Enginar Turkish Restaurant — Restaurant in London

I came across this restaurant in the evening time when looking for food local to Canada Water. This was one of the view halal places and I assumed you can’t go wrong with Turkish Food. The food was absolutely disappointing, and I mean that from the bottom of my heart. I have never been so disappointed at the poor sight of our food that was served to us. They gave us tiny amounts of bread and hummus for starters , and the only nice thing was to the hummus with chilli powder to be honest which was edible. I wasn’t a fan of the yoghurt sauce meze starter with chilli. The sheesh kebab was overdone, and they gave us tasteless rice in a tiny bowl which was a measly portion and did not taste great. They gave us sauces from bottles - siracha and garlic mayo. They served two of the guests can’s of coke with the starters but forgot our waters , the restaurant wasn’t even that busy. The manager of the restaurant tried his best to accommodate us, but it was a very slow service. I ordered a platter for two which was £35, all I got was a piece of bread and a handful of kebab meat on the plate - where is the amazing platter that I usually get at Turkish restaurants? They also didn’t have chips on the menu which was limited , I found that very confusing. I had really high hopes for this places and feel like it needs to make a complete change. They offer free baclava if you do a google review - I’m assuming why they have so many high rated ones which was deceiving as this is the worst Turkish place I’ve been to. I do not want to put down a business but I feel like this is real criticism to improve the food, service and completely overturn it so you have people coming in. It’s such a shame that we didn’t enjoy it but regardless I believe if they make the changes people will be coming in. The manager did offer us Turkish tea on the house kindly however we declined as we were in a rush to go back home to...

Booked this place for a Christmas dinner for a large group on the strength of its very high rating on google (4.9 from nearly 1000 reviews) which made us think that it would be one of the best Turkish restaurants in London. However, after visiting I would question the validity of a lot of these reviews (especially as they had a sign up on the tables that said they offer free desserts for reviews on google).

The food was average at best, we could see into the open kitchen and noticed them using Tesco naan bread (?) and pita bread that they were heating up in the oven and serving with the dips and main courses. This made us question what other pre-bought foods they could be using. If you’re running a restaurant on the strength of its culinary excellence then you can’t use Tesco bread in your kitchen!

For the mains, the grilled meats were ok but really nothing special, and there was an absence of sauce (yogurt or chilli) which we assumed was a staple in Turkish restaurants? The salad was also very underwhelming.

The service was a little bit chaotic, with the female server seemingly over complicating simple requests like getting tap water for the table. Additionally, the owner seemed preoccupied taking pictures of the guests in the restaurant (presumably to upload to social media) which I thought was bizarre, and not something that I’ve experienced before in ‘5 star’ establishments.

We would not return here, and I would question any unusually high star ratings on google for places that I book...

We are completely astonished by just how great this little place is right on our doorstep. This is what authentic Turkish cooking is and it’s super important to note that this is not just another kebab house. They are clearly focusing on traditional Turkish home cooking and executing it amazingly.

They dishes they have chosen to compile for their modest size menu showcases a great array of the Turkish cuisine.

All ingredients are clearly fresh and incredibly well cooked. The seasonings were SO on point. The lamb in the stew we ordered was hands down the tenderest and most flavourful thing I’ve ever tasted and the vine leaf dolmas had a brilliant texture as well as flavour. The lamb kebab tender and rich with some beautiful grilled peppers. The only thing that could make it better is some sauces and pickles but really is pretty near perfect as it is.

The service was impeccable, our waitress was kind, prompt and checked in on us throughout our meal without being obtrusive at all.

We finished our meal and walking home we decided it that we must protect this place at all costs and promote it where we can.

To the owner: Thanks soooo much for pulling this all together and providing such lovely food with great staff in such a nice surroundings.

We will be back soon and hope to enjoy this place for...