Aspava — Restaurant in St Albans

Good quality food, however thats the only good comment i have to make.

Portions were very small for a Turkish restaurant, which is unusual for Turkish restaurants. I dined over 30 times in Turkish restaurants as i love Turkish cuisine and its one of my favourites, however this was the worst.

The musaka was tiny. Literally 4 bites of food. Starter was even smaller.

Service was bad as only 2 people were not enough to cover the entire filed restaurant. We were waiving for the waiters multiple times as we needed things but they were not paying attention.

However the cherry on the cake was when I requested the service charge to be removed from the bill and explained we were not happy with the service. The manager then patronised us by saying: well i am not going to get rich from your money , you are the customer so whatever you say. Then he made a silly joke with the next table in order to humiliate us and try to make us look stupid for not paying service charge. I smiled , ignored, and left as i saw no reason to argue with a person that would not understand basic principles.

Many years ago i used to be a waiter , then a supervisor and then manager at fine dining restaurants in Europe, Uk and even is Usa. I know how important service charge is for those people and how much it contributes towards their earnings. I know how narrow the profit margins are for small restaurants and that therefore they cannot hire extra waiters and I respect that. But i also know very well what it means to deliver a good service. I also remember the times when i would fail to deliver a good service , it happens to all of us. Those times i would face the reality , respect customers choice and apologise. However In absolutely no way , i would even dare to disrespect, challenge or insult the client in the way the manager did with us.

I am not a person that likes to complain , however this restaurant disappointed beyond measure. Not because of the small portions or the bad service. Because or the unacceptable and unprofessional behaviour of the manager that rather than respecting our choice, he chose to disrespect and insult instead.

There is absolutely no way i would ever go to this...

Claims to be an authentic Turkish restaurant, however, quite a few traditional dishes were not on the menu. Waitress approached us quite quickly and gave a 'look' when we ordered tap water whilst we decided what we wanted to eat/drink. Due to the 'look' we decided not to purchase any additional drinks. I then asked if one of the dishes came with rice or cous cous as it was not specified on the menu. I was told that it did not, but I can pay extra for it. I have had this particular dish in many different turkish restaurants before and it always comes with either rice or cous cous. We then ordered our food which consisted of the meat mousaka and a mixed kebab. After waiting quite some time, the food arrived and the portions were very small. I then asked if bread was being brought out and dips, to which he replied that he can put bread on for us but it would be extra money. I have never known any establishment that serves kebab to not have bread accompanied with it. We then ate our food which was ok with regards to the taste, however, the mousaka was so small and quite cheesy with a few leaves on the side sprinkled with pomegranates and a large tablespoon of rice. My partners mixed kebab had no flavour to it and again a few leaves and a handful of rice. We then asked for the bill which didn't arrive until we then asked again. When asked if we enjoyed our food, I explained about our experience and how different it is here compared to other turkish restaurants, to which I was told that Aspava is more authentic. He then said he would have given us some bread if he had known even though we mentioned it when our food arrived. The food is overpriced for what it is and not authentic at all. We left hungry and disappointed and will not...

I so so so wanted to like this place! I've been walking past for months and was enticed by the delicious smell as well as the pleasant interior. Alas. We walked in and were greeted by a very friendly man who seated us. The restaurant was empty as customers had just departed to watch the panto, so it was just us. Immediately, things went wrong. Two starters ordered, one was frozen in the middle. We returned it and they quickly replaced it. Onwards and upwards, mistakes happen. Then...nothing came. Nobody came to offer us a drink, nor to check the food was okay, despite, as mentioned, being the only customers in the restaurant. Our mains came out, they were okay, the chicken on the mixed grill was, unlike most of the experience, very good. We had ordered a side of chips which wasn't present. After 5 minutes I walked up to the bar to ask where they were and if I could please have two cokes. I got one coke. The chips came out as I was finishing my main and anyone who has been to a Mediterranean restaurant will know the expectation...well, see my photo! Once again, we weren't asked how the food was or if we needed anything. Overall, incredibly disappointing and in a town competing with some amazing Mediterranean cuisine (Med Grill and Souvlaki City being my faves..and Yia Yias) not a competitive...