Review: Anatolia Cafe in Cleveland Heights

I've had good Middle Eastern food before and I like it.I didn't like Anatolia.I'll start out by noting that we took my mom out there for her birthday and she seemed to like it.That being said, I have a different impression.We arrived around 6:40 or so and the restaurant was just starting to get busy. No big surprise there being a Friday night.We got sat down by the kitchen. The back of my bench shared a thin partition wall with the fridge in the kitchen -- so every time someone slammed the refrigerator door, I got a jolt to the kidneys. There also seemed to be a joist missing from the floor since every time someone walked in or out of the kitchen the table and bench went on a merry little ride.This set the stage for the rest of the night.It took our waiter a good 10 minutes to check in on us if we wanted drinks. Thankfully we had some water on the table. When he finally showed up we ordered drinks (three draft beers), an appetizer of falafel, and our main dishes.The drinks came out without too much problem.After waiting a bit the falafel came out. It was good. Excepting the fact that the entrees came out 30 seconds later. (Later in our meal a neighboring table, when ordering, noted that they wanted the appetizers to come first. What the hell?)I ordered the Lamb Shish Kebab with Yogurt. My guess is the kitchen screwed up and make that first, before the falafel. What came out was lukewarm. The lamb was tough. The croutons were soggy. The yogurt was completely melted. Lamb, if it has one main quality, is that it's supposed to be tender, right? I made the mistake of eating all of the lamb to try to get my money's worth. All that got me was a stomach ache.After the main course we ordered desert and coffee.The desert (being cold desert) was cold. No problem. The coffee came out a good 5 minutes later.The thing a restaurant can get right the easiest is service and timing. That isn't a cooking thing, it's management and training. When I sit down at a nice place (this is >$40/seat with a drink and a tip), I expect that I'll be asked for a drink order when I sit down -- or at least acknowledged that I'm there. I expect a certain pacing -- like appetizer coming out five to ten minutes before the main course. When I order desert and a coffee, they should come out together or with the coffee first. Like I was saying, these were pre-prepped deserts -- they could have sat in the fridge (that was beating up my back continually) until the coffee was ready. Simple and easy.Of course the food needs to be prepped correctly as well. Not left to sit around getting cold. And if I'm paying a premium price for food, I expect a premium cut of meat, not something tough and leathery.What a waste. This was some of the most expensive crap food I've had recently.