Orkinos Restaurant — Restaurant in Konak

A classy, but classic RIP OFF! I should have listened to my gut instincts and read the red flags for what they were, but I was hungry and the mezze offerings DID look tempting. First red flag, I was refused several empty tables with an abrupt "reserved" even at 5pm and a mostly empty restaurant. The waiter, who spoke no English (not a problem to me, I am in their country, not vice versa), but he was very resistant to the Google Translate dance, too. Second red flag, when I asked to see the menu, I was informed, "no menu". Through my past 2.5 years of non-stop world travel I have learned not to "write blank checks", so I proceeded to ask the price of each of the various meze in which I was interested. I added a portion of fried calamari, a water and an ayran. Now, I guess since I had ordered enough food for 2 people, one of the small deuces on the terrace was all of a sudden available! The food is delivered by the still sullen waiter and is adequate, but nothing to write home about, but poor enough to merit me writing this review! After enjoying as much as I cared to, I clearly gestured for, and asked for, "paket" AND "take away" and my check. His Surliness cleared my table and left me to pay attention to his only other table. After about 10 minutes, I again asked for my check. It was presented, and much to my dismay it had 2 additional charges which I never approved nor was even made aware of in advance. 50 TL for cover charge (I AM familiar with the ubiquitous Pane e Coperto in Italy, but never in Turkiye) which he explained was for tablecloth and water (even though I had a line item for the bottle of water I had ordered) AND 105TL for "service charge". These 2 sneaky charges add up to an additional 5USD more or less which is substantial in Turkiye. And then, to top it all off, when I asked where my significant portions of my 3 meze leftovers were, he admitted he had thrown them away and acted all innocent and confused. He did volunteer to retrieve them, but I had NO IDEA if he was going to rummage through the trash, so I passed! So, my advice to you is that if you are not Turkish or don't speak Turkish, just go elsewhere. I believe I was taken advantage of despite my best, polite and professional, efforts simply because I am foreign and maybe even more so because I am American. One never knows, but after spending more than 5 months in Turkiye, this is a very disheartening experience and not part of the norm. IF you want a lovely meal in this price point I recommend you make your way to Tavaci Recep Usta, not seafood, but a delightful meal with very personable service. Just my personal recommendation, I have no dog in this race. As for Orkinos, they will never see me, or my...

Always good fish and delicious meze. Service was better in the old days. Now it is pretty standart. A local place in the residential area. Always crowded. Reservation is recommended especially for the weekends. Lively atmosphere. You feel the local city in this place. We had some mezes, salad and fried calamari. We ordered sea bream for the...

I should have read all the comments before! 1220 Turkish lira for three mini portions of mezze and a sea bream with three leaves of rocket and a raki, honestly! What a rip-off. I got served a double dose of raki supposedly. I said I ordered a single one. He said they always served a double. And added the price was the same....