Not one to normally moan about restaurants or bars, I just felt I wanted to "discuss" these places. Whilst out in Ovacik last week, we decided to try both.
Firstly the Mirage. We had been down to the beach, 9 of us, and jumped off the dolmus feeling peckish. The Mirage has always looked "nice" from outside, so we decided to give it a try. And they offered a bottle of housewine for 15 lira (always a positive selling point!!)
So in we all trotted. Firstly, when offered the drinks menu and we said we were having the house wine, the waiter immediately offered us a "nicer" wine, priced at a nicer price of 30 lira! No thanks, its just for washing down the food, we said, so we shall stick with the cheapo one thanks. Wine came, not TOO bad. Food. Nice picture of a hot dog in a hot dog roll, got my 4 year olds lips watering, so we ordered that for her. When it came, it was just a big Turkish bread loaf cut in half, with two normal sausages sliced in half in between! My four year old looked at in in disgust, as if to say, thats not the one in the picture! and obbviously not being able to even attempt to get her mouth around the bread, just removed the two sausages and ate those. This would not normally bother me, (total misrepresentation of a meal in the menu!)but was just part of a sequence of bad food events. My 7 yr old daughter and I both ordered spaghetti bol. OMG. I have never tasted such tasteless food. There was NOT EVEN A HINT of tomato or herbs or anything else other than congealed mince in the bolognaise, and a white kind of cheese melted, congealed and solidified on the top,. The meal was lukewarm and was quite awful.(not to mention total misrepresentation in the menu picture once again!!!) The rest of the gang had similar problems (hamburger like the bottom of your shoe comes to mind!), except those who had ordered chips!
TAJ MAHAL: All I shall say here is, cheap is most definately not cheerful!! Our own faults for being lured in by the classy looking (not) waiter on the door, who offered us free wine (again, the alcohol sensors working overtime instead of our brains) and free food for the children and eat as much as you can for £5.80....Yes, we should have known....but it did just seem a good way to save our money for drinks in the Aloha bar later on!
So we tried it. All I will say here is, dont bother ordering different meals, as every curry tasted exactly the same and was floating in oil, and my friend could not eat her soup it was so awful. We also felt that everytime we nodded at the waiter for something, they huffed and puffed and came over as if to say, "what do you want NOW?" Big recommendation here, if you really do want to eat here, have the Mexican Fajitas..they were edible.
These are just our experiences, and having been eating in Hisaronu and Ovacik for over 17 years now, they are the two worst meals we have ever had. Others may have had good meals here, so try for yourself, but be warned... We shall stick to Shine for good Indian food, or Shanghai Blues for a decent Chinese in future and sod the expense!!!
