All Inclusive Restaurants/Bars

[Doz]

Just back last week and we noticed that along the front near the Kontes and Coco Beach there was a restaurant which was offering a 3 course meal and as much local beer/wine as you can manage for 30tl.
I would imagine that because so many hotels have gone AI that the restaurants will soon catch on and I think this will be a regular occurance. Not sure if its a good thing or a bad thing...

[John V]

Hi Doz, This is an interesting one I look forward to finding out other members thoughts on this .If it became a common occurrence across restaurants it would change how people spend their nights as many instead of travelling around from place to place,may stay in the one location.

[tamii]

prob wouldn't sway me to be honest. I'm more of a spirit drinker so if they wanted to tempt me with 'all you can drink' spirits it may be a different story

in general we have our favourite places to go, as i'm sure most return visitors to Icmeler have so if one of my fav places had this offer then that would just be an added bonus!!

[Birdy]

Sounds like a cracking deal to me ,being a big chap i could easily sink 10 pints in 2 or 3 hours hours so a leisurely 3 course meal along with a good few pints seems like a half price deal to me .Others who dont drink quite so much (the average sensible person) may struggle to get much of a bargain .Perhaps if i were to start early and have a three course breakfast and unlimited drinks for the rest of the day for 30 tl then restaurant in question may well have a problem.

[blondie]

Not too sure about this, to be honest - may sound like a good deal, but my worries would be if it were to spread and perhaps be the start of a slippery slope which could see Icmeler turning into just an extension of Marmaris.

[swc24]

Will be given that a try when we get there next week

Steve

[worlass]

I don't think that this would appeal to me really. i think the beauty of the resort is popping into different bars in the evening when you're having a stroll after you've had your meal. There are so many great places to try.
it would completely change things if this caught on in a big way though. Who knows what's gonna happen in the future.

[JonnyH]

If the restaurant is part of an AI hotel or offering a deal this good then the likelyhood is that the beer might be watered down. All of the AI hotels have watered down beer as we went to visit a friend in the Marti and the Efes was heavily watered down. I also expect the portions and quality of food not to be as good as other restaraunts.

Feel free to try it and prove me wrong but I've had very cheap offers like this once or twice in Icmeler and it certainly doesn't suit me and doesn't live up to my standards from other restaurants.

[reesy1959]

If my favourite places had this offer I might be tempted to go there maybe twice out of the fornight, but the thing I love about Icmeler is doing different things each night and like someone else said, I love to have a stroll around a few bars after our evening meal.

[weetoony]

Totally against this idea especially "as much local beer/wine as you can manage for 30tl". It would only take half a dozen restaurants to start this and the town would end up with drunks and neds crawling all over it.

Status quo for us and long live choice.

[Birdy]

I agree in some ways that the drink as much as you like options can cause various problems BUT for most sensible adults drunk does not mean disorderly and the type of people visiting Icmeler in the main tend to be hard working mature people who no matter how much they drink can still behave .

[weetoony]

Our point being that, if the trend continued and spread, "the type of people visiting Icmeler in the main tend to be hard working mature people who no matter how much they drink can still behave" may change for the worse.

We are already seeing the effect of the AI hotels on the town centre, do you really want to lose even more resaturants and bars, as this would be an inevitable consequence. The eventual loss of self catering would be another consequence as the apartment owners would be forced down that road.

[Birdy]

Icmeler will change ,the traders will do what they can to increase business .Hopefull change will not be too drastic because as we all know the appeal of Icmeler is its laid back relaxed atmosphere that suits us oldies .I too would hate things to go down the Benidorm route .

[John V]

Manys the time you can be sat in a restaurant and on the next table are people wearing plastic bracelets the identification of AI who are there because they need a change for the repetivness of the holiday they are having.
We have never had an AI holiday as we enjoy choosen where and when we want to go and changing our plans at the last minute happens regular.During a typical night out including the Hotel Bar we visit about 5 places catching upon the happenings of the day and enjoying the company of various friends.
Changes will be made as the restaurant fight to stay in business for example the introduction of the "set meal" but we do hope that the majority do not consider going down this path of AI fare as the qualities and standards received in Icmeler will be effected as places attempt to pull in some of the extra cost made to themselves.
Don't spoil Icmeler.....Leave it alone...... AI is catered for in Hotels......

