Akarsu Turkish Restaurant & Grill in County Durham

If you know anything about Turkish food you'll realise this is the worst you will ever get with no authenticity whatsoever; we visited with friends and the service was abysmal, the decription of the dishes (e.g. whatit contains) is different from what is served, the food is tasteless, the meat is chewey, the lamb is more fat than meat (low quality cheap cuts), humous prepared out of a cheap tin quality, hot starters are minute cold and burnt, service is awful with a bad attitude and without any alcohol, the cost is comes up to £50 per head...massive cost for low quality ful of fat dishes served with poor attitude...awful awful awful. Never again

Great food, great service, lunch deal is excellent value for money. Authentic Turkish food and drinks, and nice touches like a little dish of Turkish delight with the tea.

Akarsu Akarsu Aksarsu… boy do I love you. My go to for consistently fantastic food in beautiful Durham. Not much else to say really. I’d recommend the mixed platter for starter.

The staff were very warm and welcoming. The food was delicious and offered excellent value. I highly recommend the sharing board with a side of hummus. The venue was very clean and tidy, although it could be a little breezy if seated near the entrance.

We were booked to have a meal on the river walk but unfortunately they had to cancel due to water problems. We decided to see if anywhere else we're serving and we came across this little turkish gem. First time here and won't be last, food was delicious, meat was soft and very tasty, and service was spot on, friendly staff. Prices were reasonable too. Thanks for great first dining experience

I have been here several times. The food is great. I like the iskander tavuk the best. The yogurt is also very authentic. The service is great.

Great food and service. We were unfortunately seated right next to the door. The outcome was that we had constant cold air blowing on us when people entered.

Excellent Turkish restaurant in the heart of Durham. Very affordable prices for tasteful dishes. Side are a bit small for my taste but they are filling!

Excellent attentive service, very good quality food and decent value. Nice atmosphere and environment . Strongly recommend

Great meal for reasonable price. Very professional and friendly service. Chill atmosphere for couples or business lunch. We will definitely come back.

Not great. Wrong starter brought to table followed by no better than luke warm moussaka. Neither the Moussaka (which has been replaced with a hotter version) nor Arkasu speci kofta tasted of flavoursome lamb.

Wonderfully flavoursome courses with a pleasant ambience and good service. Wide vegetarian choices. I recommend highly.

What an experience, great food, great service and they’re not taking your eyes out price wise. I had the seafood platter and it was spectacular. Will def be here again.

Popped in on early on a Saturday evening...Seated no problem , it is on two levels...Both of us were very happy with our choices of main courses and my baklava dessert was nice too...Would definitely return when visiting Durham again.

Great food and service, will definitely be back when we visit Durham again

We have been here on a few occasions, and it never disappoints. The staff are friendly, the food is amazing and the atmosphere is just right.

Mixed grill is the business!!!!

This place is lovely and the food so flavourful! I will definitely come back. Lunch menu is great value.

Our favourite restaurant ever. Amazing food, service and ran by an amazing family.

Delicious food with nice service by Ali

Great spot and excellent grub. Cracking selection of meat and meat-free options. Staff are attentive. Recommended.

Wonderful meal - very tender and well marinated meat. Staff were very relaxed and great fun singing happy birthday with authentic / live music.

Lovely fresh food, wonderful service and friendly staff. We loved the story about the seal 😉 would come back to durham for this meal!

Came here for the lunch menu on a Saturday which was a good deal with the starter main and drink for £18 each. Food is tasty and fresh and service was friendly, wasn’t too busy and had a good atmosphere. We even got a free pin for our jackets with the evil eye logo as a little souvenir at the end. Many thanks! 🧿

Fantastic food, especially the baklava, great service and lovely atmosphere

I went here for new years with my boyfriend and I cannot stop thinking about it. My baba is from Turkey so I spent a lot of time there eating my Hala's pilav, I have never in my entire time in England found a restaurant that does pilav as good as hers. Other so called Turkish restaurants don't use authentic recipes .. I am still craving this pilav... it was so incredible everybody in England must go. Çok çok çok teşekkur ederim 😍😍😍

Had the lunch deal of starter, main and drink. The best meal I've had in a long time, and excellent value for money! The flavours were amazing and portions generous. Will definitely be back.

Amazing Middle Eastern food at great prices. We went for the lunch menu, which was very reasonable. A lovely restaurant in a prime Durham location. Cheers!

