Review of Turkish Airlines flight from Venice to Istanbul in Economy

Welcome to this Fight Report!
BACKGROUND
This summer I was travelling with my family to Iceland and Venice for a few weeks. Iceland is somewhere I always wanted to go to, and I am very exited to finally be seeing that country. My Mom really wanted to go to the architecture biennale in Venice and I found a really cheap flight VCE-JFK via IST on TK for $377 per person. After Venice I will be joining my family on my Dad's side for a week long beach holiday at Bethany Beach, Delaware. After that I will be returning to SFO (or OAK, actually) on WN from BWI. To clear out any confusing IATA codes HFN is Höfn, a town in southern Iceland, and FEI is a small Icelandic domestic carrier called Eagle Air (it doesn't have an ICAO code). RKV is Reykjavik's smaller domestic airport. Here is a map of my routing from gcmap.com (excluding my one domestic flight from RVK-HFN):
Here is my routing:

SFO-BOS VX352 Y http://flight-report.com/en/report/16114/Virgin-America-VX352-San-Francisco-SFO-Boston-BOS
BOS-KEF FI632 Y http://flight-report.com/en/report/17405/Icelandair-FI-632-Boston-BOS-Reykjav-k-KEF#c362114
RVK-HFN FEI742 Y http://flight-report.com/en/report/17150/Eagle-Air-Iceland-FEI-742-Reykjavik-RKV-Hornafjordur-HFN%3Fv=68
KEF-DUS AB3929 Y http://flight-report.com/en/report/17402/Air-Berlin-AB3929-Reykjav-k-KEF-D-sseldorf-DUS
DUS-VCE AB8762 Y http://flight-report.com/en/report/17576/Air-Berlin-AB-8762-D-sseldorf-DUS-Venezia-VCE%3Fv=10
VCE-IST TK1870 Y HERE
IST-JFK TK003 Y Coming Soon
BWI-OAK WN565 Y Coming Soon

My routing from gcmap.com:

My domestic flight:

This is my fourth leg where I will fly VCE - JFK on TK via IST (layover time: 7 hrs)
I paid $377 for a one-way flight, which in the summer is very good.
I will be also reviewing the Marco Polo Club at VCE that my Mom's Priority Pass lets us access
Unfortuatley lots of photos were misrotated by flightreport.com so there will be ommissions :(
FLIGHT REPORT
I arrived at VCE 2 hours before departure.
Check in was very quick and painless (lost the photos)
Marco Polo Club is very good. The catering is decent too:

It also has a spotting deck (sorry about the pic) :

Iberia:

Lufthansa 737:

Swiss Avro in Star Alliance livery:

QR A330 departing for DOH (sorry about the pics):

FIDS:

My A321 which is registered TC-JMH is arriving at the gate below the lounge:

Boarding is somewhat orderly and on time
Advertising at the gate for EasyJet and TK:

The jetways at VCE are the nice see-through kind. It really makes boarding much more pleasent. SFO and the other American airports need to follow suit.

TC-JMH which has been named Didim – after a resort town near Bodrum:

VCE apron:

Really bad photo of TK press offering which is more than enough for a short flight:

I have a row of three seats at the front of the plane all to myself:
My seat as I found it:

Earphones are good quality for a short flight however I would have appriciated better earphones on the IST-JFK flight:

Seatback pocket contents:

I only now realise that I forgot the legroom shot – sorry! For the record, Legroom was good for a short flight.
My window seat (where I sat for landing / takeoff) has extra legroom and sits adjacent to one of the crew jumpseats.

Load factor was under 50% – might explain why the flight was so well priced:

TK wasn't using its normal menus this summer. They were using menus with Euro Cup 2016 branding (they are the sponser airline):

Football schedule on the back:

Menu:

Drinks:

Takeoff from VCE was beautiful:

Goodbye Venice!!!
Chocolate commemerating Eid Mumbarak:

Dinner / drinks was served promply after takeoff by the phenomianal crew.
I chose a mint lemonade for my drink:

Drinks cart:

Dinner was served from the same cart.
The choice for dinner was Rigatoni with Aubergine of Satay Chicken. I chose the chicken satay
The meal tray as it arrived:

Bread roll:

The chicken:

The appetizer was burrata with iceberg lettuce and tomato. It wasn't quite there. The iceberg lettuce is something that should be changed and they should add olive oil and balsamic vinegar, but a good concept.
The main course was delicious. The chicken was juicy and flavourful, the rice was well seasoned, but the vegetables could definitley use more seasoning.
The dessert (like all others on TK) was really delicious. I could eat thousands of those.
The meal overall is amazing. 10/10 for catering. It is amazing that there is meal service on such a short flight.
Tea after dinner:

Position at conclusion of meal:

Nightfall:

The IFE runs in circles and is organized by channels. Not good for longer flights, but very good for short flights. The ammount of content is sparse too.
I ask for a taste of the pasta, which the FA fufills gladly:

The pasta is OK but not as good as the chicken.
Descent:

Landing is on time.
Taxiing:

We deplane at a remote stand.
Bye TC-JMH:

PaxBus:

CONCLUSION
TK is a great airline for long haul and short flights. For the price, the product (hard and soft) is immaculate.
The cabin on this plane might be dated, but it is comfortable.
The crew were amazing. They are kind hospitable, and friendly.
The entertainment was good for a short flight. The IFE is a little outdated.
It is incredible that TK serves full meals on short flights. The meals are of good quality and quantity as well.
I have nothing at all bad to say about TK and highly reccomend this airline
I want to specially thank the onboard chef for how his positive attitude and kind nature made a good flight into a great flight.