Safie Meyhane Havuzlu Bahçe — Restaurant in Çankaya

Was super hungry and picked this place because it’s the first one that came up on Google. Honestly, had a really weird experience. The waiter asked me what I want to drink, and when I asked him what they have (menu doesn’t have any non alcoholic drinks listed) he laughs and says “vodka”. So I tell him no, I’m Muslim and I don’t drink alcohol. Eventually he brings me some water, and asks me again what I want to drink, so I ask him what non alcoholic drinks do you have, and he again suggests vodka. I’m like it’s fine, I’ll just have the water. The menu online doesn’t have a lot of options, so I asked for chicken, and got it exactly as shown in the picture. No rice, no nothing. (The salad was separate). But whatever, the chicken was good and at this point I was just really hungry. I also ordered hummus which I never got.

What annoyed me even more was as you can see in my picture, the restaurant is empty with plenty of tables available. A guy walks in and they seat him to the table directly to the left of me (less than 2ft away). I just can’t understand why they would seat him directly next to me when there are plenty of free tables? But you know what, fine, whatever it’s no big deal. Then they actually have me move my table to the right so they can have some space to pour him vodka…… So you take a customer who is drinking and seat him next to a customer that is not drinking when there are plenty of free tables…. Make it make sense. Anyway at this point I’m just done with this place so I ask for the check. I get the check and it came out 600 lira for water, a salad, and the chicken shown in the picture. $17.50 for this little food is actually insane, and I’m from NYC so I am used to...

To be completely honest, this place is overrated and does not worth the hype.

First of all, the food is just ok - it was not bad, but it was not amazing like the other reviews suggested either. I ordered a chicken kebab and it was super dry and hard. It was definitely over cooked. We also ordered a lamb kebab, which the owner strongly recommended us to order but it was not as good as he had claimed. I don’t think we have high expectations because we’ve been to many other Turkish kebab places and even the ones on random streets serves better kebabs than this one.

Secondly and most importantly, for people who don’t smoke - this place will feel like hell for you because EVERYBODY in the restaurant smokes. Yes, I mean “inside” the restaurant (they have a outdoor dining area too and it was full of smokers as well). The smoke was so dense that I could barely taste the food. I have asked the owner/staff to move us to another table a bit far away from the smoke but my request was ignored multiple times. Yes, MULTIPLE TIMES!

I guess it’s more lucrative for them to cater to the smokers since the majority of the people smoke here. In other words, they don’t care about people’s health and just want to make more $$$. This is very disappointing.

Overall, out experience here was pretty lame and we were very disappointed at the food and how we were treated at the restaurant.

Hopefully this review can help those who’s wondering if this place is...

As a tourist in Turkey, I was looking for a place to experience turkish culture and turkish cuisine. I came across to this high rated restaurant on my online search and I decided to check what makes it a 5 star place. It definitely worths the check. First thing that captures attention is the lovely interior, reflecting well the history of Turkey during modernisation era and the classical turkish music in the background. Secondly, the friendly stuff and the owner himself welcoming guests. The service quality is really good in general. Another thing that made a good impression on me is the hygiene, complying to the COVID restrictions and rules. This restaurant is a completely different experience. I felt like I was taking a stroll through the turkish history and culture while enjoying the local delicious food and the so called raki (the traditional alcoholic drink with the taste of anise). I am looking forward to my next visit in Turkey and I will definitely go this...