ARNAVUTKOY VE REINA
Following last nights dinner we decided to pre-book Reina in Kurucesme for tonight's VIP dinner. I had been to Reina 2 years ago with Tugcen & Nazila. However we didn't book a restaurant but rocked up to the bar back then.
Reina is seen as one of the most VIP clubs slash restuarants in Istanbul. Alot of people get refused entry at the door. It's also very difficult gaining entry without a reservation. Being a monday night we thought it may be easier getting in but we were told by George Michael (The owner of Apricot Hotel) that most clubs are closed on Monday nights in Istanbul to recover from the weekend. However Reina is open and usually packed out.
Alot of high class celebrities make a guest appearance here. Actually Paris Hilton is due to arrive for a huge launch this summer at Reina. Well that is once she is released from Prison and
is still alive to fly to Istanbul.
Fouad had organised a booking on the day. Now Reina has a variety of restuarants inside of it. One even being a sushi restaurant. We chose to dine at the Reina restaurant.
We had made a booking for 10pm which meant we had plenty of time to go somewhere for a drink. We decided Arnavutkoy for sunset photos and drinks.
We caughted the tram to Kabatas and then jumped into a cab to Arnavutkoy. We arrive in time for some really nice pictures:
NV @ Arnavutkoy
We found a bar slash cafe opposite the water. It's all about the view in Istanbul. If you don't have water views then there's serious issues! LOL
Now we did this mistake last night. We went for drinks and ended up having a prior snack before a 3 course meal. Well we don't learn. We sat down to have a drink and before you know it we had snacks on the table. This place was quiet nice but a little pricey. I suppose because Arnavutkoy is considered like Rosebay and Double bay you pay double the price for a drink. What kills me is that you even get the best views from the male toilets! We left Arnavukoy around 9:30pm for Reina in Kurucesme. It's approx a 5 minute cab ride.
REINA 2007 ***
We arrived to Reina by cab from the opposite side. We were actually joking about catching a bus down to Reina. We would of definately been rejected at the door. We arrived at Reina to walk straight in to confirm our booking.
We were escorted to the Reina restaurant above with an awesome view of Istanbul. We sat down for dinner and of course some wine...
Reina Views:
I ate until I couldn't move again. Previously having snacks and then a three course meal is not a good idea. I was seriously impressed with the food at Reina. We had a pizza for entree and that was one of the best pizza's I've had in ages. The salads were amazing as well. I never expected Reina to have such good food.
Once again there was a door bitch sitting at the restaurant. Well this time it was a door prick. This one did least of a job then the door bitch at Besinci Kat. I seriously wander what these people get paid to sit there all night starring at people.
By 1pm I was yawning and so was the others so we decided it was time for a strong Turkish coffee to wake up!
After dessert & our Turkish coffee we asked for the bill. They planted the bill on the table which came to $525. They politely added a $50 service fee to that. LOL What is this America with their 10% tips?
Well the bill was incorrect. They charged us $180 for 2 bottles of wine when we only had one bottle. That's right my friends we paid $90 for a bottle of wine. They tried charging us for 2 pizza's when we only had one for entree. After pointing this out to them they took the bill away and returned later with a bill that came to $400. This was correct but they forgot to charge us for our dessert.
I couldn't be bothered complaining about that so we paid the $400 and headed down to the bar. I know it's not being very honest but hey I was pissed off they tried ripping us off.
We headed to the bar downstairs to begin drinking more. The minute we got to the bar we were approached by a waiter who asked if we wanted to stand or sit down. We took the seating option and I knew they were going to charge us an arm and a leg for sitting! LOL
The tables were nicely organised with fruit and nuts as below:
Avoiding the fact we will probably pay $50 f0r this we decided to start enjoying the night by drinking up and taking random shots of the bridge... 
It was time for a group shot:
By this stage I think I was alittle drunk due to the fact my vodka was very strong...
Now Reina wouldn't be Reina without dancing with random strangers...
Somewhere in between we ran into the Turkish Axle Whitehead who was wearing a very sleek red jumper and acting like he owned the place. Yes I know I have issues but so does that guy.We waited until they played some Turkish music. That's the thing about Reina they play every other music you can think of but bloody Turkish music. When they do play Turkish music its like 2 or 3 tracks max.
We decided to end the evening around 3am. God I'm impressed I have lasted this long.
Reina
Muallim Naci Cad. No:44 Ortakoy Istanbul
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