Sota Alaçatı — Restaurant in Çeşme

Beware: Deceit, Food Poisoning, and Intimidation at a So-Called Michelin Restaurant After a busy school week, I feel compelled to share my distressing experience at this restaurant, hoping to warn others. The management here lacks basic moral principles, putting profit over the well-being of their customers. What follows is my personal experience, and while I expect them to deny and lie, I urge you as a fellow tourist to consider your own health and safety before choosing this place.

After eating a shellfish that tasted slightly bitter, I quickly began feeling dizzy, weak, and had difficulty breathing. Soon after, I started vomiting and experienced severe diarrhea—all symptoms of food poisoning. My husband, who did not eat the shellfish, remained fine, which clearly indicates that it was the cause. The entire ordeal was captured on the restaurant’s security cameras.

What shocked me most was not the food poisoning itself, but the heartless response from the staff and management. Despite witnessing my distress, they offered only superficial apologies and displayed no real concern for my well-being. I asked to rest a bit before calling an ambulance, but no one returned to check on me. Thankfully, I was able to recover with the help of my husband.

Later, the manager, Orhan, offered us what he called a "big discount" on the meal (originally priced at 6000, reduced to 4400), as if that could compensate for the suffering I endured. Clearly, their only concern was to avoid a negative review, not my health.

Initially, I didn’t ask for compensation, understanding the difficulties of running a business. However, when I questioned the absurd charges, both the manager and the owner accused me of trying to avoid paying for the meal. The manager even had the audacity to call me a liar and a cheater. As a high school teacher, I found this deeply insulting.

When I realized that the situation was escalating, I requested police intervention, only to find that things would get even worse. The restaurant staff falsely accused us of attempting to dine and dash. Before the police arrived, I used a translation app to write a statement, as I don’t speak Turkish. It was then that the manager approached me and threatened that if I posted a negative review online, he would make trouble for me. This intimidation clearly reveals their lack of integrity and desperation to cover up their wrongdoing.

We were then taken to a police station, where no one spoke English, leaving us unable to communicate effectively. The restaurant manager continuously spoke in Turkish, presumably twisting the facts in his favor. When I tried to explain the truth, one officer rudely told me to "shut up." I suggested they review the restaurant’s video footage, but they refused to cooperate.

With the police siding with the restaurant, the manager and owner retracted the original agreement and demanded full payment, threatening to detain us until dawn and have us arrested. Fortunately, my husband contacted a Turkish friend who is a lawyer, and we finally resolved this absurd situation at the initial discounted price—at 1 AM.

I had mistakenly believed that the local police would uphold justice. Had I known otherwise, I would have gone straight to the hospital for a blood test. Yet, given the restaurant's deceitful behavior, they would likely have found a way to frame us regardless.

【Due to character limitations, please refer to the...

We visited this restaurant at the end of December 2023. We ordered sea bass ceviche, deep-fried squid rings, shrimp in sweet and sour sauce, salmon steak and seafood pasta. We drank the white wine of the Canakkale region. The quality and taste of the food: by 4 points. Of the 5 dishes ordered, I liked the popcorn shrimp, seafood pasta (not to be confused with risotto) and salmon steak the most. Each of these dishes has a balance of taste, perhaps I would have made pasta risoni a little more al dente, but overall it was delicious. The sea bass was confused by the increased acidity and serving with red hot pepper, the squid was not surprised by anything, they ate something similar in many Turkish restaurants. Separately, I would like to note that we were not given a sushi menu, although it is stated on the restaurant's website. Atmosphere: on 5 out of 5, interior design, location and table setting, New Year's Eve decoration, everything around filled the atmosphere with coziness, warmth and a sense of celebration. Service: by 4 points, in some ways it was excessive, a little confused by the fact that when ordering a second glass of wine, they did not bring you a new glass, but simply added wine to the one that was on the table, there was not enough information on the restaurant's website, there is no menu and you do not know in advance what to expect from the establishment. Overall impression: by 4 points, if you are vacationing in Alachaty, then this restaurant is worth a visit, for the sake of a pleasant pastime and generally delicious and...

Location was actually quite nice, food was ok compared to it’s high prices but there was one particular waiter who was so rude that it made this whole dining experience worse. Apparently the Summer menu 2022 was outdated which is kinda ridiculous because it is currently summer 2022! I ordered something which was not on the menu anymore but still written on it and when I ask the waiter that something was missing I had the feeling that he didn’t want to do anything about it or even try to understand me and explain why. After some conversation back and forth where he was so rude and aggressive he took the food back. I thought ok now we got this solved and I can just enjoy my evening but then he came back and forced me to order something else while all I wanted was some fish and some add ons. I felt so uncomfortable at that moment because I cannot wrap my mind around it that it can be that difficult to treat your customer better. I had to take out google translate and then I had the feeling that he finally understood what I wanted. When you update your menu there are kindly words to say so and if someone ask to add it on top don’t give such an aggressive attitude and try to listen and understand first. If you can’t speak Turkish I wouldn’t...