Eriks Holiday Review 19th August to 2nd September

[Erik The Viking]

I didn't bother doing a review last year so thought i would this time, a few photo's and videos to follow when I can be bothered!

Flight out
Flight on time with TC, prebooked extra leg room seats and for this firm they were not bad, good flight

Transfers
As usual, excellent transfers too and from the hotel, foot down, no stoppin'!!...apart from a pullover by the Trafik Polis and then another 10 mins later by the Gendarmerie...just spot checks!

Chateau De Ville
Arrived at CDV and was greeted by the long curly haired manager, friendly enough. We managed to get 2 seaview rooms and 1 rear of hotel which was slightly disapointing, rooms 105, 205 and 407. Initial thoughts were it was a complete dump but once you get used to the size of the rooms they are fine, but in my opinion, in much need of modernisation. In our room (205) the door stop, toilet seat, shower holder, patio door latch and light socket were all broken - but we lived with it and they did replace the toilet seat a few days in without us asking. I have seen quite a few comments on the forum about people wanting sea views - believe me, after a few days you will wish you were at the back! The noise from the Munamar opposite is deafening, especially on a thursday when it is eurotrash disco night. The dolmuses travel all hours and it seems every one of them has to bib their horn at least 50 times as they go by! The lads who run the bar and restaurant are lovely but they do not appear friendly when you first meet them, you work on them and they are fine.

The pool is small and was packed everyday by the same people, all running down about 0715 to put the towels out. The breakfast is 'ok' but is just bread, olived, cucumber, dried up cheese, some ham type meat, and eggs, some mornings they did scramble eggs but it was just a block of egg, which was like a giant egg custard tart. Coffee, tea, juice etc all fine and stale cornflakes and strange little balls type cerial for the brave.

The walls are very thin in the hotel and the constant slam, slam, slam of the self shutting doors drove you mad. Im so gladf its going to be adults only as the kids up and down in the lift drive you crazy. Mostly english when we were there but a few germans towards the end, who were as arrogant as the days were hot - one even stirring some spilled egg into the jam which was nice...all in all i would not stay there again.

Daytime
First day we went to the hotels free beach, and i would say free was too expensive for it! The beach was just hard sand covered in fag butts, and other litter, beds were sticky and the whole area just foul. The water is deep there too and a mass of sharp stones. Day 2 onwards we joined Ibrahim, Patrick and beach boy Cenjis in front of the Kontes restaurant, he charges 5 lira a day but the service is spot on and you dont get pestered every 2 minutes for drinks, more than the Beledeyisi say you should pay but you only get what you pay for.

Eating Out
We only ate at a few different places this year and have rated them all out of 10 below.

Majestic
We ate here twice, usual service, same old shows, food still very good but portion size has dropped slightly. Packed out every night we we went in or passed and John still friendly 8/10

Hanedan
Ate here second night and without doubt the most over rated and expensive meal of the holiday, we asked for the 'tapas' style menu so we could try all different kinds of turkish food and just got 5 different flavour kofte kebabs, a chicken shish and some finely chopped and very fatty liver. Bad as, if not worse than Lal, lots of other customers questioning things on their bills, all mezes have to be paid for - 5tl for a spoon of Humus was taking the mick a bit. Never again. 1/10

Kardelen
A real little gem! only found this at the end of the holiday but their pizza and Pide was out of this world, the chicken shish was moist and delicious too, first try of Ayran which was the most foul thing i have ever tasted! No beer served in here so be warned! Video of their pide making will be posted soon 8/10

Bamboo
Ate here once and the food was very good, mushroom soup creamy and delicious and Topkapi kebab very tender, pasta meals also very good. Good bunch of friendly lads, couple formerly of Titanic, well worth a visit and lovely views too 7/10

Coco Beach
The Jekyll and Hyde of the restaurants! The first time we went in the food was delicious and the service great, we mostly had pasta dishes but they were spot on. We decided to go back 4 nights later and the place was an absolute disaster! The front man asked if we would like to see the fish, it was a bit off putting when we looked through the glass and saw a fly laying eggs on the eyes of some big bream. I said to him about it and his reply was "it's only 1 fly" which must make it ok then! The smell when they opened the cabinet up was foul, very very pungent rotting fish smell, almost unbearable. One dutch couple asked for some fish and we were amazed that they cut a lump off and left it outside in the heat on a chair near some cats for nearly 20 mins before a waiter came to collect!! we ordered 2 large fillet steaks and when they arrived mine was made up of 3 different bits of meat which were all cooked differently and the gaps between the bits covered with onions. The lamb shank was all fat, the spaghetti bol was 3 inches deep in water and the lamb shish was absolutely raw. The woman manager just shrugged her shoulders so we got up and just walked out, she chased us up the road for 5 lira for the water we had....she can go jump for that. never again 1/10

