A la Turka — Restaurant in New York

I had my worse dining experience at A la Turka. I am a type of reviewer who avoid giving less than 4 stars unless having a major issue but we leave the restaurant feeling the most horrible way possible.

I live in the neighborhood and decided to have a dinner at A la Turka with my parents who came from Canada to visit us today. At the end of our dinner my daughter (almost 2 years old) poured a water to the floor accidentally when we were waiting for the check. A waitress wipe the floor with a tablecloth and after a while a chef was bringing a meal for the table behind us and slipped and fell down really bad (No warning sign was there obviously). The meal he was carrying was gone but more importantly he had knee trauma. Luckily no major injury happened. That happened in a very short time, my daughter was really scared and I was keep trying to calm her down until we leave and even at home. Only the waiter (a young guy served us initially) checked on us to ask if she is fine. The problem was the owner came to check on to the table of the old couple who were waiting their order to apologize and trying to compensate their delay while he didn’t even check on us where the whole event happened, where a plate shattered just next to a kid! We kept apologizing from people, and checked the chef couple times and left after hearing he is fine but the whole event made us feel like the event is completely our mistake which can happen to anyone eating with kids so i am feeling...

We made a reservation through Open Table application for 6 people to go enjoy the music. 2 people of our party were late and the 4 of us ordered 4 appetizers to start with.

The waitress got very anxious and came back asked us if and when we will order main courses and drinks. Then a manager came and didn’t care to interrupt us from enjoying the live music and was very aggressive wondering if we will order more food later or not or otherwise they will charge us $50 entry fee per person to cover the music. Things that were not mentioned on Open Table or that they mentioned over the phone when we called to ask if there was a ticket.

He stood up and firmly said that he needs our table immediately for someone else and gave us an option to move to another table that was the most isolated table from the music and stage which wasn’t an option for us because we mainly came for the music.

He basically kicked us out which was very embarrassing infront of others and our friends. Later when I told him that he is kicking me out, he said that I am rude to say that. I refused to insult him back. He basically profiled us and assumed that we will not order more food or drinks based on his assumptions.

We asked to talk to the boss or the owner but no body cared and we were kicked out and it ruined the night and we couldn’t unfortunately listen to the music after driving 45 minutes from Brooklyn and I personally was in NY...

We have been to this restaurant several times. The manager, Utku, is very accommodating with requests and has always gotten us a nice table. Last night was no exception. The ambiance is buoyant and the service attentive. I think they do a good job of hiring multiple servers so you never feel like you have to flag someone down and wait. The food was wonderful. The calamari was succulent and my order of Octopus was cooked to perfection. Drinks were great and they even made a virgin mojito for my daughter. The only caveat was that when we ordered dessert and our guest wanted the tiramisu, our server overrode her choice and said she would enjoy the chocolate pudding more. She was a little overwhelmed being out of town, and although she agreed, I could tell that she would have preferred the tiramisu. I’m sure the server meant well though. All in all, a good experience and we will definitely return.

Update (Oct 2021): Again, great food and ambience during dinner. We usually go in big groups in the evening and have a great time. Lunch last week wasn't so great. Slow and awkward service, where one person was served their first course before others. The server was also a tad rude/arrogant when asked about it. It's a shame - might stick to just dinner and takeout from now on as we like the food, not...