CZN Burak Dubai — Restaurant in Dubai

Vibe 4* Food 3* Service 5* CZN Burak himself 1*

We flew in from Los Angeles and this was the restaurant we wanted to try out, mainly because CZN was also there, and we wanted to take a picture with the man himself. So I'll go over each area in my review

The vibe was ok for a high-end restaurant, I took off 1 star due to the temperature being freezing inside. If you plan to eat here, dress warm.

The food was ok, not at all the hype at what I was expecting it to be. We have tried Turkish food several other times in our stay in Dubai, and all of those restaurants tasted so much better for 1/2th the cost. If the prices here were at least 1/2 of what they are now, then I would give it 5*. But if you're dining here just for the CZN name alone that's fine, but if you're coming for high quality tasting food only, there are plenty of better options elsewhere.

Service I would have to give 5* though. Everyone that worked here was great, and always attentive. Our server made sure to keep checking in on us every 10 mins and made this whole experience at the restaurant better.

Now for CZN Burak himself. I'm sorry, but the guy is not the happy all the time person he seems to be online. When people come from around the world to eat at your restaurant and want to take a quick picture with you, the least you can do is do that. Our table including 4 others were there for FOUR HOURS waiting on CZN to come out and meet and greet, there were only 15 people total waiting to meet him at the time. He could have came out for 5 minutess and met all of us and went on his way, instead he kept telling his staff every 30 mins he'll be out. But in the end he didn't come out, he left through a side door because he didn't want to meet anyone. If that was the case, why couldn't he tell his staff in the beginning? Instead, he makes us and 4 other tables wait for him for hours on the promise he was coming out. The things is, we only waited because he was there and HE HIMSELF told his staff he will be out shortly. Very disappointed in this guy.

But a huge shoutout to the staff for doing all they can to accompany us while we wait, including giving us tea. They were clearly embarrassed by CZN's actions, and we were told this is pretty common of him to do. If you aren't a very wealthy person or a celebrity, chances are 50/50 if he will come out to...

The experience didn't start Good at all. We entered from parking side. The girl at the entrance was not friendly. She just said go to main reception. Very rude. The place is extravagant and ostentatious. We had to wait in queue. The queue was managed well, but the lady carrie was not at all friendly. She took 2 guests who were behind us before us while we were waiting in the reception chair as advised by another lady. When we asked her why she did that, she was rude and asked us back where do u want to sit. I had expected her to be apologetic and lead us to the table. The place is very automatic and no personal attention to guests as I felt by the reception people. When it is luxurious and too busy and crowded, personal attention is ignored and it becomes more of a mechanical service. Food was Average. We had better food at Al Saffadi, Ossiano at Atlantis. The mix grill we had was very simple and nothing to brag about. The Acil ezme was very tasty. Nurgadi salad was tasty but again nothing extraordinary. The meat in grill is soft and tasty. There were no bread service that one would expect. The bread was cold. The serviette that I received was torn. We had to ask for bread and the waiter Majed was very kind to bring breads for us and we found courteous but again too busy so misses to attend tables personally. Not his mistake. The second serving of bread was warm. The personal attention to table was absolutely NIL. We were assigned table number 351 in a corner and we took that table because we were tired of waiting in queue. CzN Burak came and took pics with us. That was a good one though. He looked tired though. Overall a celebrity kick here. I still love the food of #alsafadi #mezzahouse #zaroob #emsherif. Here the food perhaps is good for a group. Service is not extra ordinary for a place like this that one would expect. Burak photo session looked very mechanical and just a formality. People ofcourse was crazy for this. Burak had a humble approach and the poor man looked tired. What do I remember about this place ?? .. only Majed the waiter and the Burak picture that adds to my ego. :) of having visited this much talked about place. Its a market place where attention to individuals is...

Food wise the restaurant served up a great beef shish and their boneless grilled chicken was very good. We had one of their Turkish salads and it lacked a bit of spices and condiments. I added a bit of salt and pepper and it became tasty. Their pastrami hummus was good as well. I guess it was the Turkish version of hummus because the texture was more like polenta which I appreciated as it wasn’t the same hummus you’d get in most places.

I had a shisha to close out the meal and to hang out with my girlfriend while she had a cappuccino. The shisha was ok, I’d have it again, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to smoke there.

Overall the place doesn’t have the warmth which CZN Burak as a chef has. The people in the reception seemed upset and not welcoming at all. I didn’t understand because the place wasn’t very busy as we came for late lunch around 430pm on a Sunday. I hoped they were at least a bit energetic or at a minimum to say “hello” when someone arrives at the restaurant. It was off putting and strange. We sat outside next to the sidewalk which was very nice especially in this type of weather. Around 6pm we requested for them to turn on the heat lamps and the one next to us seemed to be broken or out of gas. At first they didn’t care about fixing it, but later in the night they tried. At one point it got colder so we had to leave even though we wanted to be outside for a bit longer. I think the managers floating around were trying to be nice and accommodating, however, some of the staff, and servers who were actually operating the floor were not trying very hard to represent the brand and the communicate the value of the restaurant through their attitude.

The location is great! I hope the whole service improves. I almost gave it 3 stars, but the experience was slightly...