Efes I in City of London, Westminster

After work I went with my colleagues, the service was excellent, everything was delicious 👍

Been taken to lunch here twice over last few weeks, staff very kind and provide recommendations, food very quick and high quality. I would like more meat on the plate but cant fault the quality of the food. Lunch menu 12 to 2pm is good value.

I got two chicken doner wraps as takeaway, and I’m very disappointed. The wraps were burnt, extremely salty, and you could barely taste the chicken. On top of that, the portion of meat was far too small for the £10.50 price tag. Definitely not worth it—won’t be buying again

The food was quite fine, however, the service and welcoming are definitely below expectations. There are a bunch of options around the area, especially for Turkish cuisine. I would not consider coming back to this joint.

Awesome food. I had chicken soup followed by lamb shish kebab and everything was cooked to perfection. It all arrived quickly too. This is my go to place on this side of town

Really nice food, authentic, flavoursome and tasty. They have two floors, slightly misleading looking from the outside that they have such large seating area in the basement. Can get quite busy as it seems quite popular. Service seems quick and helpful, however they charge a service charge on top, which they kindly took off upon request. Ambience is nice with a fancy feel, however the portion size seems a tad bit smaller for the price you pay, which I guess is a bit commonplace for the nicer restaurant, always leave you wanting more!! Overall a nice experience, worth coming back. The location is on a very busy high street junction so parking might be next to impossible to find, better use public transport.

What an amazing evening dining at Efes. We were blown away by the friendly staff and amazing tastes. Would highly recommend this restaurant to anyone who enjoys authentic Turkish cuisine.

Atmosphere has improved as has the food. Was very busy but service did not suffer, something for everyone and lunch menu is very good.

I was disappointed with this restaurant overall. The food lacked flavor and authenticity, with the exception of the lahmacun, which was the only highlight of the meal. The rest of the dishes fell short of expectations, and I wouldn’t recommend it if you’re looking for a truly delicious Turkish dining experience.

This Turkish restaurant in Whitechapel is, in my opinion, the best restaurant in this area. The food is delicious and the service is very fast. It is on the main street and very easy to reach the metro.

The food was quite nice, authentic, and flavorful, but the staff left much to be desired in terms of friendliness and service. On top of that, the prices were a bit on the higher side, which didn’t feel entirely justified given the overall experience. While the food might tempt me back, the service makes me hesitant to return anytime soon.

Must say the lahmacun ( Turkish pizza) was cooked to perfection. Pleasantly surprised by the quality of food and great service with authentic Turkish music in the background playing reminded me of the old days I am definitely going back to this place

We had dinner here last night, and it was an outstanding experience! The service was truly exceptional – the staff were incredibly friendly, attentive, and welcoming, making us feel right at home. The food was phenomenal; we ordered the mixed kebab, which was perfectly cooked, tender, and full of flavor. The fresh salad and flavorful sauces complemented the dish beautifully. For dessert, the baklava paired with Turkish coffee or Turkish tea was an absolute must-try – a delightful way to end a fantastic evening. Efes is a gem, and we highly recommend it for an unforgettable dining experience!

Friendly service, you immediately get a small starter on the house with dipping sauces and bread. The main course came very quickly, it was incredibly tasty and the portions were large. The atmosphere is very familiar and cozy, as if you were at home with a Turkish family. Would recommend it to anyone.

Delicious food after a late arrival at the hotel down the street. Shared dining of various tasty dishes😋😋😋

Always loved to order from here and eat in on special occasions this was our go to place to eat ,last few times I have ordered on Uber I have been really let down to the point I just won’t order from them anymore and order from the furthest restaurant instead ,last night ordered from them and they forgot the drinks which bare in mind they charge £3 per can on Uber so it does add up ,we had moved into new property so ordered drinks so wouldn’t have to go outside to the shop which we ended up having to do anyway ,I called and spoke to staff member who ensured me the manager would refund me even though I was unsure how as I had ordered on Uber but just expected he would call them but he did not and Uber charged me ,staff member also told me that the staff “lie” about forgetting things so they checked the cameras to be sure and they promised a refund and I didn’t get it ,the time before when I ordered from them they had forgot the extra portion of rice and fries ,that was big order at the time so I let it go but now it seems a regular occurrence,such a shame as the food is incredible!

Excellent restaurant. And the service is wonderful. Especially. Shawarma

Food was good. However the atmosphere wasnt as per the price they are charging.

Wonderful service and delicious food

The best marinated lamb Doner kebab I've tried in London.

Five years ago, I went there and had the most amazing Adana Kebab that was above and beyond any other kebab that I have tried, before and since. But, being in town, today I went again and I'we had a most amazing Ali Nazik. The food here is just amazing.

