Mirra — Restaurant in Colchester

Usually aren’t the one to complain about this as I know how it is to work in this industry and how stressful it can get. Usually it is amazing but today was the most terrible experience in a while. We had a table booked at 7 whereby one of the people arrived on time and the rest arrived around 30min later. We were seated and 30 minutes after that we were given menus, and that was because we had asked for them. This happened to 2 other new tables that had come around the same time as us too. After our order had been taken, the drinks were forgotten. We saw people that were there after us get served first and get their drinks as soon as, which was rather annoying as we were there before. We had to wait over 40 minutes for food, which I understand because it was busy. We were hungry so asked for bread and sauces until our drinks and food arrived, only to get told that after a few rounds we would get charged £16/20 for bread. At first I thought the man (who seems like the one in charge) was joking but looked like he was serious. We had a reservation at another place for 9 so we asked around 2 different waiters for the bill so at least we can pay and leave as soon as. Nobody brought it. We were growing impatient as we needed to go and it was reaching 9. As we asked to just pay for the drinks and whatever we had for starters, we had a man come to us and be rude. He said that we didn't wait nearly 2 hours for anything; that we are wrong and the person that arrived first had waited an hour for us, and how it isn’t their fault as the food needs to be put on the grill and is cooked fresh and that takes time. May I add he started to raise his voice. Lamb ribs, shish & doner doesn’t take 40 minutes to cook. Maximum 12- definitely not 40.Then he was just not nice about the situation. We wouldn’t have been this disappointed if he sounded apologetic. He only decided to apologise (half-heartedly) after we had paid and left. I understand how it is in a Turkish restaurant having experienced it myself however I would not have treated anyone like this. We grew impatient because we had somewhere else to be and instead of getting a sincere sorry we were instead given attitude and got told the food is coming and is ready but it is our fault as we didn’t tell them we were in a rush. How would we know we would spend this long in the restaurant?? I am very disappointed to say. I have been a regular customer and honestly do not know if I will return. It was also very disappointing to see the staff checking on everyone else but us. IF the service was good from the start (and we had gotten menus and our drinks fairly quick) and we had grown so impatient over for instance a 20 minute wait I would understand as to why the man would get annoyed as it would be ridiculous. But when the service is bottom barrel and as it was from the start, there was no excuse for him to act the way he did as everything went left purely due to the service. Not once did we disrespect in any way and we were polite throughout. He was just rude to us for no reason. I am still in shock over the situation and if I could give 0...

We went for lunch and had ordered off the lunch menu, which was a starter and a main from the set menu for £14 each. We are two adults and two children both under 10. We are used to eating Turkish cuisine due to our ethnicities and so as we were in colchester for the day from North London (which has the best Turkish restaurants) we thought we would try this place as it looked nice and clean from the outside. The kids had standard chicken nuggets and chips. Cant complain about these, except it was £7 each for essentially 5 nuggets and 10 chips. Myself and my wife ordered the x3 misket kofte as starters and chicken shish with rice and salad for the main. Can't really go wrong can you? ...oh yes, Mirra certainly did!

Although it looks appealing, there was not much food for the price and also it was not nice at all! The chicken was very salty and tasted a bit weird, I think they maybe marinated it in something to keep it soft - it was not right. The kofte meatballs were absolutely disgusting. The IKEA frozen meatballs taste better than these. My wife spat it out and left it, my cat and dog would have both turned their nose up at them! How on earth the chef has them on the menu I have no idea, Gordon Ramsay would have shut this place down!

My stomach did not agree and I have visited the little boys room more than once today due to it!

We would definitely not be going back. Way too overpriced and the food is abysmal. The service on the other hand was great, cant complain about that!

Overall 1/5 ..(being generous and only due to the nice...

The wife and I visited Mirra at the weekend. With the kids at home, we thought we would chance a restaurant in town - and we had spotted Mirra previously. Thankfully, there was space for us, and we were seated quickly and ready to order. Feeling like we don't get this opportunity often, we splurged on some starters (pan-fried prawns and turkish pizza) and even a cocktail. For mains we played it safe, not really knowing what we would like / not like, opting for a mixed kofte and lamb skewer (and a side of chips - well everything should come with chips shouldn't it?!) All the food was really nice, and if anything, we had ordered too much as they gave us a little basket of bread at the beginning and a bowl of salad with the main.

It was all very nice and the service was pretty good as well. We needed to chase up the side, as it didn't look like it was going to turn up, but came as soon as we then asked. It terms of price it was a little on higher side, especially if you start adding cocktails to the bill! The restaurant also automatically adds a service tip, which I don't normally like places doing - although thankfully on this occasion it was nice enough that I don't mind particularly!

Will certainly come again, and also noticed they do some kids meal options so perhaps I could even bring the...