Anatolian Grill Turkish Restaurant — Restaurant in Bury

My Partner and I we're really looking forward to trying out this restaurant. On arrival, we noticed how lovely and clean the restaurant looked and how pleasant and smartly dressed the staff were in their traditional style uniforms. That is where the smiles on our faces started to fade .... We were then shown to our table, one of a few tables lined up in the middle of the restaurant with only about a 1 metre gap between each one, the set-up resembled an up market "transport café" not an intimate or relaxing style of dining at all, the diners on the tables on either side may of well just been sat with us. While still in a slight state of shock of where we had been seated, the waitress firmly stated we were only allowed an hour and a half  .... what !! ... We hadn't even sat down ! .... but the 90 minute clock was ticking and we hadn't even looked at the menu ! We felt really pressured to get our order placed ... We ordered "nibbles"  ... Starters and our Mains. The nibbles came with the starters ... which isn't supposed to be the idea really and the table being so small, we ended up playing some type of culinary game, the rules were simple, try and get the nibbles, starters and drinks arranged on the table without any falling on the floor ! In all fairness the nibbles and meze starter was okay, although we didn't really know what we were eating due to the items on the meze not being explained to us. My partner had vegatable moussaka, which was totally bland. I had the chicken and lamb sizzler, I wouldn't have said it was lamb though, seemed more like tough beef and was cooked, I'm guessing in some kind of soya sauce, oh my word, it was so salty, first few mouthfuls were okay, but the more you had, the saltier it became, so I left most of that. The waitress cleared the plates away as soon as the knife and fork went down on the plates, my partner was still chewing her food ! .... how rude ! All this time we were constantly checking our 90 minute countdown ... so not a comfortable relaxing dining experience at all. When the couple next to us had finished and left their table, staff were there so fast cleaning and resetting it I'm surprised they haven't been signed up by McLaren F1 as part of their pit team !! ... Okay, it's good that they're efficient but the spray they used to clean/sanitise the table also went over our food as the tables were so close together !! We finished with 5 minutes to spare, good job we didn't want a coffee or even one of their overpriced cocktails. When asked if all had been okay, I said "No !" I explained how we'd felt rushed, how we didn't like the food and to be told 90 minutes is all we were allowed (why don't they mention that at the time of booking ?) ... The waitress just said "oh sorry about that" .... my reply was .... "Well, we won't be back". And we won't ....  We won't go back to this place ever again  ... I don't know what they fed us, but good job we didn't have work the next day and all I wish to elaborate on is, it's a good job our house has two bathrooms ! .... not good at all !! I hope this review helps and I would seriously consider eating elsewhere before...

Great food nice atmosphere and overall good service. I would have given them a 5 star review. I was torn between having a steak and having the mix grill. My partner and I often eat a stake when we go out so I fancied something a little different. The steak comes with chips and mushrooms and the mixed grill comes with salad and rice. I'm not really a fan of rice and much prefer chips with a meaty meal. I asked if I could have the mixed grill but have it with chips and mushrooms instead if rice and salad and would have been prepared to pay any extra but I was told that this was not possible so I ended up ordering a steak instead. My partner asked of she could also have a steak but instead of chips could she have the sautéed potatoes and she was told that this they could do. When the steaks came out we were both served with normal chips and and extra side of sautéed potatoes which added to the frustration as we did not ask for both and if we knew this is what they would do I could have ordered the mixed grill and eaten my partners chips as there is no way she could have eaten chips and a side if potatoes as well. This is the only reason I did not leave a five star review as the food was cooked beautifully and full if flavour. I enjoyed the Turkish draught lager and the service was warm...

Not that impressed with the Anatolian tonight. Staff was as friendly and helpful as ever but had the meat moussaka and it has to have been the blandest moussaka I've ever had. There was literally no seasoning and even adding chilli sauce to it did not help. Would not have again. OH had mixed grill which he said was excellent. Meat was very tender. Also OH is diabetic and does not drink alcohol. AF Efes is on menu but did not have. Was offered Peroni Libera which is a nice drink only to then be told they then did not have. Was given AF Heineken without being asked if wanted it. Told them to take it away as OH does not like Heineken. Waiter did not seem to understand that just because its AF we should have to accept if don't like taste. Ended up with tap water!

Will be going back. In fact we have booked for Christmas Day but they do need to up game a bit.

Really friendly service. Lovely food and a good selection of raki. Have been going to the Istanbul across the road until now but will be changing to the...