A fabulous restaurant near Aldgate East tube in the heart of East London serving excellent Turkish cuisine, great service & ambience. Well worth a visit.

Very good quality dishes, super fast service and normal prices.

Just had a lunch there. Compare to all London Turkish restaurants, they sell very very bad, worst quality meat. Never again !

Far better Turkish restaurants around. Efes used to be good years ago. Now it is bang on average but the prices are on par with some of the better Turkish restaurants in London. Overall: avoid.

Very rude customer service. Rip off food price and 12.5 service charge without any service. How do they still exist? I think it’s because of the location and new customer footfall. No one would visit second time.

Some of the best Turkish food I’ve had outside of turkey, absolutely delightful. The staff recommended dishes and helped us pick an appropriate amount of food for our party. We got the Adana kebab and the Iskander with a Hummus appetizer for two people. Really really tasty and reasonably priced! Highly recommend!

Awful service. Over priced. Very unfriendly staff.

Customer service was very poor and waiters were very mean. They customer heads and push them more foods. They are really mean.

Ordered a Doner wrap , and I was served with a flat bread and sauces ath the beginning.. While I was eating the bread a lady waitress came to me and snatched the bread from me ! Even without asking she took away the bread and the basket which left me in awe ! And she asked if itwas okay to take the bread as it was not included with my order and they don’t serve when we order a wrap 🤣👍.. Got out of my seat and cancelled the order which they were not really happy about but hey you didn’t lose bread but a customer and I will most probably remember this for a while and this was my very first experience like this 💯

A true hidden gem! A great and authentic Turkish food here in London. The bread is AMAZING, truly I loved how soft and delicious it was with the perfect crunchy crust. I would recommend it to everyone who is looking for a good cozy food.

Meal with my partner, had starters, mains and drinks - all really nice 👌🏼

If you’re giving this place 5* you haven’t had good turkish food! The food here is so bad and so overrated over cooked and dry and no flavour. This is my second time trying this place and both times were bad. Overpriced local kebab shops taste better and cheaper.

Went here on a whim - was really impressed by the quality of the food (had ribs and iskender). Were seated in the downstairs basement area which was comfortable. Decent, unobtrusive service.

I was very underwhelmed by the food. The rice was luke warm, and the rest of the meal lacked flavour. The falafel was ok. The service was good and the atmosphere was good.

Very tasty, service top, ambience discreetly friendly and modern. Nothing to complain about.

The food was good and the staff was alright. Very overpriced but Much better than the other branch in Stepney.

This Turkish dish suits our taste

A nice Turkish place but can be very busy and food takes long to serve. Platters are quite pricy but food tastes good and worth the price.

The food is very good. The service was excellent 👍🏻 we spontaneously stopped by at night. Here we grill over charcoal.

Nice atmosphere. Food is okay nothing to brag about for the price it is at.

We dined in for 4 people and ordered doner, lahmacun, pide and wraps. The waiter wasn't aware what's included in the wraps and struggled to take orders. Everything has come separately to the table and doner wrap was cold. I didn't want spicy but I had a spiced doner and it is expensive for what you get as doner wrap. Also, the Doner plate was too fatty. They serve lahmacun in 5 seconds which means they only heat up lahmacun, not doing fresh. The bread was saggy and thick not a proper lahmacun. Pide was the only recommendation that I can do, although the meat was mixed with too much fat, can try cheese pide next time if I ever go. I don't recommend going there if you dont have any other options. Places in Dalston is much better.

I happened to pass the restaurant, got a table and have to say that the food was really tasty. The price-performance ratio was a bit more expensive than in Berlin, but that's the case everywhere in London. I can only recommend the kebab plate and chicken wings!

Be aware massive charge if you eat in! I got a wrap and a single lahmacun which supposed to be 15,5 according to their price list at display and their menu inside but charged 25£. Apparently they add 10£ if you eat in.

Turkish pizza for £5 is a great deal

This is a really interesting restaurant. It has been around for fifty years and you can see why. The food is simple but lovely. The staff are well trained and attentive, but not intrusive. The atmosphere was busy with people enjoying being out to eat.

Pretty good, large portions, and true to Turkish cuisine from what I have been exposed to.

Always crowded and noisy. Serving food takes a long time. Food is okay.

Excellent place to eat and super service..great food !!!thank you very much

Iskender, it can't be like this. Also, the sympathy of the people working in the kitchen blew me away.

