Azra Turkish Cuisine — Restaurant in Ottawa

Our family's visit to this restaurant was an absolute nightmare, marred by incompetence and a blatant disregard for customer satisfaction. Upon placing our orders for three dishes, we found ourselves trapped in a seemingly endless purgatory of waiting. While my wife's meal arrived after an excruciatingly long delay (smelly chicken), the rest of our party was left to endure an agonizing wait of one hour and thirty minutes, with no updates or explanations forthcoming from the staff. Faced with the complete absence of my own meal, I had no choice but to cancel my order and leave the establishment.

The true test of our patience and endurance came in the form of our three-year-old daughter's meal. As the minutes ticked by, her hunger grew, and her energy waned. Despite our repeated reminders, the staff's response was a callous dismissal, citing their busyness as an excuse for our daughter's suffering. When her meal finally arrived, the food itself was a travesty – overpriced and lacking in quality. Our daughter could barely muster the strength to consume the subpar offering, resorting to picking at the scraps from my wife's plate. As we left, our hearts were heavy with disappointment and frustration. This establishment succeeded in creating a lasting memory, but one we would prefer to erase. Their incompetence and lack of empathy tainted what should have been a cherished family outing. The overpriced and abysmally low-quality food added insult to injury. I paid and waste time for nothing. Thanks McDonald for saving me. This is our experience to share and judge with you. Save your time, money and don’t hurt your family...

This is the second time I’ve eaten here. The first time was in May and was amazing. The food was fresh, flavourful and tasted like you were actually in Turkey.

This time, we went with a large group for a birthday. The food was not good at all. Tasted like your typical Canadianized Turkish food which was so-so. Nothing special. The meat was tough and lacking in flavour.You no longer get any dips to start unless you want to pay for them as “apps”. The service was initially slow but ok. When time came, however for the bill, everything went out the window. It took 20 minutes to explain and repeat who was on what bill and who had what meal. Then our server left for 40 minutes to sort it out and serve other customers first (only one tablet for the whole restaurant), essentially holding us hostage due to technology. When she finally came to give us our bills after we followed-up twice, she spent another 10 minutes trying to fix the orders. Our bills were still all wrong. I paid for 3 random meals that were not ordered by me or agreed to. Receipts were printed AFTER you paid in full. Not before so you could check everything before paying. The amount charged to our card is different from the receipt printed. Very sketchy. Prices have also gone up so much since May it’s disgusting. The grill for 2 used to come with 2 of everything. Now you get 1… but it costs more. This was by far the MOST disappointing experience I have ever had at a restaurant. Ever. I will never go back again, nor would I recommend it to anyone. The waitress did admit that they have a new chef. The new chef is definitely no where near the calibre of...

SALT CITY!!

I went to AZRA simply because they promised Turkish cuisine. Instead, it's just yet another Turkish kebab house which are now proliferating Ottawa. I did not know this as I entered the virtually empty dining lounge with my partner. I was breathlessly offered the worst two seater in the restaurant, and upon requesting a booth in the empty room, I was rebuffed as I did not have a reservation. This immediately made me uncomfortable... been there done that. Know what to expect. Opened the menu, largely filled with pide and kebab options... which naturally came with grilled tomato and green pepper. We ordered a pide as an appetizer, and while bland in flavour, the salt level was off the charts. It was when this dish arrived to the table, someone determined to turn up the volume on the music which was comprised of Turkish disco tracks. My partner ordered an Iskander, while I found Manti. Imagine how is it possible to overwhelm a yogurt sauce with salt?? Azra found a way! The Iskander while not as salty, had the strangest sauce which tasted of old canned tomato. At this point I honestly couldn't wait to escape, so when dessert was offered we both demurred and requested the bill immediately. We had tap water to drink if anyone is wondering. 1 app and 2 mains. $103. For the record, 2 people walked in and were seated by the time we left... as the dining room remained empty. In writing this review on Google, I was astonished to see all the 5 star reviews.. NOT...