Some of the best food we've ver eaten. Service by Ahmed was excellent. Seafood dish was simply amazing. All food was excellent. Appropriately priced. Great experience.

Been many times and the food is always delicious. Restaurant is nice and clean. Lovely Service.

Ahmed was the BEST!!! Lovey food and excellent service!

10/10 service from ahmed and rasin blue eyes considering we had a big group they were very friendly and welcoming love them

Always excellent food, highly recommended

The food there is awesome, it doesn’t have weird taste for the meats and the atmosphere here is very chill, the portions is also quite large. Overall, is a very nice restaurant

Arrived here during a short visit to Durham by chance after our intended place to eat was closed. Everything we had was really lovely. We arrived at 4:30 on a Friday and the place was almost empty but by the time we were leaving at 5:45 there was no space left upstairs and the large group had gone downstairs so I guess this place is deservedly popular!

The food was delicious, and the staff are kind

Good service of staffs. They have the best Pirzola in Durham

The best turkish restaurant not only in Durham, but also one of the best i have tried in the UK. Seafood guvec is the dish that i order everytime, served with a rice. Highly recommend for you to try. Full of different seafood and the sauce is just second to none. Never had something similar in other places.

Good food and great service. I nice and easy place to eat Turkish

The best authentic Turkish specialty the lamb.

Amazing food and great atmosphere. Love the decor inside, looks stunning and the artwork downstairs is really beautiful too! Food tastes incredible every time and the staff are great. Would highly recommend if you want authentic Turkish food. Adana kebab and biscoff cheesecake are my go to.

Lovely ambiance and excellent service. The food was absolutely delicious. Would highly recommend this restaurant to others. Great example of Turkish food.

What a find from trip advisor. Entered to a busy restaurant but were found a lovely seat overlooking the river. Did take a while for staff to come take our drinks order. Food was amazing. Don’t bother with starters but two main and fries which was more than enough food. The meat was cooked perfect and was tasty. Loved the dips and the fries were crispy. Will definitely return

Great service, huge portions! View of the river, easy access from city centre. Friendly staff - super super huge portions!

Today we have been served by Ahmed. The customer service was excellent. He is very friendly, polite and always and happy to help. The food is excellent and very good quality. Highly recommend. Thank you to all staff for the hard work 😁

Lovely food and staff, we love it and always come back !!

Amazing experience at this restaurant today! I came with my family and Julie was absolutely fantastic. She was amazing with my baby niece and couldn’t be more helpful. She really made the experience special!! Thank you so much Julie. Food and atmosphere was amazing and couldn’t fault service or price!

I'm really impressed with this place, I have to be so careful with my milk allergy and our server was spot on and even came back to the table to tell me certain things had milk in (I did check the allergens menu first) and offered me substitutions. The food was lovely and great value as well, will definitely be back!

Coffee is absolutely horrendous!

We visited this wonderful restaurant yesterday for the first time...wow! The best Turkish food out of Turkey 🇹🇷 It was so authentic! The portions were extremely generous and the food was sooo tasty. I would highly recommend a visit. All staff were very friendly and helpful too. Cok cok lezzetli!!! Tesserkurler for a super meal!

Wonderful; great service food was terrific

A really nicely set up restaurant that had an authentic Turkish feel and nice lighting as well as a very unique stairwell down to a second seating area. The service was great and the menu was extensive enough to suit most tastes. We opted to have a Tapas style dish of prawns along with the house mixed grill. Along with a drink each it came to just over 40 pounds. The lamb chop was extremely tender and flavourful as was the mixed meat skewer and the kofta style lamb kebab. Altogether a very tasty and satisfying meal for 2. Top service also.

Had an excellent dinning experience food was great quality and tasty, the service was great.

The food is fantastic here, one of the best Turkish meals I've had outside Turkey

Delicious n authentic Turkish food. Priced reasonably. Good vegetarian options. Generous portions.

Had a lovely experience trying authentic Turkish food. The Turkish coffee certainly kept me awake, but was well worth it! Loved the Turkish delight on the side too - finished it off perfectly. The service was very good. I can see why people recommend this restaurant.

Great place for a meal and excellent welcome.good service by friendly staff.🤓👌

The food was great and the service for quick.

Great food (I had guvec). Not expensive.

Terrific meat sharing platter. The service was good. The atmosphere downstairs was not as good as it looked upstairs. We would definitely be back.

