Never before have I felt such a strong need to write a review of anything, until I finished my meal at Pasha. I stumbled upon this restaurant a few days ago and thought that the smell of chargrilled meat and freshly baked bread was one of the best smells I have ever encountered in China (perhaps not such a hard feat). I returned a few days later with my girlfriend after reading positive reviews describing the new ownership and the authentic Turkish food to be found within.

First impressions were good, as they managed to set up an extra table for us as we did not have a reservation and the place was fully booked, and the staff seemed friendly and helpful, but as soon as the food arrived the whole experience went downhill. We started with the bread, which was good, and the hummus, which was not so good. It tasted and felt like re-heated pea soup and not even the interestingly shaped plate it came served on could save it. Next was the the suksuk which consisted of aubergine, cold soggy potatoes and other nondescript vegetables all drenched in something pertaining to be yoghurt, which had the consistency of PVA glue with zero taste. At this point we asked for salt from the waiter,(which in my opinion is not a good sign in a restaurant, especially a turkish restaurant where the ingredients should be enough to give the food flavour.)Next was something called Yapimi Patetes Kizarmas Domat (or) soggy chips covered with fried tomatoes. Underwhelmed is not the word.....

The two main courses, which totalled 200 rmb between them really took the biscuit. They looked like they had been made by a child who just discovered cooking and wanted to get 'creative'. The Iskender consisted of Measly portions of meat upon chopped up pieces of bread and then drenched in ketchup, decorated with sliced peppers and tomatoes around the edge of the plate. Not haute cuisine, not rustic, not authentic, hard to know what to call it... and again, I reached once more for the salt. We did order another main course called Ali Nazik, but I am trying to forget that one.

The helpful service also seemed to deteriorate along with the food,not even once were we asked if we were enjoying our meal or if everything was ok, which was a bit of a shock for somewhere that seemed to pride itself on its warm, cozy atmosphere. As soon as we downed our wine we were out of there.

The food is horrible and bland. The bread is stale, the hummus is oily and tastes like nothing, the kebab has this foul cardboard texture to it and the taste makes one want to throw up, the only edible thing is the dolma because it tastes like it came straight from the tin. The tabouleh is more like a bowl of tomatoes tossed in olive oil and the ravioli is bland, strained out of water thrown into a sorry excuse for a yoghurt.
I agree about the matches being the best thing about the restaurant, very good quality and pretty, but other than that, there is nothing worth eating from this restaurant. You'd end up being really angry about spending your time and money for it.

This is the second time i've been to pasha, the first was last year. i should've left it at that, but was in the mood for some mediterranean food last night.

ordered the mixed plate of olives thinking that it would be a lovely mix of olives..instead it was a measly handful of green olives and worse off, on top of a pile of chopped black olives. like the ones that come from a can! what a RIP OFF for 40rmb!!

also ordered the hummus platter which came with 3 carrot sticks and 3 cucumber sticks and 6 thumb sized pieces of turkish bread. hummus was runny and flat, like it was missing some spices. bleeeech.

my main was the grilled veggies that "said" with mixed spices. i guess the mixed spices was parsley, which basically covered the skewers of eggplant, tomato and chilli peppers. yes, only 3 veggies x 3 skewers. it came with a white colored dip that tasted like diluted yogurt.

not only was the food a MAJOR THUMBS DOWN, there were 4 waiters that would just basically stand there looking at you because there weren't any other diners to help.

the only good thing there are their matches, but you can't have any because they are behind a glass window.

sorry, not coming back...