Merad Restaurant — Restaurant in Mechelen

Please take a seat and get ready to laugh.

After a long day at work, at 7:55 pm I sat at this restaurant, that I chose randomly. I was alone and, to enjoy a romantic view on the adjacent channel, I choose the farthest table from the waiters "main route". My mistake, I admit. After 15' waiting and being ignored, I stand to get a menu. It took another 15' waving to get the attention of a waiter to order my well deserved meal: a beer, lamb chops and French fries. Then I got the beer and it started another waiting time. After 1h (aka 60') I had smoked a few cigarettes, checked emails, read half of a book, updated all the apps and, while I was on Google Earth checking how it looks Bangladesh from the sky, I realized I had 4% battery left on my mobile. Suspicious that they had gone to slaughter a lamb, I asked where my lamb chops were. Apparently, my order was forgotten somewhere. This lead to a 8" panic of waiters and, after another good 20' I got my chops, with apologies but without French fries. As a compensation, they invited me a 2nd beer. After I had eaten almost all the chops, I wanted to enjoy at least the last one with my fries. Suspicious that they had gone to the vegetable garden to seed potatoes, they realized they had forgotten to take them. When they took them, I straight away asked for the bill. You know, my flight was at 10 am of the day after, I did not want to miss it. After another 15', suspicious that they had gone to cut a tree to get the paper for my receipt, I decided to walk in to get my bill. When they saw me, almost in tears they gifted me also the 1st beer. I paid while I was in desperate need to pee the 2 beers but, worried that they maybe had to build a toilet, I gave up and at 10:45 pm started to walk towards the hotel. On my way, carefully guided by Maps.me, the last 4% of the battery of my mobile gave up and went to sleep. Luckily, I was smart enough to find the way to the hotel where, after a 7' pee, I took 12' to share this story with you. At least, it didn't start to rain.

Conclusion: Location: +2 Waiting for the menu: -1 Waiting for a waiter: -1 Order forgotten: -3 Bangladesh from the sky: +1 Food taste: +4 French fries delay: -1 Missing napkins (I had forgotten to mention, and lamb chops without napkins made my hands quite sticky): -2 Bill delay: -1 Waiter's tears: +1 Balance: -1 stars However, as the minimum allowed by Google is +1 star, that's my vote. But now you know why. Good night. PS owner of this place, you have things to fix. It's not waiters fault, it's your fault as they are not enough for the quantity of tables they need to serve....

I visited this restaurant with my family today and everything would have been fine except that our main course came raw. We ordered mixed meat, where all the meat was either overcooked or raw. I called the waiter and explained the situation, that I understand that there are a lot of people and so on. But in response I heard let us redo it and didn't even hear a change. We were having dinner with my child who needed to go to bed soon. So I offered the alternative of having some meat (kebab) so we could eat some meat and go home. When I asked for the bill the waiter said the meat was not included in the bill, are you guys serious now? I don't think I should have even said that, it makes sense. After all 2anthrekot, all lamb and all chicken are not fit to eat.

For the cost of a 58euro meal there was a good one - salad, fries and rice.

We have been to you 2 times before but I would not say your prices match the quality you offer. We are unlikely to return...

I went to the restaurant on Wednesday after work for a dinner with colleagues. For work-related dinners, it’s a great location, especially if the weather is nice enough to sit outside.

However, if someone is going there specifically to enjoy high-quality Turkish food, I wouldn’t recommend it. Both in terms of quality and pricing, it falls short.

I ordered the Iskender kebab, which is my favorite Turkish dish. The presentation was good, but the quality was the lowest among all the versions I’ve tried before. The meat was slightly elastic and not very pleasant to chew. They could also have added more bread at the base, and the sauce portion was too small—it didn’t soak into the bread as it should.

The restaurant isn’t cheap, which is understandable considering the prime location, Service and interior decor.

We also ordered drinks (typical brands) and ended with Turkish coffee. I'm not an expert in Turkish coffee, but I found it too dense...