Aspendos Ashford — Restaurant in Ashford

The majority of the food was obviously bought from a wholesaler frozen or tinned and not made in the kitchen. So therefore tasted either bland or actually quite unpleasant. The portions were quite small but bulked out with a lot of lettuce leaves and cucumber slices, both of which cost next to nothing. The waitress who was serving us had a really bad cold and was constantly sniffing. She brought our drinks to the table holding the glasses right at the tops, where you would put your mouth to drink. She put them on the table then went back behind the bar, where she then blew her nose on a paper napkin, discarded it in the bin and carried on with her duties without washing her hands!! I approached her as asked if she could please wear a mask when she brings our food, as I don’t want her to pass her cold onto my partner and I. She informed me that they don’t have any masks! The next in command asked what the problem was, I explained and she assured me that the girl didn’t have Covid and had been tested four times already. I reiterated about the cold and she said that she would serve us herself, which resolved the immediate problem. My final troubling issue with this place was that when I went to wash my hands in the gents bathroom before eating, the soap dispenser was empty …no soap…in a restaurant!!! That’s bad enough under normal circumstances but when Covid is still out there and being passed round in large numbers, I find this absolutely astonishing. What priorities does a place like this have? Certainly not hygiene standards and wellbeing of the customers. While the two female staff mentioned were perfectly pleasant, the overall experience was utterly dreadful, worst experience ever of eating out …I’m fifty...

AWFUL STAFF! If I could leave 0 stars I would. My parents had an awful experience. My mum had a medical emergency which required an ambulance to be called. During the whole ordeal, one of the waitresses was commenting (in Turkish to the other staff which she did not know my dad speaks) that my mum is drunk! My mother has never had a sip of alcohol in her life. She also was frustrated that the ambulance being called would prevent them from closing on time! The worst thing you can do in such a situation. No one needs to hear their wife be spoken badly about whilst trying to support her medically. Also don't operate on wild assumptions that they can't understand you in Turkish.

The manager, who only speaks English, was kind and attentive and once he found out what had happened, was apologetic.

My mum is okay thanks to the lovely manager who called the ablulance and the amazing paramedics in Ashford!

Edit: Your replies makes no sense as I was not the customer that was "refused service to"! The reply to avoid responsibility is ridiculous. You know well that is not true. Rather than training your staff not to talk badly about your customers assuming they wouldn't be able to understand you, you decide to portray a lie. I am sure your CCTV cameras would beg to differ about not seating my parents or about anyone being intoxicated. A fact which the paramedics could also confirm. You should be relieved she was okay! Instead you avoid responsibility, which makes you appear in an even worse...

It was a pretty empty and therefore desolate for a Saturday night with only four other tables occupied and seemed to attract a rather drunk, loud and sweaty group of men. Thankfully they soon left but it was unsettling for a restaurant. However, the waiting staff didn’t offer any smiles or proper welcome either. In fact the staff (nearly all English females) seemed inexperienced in how to serve customers, for example they didn’t know if any mains from the menu came with rice/salad which I’d say is basic knowledge. Also the head waiter (again not Turkish) mumbled over the menu pointing out that everything was the same despite their names which seeing as every main was priced the same at a rather overpriced £18.50 was probably about right! I've eaten at plenty of Turkish restaurants over the years and I can safely say the food here is fantastically average maybe even bland but it wasn't very hot when it arrived either oh and our Turkish lager was flat.

I can't truly recommend this restaurant because I’ve been to so many superior Turkish restaurants with far better service and tastier food which is often piled up high. This might be explained by recent inflation, supply chain issues, and difficulty in recruiting staff. Truthfully, training and a welcoming smile go a long way (a group of eight came in and left soon after presumably balking at the prices on the menu). Maybe this is the future of Ashford dining, scarce options and below average...