The Fat Turk — Restaurant in Brentwood

We had a table booked for 10 of us for a friends birthday in which we paid a £100 deposit.

We phoned the restaurant to inform them that we were going to be 5-10 minutes late for our reservation due to an issue with taxis and the member of staff over the phone assured us it was nothing to worry about. When we arrived the group of us (19-20) year olds were ushered out into a back room away from every other customer like we booked on wowcher. The manager instantly came over and stated that we had 5 minutes to order or we were not getting anything, instantly creating a sour tone to the evening. We asked to order our drinks at the bar rather than through the table as we had a pregnant lady with us who wouldn't be drinking - they did not like this one bit. They said that this was not possible and reminded us that we had 5 minutes to order our food.

I believe from this moment on they believed that we did not have money or that we were not going to spend a lot of money. I do not know where they got this impression from as we were PLANNING on staying there afterwards and spending money in the bar upstairs and even ordered bottles to the table. Just because we were young did not mean we did not have money to spend otherwise we wouldn't of booked the night.

We ordered a main each due to be being rushed and did not want to waste time on starters and sides as we had the impression we was under time constraints and felt like they wanted us out as soon as possible. Due to us being pushed to a back room with no atmosphere we just had to chat and make jokes between ourselves in which we were repeatedly told to be quiet. After we finished our food we did not fancy a desert but was PLANNING on spending money in the bar upstairs at this point we were refused as we were 'too young' but were happily serving us alcohol to the table. Need I remind you we were all 1-2 years above the legal drinking age and were told over the phone when booking that we were eligible to use the upstairs bar after our meal for the rest of the evening. We took this on the chin and instead asked to order a couple of more bottles of wine to the table at this point again we were refused and were asked to leave due to us already haven paid our bill.

Despite the rudeness we paid the service charge and all paid above the amount for the bill as a personal tip as that is the type of people we are to then once paid be told to leave.

As this was unplanned we had to arrange cabs to take us to Slug and Lettuce instead where we had a much better evening where we were treated with respect despite our 'age'. Whilst arranging cabs we were made to wait outside of the restaurant as we were 'too young' to go to the bar upstairs and because we had already paid our bill and refused any more drinks at the table were told to leave.

The food portions were small, meat was nice but nothing special when compared to Sheesh or LaSala where we regularly dine. We received no breads and was nothing special for the amount we were spending but it wouldn't of bothered us if we were treated with some sort of respect throughout the evening.

The manager is point blank rude and needs a wakeup call having both paid the service charge and paid over the amount for the bill my friend went to shake the managers hand when he did not shake his hand in return and was told to 'get out'.

Vile manners, and an average place to say the least. I would rather pay more and go to Sheesh where the food is better, the atmosphere is better and where we were treated with some basic respect.

Tommy...

Unfortunately, we experienced a very disappointing evening and terrible customer service at this restaurant for my Husbands 30th Birthday in the Private Dining Room. Drunk strangers kept entering the room trying to cause trouble with our party – staff failed to remove them / keep them away. They continued to cause trouble in the bar area with another family when we were trying to settle our bills. This resulted in the staff leaving the bar and management having to call the police as there is zero security in place. The policy on the website clearly states “Management reserve the right to refuse entry to any person or remove any person who in their opinion is causing a nuisance or disruption to other diners.” and yet they failed to adhere to their own policy. We had to physically shut ourselves in the Private Dining room whilst these people were removed from the bar because we were all so concerned how things could escalate, we had 4 pregnant women in our party, myself being 31 weeks pregnant. This made me feel extremely anxious and on edge.

We had a minimum spend to have the room for the whole evening which we not only met but exceeded by a great deal. Only to find our evening being ruined and cut short as we had to leave when they closed early because of the trouble caused by others. I said to the manager how upset we were about this as it is my husbands 30th and people had travelled far to celebrate, he simply replied, “well it isn’t my fault”. I have emailed the restaurant direct to complain and hoped they would rectify the situation by refunding some of the bill due to the inconvenience caused, they failed to answer any of my questions regarding why their own policies were not adhered to and why they do not have security in place. The restaurant themselves have stated 'the festive season does mean that some people do not act sensibly or rationally' - well they should have staff that are capable of dealing with this or employ security to do so. I was offered a voucher to attend the restaurant another time, which I kindly declined as we do not feel comfortable or want to return to the restaurant and the amount doesn't even cover the cost we paid for our meal. Since I replied to this email mid December they have ignored me ever since. Awful customer service! My advise is don't bother, go elsewhere where your custom will be...

We first went to the Fat Turk Restaurant 7 years ago and rated it 8 out of 10. Revisited a few times after.

Based on our previous experience, we went there today for a celebratory Sunday lunch. We all gave it a 8/10 for food and 6/10 for service!!! Main issues… Waitress looked gloomy and stood at the bar watching the guested eat Asked for salt and pepper for the table. Was brought. Soon after, the next table asked for pepper - a senior member of staff came and stood between our tables and asked if we were finished with the pepper. Then took it from our table and put it on the table next to us!!! That’s the kind of thing you’d expect from a greasy spoon cafe, not a relatively posh restaurant. To top it all, we paid £220 in cash for our Bill of ££218.50 for 4 people (no desserts), service WAS included. The same senior member of staff did NOT come back with our £1.50 change!!! Really!?!? He took it for granted that we wouldn’t want the change back. Another less senior member was told about the change but still we were not offered it. I...