Used to come here everyday before I moved out the area. Returning after three years I’ve had to change my five star review to a 2 star. Maybe they’ve changed owner? I used to get a beautiful falafel wrap in gorgeous fresh bread, delicious hummus and fresh salad, all for £5. Not only have they raised their prices by a lot but the quality of the food has diminished. For example, the fresh bread has been replaced by supermarket tortillas. Really disappointing and hope they can get back to the shining Whitechapel institution they once were.

The prices are very high, the taste is very bad, I told Adana it was terrible, there is nothing like hygiene. Something had dripped on the table. The best thing in the place was bottled Coke. I don't recommend it. Don't go and regret it.

One of the best in London, really enjoyed it specially its halal clean well made delicious food

Take out mixed kebab £11. Meat extremely well spiced but not a lot of it at all in my kebab which was extremely disappointing. I was considering inviting my friend to have a sit down meal in this place but the value for money of my take out has put me off. It's such a shame but overall the kebab was a let down

I had a previous good experience at another branch but this time in Whitechapel, it was the complete opposite. The waiter was visibly annoyed throughout simply because we asked for a couple of minutes to get our order ready. When we were ready, he avoided coming over for some time. We had barely finished eating before he was grabbing our plates. Lacked basic courtesy and politeness, let alone positive service. And no, it wasn't busy at all. Lots of empty tables so there was really no need to rush.

Food is so tasty. I tried Donar lamb, it's fantastic.

The best restaurant in Whitechapel, highly recommended

The Kunefe here is really good!

As a Turkish, i confirm that it is indeed a good Turkish food! Don’t hesitate to come in and have a wonderful food in a very chilling and welcoming environment. Many thanks for the warm welcome and great food!

Felt robbed in broad daylight at the extortionate prices and sky high service charge to rub it in even more. The food is bang average, the only actually nice thing was the bread, oh and speaking of bread it was £2.50 for BREAD!!?? It’s free in any respectable Turkish place like the ones in Haringey. Absolute joke of a restaurant, £60 down the drain for a disappointing meal for two, just got to Corbacisi in Haringey for real service and proper Turkish food.

Lovely meal, meat was nicely cooked, decent portion but not cheap. Would be nice if they cleared the table and I might have dessert. Great overall

I just bought ready-made falafel from them !!For 6 pound sold at Lidl for 1.40 pound Is there a respectable restaurant that serves customers ready-made frozen food that is not specialized Like something that is not called falafel from lidl?!!! Frozen fries too !! 3.50!! That’s cost me 10 pound for original price 2 pound!!! Why did I come to a restaurant then He doesn't know how to cook falafel In its original way ?!! Even the hummus was without olive oil and dry🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂 A restaurant you said? 😂😂 run away

I had a food poisoning from this restaurant (Efes) last Thursday 22nd August 2024. The salad was not fresh at all, the dipping sauce was very bad and runny. Roasted veg was rotten. At the end I have been enforced to pay extra charges for the service. It is not recommended at all

Good food and nice staff, open very late

My husband and I had dinner here on a visit to London and we felt so sick that night after eating here. Food tasted bland and unseasoned. Worst Turkish food I’ve ever had. Staff were also rude and unwelcoming. Will not be recommending this place.

Located at the top end of bricklane . Parking can be an issue .EFES has 2 floors . The lower floor is for larger groups. Bright vibrant atmosphere. Food was succulent and juicy.

A place that really deserves a stop both for lunch and dinner. Good quality of food, large portions, excellent bread and a very kind, polite and friendly staff. One of the best locations in terms of quality and price.

A busy place but food and service is good. We were served by Aniq - amazing guy with brilliant attitude.

The Food tasting was okay. The service was not good the staff was keeping looking at us ,stand on front us .it was uncomfortable at all, The price was very expensive compared with the food we got, and with other Turkish restaurants . I will never go back again .I don't recommend

I wound up at this restaurant at 11pm after a show, since it was one of the only places open. It was like floating into heaven - the food was hot and delicious, the service was lovely and courteous, and the vibe is immaculate. I wish I could give it ten stars. I'll definitely be back here when I visit London again.

Anik was wonderful as were the rest of the crew. We felt so welcome and loved coming in for great food and company! Definitely recommend!

Great customer service and the food was just it! Thanks Evie😊

It was my first time with my family and we all really enjoyed it. The food is very tasty and the service is good. I recommend it to everyone!!!

We ordered lamb döner and lahmacun. We really liked the lamb döner, we tried many other restaurants none of them were as tasty as this one( we are Turkish😊) However I did not like their lahmacun and lavas( it was not cooked in there)We will be coming back if we are around in Aldgate. Very good very nice👍👍👍😎

The food was amazing.. and there was a lot of it. The staff was friendly and gave you space.

