Ephesus Restaurant — Restaurant in Leeds

Rodley has changed a bit since I first visited in the 1980s. Walking from the side street where we left the car, delicious cooking smells were coming from several directions. Ephesus occupies adjacent units on the high street. The original shop front suggests it might have started as a takeaway - maybe with a couple of tables and (the signage says) a bar. The addition of another unit has made it a sizeable operation, with some of the comfiest dining chairs I've experienced, modern decor, and a covered outside space for summer dining. The view offers a pleasing patchwork of Victorian and Edwardian architectural styles. The menu is relatively short, but long enough to provide a few minutes of deliberation, although vegetarian options are limited. I opted for a spicy sausage starter and lamb and aubergine main. Our party of 7 ordered about half the options between us. My sausage was spicy and delicious, served with a thick tomato sauce, the best yoghurt I ever tasted and a crisp lemon-dressed salad. The richness of the meat was offset by hints of acid in the sauce, yoghurt and salad, making the whole dish feel fresh and healthy but simultaneously indulgent. A gorgeous piece of fluffy flatbread allowed me to mop up the sauce. Other options were home-made stuffed vine leaves (beautiful, almost creamy in taste and texture) and filo pastry parcels with cheese or minced meat, all served with salad, sauces and yoghurt. The portions were ample, but not large enough to make it difficult to enjoy the mains. My main was a hearty stew of tasty cubes of tender lamb in a rich, oily sauce thickened by aubergine. Served with short grain rice (and bulgur wheat?), salad, more of that incredible yoghurt and a spicy salsa, it continued the theme of healthy indulgence. My mum's dish (a 'lamb saute') looked similar but tasted entirely different, lighter and flavoured with mint, it was equally well balanced and delicious. For the vegetarians it was a vegetable mixed grill with yoghurt and salsa or a delicious looking vegetable pizza with a generous scattering of fat olives. Our waiter was very Turkish, funny and attentive and added quite a lot to the experience, which can be summed up as 'hospitable' and I will certainly be eating here again. Prices for mains came in between £14 and £17.50, which is very reasonable for...

This has been on our list for a while! We visited tonight with parents and were given a lovely warm welcome. The service and atmosphere here are wonderful, definitely an authentic level of service that you don't often get with British establishments. We ordered from the two course menu, which with a massive variety of choices (including vegetarian options) gave us a lot to decide between. The two course menu is around £17 per person and you can choose to have a starter or a main course. We had a variety of dishes on our table, from chilli prawns to deep fried mozzarella and stone baked pizza to Turkish kebabs.

Everything is very fresh and well presented. The food is great quality.

I did find though, that for the price paid, the portions were small. This put it more in line with city centre dining.

All in all though the experience was great, and my highlights were the great service and atmosphere, along with the freshness and presentation of the food.

A great place to go if you've lots of tastes...

Would have been 5 stars if I had only been twice but my 3rd visit was disappointing. The atmosphere is nice and on 2 occasions the food was perfect. The food is reasonably priced and to be honest is too cheap during their offer of two courses for just under £14, they make the money on drinks which are over priced. On my last visit both mine and my partners medium steaks were over well done and mostly inedible. The restaurant was exceptionally busy with a function and I would have preferred them to say they were full rather than accommodate us and struggle to produce the quality food I know they can make. Everyone has a bad day so I'll return at some point and give them a second chance. Please note, don't be tempted to park over the Road in the Owl car park as they are putting clamps on cars and although illegal the police will not do...