Efendi Turkish Restaurant (BAYVIEW LOCATION) — Restaurant in Markham

“ EFENDI Turkish Cuisine, Kebab Grill; 8190 Bayview Ave. Thornhill “ - A chance encounter with a ‘ Delightful Turkish ‘ Hidden Gem.

Due to the close proximity of ‘ Phoenix Restaurant ‘ to my car’s oil-change mechanic shop in Thornhill. My original intention was to have a casual Hong Kong Cafe style lunch there whilst waiting for the maintenance job completion.

Lo and behold, when we got to the restaurant, we were stunned to find it had transformed into an enormous, bright and airy Turkish restaurant! The impressive, modern, spacious and grandiose setting forming the backdrop to some intriguing and wonderfully cooked and presented Turkish fare. Our party shared the following:

Icli Kofte ( Ground Beef, Bulgur, Onion, Walnut and Spices ) Efendi Salad ( Lettuce, Tomatoes, Cucumber, Bell Pepper, Red Cabbage, Onion, Pomegranate Sauce and EVOO ) Meat Shish Kebab of Lamb and Veal ( 2 skewers ), Rice, Onion, Parsley, BBQ Pepper and Tomatoes Ali Nazik ( Meat shish over bed of Eggplant, Yogurt and Garlic mixture topped with melted butter, BBQ Pepper and Tomatoes )

Overall, my impression was a very positive one. Ingredients for the salad were crisp and fresh, the Pomegranate sauce and EVOO dressing was pleasing and delicious. The fair size meat shish kebab chunks were nicely seasoned and executed. The texture, surprisingly tender ( may be subjected to a bit of sous-vide treatment? ). My favorite goes to the delightful Icli Kofte ‘ bonne bouche’.... the crispy, crunchy and greaseless shell combined with the well seasoned and exotic meat and Walnut filling to create a great tasty and textural mouthfeel. My son capped off the meal with a super strong, potent and aromatic Turkish Coffee…..guess he will be staying up late tonight?! Ha!

BTW, for the second dining-out meal in a row, we were being looked after by an extremely friendly and helpful server. Nice complement to a...

My husband picked this spot to celebrate our wedding with the family and honestly it was a great idea!! From the moment you walk in you notice the clean, modern, well designed atmosphere and the aromas of the food are amazing! The food was better then the smells that filled the restaurant. We ordered the dinner for 4, along with some other dishes and honestly no one at our table could stop eating. The lamb chops were done perfectly leaving everyone's mouth watering, salad was fresh, crisp and full of flavor and the kebab was tasty. The pitas served for the table were warm, toasted and just the right portion and perfect to dip into the lentil soup. My absolute favorite was the salad and the lamb chops along with the crispy fried cheese dessert. Even the ice cream served with the baklava was unique in texture and taste. The service was good as our waiter did a great job, taking our orders, following most instructions, and ensuring the table was clean after the meal before serving the dessert. My only complaint (and the reason for giving it 4/5 stars) would be we asked to make sure none of the food on the table would have bell peppers/sweet peppers in it as I am highly allergic and somehow the kitchen managed to miss that so couple of the dishes I was not able to eat. thankfully, my sister-in-law and husband were able to identify those dishes before me getting to them. I would definitely recommend the staff pay more attention to food allergies as that could lead to problems if someone accidentally ate something they weren’t supposed to and asked not to have. I love the glasses the water was served in along with the tea cups, very traditionally Turkish. It is on the pricier side, but I would recommend to try it at least once in your life, if celebrating a...

Let me start by saying I am changing my initial review. I have been to this restaurant several times over 15 times both of the locations. Initially, I love the place that is why I kept returning but the last couple of times it has been horrible and I have been so disappointed. The last time before this time, when I went, I went for a birthday. There was a group of about 10 of us. The service was horrible. The food tasted extremely salty. I was so disappointed when we ordered dessert they forgot about us, and they never attended to us until we had to ask them what happened And it took them 25 minutes to bring it to the table. No, that was that and I thought it was a one off and I would give them a chance again I made a reservation for last night when I went, they changed my table to a small table for two people. The table could barely fit the platter. when we go, we usually order a platter a couple of extra dishes and 2 Pide no way would that have fit on that table and we would have not been able to eat. When we go, we spend over $200 for just two people. when we told the server, Who was full of attitude that we don’t want this table we want our initial table that we reserved. He told us basically too bad and we said we would leave and he said OK bye he did not even try to rectify the situation at all, which is a huge disappointment. I actually like the chef he is a very friendly person very personable. I’ve had conversations with him, so I am extremely disappointed that this is how his staff treats his longtime customers, and I expected more of this place. They gave our table that I had reserved to someone else and I know this because on my OpenTable reservation application, it says that we dined in and asked if we...