5-star experience at EFES Restaurant. The food was fresh, juicy, and full of flavour, and the…read morecustomer service was excellent from start to finish. The staff were friendly, welcoming, and made us feel comfortable throughout. Great atmosphere, tasty food, quick service, and good value for money. Definitely recommend FS Restaurant if you're looking for quality food and great hospitality.

Service was so bad and that is why for the low rating. Food was all average for my first Turkish…read morefood experience which you could say is basically Greek food. Meanwhile the place is filled with employees walking around everywhere but I was eating alone and not wearing a turban so maybe that's why.

Another great experience at my still favorite Dalston restaurant. Had the hot non-vegetarian meze…read morestarter platter which featured white bait, calamari, borek (cheese filled fried phyllo pastry rolls), and garlic sausage along with falafel. Really enjoyed the borek and the halloumi was lovely. Garlic sausage was spot on as well. The hot meze was not as filling as the cold one (which we both enjoyed more) but as we are now regulars here we were given some olives on the house and extra bread which left us satiated. We were even offered extra extra bread, as from the way I was devouring it must have made them pity me (and/or made them think I was gluten-deprived and malnourished). Needless to say I sheepishly turned it down. Such an attentive staff and a full bar. We almost went for the after-dinner cocktails but decided on the digestif route, having a Baileys and Contreau liquor each. Cocktails will be ticked off the agenda next time.

We ordered the hummus, cacik (tzaziki), falafel platter, ezme, & vegetable mousaka. I would order…read moreeverything besides the vegetable mousaka thing tbh. The sauces would recommend ordering the full serving especially of the cacik it was super smooth. 40-45 min wait on a Friday night FYI.

Really lovely. Service was bare bones but friendly enough, they were quick with bringing things out…read moreas well. Prices are very reasonable. I ordered a variety of items including a lamb kebab (£12.50) the lahmacun (2.50), chips (£3.0) etc. There was also free pita brought out that I ordered a side of yoghurt for. I enjoyed the salad with the kebab and thought the chips were excellent. The lahmacun was a steal. It was a large portion and so flavourful for the money. I liked the side of yoghurt as well and it cut down on the spice from the chili sauce. It's byob so your bill can be quite reasonable even if you drink. Very nice lunch and would absolutely recommend to friends

The ocakbasi experience is the best and only way a kebab should be eaten in my opinion. Grilled and…read moreseasoned to perfection served on a bed of rice, brilliant mezze salad sides and fresh Turkish bread. After discovering Anatolia in Mare street Hackney, this is now my base standard for Turkish cuisine. The Days of regular kebabs on a slow turning skewer dripping with fatty oil are long gone. The meats cooked here are quality and the portion is very generous. It comes with fragrant rice and bread which just makes the meal wholesome and completes the Turkish cuisine experience. The staff are friendly and although busy most nights, can easily handle seat ins and takeaways. Staff are always on point, and everyone is working hard. The resturant is fairly big, used to be one shop, but because of popular demand, expanded into the next shop. It is a casual vibe, and a place for serious meat eaters. I enjoyed Anatolia very much.

I came to this restaurant on a Saturday evening with my service dog and they were very rude even…read morethough I provided ID for my service dog I will be writing or calling a manager about the situation because their staff members were absolutely horrible. My service dog is there because I have severe anxiety and I provide provided identification they did not want to look at it and they near enough hurried ME out of the store. I will not be going back there.

I was craving Middle Eastern food and this place definitely hit the spot! We only had the option of…read morepicking between 3 holiday menus, all of which included a set list of appetizers to share and then list of main dishes option for each person to choose from. For starters, I really enjoyed their hummus and baba ganoush! I liked how they were both really well-seasoned. As an eggplant lover, I was surprised that their the baba ganoush was less creamy compared to ones I've had at other places but it was still really delicious! Their falafel and the spinach and feta borek were also pretty bomb because it was super crunchy and flavorful. For main dish, I got the adana kofte which was marinated fine cuts of lamb minced and mixed with herbs, then grilled into a long piece of meat. The seasoning and spices were pretty solid. The portion of meat was also more than I had expected. The place was definitely busy but staff were still nice and friendly. It was pretty easy to make an online reservation. Would definitely come back!

Very nice place. The food was delicious. The staff was great. We were delightfully surprised…read more A hidden gem.

I've been walking past this place for years and always made a note to have dinner here sometime…read more Last week I was in the mood for grilled fish and decided to get takeaway since it's on the way home. The wait is a little long because everything except for the stew is made to order. It's also cash only. I got enough food for 4 people for £30. The gentlemen working were kind enough to offer me some Turkish tea while I waited. They also threw in a rice pudding for free (free food, yay!) Everything was great, Iskender, grilled sea bream, bread, vegetable stew, couscous, and rice pudding were all great. No complaints from me, and excellent value for money.

Hospitality top notch. Abundance of food in regards to the family order. Perfectly seasoned and…read morebrought take aways home.

