Akdeniz Bar Cafe Restaurant — Restaurant in Devonport-Takapuna

I am writing on behalf of my family, we went to have lunch very coincidentally, we’re looking for a place and as it was Monday a lot of places were closed.

Lucky us, attention and service was immediate and fashioned, Ali our waiter helped us chose the food, my mother and sister in low have never had Persian food, so I asked him for advise, and he advised us well, we got a family platter to share, with 4 proteins (3 lambs and 1 chicken) everything was excellent, was an extraordinary and authentic first introduction of this culinary to them and didn’t disappointed at all.

A few members of the staff approached us to check respectfully if we were Ok with the food, they smiled all the time and even explained us some of the species on the plates and names. We found this very helpful and kind as we value to learn about new tastes and cultures.

Atmosphere was good, nice music and decoration, we shared a bottle of wine and took entire 2 hours to have it on the table, no one came to pressure us to leave, (I read some of the low reviews and honestly thought we are talking about different restaurants) for me is easy, people just need to understand bookings rules and restaurante etiquette.

We finished with a saffron ice cream, not beloved for everyone but good enough for me, i am pro new trying new flavors and let food surprise me, if you’re more conventional, just get a vainilla one. Saffron, pistachio and rose water for me… tasty and different.

In general good experience, I would come back and recommend this place with confidence...

This restraunt has extremely poor customer service and our meals were gross and overpriced. Before we were even seated the staff were rude and reprimanded us about us having a couple of people less than the booking indicated. We had to come up to the counter to ask about our orders being taken as we were left alone for a while.

We ordered and then a couple of minutes later a different server came to the table and let us know we could not have what we had ordered as we each needed to get a full meal. For context there were 5 of us and we had ordered 3 meals and a sharing plate as two of the meals were large and we had been told they could feed 2 people. We then found out there was a policy that all booking tables needed to get a full meal each. As most meals were expensive (over $35) most of us then opted to have vegetarian falafel meals; burgers and falafel salads, with one getting a $36 meat meal.

Falafel was inauthentic, and clearly from the freezer, and bread and burger buns were stale.

It was clear they only cared about making money and not making sure we had a good time and enjoyed our food.

It is obvious that the positive reviews on this restraunt are promotional material and not left by real customers. I also find it distasteful the way they berate anyone who leaves a negative review and call them names rather than try and remedy things or apologize.

The location is visually pleasing so it is a shame that the negative attitude of the staff ruins...

A group of of 7, adults and kids enjoyed the food, truly authentic Persian, as close as it can get, no remarks, the lamb, beef and chicken were cooked to perfection, tender, juicy and delicious, the rice was great; the lamb stew and Sabzi (vegetable and mutton stew) was also delicious, the aash soup was delicious but make sure to add a squeeze of lemon and a bit of salt to it. Very cozy ambiance. Pleasant experience and will definitely repeat. I unfortunately forgot to take photos of all of the dishes, 2 sharing platters, soup, falafel (wonderful flavor), Persian platter (it’s a mix of olives, pickles, yogurt dips) and a jug of liquid yogurt with mint (a great companion when eating meat), portions are generous, we thought we could take on the 2 sharing platters but we ended up having 1 only and some of the rice from the other platter.

I am honestly surprised that there was bad reviews, coming from the Middle East, and having dealt with Persian people, while reading some of the bad reviews, I can tell it is a cultural difference, Persian people are very kind even if they don’t look like it (u don’t see them smiling) but that doesn’t mean they are rude or not wanting to service customers, as long as you respect them, they respect you, that is only reasonable, we were fully served and attended to, don’t be alarmed by the bad reviews, try the Persian food, you won’t regret it.

great job team, and a greater job from the kitchen staff for preparing such...