Akarsu Turkish Restaurant & Grill Reviews Summary

Food Quality

Pros:

• "The food was fantastic. The menu choice is great, the ingredients were quality and the flavours amazing."
• "Absolutely spot on Turkish food prepared fresh."
• "The food is just what you'd expect if you went to a family home in Turkey."
• "The vegetarian kebab was incredible, and the baklava were to die for."
• "Food was amazing, delicious taste and large portions."
• "They had the best lamb shanks I ever tried! Extremely flavourful and cooked to perfection."
• "The food here was really good. I’ve eaten a lot of Turkish food and this has to be some of the best in the UK."

Cons:

• "Poor food quality throughout, with the worst being the mixed hot mezze platter for 2."
• "Food was good ish, but they forgot to add salt into the main dish, so quite disappointing."
• "Small, stuffy upstairs room... food almost bland."
• "No worth it. Food was very expensive and no drinks were offered for free. Not even water! Lamb is not tender."
• "We got a platter for 2 at a cost of £35 which was mainly chips and salad very little meat for the price."
• "The only thing which wasn’t up to the mark was their Baklava. So avoid this dessert."
• "Food was unfortunately mediocre, I hate complaining but it really wasn’t as good as everyone makes out."

Service

Pros:

• "The staff can’t do enough for you."
• "Friendly professional staff. Food was beautiful and hot."
• "The service was exceptional and the staff were very polite, without being overbearing."
• "The lady who looked after us was friendly and attentive to our needs."
• "Staff are attentive and very friendly."
• "The staff were very welcoming and very helpful."
• "Staff very friendly, and the food we had was great, will definitely be back."

Cons:

• "The two waiters who were serving on Wednesday night 18th December were do inexperienced in Turkish cusine....no clue how they got there job...."
• "It came to closing time and we were just finishing up... the staff became really rude."
• "Had a horrible experience there. Food was good however terrible service."
• "Nice food but pretty poor service. I've been a few times now and it's always the same."
• "Then immediately after they turned the music up really loud so we could barely hear ourselves."
• "The attentiveness of the waiters as the evening went on seemed to fade away."
• "Terrible service. Food came very late and cold."

Value

Pros:

• "Good value."
• "An excellent meal. We had the lunch menu, great value."
• "Superb value for money with the special deals too."
• "Delicious food, generous portions and fair price."
• "Great value for money too."
• "Terrific value too."
• "Fresh, tasty, authentic and amazing value."

Cons:

• "The price is relatively high because of the limited food amount offered."
• "The food is overpriced for what it is though, especially the veggie options."
• "It's very expensive and for what you get depending on dish to dish didn't really fulfil the price that was paid."
• "The bottle of local nondescript sparkling water was expensive at £4.50."
• "Very expensive for small portions you get, 17 quid for mixed shish an you get 4 or 5 small cubes of meat."
• "The Mega Meat Platter (pictured) is epic."
• "Prices are very reasonable as well. Will be visiting again for sure."

Ambiance & Location

Pros:

• "The oldest building in the city has been fantastically preserved."
• "The atmosphere comfortable and relaxing."
• "The atmosphere was also very good."
• "Great location, we had a table with views over the river, which was nice."
• "It's right next to the river with stunning views."
• "Wonderful atmosphere with fantastic food."
• "Stunning decor, modern yet authentic."

Cons:

• "The only downside being that there are limited toilets and it always had a queue."
• "Small, stuffy upstairs room. No atmosphere."
• "Music too loud."
• "Cleaning standards also below bar, the toilets were so filthy."
• "There was only one small problem... flies coming through an open window."
• "With it being early it wasn't busy but the atmosphere was still good."
• "Ordered the Hot Meze plater for two. Could have been a pick n mix from any supermarket. Nothing special at all."

Special Considerations

Pros:

• "The food is just what you'd expect if you went to a family home in Turkey."
• "The vegetarian kebab was incredible, and the baklava were to die for."
• "They have several authentic Turkish options that range from traditional meze to kebab options or other dishes."
• "The food was delicious, hard to find good Turkish restaurants so this was a great find."
• "Mine and my girlfriend's favourite restaurant in Durham. Friendly staff, relaxed atmosphere."
• "What a wonderful restaurant, it's about time we had a good Turkish restaurant in Durham the food and the whole experience were first class."
• "By the best Turkish restaurant I have been to in entire UK. Extremely recommended. Very nice, high quality and tasty food."

Cons:

• "The restaurant has no clue about what vegan food means. In this day and age, especially in England, this is unexpected of any decent restaurant. Even a falafel platter with rice, salad and chilli sauce can not be made vegan. Strangely, the servers have no clue what vegan means."
• "We had efes beer.but I daubt about it was real efe's beer.sorry .also we had iskender meal .it wasn t orginal taste .they used köfte meat .normall y they had to use doner meat."
• "Menu items listed as VG (vegan) have a yoghurt dip and rice mixed with butter."
• "Beautiful and offers delicious meals, but I do not wish the presence of alcohol and beer .. It is known Halal Restaurant and Muslim pioneers .. Everyone must know that Halal and every Halal restaurant does not share the provision of alcohol.."
• "Everyone's meat practically tasted the same so it didn't seem like they had prepared separate meals."
• "The size of main dish serving was very varied with the lamb moussaka looking more like a starter size."
• "Accessibility may be an issue for some as the restaurant is located on multiple levels above the ground floor with stairs being the only way to move between."