Chef Sofra — Restaurant in Melbourne

My family went to Chef Sofra for Mother's Day dinner and left very disappointed. Due to the venue being busy, a set menu had been put in place. Which was fine, absolutely no problem with a set menu. But it took over 40 minutes after sitting down for bread and dip (which is simple to prepare, especially given you knew what we would be having) to be put down on the table and for a drink order to be taken. After over 40 minutes waiting for bread and dip it then took another 30 + minutes to get more bread (after only being given 6 small pieces for a table of 6 people and one 1yo) the whole time we were waiting and eating only bread and dip, every other table, including those with people who arrived AFTER us and were in LARGER groups, were receiving their food and drinks in a flowing order with time to enjoy each course. We then finally got our entree's, mains were then served at the same time and we were told 'clear the table all your food is coming at once' which made us feel as though we were basically being told, here is everything, hurry up and leave and rushed to eat what was put in front of us. We were told because we waited so long, dessert would be free, which was then retracted as it was already included in our $80 per person menu (which is fine, but drinks then could have been compensated instead to make up for this, but that didn't happen) After 2 hours since we'd arrived, we hadn't even been served dessert, and we were left with no choice but to ask for it to take away for 2 of the 6 people that were at dinner, as they needed to leave. We were then given a container of desert which looked to be no here near enough for a table of 6, so assumed it was for the 2 who needed take away dessert. The 4 guests who remained as they were waiting for their dessert were then told that the containers did contain dessert for 6 people (very hard to believe with the quantity in the take away container) and that no further dessert would be served (even though they made a mistake in not giving take away dessert for 2 people) Waiting over 2 hours for food which you have told us is our only choice for the evening at $80 per person is extremely disappointing, but to then have terrible service and terrible communication in regards to the outcome with the free dessert and then lack there of dessert. Given it was a set menu more planning and organisation should have taken place to ensure everyone's experience was enjoyable, especially given we're in a cost of living crisis and disposable income for people to eat out doesn't come easy to everyone and eating out can be a very rare...

We were looking forward to trying Chef Sofra. Our small group consisted of 3 X ppl and we all ordered the MUKELLEF banquet at $76 pp. Word of mouth is what led us here.

Restaurant layout is nice and in a convenient location. I don't usually buy into the ambience and service standard of a restaurant as my philosophy is that essentially the food is the selling point. I'm familiar with the drill too, this ain't a takeaway kebab shop on Sydney Road and expected that premium Essendon surcharge. All part of the experience right?

Now regarding the food, the portioning is just way too small. The star of the show should be the meat and when you're serving up what equates to 1 X lamb and 1 x chicken skewer consisting of only 3 small meat pieces per skewer and 1 small kofte patty per person, the question needs to be asked, what am I actually paying for? I'd actually be embarrassed serving this up to a guest at home. This portioning just doesn't size up to what you'd expect to receive from a Turkish restaurant in the suburbs.

Entrees were flavoursome, but once again consisted of small servings. Dips were nice but unfortunately served with stale bread.

Dessert was literally three pieces of dry baklava dished up on a tea plate.

Banquet didn't include any drinks at all. We just assumed coffee / tea part of the banquet and was charged an additional $5.50 for a 1 X Turkish coffee. I've always known hot drinks to be part of the banquet. My fault for not checking. By the time I ordered a cold drink and a coffee alongside the banquet I was at $85. I'd be more understanding of being charged this much if we walked out with our hunger curbed but instead we had to rely on consuming extra bread to get us across the line in order to avoid that dreadful fast food stopover on the way home.

This 2 star rating is me being super generous as I understand the challenges of running a small business but doubt I will return to this venue...

Wow what a lovely local gem. Delicious Turkish food, fantastic service, great vibe and nice fitout. This warm welcoming place has a great big selection of food to share. Great for meat eaters, vegetarians and vegans. Everything we had was magnificent. We had the Kopoglu mancasi eggplant dip, Aciezme dip, zucchini fritters, Grilled octopus, Saganaki and desserts Sutlac, Kazandibi and Sobiyet with Turkish coffee. Just a couple of desserts 🤣

We were stuffed and so happy and satisfied. Absolutely delicious. Loved it all but my favourite was the Aciezme chilli yoghurt dip (Magnificent) and Kazandibi dessert (not sharing next time) 🤣🤣 Great for families, large groups and smaller groups. I'll definitely come back soon, really happy to have found this. Keep up the great work and having a lovely culture with your team, they were excellent. Also loved watching the kitchen operations, so clean and organised. I'm super impressed. Thank you for cooking...