Novikov Istanbul Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant in Beşiktaş

Actually I’m facing with the same issue second time however the first time it was sorted. I’ve booked a table by the window two weeks ahead of dining. My booking along with my request was confirmed. On a day of dining I came with my guests whom I advertised the restaurant so much and when we arrived the hostess let us seat in the area before terrace (kind of in the middle of terrace and main restaurant), I asked for the table which we reserved by the window in terrace. Hostess said that that area is fully booked for customers who reserved before us (then why my request was confirmed by email? Or why do you confirm my request if the table I ask for is not available anymore? Where is logic?) I asked hostess if she can reseat us as soon as the table by the window will be available. By the time when our oysters and champagne order arrived Hostess changed our table to the terrace area but not by the window, it was opposite. And the table by the window was empty, no one was sitting there for the whole evening. We were leaving around midnight and we’ve spent quite good amount of money there and didn’t get our preferred table which spoiled my mood along with my guests’ mood. It is definitely not acceptable! You have to communicate well with reservation team because this is definitely should be fixed. Previously when I came with mom for dinner also had the reservation two weeks before and had to firmly ask to get the table I got confirmation for. If I would know that I’m not gonna get the table by the window I wouldn’t choose Novikov as there many more good restaurants with the view sittings, specially if I request the sitting two weeks ahead of dining in. I felt so embarrassed in front of my guests because of...

Do not expect a Michelin Star restaurant kind of service or attention. The vibes here are more of a luxury bar on a rooftop of an expensive hotel: loud music (but cool with a live DJ), waiters in black running around, girls in cocktail dresses making selfies at the Bosphorus. There was a separate sommelier there for drinks. It’s not a family place or a quite high-end restaurant. As for service in general: most of the time waiters in Turkiye do not rush to you, it’s normal to attract attention. And fine dining is also not a thing in Istanbul, so one should lower expectations a bit. But here waiters came always at the right time (Gökhan was our waiter, asked to mention him). Prices are really high. Expect minimum of 5-6K TL ($160) for a full course (appetizer, sushi, main meal, desert). Bottle of Moet champagne is 9000TL ($290). Food is really good! Sushi are wonderful. Novikov is a Russian restaurant brand and Moscow restaurants are famous for their quality. Something we are proud to export. It was interesting to try it out in Istanbul. We celebrated our wedding anniversary there and had a lot of fun. As a compliment they brought us a cake with a candle and liquid ice which was floating all over the table: really cool! We did not sit right next to the window and it’s no problem: you can see the Bosphorus from every point in the terrace. And you should look at your fiancé anyway ;) Also we stayed at the Mandarin Oriental hotel, where the restaurant is located. Brunch at Novikov is even better (230 euro per person), self-service...

We have come from Dubai to Istanbul for vacation and made a booking for dinner on 2nd July 2022 at 8 pm, however came for a coffee in the afternoon as we were in the area. Waiter with the glasses (didn’t get his name) didn’t even greet us but straight away was very pushy and aggressive to make us order more and more. When we informed him that we will have only drinks, he asked us if we informed hostess about it which we felt he should sort out with her not to question us. To make it even worse restaurant was empty (with only two tables). We found his behavior very rude and made us feel uncomfortable so we asked for bill. On our way out we have informed hostess that we would like to cancel dinner reservation as we didn’t like the service where she replied with ok only. Hostess didn’t even bother to ask what was the issue. Since we didn’t want to leave without giving a feedback, we have explained to her what happened and why we didn’t want to come back for a dinner but she was careless too and replied with “ok thank you for understanding”, which we found unacceptable as she didn’t even try to make it better or say anything. We are not type of people who like to leave bad comments online rather sort out issue on the spot but as they both didn’t seem to care about our experience we have decided to write it here. Such a big disappointment, this never happened to us in any...