Red Istanbul Turkish Restaurant Bangkok

AVOID. Very disappointing experience. After checking restaurants in the area, we chose this Turkish restaurant because after a month of traveling in Thailand we were really craving proper Turkish grilled meat. We love Turkish cuisine, and with a 4.6 rating we expected something very good. We arrived before 7pm and were the only table of two in the entire restaurant,but we didn’t think much of it. After discussing the menu with the waitress and looking at review photos, we ordered one Doner plate, one Adana plate, and an extra hummus, clearly asking for everything to be served together. My husband’s Doner plate arrived first. We assumed the rest was coming right away, but my Adana arrived about 20 minutes later. My husband waited so we could eat together. By the time we started, his dish obviously was already cold. The “Doner” was not doner — it was more like minced meat, similar to a smashed Adana. When we spoke to staff/the owner, we were told they had taken over the restaurant two months ago and were “trying something new.” That’s not really an excuse. A Doner plate is a classic, you can’t reinvent it. My Adana was okay, but nothing special. To their credit, they replaced the Doner with another Adana. However, by that time we had already shared my plate, we couldn’t wait any longer and we cancelled it as we had reservation for the evening. Hummus arrived last and it did not taste fresh, we didn’t eat it, we were worried about consequences. From start to finish, the experience was poor: • Food came at different times • Quality of ingredients (salad, meat, sauces, hummus, fries) very low • Food wasn’t fresh Grilled meat dishes start from around 300 baht per person, hummus 180 bath, small plastic bottle of water 30 bath, soda 50 bath, so this is not a cheap street-kebab place — prices suggest proper restaurant quality, which simply wasn’t delivered. Very disappointing overall.

a month ago