables. Likewise, on one hand you have perfectly reasonable food, but you have to fight absolutely tooth-and-claw to get it. I absolutely cannot recommend Bosphorus for this very reason. Extraordinarily disappointing.

  Visited: February 27, 2010

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