Kontes Beach Restaurant
Went in here after we left the Coco Beach, pretty good meal, nothing to get excited about, had a T-Bone but had better, pepper sauce was just gravy with a handful of pepper thrown in. Not one of the cheapest either. 6/10

Waterfall
Finally tried the Waterfall after 6 years and was quite disappointed, it was early and nearly every table within a mile of the actual waterfall had reserved on it, even though some didn’t turn up for over 2 hours! Lovely surroundings but meal was average, not bad but nothing you would remember, can’t say we would go there again.

Erdem
Ate here most lunchtimes, good cheap meals, omelettes and chicken wraps very nice and large drinks ARE large, best for lunchtimes. 8/10

Buffalo Bar
Surprisingly only ate here once and only went in 3 times in total. Beer very cold and very cheap, lovely bar but for some reason just didn’t go there this year.

Tandoori Sizzler
Well what can I say, without doubt the best restaurant in Icmeler, we ate there 4 times and had steak, chinese, indian and fish and ALL were superb. Hakan and Levent have improved the food tenfold since last year and the pilau rice and vindaloo are spot on. The girls had the steaks and said they just melted in the mouth and was the best steak they have had in the resort for 6 years. The beer is cold and the service excellent, met MaryB and Roo in there too which was nice, got our discount cards and was treated like royalty, absolutely the best. There is no need to venture far past this restaurant, all you could want is inside! 10/10

Harry’s Steakhouse
Another big disappointment, previous years it’s always been packed and the steaks delicious, this year the food was very average and the fillet quite tough, I would even question if it was fillet. Always been a fan of this place but Tandoori Sizzler steaks are 10 times better and cheaper 6/10

Titanic Steakhouse
Walked past on our first night as traditionally we have always ate here first night, did not recognize anyone and some long haired twerp raced out and started giving us some old waffle about his restaurant which as regulars we knew were lies, the owner was in the kitchen cooking himself which was slightly worrying, all the old faces have gone. Walked straight by…shame.

Café Anne
Went in to try the famous cake and was disappointed, very dry and the cream is like synthetic shaving foam, good on the eye but tasted terrible. Coffee very nice but not cheap, wouldn’t go again 4/10

Excursions
We only went on one which was the ICR all inclusive BBQ lazy day, fantastic day although 90% of those on board were ‘family’ and were treated, fed and watered as such. Its only 15 quid and you got a full day of chilling, sun and swimming aswell as a decent BBQ meal of chicken, meatballs, pasta and salad. I don’t think that you would have any fear of getting drunk on this trip, the guy seemed to vanish all the time and when you did get a beer it was some trollop out of a green bottle which tasted very weak. We did have a few coffees and a few Raki’s too so can’t really moan. Efes is available if you pay but a day out of the sun and away from a belly load of beer was good – all round it was very much worth the money and we would definitely book again.

In General
Another good holiday but there was just something missing this year, all the locals were glad to see you but even more glad to see your money which was a shame. The Russians are taking over and the resort was quite busy with groups of lads and girls which we have never seen before. Sugar and a couple of others told us they are going for 4am licences next year and I fear Icmeler will be a mini Marmaris within a few years. Sun beds have to be taken up on the beach now due to the high level of 'nocturnal' happenings on the beach at night, we found 3 condoms in a few yards...lovely for the kids to pick up...

Had 4 new tattoos done between us and Gamze done an excellent job again at Icmeler Ink, I gave them a present of a Viking hat – be sure to try it on when you have your photo taken!

Old friends seemed distant this year, Diva was not the same without Eddie and Sugar seemed desperate and worried. For the first time I didn’t 100% enjoy my holiday and we have all agreed it is time for a break from the resort. We plan to not go away next year and perhaps hit the Bahamas or Mexico in 2013 before Icmeler again in 2014 providing it has not gone the way I fear it will.