Beyoglu Lounge

Maybe I have the patience but the service wasn’t as horrid as people reviewed it to be. Yeah, the new coal for the hookah didn’t come quickly after we asked for the change but my friends and I weren’t bothered by it. If I were to be nit picky then I can be but it wasn’t enough to get upset over it.
The server never gave us attitude. They were actually very nice and pretty attentive. And we were there for awhile but I never felt that they wanted us to leave to seat other people who were waiting. We, nor did any other party I saw coming in had our IDs checked.
Went in around 7:30pm on a Friday night and the place had about 5 other parties. But as time went on the place was completely full (outdoors at least) by 9pm. So I suggest going a little earlier if you’re planning to smoke.
Outdoors has a nice ambiance with the waterfall and view of the city. Yes, it can get pretty loud but it’s a Friday night. I think it was to be expected (and there were 3 birthday parties going on).
Yes, they did automatically charge 15% for gratuity. My friend said that this isn’t too surprising for Mediterranean places because restaurants over there (not all) often do that and/​or ask for a minimum charge (at this place, it’s $ 15 per person if alcohol is drank). That being said, I can also understand why people may not like that if service was not good.
The food was good. I had the Adana Kebab ($ 16). It was flavorful and I enjoyed it. My friend had the chicken shish and the lamb shish. Which both were good but I preferred the chicken more than the lamb shish. The falafel appetizer was okay. I’ve had better. A lot of people were ordering the Turkish tea. I’ll definitely have to try that next time.
Hookah was packed and made well. We had Mint guava and mint grape ($ 25 each). Both were good and lasted long. **Note: 1 hookah for every 2 people.
We were able to split our check 3 ways with no problems.
Overall, good place (it floats between 3.5 and 4 stars). I’ll be coming back and update my review again then :)

My friend got a dish to try out which she did not end up liking. We asked if we can switch it out, the waiter said he’ll ask. 2 minutes later we hear the lady screaming HOW CAN SHE CHANGE?! She comes back to us saying she can’t do that because she doesn’t have access to the register to cancel it. (Okay.) It’s honestly fine if she didn’t change it, we didn’t even argue. But the customer service is 0. We left the plate full of food and untouched. Clearly you can tell this place doesn’t care about the customers. If I owned a restaurant and a customer didn’t like the dish, I’d offer up another one. Do they care about money or the satisfaction of customers? Clearly you can see what they care about if they have 2.5 stars.
It sucks because I came here before and enjoyed the food. This business is just not the type to keep it’s customers happy and loyal.