Günaydın Kebap & Steakhouse Galataport İstanbul — Restaurant in Beyoğlu

Gunaydin, located in the beautiful Galataport area of Istanbul, offers a wonderful ambiance that perfectly captures the essence of a fine Turkish dining experience. The environment was delightful, and we were initially excited for what was to come.

However, our dining experience was unfortunately marred by a series of service mishaps. From the start, things went awry when our order for Dolma was taken without the server informing us that it was unavailable. After we inquired about it, one server mentioned it was finished, while another promised to bring it, but nothing ever arrived. Miscommunication seemed to be a recurring theme throughout the meal.

The drinks were another disappointment. My Espresso Martini tasted like watered-down coffee, and my wife’s request for a Spicy Margarita with sugar on the rim was instead served as a regular Margarita with salt. These small details, while easily correctable, significantly detracted from the overall experience.

To make matters worse, the alternative Dolma we ordered was also forgotten, leaving us feeling quite overlooked. After speaking with the manager, we were given several apologies and complimentary tea with fruit slices, which was a nice gesture but not enough to make up for the earlier frustrations.

While the food we did receive was delicious, the repeated service errors, language barriers, and mix-ups left us disappointed. I understand that mistakes happen, but in a restaurant of this caliber, it’s difficult to overlook such consistent issues.

Hopefully, this was just an off night, as Gunaydin has the potential to offer a much...

Seeing some of the previous reviews, I realise that I am not alone with my disappointment with this joint. Gunaydin is a brand I grew up with. The restaurant was one to go for special occasions to eat the best meat based dishes in an elegant space with top service from staff. This joint has been beautifully decorated and has a world class interior design. While the dishes were good, they were not mind blowing. So, it all comes down to service. Hospitality, at the end, is people’s business. I never expect to be treated like kings just because I am paying a few extra dollars, but I at least expect care, attention, smile, and not being looked down at. Imagine a waiter rolling his eyes to a child. Expecting to be offered some water up on arrival to a restaurant in a hot day with children, is a bad habit I developed over the years in Australia. Service to our table was slow, and I was confused which waiter was looking after our table. They haven’t changed our cuttlery after entrees, and empty plates and cans weren’t picked up until I had to ask for it. Seeing the founders’ table attended by 3 waiters was telling. They were not short staffed at all. I think the disorganisation was the manager problem though. Some waiters did their best. Finally, I hope Gunaydin picks up its game in this flagship joint hosting tourists everyday. Building these brands require blood and sweat. In this day and age of online reviews, it is easy to get damagesd. Who knows, maybe it is the growth disease. It may be hard to scale the original customer service to many stores at the original quality that we all...

Number 1 scam artists and thieves in Galataport. We told them we are 20 people and half want to eat food and the other half only drinks and they said no problem and welcomed us in.

When we sat down they brought 6 baskets of bread and cheese as well as bottled water for the tables, which we did not ask for. We continued to order our food and drinks and then once we were done we asked for the bill.

When the bill came we were surprised to find they had charged us for the bread, cheese and water which we had not asked for. When we questioned it, they started to argue that we have to pay for it because it’s their restaurant policy, which they did NOT inform us of. Not only that, they also charged us for more bread and cheese than they had actually given. On top of that, they had added multiple other items to our bill that we had not ordered. Arguing with them that we did not have those items took 45mins and they forced us to pay for the bread, cheese and water they had given.

Before we finished paying the waiter was arguing we should pay him service charge on top aswell as a ‘gift’ after spending 45mins shouting at us, which we course refused. After we had finally paid they then started arguing that we should tip them. When we declined again after the horrific service they had provided and scammed us they clearly started swearing and talking bad about us whilst we were leaving. Overall, the worst restaurant in Galataport, do not go here unless you want to be scammed, sworn...