I preface this by saying, I used to live and work in Turkey and am familiar with the culture, food, mannerisms, even the hustle. The hustle, while not prevalent while I worked there, seems to have not changed but become more widespread. This is the second night in a row someone tried to hustle me. Yesterday another establishment charged me for three bottles of liquor when I only received two. Anyway, I digress. I ordered the hookah and coke, and my wife got a toast and tea. First they didn't have Starbuzz which is a favorite of mine but the waiter recommended another brand, Adalya. I asked if it is fruity verse minty taste and he said fruity. I said o.k. The hookah was not fruity but more minty/mentholish. Personally I am not a fan of that but whatever. The smoke wasn't hitting hard and it could be because they overload the container with coal making it burn quickly and the hot colas were on top of coals that weren't as hot. I understand safety and the charcoal holder makes sense but it takes away from the purity of the hookah. I think they did this as a method of efficiency verse providing a quality hookah. Oh well. The problem began when I got the bill and they charged me 36.00 lira when the menu states 27.50 lira. I showed my wife and she called the waiter over and he said, "oh, I am sorry, the menu changed." My wife told him, o.k. "that't not my problem, you could have told me." He says there is nothing he can do. So the wifey tells him to call the manager. The "manager" comes over and says oh, the same as above. My wife says, "how is everything else on the menu correct but this one item is wrong?" Of course the "manager" regurgitates the same crap the waiter said. So my wife said, she will call the Zabita/police to investigate. They both just walked off. Before she did so, she walked up to the counter and found the real manager, a young lady. My wife tells her about the overcharge and the manager states that the menu did change and the price is 30.00 lira. My wife show the manager the receipt and says I understand but why was I then charged 36.00 lira. The manager immediately says who did this? As if she is aware of this type of activity and while walking towards the waiter, the waiter runs over all of a sudden says "oh, madam, I took care of the problem," and provides an updated receipt with the price of 27.50 lira. How convenient.... While it's not expensive, my wife argued the point on principle and to make sure that the manager is aware that her employees are ripping people off. So what's the scam you ask, a lot of the places here are cash only, the charge you 36.00 lira, then they take the receipt with your cash, print out a new one for 27.50 and keep the difference. Probably worked many times before as sometimes people don't want to look cheap and accept the establishments initial argument that the menu changed. Don't fall for it. READ YOUR RECEIPTS read more

See all