A La Istanbul Turkish Cuisine — Restaurant in Ottawa

We visited this restaurant as a group of 8, looking forward to a great experience, but unfortunately, it was disappointing for several reasons, here are some of them:

1- The lettuce, onions, and lemon wedge served with the lahmacun were old, and the lemon was clearly reused and already squeezed.

2- Both the beef and chicken doner kebabs were very dry and absolutely not fresh, and when we walked out of the restaurant, we could clearly see that both the chicken and beef skewers were at the very end of their life, very small ones, which confirmed that they had been reused from the day before as they did not want to waste them and served them to customers. This is completely unacceptable for a signature dish.

3- The shish kebab meat was very chewy and not tender at all, which made it unpleasant to eat.

4- Portion sizes for the doner meat and fries were very small compared to expectations and far below what other similar restaurants in Ottawa offer.

5- Appetizers and main dishes were served all at once, leaving no space on the table, two staff members stood there awkwardly waiting for us to clear space ourselves instead of managing the table, they just stood by doing absolutely nothing, which was very uncomfortable for us as guests.

6- My son’s Beyti Sarma plate was served cold, and the kebab inside was extremely cold, as if it had not been freshly prepared at all.

7-The ventilation system is very poor, at a couple of points during our meal, a massive amount of smoke came from the kitchen, forcing the staff to open all the doors, which made the dining area very uncomfortable.

8-The door near the bathrooms was repeatedly opened by staff, creating an additional draft that made things worse.

The restaurant itself is beautiful and well designed, but the food quality and service need major improvement to match the ambiance.

What makes this even more disappointing is that I tried for almost two weeks to communicate this feedback privately through Instagram and email, but I was completely ignored. I was originally not planning to post this publicly, but being ignored for this long left me no choice. No restaurant can succeed long term by ignoring customers and serving food like this.

I will not go back and will not recommend this place to anyone until they make serious changes to both the food...

I originally saw this restaurant on Instagram and knew I had to try it based on the photos. The restaurant is across from Joey on Rideau so it’s quite easy to get to. For those who may not want to venture too much into the market for whatever reason, your best way is to park in the Rideau Centre red parking lot and make your way to the exit which is by Joey. From there, look to your right and you will see “A La Istanbul”. We came around 5:30pm and it was quite busy! I’m sure there are a lot of downtown workers who come here after work. The restaurant died down significantly around 6:15pm (this was on a Monday I should add).

The décor is modern and trendy and I can tell this place would be a vibe on a weekend for dinner! The seats are comfortable which is always a bonus. The washrooms are all private which is nice, the only thing is that there are only a handful so when the restaurant is busy I would anticipate line ups.

On to the main event, the food. Our server brought us a basket of fresh warm bread to start (sorry no picture) which was delicious. He did ask us if we wanted more when we finished so that was a nice touch (we declined as we needed to save room for the meal!). We started off with the Baba Ganoush appetizer which was very different than your usual baba ganoush (different in a good way), it was very tasty with what I assume a yogurt type of mix in it.

We both ended up ordering the same main course; the beef adana kabab. It is served with bulgar but honestly, not a huge fan of bulgar so we opted for rice. The kabab was spiced perfectly and cooked to perfection! The rice was very different than any other rice I’ve had; it looked quite ‘plain’ but there was a nice flavour to it. The side salad had a nice dressing and I liked the fact that it wasn’t too leafy but moreso compact on the plate.

We shared the Kunefe for dessert….usually I’m not a huge fan as it’s too sweet and drenched in syrup but theirs is really light and not too sweet and syrupy. It was bigger than I expected so half of it was brought home.

Service was fantastic too. I definitely look forward to going back and trying...

Let me start by saying the owner is great! He was trying his best and all over the place.. this busy Victoria Day weekend.

However, the server assigned to our table was TERRIBLE!!!

We were taken to a table right away and it was still being cleaned. Felts rushed as there were 3 employees cleaning and setting the table simultaneously and we were being seated! Moving on the server came over and took our order and out of the 3 dishes we ordered only 2 were ordered and brought to the table. We finally after 35mins flagged him down and asked about the missing dish and he was like we changed our mind. I was confused at this point, the Doner chicken rice and fries were for the kids and he forgot but made it seem like it was our fault. Anyway we asked if we could still get it because they were still hungry. At that moment we asked for a lemonade. 15mins later nothing. 10 mins later the last dish finally shows up. The kids started eating, still no lemonade was brought to the table. Then we asked for dessert and a take out box, 20mins go by and nothing! I had to flag down the owner and explain that I had asked for a take out box and dessert and it’s been over 15mins. In under 2 mins the desserts and the box made its way to the table. We requested to pay and wanted to leave! Good thing I checked the bill…. We were charged for the lemonade we NEVER received!!! The server never made it back to the table nor did he apologize!! I definitely do not recommend dining in!

• Secran fix your vents and HVAC! There was so much of smoke in the dining space and with that many customers I don’t think it’s a good...