Thanks for the delicious dinner! Everything was very well cooked! Thank you for the compliments from the restaurant - the refreshing cocktails and juices for the children! We recommend!

We took pide and mixed doner kebab. It was amazing and very tasty. Beautiful restaurant inside and great service 👍

Nice atmosphere and good prices. Tasty food!

100% highly recommend ! The best turkish restaurant i ever had.

The food is delicious and the service is excellent👍

The smallest most expensive Turkish food I’ve ever had. Don’t mind paying for food good food and a decent portion. Paid almost £27 for only one skewer chicken beity. Everywhere I else I had it got 2 skewers and was cheaper. A rip a shame cause the food is not bad. It’s Whitechapel not Primrose Hill boys get it right.

Two restaurants in the corners split by a road... one focusing in turkish pizza(pide) while other is all about kebabs... we had a nice lunch with lamb shank ... original way stew of a leg of lamb well cooked with patatoes and carotes making an amazing broth to wash down the falling apart meat. LAMB SHANK is Not allways easy to find and it should not contain tomato sauce like other interpretations. Sometimes is a better choise then grilled meats. Many thanks! Efes been Enfes! There are lots of indoor seating and few outdoor too.

This restaurant is the most perfect place in Whitechapel you can go to. The service, taste, presentation, every detail is perfect. I would also like to thank everyone for the convenience they provided us.

This restaurant nailed Turkish vibes. Everything was good. The Lamb döner meat is amazing. The Adana kebab has some room of improvement but is also very tasty. Hummus was authentic. The salad was fresh and very traditional. Great option if you want to try Turkish food.

Did takeout here. Staff is nice and informative of the menu. The food is overall good and plentiful portions. I felt the seasoning was a little short based on previous Turkish food I’ve had here and in Turkey. Overall, it’s worth a visit

Really delicious food, fair price, great service.

I visited for dinner around 7pm on a weekday and it was already quite crowded! We ordered the mixed grill platter, lahmacun and some falafel to share. Having recently visited Turkey, I was excited to try the food which seemed promising as the menu looked similar to those in the restaurants I visited in Turkey. The mixed grill had lamb, chicken, lamb kofte. I enjoyed the lamb the most and till today am still dreaming about the next time I’ll get to have it. The lahmacun was not as crispy as I had hoped, and the falafel was decent as best. Service was attentive and polite, and as customary in Turkey, they offered Turkish tea at the end of our meal on the house!

It was a great experience. The food is authentic and full of flavor, with fresh ingredients and well prepared. The atmosphere is cozy, the service is excellent and everything is very clean. The quality-price ratio is unsurpassed, offering an exceptional culinary experience. Highly recommended.

Delicious Turkish food here. A relief after the often somewhat "flat" English food. In addition to Turkish dishes, there is also plenty of Turkish drinks, including fresh Ayran, Salgam, Raki, tea and the beer of the same name. Portions are big! Staff are friendly and very attentive. "as it should be" the bread, salad and tea afterwards were on the house. And by London standards it wasn't even very expensive.

One of my all time favourite places to wine and dine. The staff is so attentive. They always make sure everything is right. I have been coming here for the past 6-7years? Haha I am sure they do not remember me, but every time I go in, it's a special occasion. The prices match the quality of the food as well as the service. The atmosphere is relaxed and pleasant, and the Turkish music compliments the whole experience. If you want to be sure you will be eating good, come here. Absolutely no regrets.

Very nice experience. It is a bit pricey but the food and the service made up for it! There is complementary bread and salad as well as tea afterwards. Thoroughly enjoyed

The restaurant is quite overcrowded, though the food and service is great.

Honestly best Turkish restaurant I have been to outside Turkey. Delicious 😋

Very delicious grills, especially the ribs and shawarma. The meat is legendary. The grape leaves were bad, and the rest of the food was all beautiful. The restaurant is approved in London and all of its food is halal.

Amazing food! Highly recommend. The food was so good that I forgot to take photos. Place was very clean and staff was very friendly.

The food was ok. It was too dry for me and rice portion I was surprised at not enough for one to enjoy. This restaurant was recommended to me so I gave it a try.

Amazing experience, as always.

This place is amazing. My partner and I loved it. Staff so lovely and kind make you feel so welcome. Food is sooooo good. Really enjoyed it. This is by far my favourite place to eat now when visiting London. Cannot recommend this place enough. Wonderful people wonderful service. Thankyou so much xxxxxxx

Highly recommended. Delicious food and exquisite treatment.

Food very average but not bad for 11.30pm. Don’t get the tabbouleh