Turkuaz Mediterranean Restaurant — Restaurant in Miami Beach

The food, service, ambiance, and music were phenomenal. One of the best Turkish restaurants I’ve experienced. But the way gratuity is set up here hurts the servers livelihood, and that’s unacceptable.

Firstly, there’s no way to add an additional tip on the handheld payment processor. If you only have a credit card and no cash, you literally cannot tip the server more money. In my case the auto grat was $5 and I was ready to add another $5.. effectively doubling her income on that table… but there was no option to add an additional tip.

Secondly, the automatic gratuity which is shared among staff is only 18% (not 20% as it should be, especially since it’s being shared!)

I learned this change was made because a customer complained after accidentally double tipping. That happened only because the checkout was set up wrong. Instead of saying 18%, 20%, 25% on the tip page, you set it as an “ADDITIONAL TIP” which gives you different options “1%, 3%, 5% and custom option” if they wanna tip $1000. And that lets the customer know they already paid an auto-gratuity and this is just an additional tip.

For the record, the server didn’t volunteer this information to me. I pressed her to explain why this was happening. As a former server and bartender, I know exactly how this goes so it wasn’t hard to figure out what was going on.

My server was excellent… she was attentive without hovering, efficient, and genuinely top notch. In Miami, where good service is rare, you’re VERY lucky to have her.

You’ve built an incredible restaurant. But your staff deserves better. I’ll gladly change this to 5 stars once two simple fixes are made:

Raise the automatic gratuity to 20%. Restore the option to add an additional...

Went there yesterday. The server was great. Very attentive. However, the service was slow for it to only be one other table. The menu wasn’t correct. So I had to get up and choose my items. Because I seen them looking confused at the larger menu. I ordered sausages, potatoes, eggs and pancakes. The sausages, potatoes, eggs was good. But the pancakes had dill throughout. And burnt. They cut up strawberries and gave me the ends. I asked for powdered sugar they put granulated sugar on top. SMH So I returned them and they came back with new pancakes that were undercooked. Literally can see the raw batter throughout the pancakes. And the pancakes were burnt. So I have burnt pancakes that’s undercooked. I told the server don’t worry about pancakes. He returned them to the Chef who screamed at him. “Tell her we don’t have no more pancakes for her” I heard him because he yelled it while coming out the kitchen. That’s not how you treat paying customers that can hear you. And the server didn’t deserve that treatment because it wasn’t his fault. He left so I couldn’t tip him. But I felt like the chef/owner hovered over me when paying my bill maybe they expected me not to pay. Which made me feel uncomfortable. So I quickly left. Because I didn’t like the pancakes. But as a chef myself I respect restaurants but I know good food and service and this wasn’t it. The restaurant needs some work, very dark, should do a deep clean, the owner needs to fix his attitude and the kitchen staff needs some training. I wish I could’ve tipped the server but he left before I paid bill. Wouldn’t go again or...

I was craving Turkish food during my visit in Miami. There’s so many options on google but I can definitely say I was glad I chose this place to eat. I went to Turkey over two years ago and haven’t had Turkish food since then. Turkuaz Mediterranean restaurant took me back and reminded me of what I have missed so much. I ordered the Pilaki, Shakshuka, and Iskendar and it did not disappoint. The Pilaki is a humble dish but has just the right amount of acid, these are not regular beans. The shakshuka is eggplants cooked in a spiced tomato sauce served with pita bread—it’s umami —that thing you didn’t even know you were craving. The Iskender is just like what you would have in Turkey. It was soo good. My server, Yassar, gave exceptional service and seated me right away. He also offered on his own to let me sample the Pilaki which I’ve never been offered to sample something from a restaurant. It’s unheard of, right? He checked up on me multiple times which just seems rare and a burden for servers to do at other places to be honest. About the place, It’s a really cute restaurant that reminds you of home. I really enjoyed the Turkish music in the background. This is a great place for family gatherings and even a date night. I came around 10pm on a Thursday night. I loved the baklava and tea as well. Thank you for making my ordinary day...