GUNAYDIN RESTAURANT MONTREAL — Restaurant in Montreal

I saw the reels about this place on Instagram and since my hubby is Turkish, we decided to try it. When we arrived, we were welcomed by a nice host (a man) who was polite and servable. Only issue (for me) is that he pinched my daughter's cheeks without her consent. She is 5 and immediately pulled away. I let it slide since I thought this might be cultural and he had noticed by daughter's reaction. We were seated and told to wait. We waited for about 30minutes when I finally WENT to a waitress and asked if it would take long still, she said about 45min more and asked what did I order? I told her: nothing, no one bring us a menu, or water or anything. She seemed bothered but came back with a menu. I thought ordering anything that seemed fast, but she told me the only available was the brunch (1 option) then, why the need for a menu? (i wondered in my head). I told her to please bring the brunch then. And please bring at least some bread and water so that my daughter can wait. The bread arrived quickly but was hard and cold (so obviously no effort regardless of having forgotten us for 30+ min). Since no one bring water, I saw another waitress passing and ask her if she could bring water. She said nothing, but took the empty bottle from the table. A couple minutes later she passed and without stopping, just put the full bottle on the table, so, a totally mute service. While seated, a hand came from the back of the sit of my daughter and pinched her cheek again! (the host) so i turned and said -nicely- "'I'm sorry, please stop that". I don't know if he heard me because he left quickly but it was too uncomfortable for my daughter and of course for me and hubby. I decided to go out to the store next door to distract her, my hubby stayed seated waiting for the food. When it finally arrived (40min later so at this point 70min wait) it was nothing out of this world. We have been at other turkish brunch places and honestly the taste was similar, but is the service which bring all this down and ergo my review. I dared to ask one of the waitresses where the bathroom was, and she simply moved her head pointing to it. At this point, I really wanted to leave but we were hungry and i wanted to set an example for my kid. We finally finish eating (and hubby and me were disappointed of the service so we did not eat much, we lost our appetite), I smiled at a waitress to signaled her for the bill. She looked at me and told me loudly (from the other side of the room) to: "go over there, your bill is there", signaling the bar. I had had absolutely enough. I went to pay and -no doubts- i did not put a tip. I "skip" the tip and paid only for the food. Why would I? The only person that politely talked to us was the host, and the cheek-pinching was maybe a cultural thing so i did not make a big deal of it but asked to stop at the second time. However, the waitresses (the 2 I interacted with) were rude and definitely not care at all of the service they provided. I had to seat there for 30min and call them to even get the menu? How is that possible? The bread was cold and hard, they wouldn't come closer to answer our questions but yelled from the other side of the room and didn't even nicely pointed to the restroom nor make sure we had our bill. In resume, there was no service (apart from the nice welcoming host). I understand waitresses can be tired or overwhelmed, but is their job and honestly I was a waitress myself several years ago so if you want a tip, you are expected to at least talk to your customer at their table and not from the other side of the room. Results: Will not go back there. Food is not "amazing", but is good (as other turkish brunches). Service is terrible/unexistent. Atmosfere is good because of the...

I get stuck in the series "The Magnificent Century", admiring the beauty and richness of the oriental interiors and outfits reproduced on the screen.

And, as it usually happens, now I pay attention to everything Turkish, oriental. And if I am still far from the hospitable hotels of Turkey, then you can find a Turkish restaurant in Montreal.

At one time, I really loved restaurants. I visited them so often that at some point I stopped feeling pleasure from it. Now I go regularly, but much less often, on special occasions, or when I really want to go to a specific place, like Gunaydin restaurant.

The atmosphere in the restaurant is exactly like in the video 👇👇👇👇

Sofas, patterns. Very beautiful, atmospheric.

Eastern music is playing, it has a slightly different tempo, it seems to slow down perception a little, relaxes.

Oh, Gunaydin Restaurant for me is a restaurant where you don't want to rush.

A great atmosphere. Which is complemented by balanced service. Here they greet you with calm joy, as if you were waiting. But they don't pester you with questions. All the waiters are calm and well-disposed.

The choice of dishes here is truly Turkish, no Caesars with shrimp or Greek salads. Only "food from the Sultan's chambers".

They brought Turkish tea. It was the first time I saw such beauty.

As for tea, I can say with confidence that few places can prepare it so deliciously. It is aromatic, rich. So delicious that this is a reason to return to the establishment. And not the only one.

All the dishes in the restaurant, as you may have already noticed, have an authentic, rich design. Almost antiques.

This is how our dinner at the restaurant ended, I left satisfied, which I had not been for a long time from the restaurant food and atmosphere.

P.S. we are the first Ukrainians who put a mark on their map at...

This was an unexpected surprise. In a good way. I wasn't expecting it to be so busy but there was a bit of a line to get in. First surprise. The decor and ambiance was beautiful and different and the settings and tables equally so. Very clean. It had a high end feel. Second surprise. That chandelier in the center is stunning and I was hoping it was well fastened to the ceiling because my daughter was sitting under it. When I asked about the cucumber yogurt appetizer, I was told that it was like tzatziki... yes but minus the garlic. That garlic makes a difference, at least for me. However, the bread that came with was outstanding. We were 7 and ordered two assorted grilled meat platters for 4. When asked if they could make one of them for 3, they did. The grilled meats were good. I thought the chicken was amazing. All the meats were grilled perfectly. Not overwhelmed with BBQ taste. The spices used were also excellent. All in all, nothing was too exotic for a North American pallet. Third surprise. The service was very good but I would add... very stealth and polite. We had no room for dessert and I can't remember if there even was any. We took doggy bags home. There was a lot of food on those platters. The only reason they are one star short of five is that they provide butter knives to cut meat... it was a bit of a struggle. If they change their knives or add serated versions, I'll change my rating...