Nazar Turkish Kitchen + Bar - Cambridge — Restaurant in Cambridge

I deeply regret to share an extremely disappointing experience at Turkuaz yesterday. Despite having previously attended events at this establishment without issue, this visit was marred by an appalling display of unprofessionalism, arbitrary charges, and hostile treatment by the staff.

Firstly, the restaurant enforced a "no-show" fee of £50 under highly questionable circumstances. While four members of our party were indeed unable to attend, one person did arrive, yet the restaurant unilaterally decided that this individual "did not count" because they did not dine—despite the policy being explicitly tied to non-attendance, not meal consumption. This arbitrary interpretation raises serious concerns regarding transparency and fair dealing.

Moreover, we were subjected to intimidation and public humiliation at the time of payment. A bald male server not only made derogatory remarks about us to other staff members but also loudly questioned whether we were "ready to pay," making it clear to surrounding diners that we were being pressured out of the establishment. This aggressive conduct was both unprofessional and entirely unacceptable.

To compound matters, we were forced to pay a 12.5% service charge, despite receiving substandard service throughout the evening. Several unrequested drinks were brought to our table, and when challenged, staff falsely insisted they had been ordered. Additionally, one waitress repeatedly misidentified dishes, having to return to the kitchen multiple times because she was unable to match meals with guests.

A particularly egregious charge was applied when I requested a small portion of yogurt dip. I was led to believe this would be provided as a courtesy, yet I later discovered an undisclosed charge of £4.50 had been added to the bill—without prior warning. This lack of transparency is misleading at best and deceptive at worst.

It is also worth noting that during a previous birthday celebration at this same establishment, we brought a cake without prior notice, and it was never raised as an issue. However, on this occasion, the staff arbitrarily decided it was a problem, further demonstrating their inconsistent and selective enforcement of rules.

To make matters worse, after leaving an honest review detailing our experience, we were aggressively confronted by the restaurant. Rather than addressing our concerns professionally, they attempted to shame us, claiming we should be embarrassed for not spending an amount they deemed "reasonable"—a completely arbitrary and unwritten expectation. This is particularly appalling given that we were already pressured into consuming items we neither wanted nor ordered. This behavior is not only unprofessional but highly inappropriate.

Most disappointingly, this was a celebratory occasion for a friend’s birthday, and my recommendation of this venue resulted in her leaving devastated and deeply embarrassed. I had previously trusted this restaurant for multiple occasions, but after this experience, I will never return and will strongly discourage others from doing so.

Consumers should not be subjected to arbitrary charges, coercion, and mistreatment. This experience was not merely disappointing—it was an affront to basic standards of hospitality and ethical...

The whole experience was horrible. My friends and I had booked this restaurant for her birthday on open table, and left a comment mentioning the birthday. From the start it was a negative experience. We were ignored several time and left standing waiting to be acknowledged. Finally we got a seat and were able to order by a nice waitress with a long pony tail and a facial piercing (she was the only one who made any effort with us). It took 35 minuets for our drinks to arrive. My friend had ordered a regular Coke which was dropped all over her and her new white converse and the waitress was clearly not experienced. However we all understand accidents happen, but the waitress did not even say sorry or have any reaction besides “oops”. She picked up the dropped coke and went inside coming back with a Coke Zero and just left it on the table and left again. As she was walking by serving someone else we asked her to please bring us some tissue so my friend could clean herself. The waitress then brought out some blue roll and started putting it on the floor before offering it to my friends. This was absolutely shocking to us. It then had got another 20 mins when the nice waitress who took our order realised we had still not go food… only to admit that our order ticket had gone “missing” she quickly then rushed out our food which was very poorly presented. The starters all came out pretty cold. We ordered the octopus which was cold and under cooked, the calamari was the only ok thing. For mains one of my friends orders was supposed to have fried potato’s chicken and a tomato based sauce, it came out with some chips under come chicken drenched in literal tomato soup. My other friends food was lamb which was so dry that she could not even eat it and the waitress actually took it off the bill. My meal was chicken shish was yogurt , it should have actually been yogurt with chicken…. My personal opinion, they knew how dry the chicken was that they thought throwing on a whole pot of yogurt was going to make it for it. Also due to the amount of yogurt my rice was just thrown onto a side plate… After the waitress came back to me and asked what was wrong with my food I said it was dry, she said her manager was not able to remove my meal and they saw no grounds for the dryness .. I’m not surprised considering the amount of yogurt. Lastly the birthday girls meal was so dry by after the amount of time waiting she was just too hungry. After that we ask for the bill and it takes another age to wait for that and then even more time to be able to pay. Also to round up the negative experience, as I mentioned before we had left a comment that it was my friends birthday. Earlier in the night we saw the team in the restaurant go and sing and bring a sweet for a different guest, but not for us … NO ONE even acknowledged her birthday. We even saw it on the booking when we arrived that the comment had come though. Honestly a truely appalling experience and we would never come back here. If you’re looking to celebrate anything DO NOT come here, they clearly don’t care. For the price we spent even after they removed the lamb dish… defo...

Unfortunately, I don’t see a way to respond directly to the review below, so my only option is to leave a second review.

First of all, 11 people attended. While I understand charging for no-shows, £10 per person should have amounted to £40, not £50.

Your staff repeatedly brought the wrong drinks to our table and refused to take them back, leaving them untouched on our table but still charging us for them at the end.

Regarding the whipped cream, it was only used to fix the top of the birthday cake - this is just your attempt to find excuses to say we are wrong. And again, if the whipped cream was an issue, you could have just said when we arrived trying to fix the top part of the cake (with the help of your staff) that we weren’t allowed to fix the cake.

As you pointed out, we “didn’t spend enough money.” If that’s a concern, perhaps you should clearly state a minimum spend per person at the entrance to avoid misunderstandings.

Indeed a person ordered form the Kids menu, but your staff allowed her to order from there. If the manager isn’t happy about this, you should make it clear that adults cannot order from the kids menu (many restaurants do it, and it’s completely fine). But you cannot allow her to order and then charge us more money because we didn’t spend the amount you wish.

There’s no doubt the food was good. However, one waitress consistently brought the wrong drinks, and the manager showed no respect when shouting at my friend about his review.

A fair manager would have stayed with us during the issue, working toward a reasonable solution for both sides—that’s what good management is about. Instead, the manager only appeared to demand £50 for the no-shows (which, as I said, should have been £40). When we asked for the removal of charges for drinks we didn’t order or consume, he ignored us entirely. After that, he only returned to confront my friend aggressively.

Aside from the waitress who kept bringing incorrect drinks, the rest of the team was exceptional. Having worked in hospitality for years, I genuinely feel sorry for them having to work under such management.

Please note if you respond things that doesn’t make sense again, I will search a way to respond to these reviews (and this might be by leaving a new review...