Чайхана NAVAT — Restaurant in Almaty

Dear NAVAT Management,

I hope this letter finds you well.

I am writing to report a rather surreal dining experience I had at your Abylai Khan Avenue branch in Almaty on the evening of April 4th, 2025.

Upon arrival, I waited for over five minutes without anyone approaching my table. I was seated in a very visible spot—not a corner, not a blind spot—but still found myself oddly invisible. This sense of “being overlooked” lingered throughout the entire meal. Just earlier that day, I had lunch at another NAVAT branch where the service was warm and even came with complimentary bread. The contrast was… startling.

Then came a string of strange events, the first being a dish I never ordered. It was placed on my table without any explanation, and I politely pointed out that it was not mine. The staff took it back. I did not think much of it at the time—until later, when I asked to check the bill and wondered whether it had been included.

But before that moment, something else occurred.

Right after I placed my order, I briefly left the table to use the restroom. I had left some of my belongings on the chair—clearly indicating I wasn’t done. However, as I stepped away, I noticed the waiter giving me a long, suspicious look. The kind of look one might give a customer trying to run out on the bill. At this point, my food hadn’t even been prepared. I had just ordered. The moment I returned, I was met with a peculiar stare—as if to say, “Ah, so you didn’t run away after all.”

And then, when the tea had barely cooled, the same waiter approached me with a card machine showing a random number—no explanation, no printed receipt, no breakdown. I asked to see the bill, especially to double-check if that wrongly delivered dish had been charged. He flashed the receipt in front of me for two seconds and pulled it back before I could read it properly. When I asked again, he showed me a completely different page.

Throughout the interaction, he never made eye contact. In fact, from the beginning to the end, I don’t recall a single moment where I felt seen—truly seen—as a person. His entire demeanor was not of someone trying to assist a guest, but of someone trying to process me quickly, without communication, without effort. I’ve been to restaurants where staff did not speak fluent English, but they still tried—they made eye contact, they gestured, they smiled. This was different. This was active refusal.

And just when I thought things couldn’t get weirder…

Roughly ten minutes after I posted a review on Google Maps—with a photo of the staff holding the bill—I noticed a strange shift in the room. A few staff members began pacing, whispering, showing each other their phones, and looking around as if trying to identify someone. It became clear they were looking for whoever left that review.

And yet—again—they didn’t see me. I was right there, in the open, with a large camera on the table. Just like earlier when no one came to take my order, now even the “search party” managed to overlook me.

At this point, I couldn’t help but wonder: do your staff have selective blindness? Do they choose not to see certain customers?

I’m not angry. I’m just bewildered.

From start to finish, this wasn’t just a bad meal—it was an existential comedy of errors. A restaurant where being ignored feels like the house policy. Where leaving the table for one minute earns you suspicion, and asking to see your bill earns you a stare-down.

I don’t expect an apology. I don’t even expect a reply. I’m just leaving this note here so that maybe—just maybe—someone else won’t be treated like a ghost in plain...

We were a large group of tourists from India who were eagerly looking forward to experiencing this eatery especially since it was highly recommended.

The ambience is exceptionally amazing. The washrooms were super cozy as well.

That's it.

We never really got to explore the cuisine because there was nobody to guide us or even recommend. Google translate has its limitations.

There are no words strong enough to describe how bad the service was. There was hardly any service. A whole lot of blatant ignoring.

From the few one star reviews here, it is quite obvious that they have a 'preference' for specific kinds of customers that they wish to serve.

They seem to have mastered the art of how to make customers feel unwanted, 5 stars for that!

The whole staff, irrespective of whether they knew English or not, collectively joined together as a code of conduct to make an entire group of ~10 individuals at the largest table in the restaurant, feel...

Their service is very bad. I was there alone for lunch. When I got my seat, no one served me with the menu, I was waiting a very long time to get the menu, and I just sat in front of the cashier, there were 3-4 staff there, no one wanted to serve me. After I got the menu, it also took a very long time for them to take orders from me, even after I was waving my hand to the staff. The same thing happened when I was about to pay, I asked for a bill when they passed my side, and the staff looked at me, I was thinking maybe the staff was busy, until he finished and went back to the cashier, and just stood there, totally forgetting me. I was so angry! There are so many staff, and no one can actually serve me. Worst experience, if you are a solo female foreigner don't come to this restaurant, you...