Restaurant Review: Wait, What Kind Of Food Do They Serve?

Turkish Cuisine. Both the name of the restaurant and the type of food they serve. Crazy! Unfortunately, it does not seem like the straightforward technique works for this little establishment on 44th Street and 9th Avenue. The few times I've visited or passed by, only two or three tables had actual people seated at them. And maybe that's why the wait staff seems to be sort of nonexistent most of the time. Really, the place is so tiny that I have absolutely no idea where they go to, but the waiters apparently do not like hanging around their 4-10 customers. Sadface.

Uncreative name and somewhat bad service aside, Turkish Cuisine does have a few things going for it. First off, the interior is designed and ornamented beautifully.

Every decoration is Turkish-ified on some level and the colors are extremely vibrant and lovely. Motifs are carried throughout, including on the furniture and napkins, showing that a lot of thought was put into the design (as opposed to the restaurant's name).

There is a wide variety of dishes, albeit all Turkish dishes, on the menu. I decided to go for the Spinach Plate, because I love spinach and was enticed by the tomato sauce/yogurt combination. I think my main problem with the food was the rice, which resembled the rice that comes out of those bags of frozen rice and vegetables. Too thick, too shiny, too white, and has corn kernels interspersed throughout. The spinach dish itself was not bad, but not amazing. I will say that the combination of spinach, tomato, and yogurt (which is really more of a tzatziki sauce) is a very good mix of flavors, and their tomato sauce had just the right amount of spice in it.

Some additional observations: their pita is delicious and put on your table fresh out of the oven, their hummus is quite good, and their Turkish iced tea kind of tastes like non-carbonated apple soda.

Overall: good atmosphere, semi-bad service, decent food, somewhat reasonably priced. B/B+