[dotty]

Totally agree with you John. Noticed this year that the set menu is more popular and we did have this a few times and it was fine, but as for including beer/wine in with the deal is all wrong. OK perhaps ONE beer or wine with the meal but thats as far as it needs to go.

The previous posts have said what my feelings are exactly, Icmeler centre will become a drinking den and have all the problems associated with binge drinking. You only have to look at some of the 'young' resorts in Greece, Spain etc, resorts which were fine until the 18-30 brigade took over and turned it into a no-go area for anyone not looking to get blitzed every day and night.

Perhaps this is something the Mayor should be addressing and putting a stop to. Does anyone have an email address where we can complain as feel we should nip this in the bud before it goes too far.

[ken the pen]

why try to fix it if it is not broken. leave icemeler alone. if they want AI bars etc go to marmaris or benidorm

[blondie]

why try to fix it if it is not broken. leave icemeler alone. if they want AI bars etc go to marmaris or benidorm

My sentiments exactly - as dotty says, nothing wrong with set menus which include maybe a glass of wine or one beer with the meal, but not the !all you can drink" option. There are more than enough resorts elsewhere catering for that type of market - please, please allow Icmeler to keep its own unique charm and not attract that kind.

[andynmel]

I don`t know if icmeler is the same as other turkish resorts or not but in 2 nights time i will find out for myself.
what worries me about this subject is how many under 18y\o will end up in these places just for a cheap night out, you all know the sort of young person i`m talking about the lad and a few mates first time on hols without the advice and supervision of a responsible adult to quell their desire to act like adults (yes i know officialy at 18 you are an adult) but how many young people do you know who actually know when to stop drinking go for a walk and sober up a little. i suspect very few. with the carrot dangling of all you can drink and a 3 course meal to boot this will end up being the kind of resort you stay away from not rush back to.

sorry for the rant but we`ve been going to turkey for a few years now and don`t paticularly want to holiday anywhere else, and i hate it when some silly bar\resturaunt owner sees a way to make a quick buck without a thought to the people that live in and around the resort, and also the very people i.e us the tourist who line thier pockets in the first place.

andy (2 sleeps left and a efes please barman (only a few)

[sheepy]

Hmmmm

Got to agree with the comments on the 18/30 brigade. There's many a resort (Well, about 15) around the med which have become hellholes due to these immature idiots, lurching their way around bars, and giving the name of "Brits abroad" to mean some fat guys in football shirts, who can't take their drink, and start fights whilst racially abusing the bar owner. And frankly, if anyone thinks differently, I defy them to go to Kavos or Faliraki and come home with the same outlook.

Even Marmaris hasn't become part of the idiot brigade jolly hols. There may be plenty of drunkenness there, but it's still no-where anywhere near as bad as any UK town on a Saturday night.

Turkey as a whole has (For now at least) avoided these excesses, there's only Gumbet which appears in the 18/30 brochure.

Greece by contrast has opened just about any of their resorts of any size, to the drunken element - then they wonder why their bookings are down

Fact is, Icmeler will change over time. This won't necessarily be for the worst, there is limited development space, and the tradition is not for high rise - it will (I'll be willing to bet) never be like Benidorm.
Maybe however there will be some more privately owned apartments for sale, a few more hotels, maybe a couple more expensive houses will replace shacks in the old village - but we're talking about where real people live. In the end, it will depend on demand. There just isn't the demand for another craphole of a resort. Even Magaluf has tried to change, and Ibiza has tried extremely hard to go upmarket.

Can't see this taking off tbh. I'm more interested in atmosphere and food quality. I don't think the drinks prices are unreasonable anywhere.

[andynmel]

well put sheepy i could not agree with you more and it`s for this reason so many of us are so passionate about turkey we know what we like and although it`s not possible, we don`t want it to go down hill any more than is absolutly neccessary.
We all understand change is inevitable but not all change is for the better.


Andy