Cafe Istanbul — Restaurant in Manchester

2 stars because the man who assisted us had amazing customer services but this restaurant failed us in a major way. We are vegetarians, the first red flag was seeing the chef rubbing his bare hands into raw meat, he was adding seasoning to it. He didnt attempt to wash his hands, after 5 minutes of watching him we asked the manager (I assume as he was dressed very smart and greeted us when we came in & assisted us all throughout our meal) So.. we asked the friendly assistant/manager? If he could please tell the chef to wash his hands, as he touched raw meat with no gloves and was now just standing around the kitchen (I think waiting for our food to be even cooked)

We ordered two vegetable moussaka, turkish bread & one chips.

We received lovely bread, lovely rice , no chips? And what I would call unseasoned vegetables with no sauce and thick layers if cheese all over it. ( Authentic moussaka has a tiny sprinkle of cheese) this was atleast 3 thick layers, we peeled back all of the cheese to find a few pieces of unrefined bread and literally one tablespoon of tomato sauce, very dry, bland tasting, the worst moussaka we have ever tried.

We couldn't eat much of it. I tried a mouthful of the cheese and was chewing for atleast 2 minutes, realising that the cheese was a hard, cheap cheese I had no choice but to spit it out.

After 5 mouthfuls of veg I gave up.

My partner ate alot less.

We called over the friendly assistant/ manager who was very shocked when he seen the amount of cheese on our plates! He was horrified. He apologised.

The bill? He charged us for the chips that we didnt get. So adjusted the bill & gave us a 6 pounds discount.

The amount of moussaka on the plate, in my opinion should have warranted just paying for the rice & bread.

My stomach started to churn and I developed a lot of wind, the friendly assistant offered me a hot drink "on the house " he must have been intune with me!

I drank my apple tea and asked if there was any honey, to which I got frozen honey that I had to dig from the jar? Wow it gets better.

After my tea lots of wind was released from my digestive system, we walked home feeling deflated literally & I have had a belly ache all night, my partner too although he had literally 3 spoons and gave up!

2 stars only for the friendly assistant/manager.

I am unsure how they are the first Turhish restaurant in Manchester since 1981?

In my opinion if you want ten out of ten Turkish food please try ISTANBUL CAFE (ironically the same name)in Burnage Manchester, not one complaint, beautiful ambience, clean chefs, beautiful food. The only issue with us not going there is the distance! We dont drive.. and can walk to town in minutes, so decided to try here for the very first & last time.

Taking the day off today, as I cannot stop going to the toilet and my stomach hurts. My partner was releasing wind all night even though he drank alot of fennel tea....

Incredibly disappointed and upset at the way the restaurant treated me when I went. I advised the manager and staff of my allergy to which they said they would confirm it would not be in my food.

Before ordering my dish, I asked the manager and chef TWICE about whether it contained the ingredient that I am allergic to, carrots, to which both times, I was told no. I even pulled out my epipen and showed it to the manager and told him how severe and serious my allergies were and he proceeded to giggle at the sight of it which makes no sense to me?

I took a bite of my dish, and looked inside, and I could see bits of carrots. I called the wait staff over who seemingly appeared to mock me by saying "you don't like carrots?" when I had already made them aware of my allergy. I again, explained my allergy after already consuming a small portion of it.

The manager THEN finally came over and confirmed it did in fact contain carrots. This was also the time he thought to tell me that their rice was cooked in vegetable stock which contained carrots so I shouldn't have it with my replacement meal.

They did bring me an alternative meal and apologized, but it does not suffice as I was at great risk, not well, and nobody seemed to take it seriously.

This is incredibly reckless, dangerous, and careless behavior and completely negates the sign they have of making them aware of your allergies.

No free meal or drink could save my allergic reaction and I am so beyond upset at how poorly everything was handled. Highly recommend to avoid the restaurant if you have allergies because they simply...

I’ve been to Cafe Istanbul several times over the years and always had a fantastic food experience. Last night however was different. I tried to give them the benefit of someone who has been around the block and values customer experience- sadly it seemed to have fallen on deaf ears.

Whilst dining two things upset me a) a person sitting very close to our table wafting her long hair over our drinks and food on several occasions b) the same person repeatedly flossing her teeth at the table in front of us and other diners.

I spoke to our waiter and tried to give them an overview of how I felt and that they should be able to control the restaurant floor and prevent this sort of behaviour for our sake and that of other diners.

I was then told by the waiter ‘what do you expect us to do? We cant stop people doing that’ I’m sorry but I think it is not MY job it is THEIR job to to control their customers behaviour if it effects others.

I saw the waiter go to the table, whatever was said didn’t have any effect and the hair wafting continued.

Later they said they understood and offered two liqueur drinks for the inconvenience.

However when the bill arrived they had added a service charge to the bill without asking!

I then spoke to the waiter about how I felt about the whole experience.

I don’t think they understood what I was trying to say - it’s not about a free drink, or the service charge. As a customer I shouldn’t have to suffer someone depositing their hair in our drinks/food or flossing teeth right next to our table.

Poor show Cafe Instabul and I won’t be...