After lots of good reviews we thought we would try. Bad choice. Cold food and no apology. Very busy restaurant but without any sole. Other Turkish restaurants in Durham are far better. I think the venue attracts people because of the sunny and busy street. A disappointment as I had heard lots of good reports. 👎👎👎

We have eaten here multiple times as the lunch time deal of 2 starters, a main and soft drink is fantastic, and also available on a weekend. All of the food is fresh and tasty and the restaurant feels authentic. The Turkish apple tea is amazing!

Food was ok, the falafel could have had more flavour and after the meal I had a salty taste in my mouth that I couldn’t get rid of.

Very good meal - huge portions so be aware!!

We had dinner at Akarsu. The staff were very friendly, helpful and efficient. We had chicken and lamb kebabs which were beautifully presented, absolutely delicious and served with rice, dips and salad. The portions were huge. We really enjoyed our meal and would love to return.

Lovely food, a great selection for gluten free and coeliacs. Waiting staff very pleasant and knowledgeable. Would definitely return with family.

They are kind and polite 😊their food is so delicious and with fresh ingredients 👍

Had a lovely lunch here this week. Weather was on our side so we managed to sit outside. Service was good. The real stand out was the food though. We ordered from the lunch special menu where you got two starters and a main for 13.95 (I think! It was good value anyway!!). That meant we could get all the starters between us which came with bread. Then we had a grilled chicken kebab dish that came with two dips, salad and rice. The quality was excellent and portions were spot on. A really great spot for lunch, totally recommend!

Food was well presented and delicious. Excellent quality. Time between starters and mains was very long as was the wait to pay. Appeared to be understaffed. Couldn't fault the food though.

Delicious food in an atmospheric setting. My sister and I went there at lunch time and could enjoy looking out at the river and one of the Durham bridges while surrounded by lovely Turkish lamps and sitting on very comfy chairs. We had Cacik and Hummus to start which were both delicious served with delicious warm bread. Then I had a vegetarian Guvec casserole which was a juicy mix of fresh aubergine, tomatoes and peppers served with really tasty rice. To drink I had Ayran, served cold in a copper tankard. Our waitresses India and Elise were very helpful and attentive.

Amazing experience food was full of flavour and the quality of the meat so tender. Service was outstanding

My favourite restaurant in Durham! We had a mix of small plates which were all absolutely delicious and finished off with a baklava. The food was delicious and the staff were helpful and efficient.

Well cooked traditional Turkish dishes in a great location with attentive staff and easily on a par with its Tyneside rivals. The best chilli sauce this side of Calis Beach hands down.

Good experience, great food, excellent service. Great view over the river. I can recommend it!

After reading the glowing reviews, me and my sister decided to give this restaurant a try. First off I’d like to say the food is beautiful. 10/10. I’ve tried a lot of Turkish restaurants and this was by far the best food. What let it down was the service. Upon arriving it took a bit for us to be acknowledged before being shown to our table. It wasn’t busy as it was only 4pm. Not a single smile from any of the staff too. It felt awkward and frosty. The staff looked miserable. Once we’d chosen food and drinks and made it obvious we were ready to order, no one came over. One of the men working there didn’t even look at us despite putting cutlery on the tables next to us. We actually had to say something to get his attention to order. When ordering we asked him a few questions about the food and his replies were unenthusiastic and as if he’d rather be anywhere else. We had to ask twice for water too as we hadn’t received it. Once we finished, we fancied ordering dessert or a coffee, once again, no one came over. We observed service on the other tables and genuinely felt like it was just us being ignored. We waited over half an hour to see if anyone would come and even clean our plates away but this didn’t happen so we got up, paid at the front and just left. We did let an older lady know we were upset with the service and the first thing she said was ‘well it wasn’t me serving’ and took a bit to actually get an apology. All in all because of this experience, despite the food being lovely, we wouldn’t come back and I wouldn’t be recommending it.

Delicious food and good service. Also outside area is pleasant for dinner.

Best restaurant in durham. Friendly staff

Found some sort of bug in wine food was like rubber won't be going back found staff argent when I complained about whine

One of the best restaurant in Durham, Turkish food, drinks all of them. We were there for a birthday party, it was really funnn, everyone should go.

Everyone should go, best food in durham, friendly waiters and fun atmosphere

The food was half cooked and not very tasty,we had ordered some kebabs but there wasn’t enough bread.One of their staff was very unfriendly and rude to us,plate's and forks wasn’t very clean.

