Ely Turkish Restaurant — Restaurant in East Cambridgeshire

Great staff, they're very friendly, attentive , personable and kind, they honestly couldn't be better but the food isn't good enough to justify the prices. A portion of calamari was £5 (appx ) and consisted of just 3 rings of squid ( fried in a weird batter which was too thick) on a few tired looking rocket leaves. How were we supposed to share that? There were 2 of us dining and meze is made to be shared, no? The meze starter for £13 ( appx ) looked like a dish of dips and pickles that you'd get for free, offered to you when you buy pappadums in a curry house. The presentation left a lot to be desired. Poor value in general as even though the warm bread and the hummus was superb the rest wasn't up to much.

Then we shared a ¹Greek salad which was nothing like any Greek salad I've ever seen ( if you can't make it well please don't offer it on the menu! ) and ²vegetarian moussaka which appeared to be made of general veg leftovers with cheese on top with pickled peppers thrown in. Again, like no moussaka I'd ever seen or tasted before. Plus ³chips ( which were super hot and tasty ) With a large glass of house wine each the bill came to £60 for 2 people.

I'd go here for wine, chips and hummus with bread but nothing else.

*super staff and the *freebies of *coffee and *cake ( which looked very nice indeed and my fellow diner enjoyed greatly ) were very kind but don't make up for a generally unsatisfactory meal I'm afraid.

The decor is lacklustre and "meh". It's the same as when the place was an all-you-can-eat Chinese/Japanese/Thai mix-up offering. Clean but really non-specific and lacking interest or any personal touch. It needs livening up to suit the level of the staff, who really were faultlessly excellent. There's no feel of Turkey about it whatsoever apart from the amazing charcoal grill aroma on entry to the restaurant which leads you to expect great things, sadly unfulfilled.

The staff are the best thing about this place but the food is very important when you go out to eat. This is what happens when someone from a different culture opens restaurants serving cuisine they're not familiar with. The owner is the same guy who runs the curry place almost opposite on the same street. He previously used it as a Thai restaurant. Now he's trying Turkish. I know for a fact you guys can do better than this. Ps. The photo I've included is how a Greek salad should look, not the one that was...

Phoned ahead as my partner is a wheelchair user. Was informed by a member of staff that the restaurant was accessible and had an accessible toilet. Arrived on time for our table to be left outside in the cold for in excess of 5 minutes whilst they said they were getting the ramp but were serving other people. Eventually, we were invited inside and asked to wait while they found us a table. A few minutes later, was advised that they were waiting for a table near the door to become free as we would not fit down the aisle (small manual wheelchair). Waited a few more minutes and again enquired if they had a table for us. The Male member of staff pointed to a woman and said, "She's the manageress, ask her." I asked her and she said, "Three minutes." I enquired as to what would happen if my partner needed the toilet during our visit. This clearly hadn't occurred to them. I explained that I'd phoned ahead and asked all the necessary questions to ensure they could accommodate us. She said, "Did you speak to me?" I said that it was one of her employees. She replied, "Well, I will speak to them." I informed her that we couldn't eat there and she said, "Well, that's your choice." The staff did attempt to help us leave. Please be aware, on busy days, this restaurant is far from accessible. We had been looking forward to going there and were fortunate enough to find another restaurant close by. I should have been able to rely on the information given. Now, instead, my partner is apologising for my disappointment. He should not be the one apologising. Accessible means so much more than having a makeshift ramp and an...

We were served very small portions for the lunch menu. My wife had the mixed cold meze starter which was supposed to be for 2 but it hardly fed one person. The dips were served in small plastic dishes on a long plastic tray. This cost just under £15 for this. This only came with pitta bread and no cut vegetables to dip in the sauces. I ordered just a starter portion but even so, my 3 falafel balls were absolutely tiny and the hummus sauce served with this was a very small amount. It came with about enough salad leaves to fill an egg up. When I ordered I made a point to the waiter that I didn't want the couscous and he rolled his eyes sarcastically at me and said it doesn't have couscous. This older waiter was dressed very scruffy and smelled of body odour. My wife said her beer glass smelled bad and unclean. The restaurant smelt of cigarettes too. We used to go to this restaurant a lot when the previous owners were running it. Back then the portions were much bigger and the service was much better and we always got a free good size salad with our meal. Nobody asked us if our meal was ok. I recommend to the owners that they should dress smarter, serve bigger portions in the starters with a bigger free salad and ask your customers during their meal if everything is ok. Never ever serve meals in a restaurant on plastic crockery. This is not a cheap roadside truckers cafe, always serve food on ceramic crockery. Will not eat here again. Shame. Wish the previous owners...