Shashlychok Na Pastera — Restaurant in Almaty

It is not a secret that I really dig local powerhouse barbecue (aka shashlik) joints, and this one might be the king! It looks absolutely bizarre from the outside. Both the name and the design make no sense whatsoever. It is as if Salvador Dali, at his darkest moments, carried out the whole concept. I actually would love to hear a story about how someone decided it was a good idea for both name and design for a barbecue spot. It is so wild that I love it. The place is massive. It is divided into two sections that are two and three stories tall. I can only imagine how many seats overall they have. You should understand that one of the main attractions here is the prices. Without a doubt, it is a very affordable experience for almost any budget. But it is backed up by the food they serve. Shashlik, without question, is the star here. In addition to local classics, they have things like chicken wrapped in mutton lard. And I should point out that out of all places where I've tried regular chicken shashlik, this is the only one where it was juicy. This place is far from perfect. There are some issues with the service (like they brought us literally lukewarm tea, no way it would steep adequately, etc.). Still, you need to understand that things will not be ideal when you come to a place size of Taj Mahal and price point well below average. But the personnel involved are doing a great job, and lots of food here is absolutely delicious. Every visit is like an adventure. It must be on your bucket list when...

Great shashlik experience... at the cost of god awful customer service.

The waitress that was serving us forgot our order, which understandably can happen to anyone, but she didn't even seem to care all that much. She just stated the fact she forgot our order but not a single word of apology was uttered, let alone any sort of compensation on behalf of the establishment.

We found it to be a completely unprofessional attitude. Honestly, this is inconceivable in any client oriented environment.

To chefs I'd like to say keep up the good work, to management /HR I'd like to say you gotta do some work on your...

The staff here were honestly kind of racist. There were plenty of empty tables, but they still led our group to sit right in front of the bathroom. It felt super intentional and just really uncomfortable. Are people from Kazakhstan in a position to be racist toward someone? And I thought they were growing the ingredients in the back. The food took that long. I was so pissed I didn’t even feel like taking any photos—just snapped one and dipped lol. Anyway, here’s proof I was there.

ps. This is actually the first time in my life I’m leaving a bad review for...