Turtle Bay York - Reviews of a Caribbean Restaurant York UK
Overall rating.
Linda Dixon says: Where do I start. Was shown to our table, that's the only thing that went right. Ordered drinks, they came after about 5 mins, the layers and water were warm. When they eventually came to take our order they had not said they had no fish. While we decided what we wanted they ignored and we had to call them over to take our order.
We then waited over half an hour for our meal. We had no cutlery which we had to ask for. While I was eating they decided to fill all the sauce bottles and stood next to me banging all the bottles which was annoying.
They then decided to bring a wheelie bin through the middle of the restaurant and moved tables so they could get it through and then a member of staff carried another large refuge bin through the restaurant.
All the staff then decided to stand around and talk and ignore us because we wanted the bill. When my partner said excuse me to one they replied with "WHAT".
I was looking forward to having cocktails after the meal but with the staffs attitude I couldn't get out fast enough.
Never eaten in a Turtle Bay and after that experience I never will again
Patricia Johnson says: Amazing place brings a whole new feeling to York restaurants. Atmosphere is great and amazing staff one in particular with curly hair on the bar, Jess I think. Wouldn't stop chatting but still making sure everyone was happy, loved the cocktails 5/5 great place can't fault it.
Kevin Ireson says: We saw some friends mention this Turtle Bay on social media. So thanks to both Nikki and Gemma, a day later, still in the week it opened, we went along to check it out. We are very glad we did really. They have a great atmosphere here with some reggae tunes playing and a huge wall painting of Bob Marly as you enter. The well trained staff were attentive, somewhat overly friendly and happy to help you. The food was very tasty, quite spicy and well cooked. This is the first Caribbean restaurant franchise to come to York. If I am honest it is about time too. We enjoyed it all very much and will come again.
Food Menu - Caribbean Food in Little Stonegate York at Last!
The menu here is quite varied but not intimidatingly so. There are a few of dishes here that I didn't recognise but the majority I did. So as not to be embarrassed we chose a sharing platter that had a little bit of everything on it. Then we went for things we knew. Like the jerk pork and the jerk ribs, which our waitress did agreed was the one she like best.
At this point we were thinking about what it all came with and side orders. We were told the 2 jerk dishes came with one of 3 carb based sides. They were rice and peas (a really nice traditional Caribbean rice dish cooked with kidney beans, coconut, usually thyme and spices too), or mashed sweet potato or sweet potato fries. We went for the more traditional as we see it rice and peas. I have been told that a traditional West Indian Sunday dinner will have this more often then not. In fact if you just serve rice, the folks you invite might see that as you being a bit of a lazy cook.
Now everything was very tasty and quite spicy if I am honest. But there was precious little meat on my rubs. It was like the pig had been on a starvation diet! That was a bit of a let down I might stick to the jerk lamb or chicken next time as a main course.
Drinks Menu - 2 4 1 Cocktails Until 7pm on a Weekday
As we arrived we were greeted cordially, with a big smile at the door. The aroma in here make the place smell delicious strait away. We saw a large square bar at the front so we opted to get some drinks first. There was a good cocktail menu and we were told that cocktails were on offer at 2 for 1 prices until 7pm that night. We took advantage of this with 2 Reggae rum punches. We looked over the menu. We were offered to our table and we still considering the menu when we noted it was 10 minutes to 7pm. So I got strait up ran to the bar, made sure I was in time and ordered 2 more cocktails. This time we went for 2 passion rum punches. Now our waitress noticed me at the bar and asked "What are you doing here?". I told her that it was close to 7pm offer closing she laughed at this and said "You go sit back down and I will bring them over to you.". Which she did, with a smile.
The drinks menu as a whole has a good number of varied cocktails on it. Most will have a Caribbean theme to them as you might expect. There are also a good number of tasty non-alcoholic cocktail (we known them as mocktails). Good thinking in my opinion as not everyone likes getting plastered on a night out, like me, not! There are an eclectic mix of wines from around the world which most are available by the glass or bottle. Caribbean lagers and for some reason Guinness are also available.
Caribbean Rum Board - Rum From Other Countries Are Also Available
The rum board gets a special mention here. It is a selection of 4 shots of rum of your choice from the 30 or so available on the rum menu. These 30 included many popular but, still quite hard to get hold of at this time West Indian Island Rums. Mount Gay The board also comes with a cup of ice and limes. It was also supposed to come with a can of soft drink. We had to ask for this as it was not offered to us. Now one thing that got me about this was the cost. This was quite a bit more than 4 shots of rum! Go figure. Anyhow it was a pleasant experience even if over priced.
Things That Could Be Improved
- Staff touch you on the shoulder a lot! The first time this happened I was sat at my table and it made me jump! Other times it just made me feel slightly uncomfortable. I don't know why they do it but, it wasn't good for me.
- The staff did seem somewhat demanding, telling you what to do. We actually felt a little out of sorts just asking to sit at the bar for drink before we ate. I was accosted at the bar after we had sat down and it was as thought our waitress was telling me off.
- There was precious little meat on the ribs. I know ribs are not the meatiest of meat dishes but these were quite bad. I have never had such skinny pork ribs before. Be it at TGI Friday or even a standard Chinese restaurant there was more on them elsewhere compared to here.
- Rum Board was over priced. It would have been cheaper to get 4 shots of rum than buy this. So whats the point of it? Also we did not get offered the soft drink that came in with the price. The pricing has got to be sorted out. It was mentioned to staff and I hope they pass it on to the owners.
Please mention Hotels in York website when you call. Thanks.