Wood Karaköy
Istanbul
I korthet
Recensioner
Mixed experience: Great Döner, hidden fees, and inconsistent service The food here is a bit of a mixed bag. The Döner plate was absolutely excellent! However, there is a strong suspicion among guests that the food isn't actually cooked in-house, but brought in from externally. For example, the mushroom Pide was a bit too greasy, and they used pickled/canned mushrooms that tasted awful. You also have to be very careful with the bill. The standard prices are already very high, but they sneakily add a 20% service charge/tip to the check which is extremely high for Turkey. This is only mentioned in tiny fine print on the menu so you don't see it. When we confronted them about it, their excuse was that we had received a "free" fruit plate (the free fruit tasted like nothing). On a positive note, they did honor a promised 50% discount on our cocktails. On the other hand, the cocktails tasted as expected for the discount – they definitely wouldn't have been worth the full price. The service was completely split. The male waiter was funny, genuinely nice, and even willing to reduce the bill after a short discussion. The blonde waitress, on the other hand, was incredibly rude, cheeky, visibly in a bad mood the whole time, and kept making sour faces. The atmosphere was a bit chaotic. They played hardcore party music, which felt out of place for a restaurant rather than a club. While the music style itself didn't bother us too much, it was way too loud and they kept skipping and changing songs right in the middle of a track. All in all: If the service charge had been clearly communicated, the food was actually cooked fresh in-house, and the blonde waitress no longer worked there - this would have been a perfect experience.
Although we spent great time herę, tourists have to be constantly carefoul about their money. Firstly we ardered wine and the waitress brought us wine in whisky glass - but that was just the beginning. Then it appeared that the wine was bad, we asked them to replace it, what they did. I saw at the other table that they also got bad wine which they had to replace. We met there great people, the music was perdect, even the floor manager brought computer to our table to play the music. When we wanted to pay, blonde waitress brought us a bill with added 20% of a tip that we weren't informed about at the beginning. Typical play, you had some alcohol, you had a good time, maybe you will not notice, well - we noticed, but anuway we decided to pay (in total around 2700 just for drinks for two person). 15 minutes later the same lady approached us saying that we did not pay for asditional two beers...it started to be unpleasent there as we did not want to pay for somerhing that we did not order - after 5 minutes of very uncoftable discussion it appeared that she added to our bill orders from not our table... As we were leaving I decided to order four shots of tequilla for us and friends that we met there - this time I ordered at the bar - and again it appeared that we cannot pay at the bar, but the same blonde lady has to bring us a bill...and how I was supprised seeing again 20% of a tip on the bill (for doing absolutly nothing and making us feel like thieves 20 minutes earlier)...I dont have to mention that this time she did not receive anything...
We were a bit surprised that this place doesn’t seem to take its relatively low Google rating (~3.5) more seriously. To start with the positives: the food and service were actually fairly good. The staff were attentive, and the dishes themselves did not disappoint. However, the overall experience felt oddly mismatched. The loud hip-hop music may appeal to a niche crowd, but it didn’t suit the setting or typical dinner atmosphere. It likely contributes to why the restaurant was nearly empty during peak dinner hours. The main issue, though, was the bill. A 20% service charge was added without clear justification. We only noticed it upon checking carefully and strongly objected. The waiter then offered to reduce it to 10%, which we accepted—but by that point, the experience had already been tainted. It left us feeling taken advantage of. In summary: decent food and service, but questionable billing practices and a confused atmosphere undermine what could otherwise be an nice dinner experience.