I have to admit, it's been ages since I last ventured out to Dalston...even though it is supposed…read moreto be the new hipster central! And given that I was practically a novice to this area, I whipped out my phone to consult the opinion of my fellow Yelpers as to where they suggest a starving bloke should find consolidation for his stomach. Sömine popped near the top of the list with overwhelmingly good reviews - amongst others, one by Lizzie G, whose reviews are generally superb! I walked along Kingsland Road, with its mixture of ethnic supermarkets, trashy clothing stores and fried-chicken shops. But the further North you go (towards Stoke Newington), the more the area seems to become "cool", as you can find hip restaurants and coffee shops for the yuppies and hipsters that slowly, but surely seem to "gentrify" this area. Sömine is as low-key as it gets - in fact, it resembles a cheap cafeteria of my long-gone university days. But let's turn to the food for a minute: they mostly offer stews, which are on display already from the outside. The guy behind the counter explained to me the various flavours/ingredients and in the end decided on a vegetarian stew and a stew with minced lamb and aubergine. He ladled them both on a soup-plate and on the side he served me some pickled vegetables and rice. (I specifically asked for the rice to be served on a separate plate.) What I liked best about my dining-experience here was watching the kitchen ladies making Turkish raviolis right there in the restaurant (see photo). For some reason, this act of making food right here and there, made me believe that all their food is made with a similar passion...

Looking for a chill place to have a good conversation complemented with a satisfying meal? Then…read morelook no further...Sömine is what you are searching for! We were on our way to another restaurant up the street and we all decided we could no longer be bothered with walking, that's when Sömine appeared in the distance. We decided to gamble and eat here instead. This is when laziness actually is beneficial. The staff here is so friendly and funny. You were served with the complementary items and given recommendations based on our eating preferences. My fellow veg heads we can eat here! They have several items on the menu that cater to vegetarian boundaries (vegan I'm not so sure). I forget the name of what I ordered but it was almost like a meatless and pastaless lasagna. It was de-lish-us! The place is a bit small with the tables fairly close to each other, so be careful when moving around. Luckily for us, there was one other party there so we had room to stretch our limbs. I would definitely recommend this place

We arrived at 10:45 PM, and it was packed. People were still streaming in the door an hour later…read more Try the lamb doner or any yogurt dish and you'll see why they have such a hard time closing up at night. It was fabulous.

We ordered: CHICKEN DONER (shawarma) rice + salad +…read morehomemade bread- this was good. Wished the white sauce was more garlicky. The home made bread was nice. Next time would get pita so I can make a wrap CHICKEN KABOB- this was good. Daughter liked this better. Hit the spot bc we were craving chicken + rice

The Tad Ocakbasi Meze bar is one of the classier Turkish restaurants on Mare St. in Hackney. For me…read moreit is much more inviting than your avearge Turkish restaurant. First of all, the outside seating is a feature not possessed by many other Turkish restaurants in the area. The orning provides shelter from the often drizzly weather, and the wooden seats are a classy touch and a nice change from the usual tacky plastic outside furniture on Mare street. Expect to receive more food than you think you will get. I ordered the Lamb shish which was beautifully tender. My friend had the mixed grill, which to finish eating is no small feat, he managed to make his way through the abundance of different meats. The shish was around 8 pounds, and the mixed grill around 13 pounds. I guess it depends on how much you can afford, and how much meat you can stomach. The staff really care about your experience, and take the time to have a chat with you. Their interest is genuine, and I did not find the their very personal style of service at all meddling. The Tad is open 7 days a week and is fully licenced.

Tad! It's not a…read morepreppy dude with floppy blond hair, Nantucket reds, and boat shoes. It's a yummy Turkish restaurant with an odd name that sounds like it should be sailing off the coast of the Vineyard. Or maybe Tad means something like food in Turkish. In which case I am dumb (sorry for all the East Coast references, Londoners). Tad stands out for me from all the other Turkish restaurants in the Hackney area thanks to the unusual dishes and the ginormous proportions. We had something called the Yogurtlu Adana, which was a kebab over flatbread, drenched with a tasty tomato-ey stew and drizzled with yogurt sauce. The bread soaked up all the savory flavor and became these delicious little gloopy blobs of yumminess. This dish also came with rice, salad, and a tasty grilled onion. We also had a really good kisir (cracked wheat salad) full of fresh parsley zest and a good-but-not-special-in-any-way hummous. The meze starters came with a basket of grilled bread, resulting in an IMMENSE amount of food. I ate so much I was in a serious food coma afterwards. Seriously, I fell asleep in the middle of work. I guess that's what I get for doing work in bed after an intense Tad experience. No, not that kind of Tad, that sounds dirty...

After a long travel day from Los Angeles to the neighborhood, we walked around the block to find…read morethe closest place to eat with our two small children as we were all exhausted in. We're so glad we found Sultan Sofrasi. Great food and best of all the service was a lot better than I expected from a random corner restaurant! I believe our server's name was Mardalina. She has such a positive attitude and even though we had two toddlers with many different requests, she managed them all with a smile and always had her eyes on us, so we didn't have to look for her in a picnic. She also pointed us to the the cold and hot appetizer combo which was a great choice to sample everything we wanted to try. The food was delicious and my son had desert after dinner, which he polished off. I have no idea how it tasted but from the looks of it, it was amazing. So lucky we found this place in the neighborhood while we're here for the next few weeks. Looking forward to dining with Mardelina again!

My favourite Turkish Restaurant around Roman Road. Lamb doner and mixed kebab platter were…read moredelicious. it has a 5 Star hygienic rating. Sometimes there is 5-10 minutes waiting time when its busy.