Karawane — Restaurant in Bonn

An interesting but erratic restaurant. Made a reservation for two adults and three children and arrived on time. Noticed that there were tables outside and my wife asked if we could sit at one. Man behind the counter said we couldn't and used a tone of voice and phrasing that was rude, inappropriate and condescending. 0/10 for his customer service skills. (If the restaurant is reading this: he had a broken leg - that should help you identify the culprit) Seemed like the waitress who showed us to our table noticed and was extra pleasant to us and our kids and remained so throughout. So full 10/10 for her. A second waitress, frowned more than smiled, and bluntly gave us advice on how she wanted us to progress with ordering food. Her intentions may have been good, but again it came across more as a stern warning than a piece of helpful advice - 3/10 for her.

Moving on to the food. Their signature dish is a plate with about 9 mini portions of different dishes on it (like a degustation menu). You eat them all and then you pick three of your favourites which are served to you in a larger but not large portions. After you have eaten all of these you can go on ordering any of the 9 items until you are full. It's an interesting idea but it is labour intensive for the staff, and as the restaurant fills up, the service gets much slower and forgetful.

From our selection of 9 items, I chose: Lamb Ragout which was ordinary. The meat was bordering on the tough which is surprising for a long cooked dish. The Oriental paprika cream soup was enjoyable. The falafel were awful - no salt for pity’s sake, did the chef actually taste one? The Börek were nice, light and crispy and popular, but each time you ordered them you only got one which made me wonder if it was a tactic to reduce the number you ate. The Egyptian rice with pasta dish looked interesting but was a bland and inconsequential. The Iranian melon and goat's cheese salad was nice and refreshing and another spicy salad dish was good too.

To sum up our evening, I was a bit underwhelmed by the food (my wife who had been before said it had been better) and the service would have been poor to bad had it not been for the single 'star waitress'

For us, it might be worth going again as the contents of the signature dish changes periodically. But then I think of Mr Rude and wonder if we can...

About two years ago, I went to a restaurant called Karawane in Oberkassel and found their food to be delicious, so I wanted to go there again with my friends. When we arrived, the waitress asked what we would like to drink. Three people said they wanted regular water, while my other friends ordered different drinks. The waitress told us that we could only order water in either 0.5-liter or 1-liter quantities. Since there were three of us, we ordered two 1-liter bottles of water. When the drinks arrived, the water was served in a pitcher. My friend requested that the water be brought in a sealed bottle. The waitress said that unfortunately, they did not have sealed bottles and that they had 1.5-liter sealed bottles inside, but due to system reasons, they couldn't bring them. My friend and I then canceled the water order and asked for iced tea instead. The waitress said she would check inside to see if there was a way to bring the sealed bottle and went inside. After a while, an older man, whom I thought was the manager, came to us with a sealed 1.5-liter plastic bottle and showed it to us. We thanked him and asked for it to be served. The man went back inside, and when the waitress returned, she brought two pitchers of water again. We did not understand why the bottle was not opened at our table. Actually, we thought the problem was solved when the man came with the bottle, but we were faced with the same issue again. Although we were a bit annoyed by this, we decided not to make a fuss and canceled the water order to order drinks again. Then the older man came and asked us to leave the restaurant. I never understood the reason for this rude behavior. Not having sealed water in a restaurant (by the way, when sparkling water is ordered, it is brought to the table in a bottle) and not being able to fulfill this very simple request, and the person who came not finding a solution but instead approaching in the opposite manner, I never understood. I was very upset because I had recommended this restaurant to my friends, and I am writing this so that no one else has the same problem. I hope no one else experiences the...

Wir sind immer mal wieder in der Karawane. Unser heutiger Besuch wird der letzte gewesen sein! Eine komplette Enttäuschung. Der eine Stern ist noch zuviel. Wir waren mit zehn Personen ab 17.30 Uhr dort und hatten einen Slot bis 20 Uhr. Bereits am Anfang der Bestellung zeigte sich die Servicekraft mit dem Hinweis auf eine lebensgefährliche Allergie komplett überfordert und sah trotz Hinweisen und Bitten keine Veranlassung, allein nur bei der Küche nachzufragen. Dies musste die betreffende Person dann selber machen! Zum Glück, es wären sonst womöglich Speisen serviert worden, die im Zweifel zum Notarzteinsatz geführt hätten. Lebensgefährliche Ignoranz und Inkompetenz. Dann wurde die Getränkebstellung falsch aufgenommen, was im Gegensatz zu der Allergie passieren kann. Der anschließend servierte 9 Köstlichkeiten Teller hatte offensichtlich länger gestanden, denn die warmen Speisen waren nur noch lauwarm, der Humus farblich angelaufen. Der zunächst recht zügige Service wurde mit der Füllung des Restaurants immer langsamer. Tiefpunkt des Abends war, dass sich die Servicekraft dann bereits um 19.28 Uhr weigerte, noch eine letzte Runde Essensbestellungen aufzunehmen. Selbst das Angebot, mit der Bestellung die Rechnung zu bringen, wurde zunächst abgelehnt. Erst nach erneuter Intervention bekamen einige Gäste den gewünschten vierten und letzten Gang. Und das, obwohl auf dem Tisch ein Zettel lag, nach dem erst um 19.45 Uhr kassiert würde (der Tisch war ab 20 Uhr wieder vergeben). Es drängt sich der Verdacht bei mir auf, dass hier bewusst die Anzahl der möglichen Bestellungen durch solche Taktiken verringert werden soll. So schaffte ich für die verlangten 24,50 Euro man gerade eben drei Durchgänge, einige Freunde einen vierten. Der Abend war damit dann um 20 Uhr auch stimmungsmäßig beendet. Ein krasser und leider auch noch potenziell lebensgefährlicher Fall von Servicewüste. Ich kann Allergikern nur zu äußerster Vorsicht oder einem anderen Restaurant raten. Update: Der Gipfel der Unverschämtheit ist die Antwort des Karawane Teams. Statt einer Entschuldigung für das skandalös, schikanöse und womöglich gesundheitsgefährdende Verhalten wurde uns als Reaktion auf unsere Enttäuschung nahegelegt, künftig fernzubleiben. Dies hatten wir aber ohnehin - wie angekündigt - auch nicht vor. Die Karawane zieht weiter, ohne uns. Zum Glück gibt es genügend Gastronomen, die ihre Kunden nicht neppen, gefährden und dann förmlich rausschmeißen. Aber so etwas regelt der Markt schon. P.S. Dass eine Katze sich in dem Lokal bewegt, das halte ich für Allergiker und aus hygienischen Gründen eher für...