As Turkish is one of my favourite types of cuisine, and with the restaurant already having been recommended to me, buying a voucher for North Street’s Caffe Sazz when the voucher appeared on Groupon was a no-brainer. “A thirteen-dish mezze taster menu for two plus two cocktails or soft drinks, Turkish dessert and coffee or apple tea” for just £12.40 instead of £30.95 – a bargain…
It’s a pretty unassuming-looking place from the outside, but step through the door and you’re transported into a cosy, intimate venue with exposed brickwork, warm colours and a lively, chatty atmosphere. After being seated at the corner table by the bar, our waiter came over to tell us that we could actually choose any drink from the menu with our voucher (result!) and so while two of us opted for cocktails, others went for Turkish beer (Efes, £2.75 for a 330ml bottle) and a large glass of house wine (£3.75). Part of me wishes I’d done the same – the Pina Colada was tasty enough, but quite watery.
We didn’t need to look at the menus, as our choice had already been made by the voucher. As well as the mezze, however, Caffe Sazz offers a range of traditional Turkish mains including various kebabs, grills and a couple of vegetarian options, all for around £9-£13. You can see the full menu by clicking this link.
The mixed mezze is available on the standard menu, priced at £8.95 per person, but ours arrived as plates to share between two. It was quite a selection: Turkish sausage, halloumi cheese, cous cous, hummus, patlican soslu (an aubergine dish), cacik (tzatziki), calamari, taramasalata, borek (stuffed filo pastry), salad, falafel, stuffed vine leaves, olives…and pitta bread to mop up the sauces. We didn’t really know where to start when the plate turned up…
…but the boys didn’t have this problem, managing to wolf theirs down before we’d even got halfway through! The food was delicious – we were a little wary after having a very bad experience with a similar Groupon deal at Bristol Bridge, but this was great. Portion sizes left us comfortably full, there was a great deal of variety and everything was perfectly cooked. If you’re a fan of aubergines, then definitely go for the mezze plate – the aubergine dish isn’t available as a separate dish on the menu but was out of this world! The bread in this place is amazing as well, soft and chewy and perfect for mopping up the remnants of our mezze.
Only one minor complaint, which was that our plate (bearing in mind it was designed for two to share) only had one borek!
Onto the dessert, which was a bit of a disappointment, to be honest. Again, plates were brought out for two to share, and featured one piece of baklava, a few grapes, a sliced banana and some squirty cream. While the baklava was moist and chewy, it seemed like an odd combination, but I’m not sure if this was a dessert that was just designed for the Groupon deal.
I then decided to introduce the group to Turkish apple tea, which I love…but the “it’s too sweet” responses that I got suggest that it may just be me who’s keen 🙂
An enjoyable meal overall, and I’d be keen to go back and try a dish from the main menu rather than mezze – probably the Iskender, which is one of my favourite dishes. As far as Turkish food goes, though, I think I still prefer Oz Restaurant on the Triangle…
I love this place, but yeah, the desserts can sometimes be a bit disappointing..I don't know what their thing is with grapes!
If you ever go for the normal menu, I recommend the Yoghurt Iskender. Yum yum.
Yup, the desserts are exactly as I had without the groupon deal.
Hi,everyone, im the owner of caffe sazz, thank you for your comments i agree what you said about the dessert ( you cant get the staff these days!) i never told anyof my staff to serve baklava with cream! probly they cant be bothered to put ice cream and went an easy way to put cream instead! need to tell you about Groupon we only had £ 6.00 from this deal and we had to wait about 3 months to get our money!! but i will take your opinions to get some of the things right, Thank you all
I was very disappointed with Sazz after using the groupon voucher. The cocktail was the worst i'd ever had [did it even have alcohol???!] and the dessert left me so annoyed that I haven't returned since for an evening meal. A banana and cream, with a small baclava… and this was supposedly a £31 meal? If I'd paid £31 for that meal I would have definitely complained.
I've since had a breakfast there and was happy enough. Nice coffee.
in respects to the owners comments about Groupon:
"need to tell you about Groupon we only had £ 6.00 from this deal and we had to wait about 3 months to get our money!! "
I don't think the customer should experience any negative impact for pre-buying a voucher, and although Groupon give the retailer a hard deal by keeping 50% and holding money, that is no excuse to give a bad customer experience. You signed up to the Groupon deal, and you may be taking a hit financially for it in the short term, but the point is to gain a larger customer base, in the hope of return custom. The experience I had has definitely stopped me ever coming back for an evening meal.
"probly they cant be bothered to put ice cream and went an easy way to put cream instead"
Is this really what you think of your staff? This is not a particularly positive image you are portraying to us, as potential customers, that your staff are too lazy to put ice cream on a plate. What other shortcuts are they taking?