Deema Turkish Cuisine — Restaurant in Fort Wayne

Another restaurant I'd rate a 4.5 stars if I could. This one is more a 4.6-4.7 than a 4.4 though so 5 stars I guess.

The dishes we had during our visit included:

Halloumi & Honey Deema Sausage Falafels Zaalouk Salad Beef Adana Kebab Beef Shavurma Rice Lamb Chops (no photo) Baklava & Pistachio Ice Cream Deema Pudding Turkish Coffee

HALLOUMI & HONEY: Honestly my favorite appetizer from this place and they are all great. If I can describe this dish in one word, it would be "warm". The cheese is grilled hot with a slightly chewy texture and a very light yet creamy flavor, with the honey perfectly accentuating the coziness. You get 4 slices of cheese per order.

DEEMA SAUSAGE: Very red, very pasty, and very powerful. These greatly reminded me of the blood sausages in Vietnam (see "Dồi"), though they are not the same thing. These are definitely not blood sausages, but they look and taste quite similar. Strong hints of paprika. You get 7 links per order (the picture shows 4, but some of them were already eaten).

FALAFELS: Good falafels, tasted exactly how I expected them to taste so there's not much to talk about. You get 6 falafels per order (the picture shows 5, one was eaten).

ZAALOUK SALAD: Honestly this tasted too much like homemade tomato sauce with eggplant bits for my liking. It's served with pita but the pita itself is whatever to me (I thought it was a bit dry and thin). In a vacuum, it's pretty much just enhanced tomato sauce.

LAMB CHOPS: The star of the show and probably the one thing you'd like to hear opinions about. In general, it is quite good, but there are a couple of things I really liked about them and a couple of things I disliked.

The crisp and smoky texture of the meat was phenomenal, whoever grilled this meat definitely knew what they were doing. The seasoning is also done otherworldly, producing some of the spiciest meat you'll ever taste without becoming overwhelming.

However, that was also one of my problems: The meat is too spicy (in the literal sense of the word) and not meaty enough. Once you get past the texture and the spiciness, you will notice that ultimately it is not a very good piece of lamb. There is very little lamb flavor and the fat lining the meat quickly dries up rather than melts in your mouth. The dish overall felt quite "steaky" rather than "lamby" to me.

You get 3 lamb chops per order, which itself makes it a good value compared to most places where you get only 2 pieces.

BEEF SHAVURMA RICE: In a vacuum, this dish is good but nothing too impressive. It is beef shavurma (also called shawerma, shawarma, etc.) with... well, rice, bell peppers and some other regular vegetables. "Shavurma Rice" is not actually the name of the dish but I forgot what it is called in the menu and could not look it up. Either way, it is a good comfort dish if you are not sure what to order, but there's not much to talk about.

BEEF ADANA KEBAB: This kebab is quite meaty but it also has the opposite problem of the lamb chops - It is too lean and not spicy enough. I felt a bit like chewing on regular ground beef. The tomato that comes with it is quite supple.

BAKLAVA & PISTACHIO ICE CREAM: The ice cream itself is no slouch, but the baklava that comes with it was what stole the show for me. It is super thick and cheesy without being overbearing, just an overall very satisfying chew and pleasurable taste.

Already reached the word limit so I won't comment on complimentary stuff, coffee, and pudding, but the olives are easily my favorite food in this place.

Overall, I'd highly recommend Deema Turkish Cuisine if you want Middle Eastern food in a place that is "rightfully deluxe" - one where the quality of food actually matches up with the fanciness of the restaurant. You can't go wrong with any dishes here and even though there are some things to nitpick, the culinary team did quite a good job from the meats to the...

Stopped in here with my mom while we were in the area and we were really pleased with the whole experience. The hostess/server was attentive and polite, the restaurant was clean and well kept with nice decor. The stylistic choices are really nice and gives the place a really good vibe.

The food is excellent with good portions, we both had some to take home for a later snack. They first bring out a bit of bread with some olives in seasoned oil and a finely minced pepper something that i don't know the name of but it was a really good addition to the bread.

Then we got the falafel which was excellent! Well seasoned and crunchy and pairs excellent with both the tahini sauce and the red dip, which is spicy but not too much. It really pairs well.

Mom got the beef Sac Kavurma with rice and on first bite, goes "Ohhh myyyy! If the rice tastes this good I need to try the rest!" Needless to say, she frequently commented about how good it was!

I got the Tantuni wrap plate and was equally as pleased. The melding of flavors was complex yet simple with the sumac bringing it's light acidity for a great balance. The additional flare with the sizzling pan drippings tableside was a nice touch, especially because I love pan drippings of all kinds so I actually clapped in excitement over that!

This is a great place to eat and it's really cool to see them making the food through the open kitchen as well. I'll not only recommend this place, but I will certainly go back next time I'm...

Not really sure where all the rave reviews are coming from, unless all of those people ate in the restaurant and received wildly different food and service than I did… Decided to try this place out, walked in and placed a to-go order based upon the good reviews alone. I was excited to try some new, diverse food. Placed the order-one app., one salad, and an entree. Left to run an errand and came back to pick it up. It took me 50 minutes to get my food. The restaurant only had two other parties in the whole place, a two-top and a four-top. The host kept apologizing about the wait, but never once offered anything other than that. Finally got my food and took it home…

Then I was pretty furious. See the photos below; falafel was $8.50 for a serving of five, which would’ve been fine if they were good. I can’t really remember the last time I had falafel that dry. Then the salad…$12.50 for the SMALLEST salad ever. My wife and I each got a couple bites each. No meat on it, nothing besides some feta and pomegranate seeds. I was irate. The sauce cups had next to nothing in them. Again, maybe the dine-in experience is different, but we were sorrowfully disappointed. The entree was pretty good, but didn’t warrant the $45 bill (with tip) that we paid. Needless to say, we likely won’t be back. I don’t see this place lasting long unless they make some major improvements and drop...