Food was awesome! We liked it so much we ate here 2 nights in a row. Sizeable portions and prompt friendly service. Great location overlooking the river too. Loved it and busy for midweek, which is always a good sign

Good quality Turkish food in slightly jaded riverside restaurant. Service was prompt and polite. The wife went for the sea bass which was perfectly cooked. I went for the lamb beyti sarma which came in a generous portion and was very tasty although I would have preferred the tomato sauce to be a little thicker. Would definitely go back

The food here is delicious, the service is really nice and the restaurant is nice in a great location. We ordered 2 cold platters, rice, falafel, spicy potato cubes and soup of the day (which was lentil).

Food was unreal and Bethany gave exceptional service, 10/10

Always fantastic and value for money x

Wow! What a brilliant Turkish restaurant! The setting is lovely, being right next to the river. The staff were very friendly and gave good service. There was a great atmosphere in the restaurant and most importantly the food was fantastic! The prices were very reasonable as well. One of the best restaurants I have eaten in for a very long time. Will definitely visit again if we return to Durham.

Lovely traditional Turkish food, friend staff and good atmosphere.

Very friendly and constructive service

we loved it: the service was impeccable, the dishes were copious and tasty. Reasonable prices due to the quality. In short, we had a great time and we recommend this place. We chose a very nicely presented dish but impossible to remember the name (the last one in the dishes: Lamb bethi Sarma after checking). The price of the drinks is very reasonable and the non-alcoholic cocktails are not super sweet as is often the case.

Only been here once but it was very good. Food slightly bland but I'm Indian so I thats probably my own bias. I think I got a mixed grill here and it was quite lovely. If you want nice turkish/middle eastern food its either these folks or leben-eats. Both are nice places. Ambience and Wait-staff also did a very good job.

Good food, good experience. Great view of the river.

My husband and I turned up -Without booking. They were very apologetic that they couldn't fit us in at that moment, but asked us to go back in 45 mins.. We chose to sit outside in the evening sun with a glass of wine whilst we waited.. 15 mins later a table became vacant. From beginning to end we had the most enjoyable evening. We were made to feel welcome, the atmosphere went with the food. Top class. So so tasty..and fresh And, having had starters, mains and a couple glasses of wine.The bill was very very reasonable. A lovely end to our weekend away in Durham.

Really good quality meals and the staff were very efficient and friendly. Recommended.

I recently dined at Akarsu with family, I’m writing to offer some detailed feedback based on my experience. During my visit, I ordered the falafel and spicy potato as hot mezze, both of which regrettably fell short of my expectations in terms of flavor and quality. Furthermore, as this was our first time there we asked the waiter what is the top selling item at Akarsu, upon his recommendation, we went with ordering the mega meat feast. However, there was a significant miscommunication regarding the pricing structure. The waiter conveyed that the mega feast would be adequate for two to three persons, without clarifying that the listed price of £26.5 was per person, not for the entire plate. This led to confusion and disappointment when the bill arrived, as the total cost was much higher than anticipated. Moreover, when I sought an explanation for the discrepancy in pricing, the response from the staff that this menu been there for six years and no one ever had the same issue. I get it, I admit my fault, I should haven’t relied on what was communicated by the waiter blindly, without reading again on how the item is priced on the menu. Written in bold (Minimum for two Persons). Anyway, the mega feast has very good quality of meat, chips and rice, while the chicken was over cooked and less then average. Thank you for considering my feedback, and I hope you get it as a constructive review, as it’s been genuinely written.

Nice location overlooking the river, good food, good service, not noisy for a Saturday evening, all at a reasonable price. Also liked the Akarsu beer

Beautiful food , great service will 100% return and try different things 👍🏻

Another 1st visit and very nice indeed. It was a Saturday afternoon, so not too busy and we had a great seat looking over the river. Food is so tasty and very filling.

Wow ... just wow 😯 We are from Berlin / Germany and are on a trip in England. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 We visited the restaurant for the first time and we have never had better and more authentic Turkish food. Everything tasted fantastic and was super fresh. I would particularly like to highlight the cacik, the fresh Turkish bread and the pilaf (turkish rice). Thank you for a wonderful evening with great service ⭐️

Wow amazing food. loved the Seafood guvec, so much fish beautifully cooked