My friends and I decided to stop by this place following the Berlin marathon. I saw it was well reviewed on Yelp so I naturally thought it was worth taking a chance on.
The restaurant is in a touristy neighbourhood but is well appointed and it made a good first impression. That is, until I was introduced to our arrogant waiter. As we were getting seated he seemed very anxious and insistent that we choose a wine. I inquired if the restaurant would allow us to bring in outside wine (we happened to have a bottle on hand) and charge us a corkage fee (a practice that is quite common in some areas of North America and Europe). In return I got a snort and a lecture on how the restaurant "was a business". I'm well aware of the economics behind the restaurant industry and was simply asking a question. His response, with the implication that I was an idiot for even asking, was not well received by me. Bristling, I then consulted the wine menu while the waiter animatedly insisted we try a certain type of white wine (can't recall the name). When I told him we wanted the Pinot Grigio he again insisted that we take his suggestion "because it was cheaper". I insisted he bring us what we asked for and he made a big show of flapping shut the wine list and storming off.
The rest of the evening were a series of rude encounters with this jacka**. At one point, he (in elevated tones) boasted about how he once served Prince Charles and was once rated the best waiter in Europe (1998), I felt like saying "That might be true mate, but in 2012, you are a condescending jerk."
The coup-de-grace for the evening was when he came over, after the table next to us had left, to inform us how much they tipped him. Wow, classy! In the end, I'm pretty sure he overcharged us too because the bill was written out in a series of codes that were indecipherable.
Nice place, good food, but the service SUCKED. I'll never go back. Ironically, the next day as I was exploring Berlin by bike, I found another restaurant called "Hasir" in the Turkish district. I looked much more authentic and popular. While I didn't have time to check it out, I will try it next time. read more