Turquoise Restaurant

I went there last night, again based on the positive reviews and ratings left on london-eating. Again I was disappointed.

The staff were abrupt in manner, but slow with service even though the place was practically empty.

Having been to Turkey, knowing how fantastic the food is, and the fact that the menu stuck to Turkish cuisine, I was disappointed with the results. The food was presented like it wanted to be taken seriously as haute cuisine. With chives strewn artistically, and dressing adorning the plate in snazzy patterns it smacked of desperation.

I had tempura battered prawns with chilli sauce, which was actually tomato sauce, and the batter was greasy. My partner had halloumi cheese with (two) olives. I think had incik casserole, and although in parts the lamb was tender, it was hard to pick out amongst the fat. There was little sauce to go with it, but the potato puree was quite nice.

My partner had mixed grill I think. He spent most of the time trying to subtley remove the gristle in his mouth.

The wine menu was very reasonable. We had the Sancerre which was nice.

The meal came to £76, we put £80 in the box and received no change so I guess they thought they deserved a tip. We didn't leave the additional tip we would have, had they not been so presumptuous.

The one good thing I can say is that the hummous was nice.

As in my review for Stef's I'm curious as to who is leaving these reviews. We went for meals in these restaurants based on the glowing reviews on london-eating. We were regretting this on our way home.
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jacstar - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 4
Friday, December 21, 2007

awesome food... was a regular when I worked in holborn last year... am dying to go there again!!!
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keyur kalaria
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 10
Thursday, November 01, 2007

I have never seen such Turkish food....this is from another planet absolutely extraordinary design on the plate you do not dear to eat.... I felt and treated like a king and they corrected me Hunkar Begendi....Sultans favourite. I thought I had this food before and I asked for the chefs name... He must be a genius the executive chef Gazi Ciftci. I thought he would be 50 odd year old and this young chap stood by me and saying can I help you Sir...And I said yes have you cooked this… he replied yes and I said why and what is this and he said it is the new generation of Turkish food without forgetting our history...presentation was perfect and called fusion ...I thought fusion only applies to far east some how applied to Turkish Well Done.......TURQUOISE
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David Holly
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Terrible. It took 1 hour for the food and when our food was evenutally served the fries weren't cooked. The waiter was told and the food was taken back. 2 minutes later my steak was served on its own (other than the small amount of lettuce on the side). This is sort of how you would serve a steak to a dog. I even took a photo of it....I wish I could post it here.

Complaints at the end were met with all sorts of lame excuses and the manager seemed happy enough that no-one else had complained that lunch time.

Atmosphere = non-existent

Service = worst I have ever experienced (other than the first waiter who tried to be helpful)

I would recommend that you stay away.
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Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Friday, June 15, 2007

I have been to Turquoise restaurant with 4 friends and its excellent atmotsphare is greate very clean enviorenment ,staffs are very friendly, food is excellent, they have warious sellection of turkish wines which is very hard to find in most of the turkish restaurants. Especially, Yakut is become my favorite wine....
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Alex
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Friday, May 11, 2007

I love this place ! Noticed it one evening as I walked down Red Lion St and thought I'd give it a try and some point. Definately didn't disappoint. The staff were very friendly, the atmosphere was cool even though it was a Monday night. The food was very good although the main I had wasn't overly massive. However, I think that's the beauty of a place like that in that we ordered a wide selection of [excellent] starters and by the time the mains come we were pretty full. I didn't pick up the bill but I understand it came in at about £140. There were 5 of us, starters, mains and beers. Not bad at all I'd say !! Anyway, throughly recommend it and can't wait to get back there.
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BIll Rice
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Tuesday, November 21, 2006

After reading the reviews here, I thought this would be the ideal place to take my fiance as we'd been to North Cyprus a few months ago and wanted a "taste of Turkey" again. We both thoroughly enjoyed our evening here, the food was fresh and amazingly tasty. The staff made us feel very welcome and were really friendly. Timings between courses were just right and we didn't feel hurried to leave afterwards. We'll definately be going back again!
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Ryan Phillips
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 10
Sunday, November 05, 2006

A friend and I who had recently returned from Eastern Turkey and missing the food went to Turquoise Restaurant. We weren't disappointed, the menu was vast and we made a point of trying something, we'd not tried - except when it came to Baklava. We were impressed. The service was prompt and polite, staff smiled and appreciated our Turkish words including lezzetli - delicious. The meal has sent us searching for the recipes for Kisir and Patlicanli.

The surroundings were warm and pleasant, a return journey is needed
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Annabel Holley
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 9
Monday, October 23, 2006

As I recently discovered Turqouise I found the food is very tasty and nice. Although we are in the hottest summer of the century I still find cold dishes as a fantastic option with a nice glass of chilled house wine as I am fed up with quick sandwiches.
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Peter Robin
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Monday, August 14, 2006

Tim Ramsey is a big liar, excellent turkich cuisine I've ever eat in London, all meals prepared delicious with lower prices. The staff and service is too friendly and kindly also ı can not forget the manager , what a cute he was .... so I advise Turguoise insistently. I pretend that turguoise will be a worlwide reasturants chain if they keep the qualitiy of meals and atmosphere as well.
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Murat Sevım
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Monday, August 14, 2006