Gem Turkish and Kurdish Restaurant in Islington

I’m too hungry to write well. But this is only the second time EVER that I have been to a restaurant that served our table NO FOOD. We arrived before 6pm and were shown to the basement - often not a good sign. We placed our order just after 6 and had to leave to get to the match by 7.20. There was no food by then. The poor waitress kept saying “five minutes” but was clearly getting nowhere. Of course it was down to really terrible management. And aggressive with it. Apparently we should have understood that it was a bit of a lottery whether any food would be served: the manager pointed proudly to two other tables where people had had to leave without getting any food at all. Clearly Gem was trying to profiteer off hungry fans and accepted every booking, even when the management must have known they were completely unable to serve everyone. I suppose it was a risk worth taking for the restaurant - just not for the customers. Gem by name but not by performance or attitude. Will buy some halloumi on the way home…

A great find. Turkish cuisine just along from Union Chapel; our venue for the evening. Absolutely ideal for a pre-show meal, except it was much, much better than expected and it was a shame not to have spent more time there, savouring the delicious food. We had a set 3 course option with the selection of the main course, accompanied with a beer each. It was excellent. Attentive, friendly but professional staff. Prompt service. Good atmosphere. Great food. Reasonable value. Would definitely go again.

Another fantastic time at Gem , food fabulous and plenty, we all had a lovely time celebrating our friends 60th birthday Thanks to Andrew and all his staff

We came for bottomless brunch and the food was incredible- out of this world. The cocktails were so good and strong! Definite value for money. Just wish we lived closer. 💯 recommend ! Service - Andrew was so attentive. Best place ever!!

Had the late night brunch here. Could not fault it, the team were so friendly. The price was very reasonable. Everybody's been so welcome and accommodating. The food is absolutely delicious - if you like your greek food, then you're in for a treat. Ευχαριστώ πολύ.

we have chosen this restaurant from Tripadvisor and went for dinner. It’s a small, cozy restaurant. Everybody was very kind with us and the food was good. The menu is between of Greek and Turkish culture. Everything was great. The only regret is the music a little too loud

Lovely setting. Great food and amazing service. The hospitality was just superb!!! Ideal for a couples meal but equally fantastic for larger groups. Cocktails are strong, not watered down like some places, I highly recommended the woo woo!!

1000000000% Recommend their evening brunch!! such an amazing place to spend evening with friends. The food is unbelievable so much choice that comes with the brunch. Defo get the creamy chicken with mushrooms as a main with rice, it was unbelievable.. the starters both hot/cold were so good. Staff are wonderful so friendly and kept bringing us prosecco bottles!!! I really would pay much more for this, its so worth it honestly!!!! MUST MUST MUST VISIT! We will be going there again 100000%

First visit having read good reviews. We ate early, at 5:00pm, so restaurant was quiet. When we left at about 6:30pm it was pretty packed, a good sign! The patron, I guess it was, was polite, friendly and helpful as regards menu choices. We both had a set menu of cold then hot meze and a dessert. Food was delicious and there was plenty to eat. Glad we hadn't ordered a main course as well! Would certainly visit again. Recommended.

I’m really fond of Gem which is the restaurant closest to our house. We have been coming here for 20 years. We actually ate here on the evening we moved into our house. The food is reliable, generous and great value. On this visit we shared the mixed chicken kebab, borek and halloumi. The owner is lovely and friendly and the staff are all really jolly. Great place to have on our doorstep.

My boyfriend and I had a great dinner at Gem. The lamb sarma beyti and lamb chops were delicious and excellent quality. The taramasalata was lacking in flavour but hummus and bread both also amazing. Service was good, prices about average and pretty decor. Probably not quite in my top Turkish restaurants in London but it’s a great one, you won’t be disappointed.

Visited on a friends recommendation and was very impressed. The food and service was excellent. Went with the set menu to try as many different dishes and the waiter explained them all to us. There was loads too, was stuffed by the end of the night! Finished with some cocktails which were just as good. Highly recommended

This is the best restaurant on Upper Street Amazing value for money Andy the owner is a legend and the staff are brilliant

This truly is a little 'gem' and as soon as you set eyes on it, you will just want to enter. It just has that vibe about it. The staff were fantastic throughout - polite, attentive, efficient. They clearly had a great rapport with some regulars, but were equally welcoming towards a stranger like myself. The menu was excellent, I've eaten in many Greek /Turkish establishments but a few different dishes on offer here, always nice to see. Starter was smoked aubergine served with warm, fresh Turkish bread. Aubergine was perfectly seasoned and bread was plentiful. Main was a mix of chicken kebabs, all excellent in their own right, full of flavour and cooked to perfection. An excellent experience all round and I hope to be back some day..

Great to see a menu card with lots of gluten-free dishes highlighted. Makes my wife's life much easier. The service and food were very good on an early Saturday evening before a gig at the Union Chapel.

I normally love this place but last night diasspointed !! was busy maybe why . So, my meat ( mixed meat) was dry little chewy my plate was half full of chopped tomatoes and some onion with awful rice that reminds me off frozen rice...

We stumbled across this restaurant having searched for Greek food on Google! We decided to go for the Bottomless Meze Lunch. We shared a couple of bottles of white wine (very reasonable). You are then initially served 5 cold meze dishes, given plenty of time...

Love doing the bottomless brunch! It’s really lovely food and the owner and staff are really friendly and welcoming! Will be back soon

Advertised as an Anatolian restaurant means that Gem's cuisine is from Asia Minor covering Greek, Kurdish and Turkish dishes. From the outside it looks fairly small but beyond the compact front room and behind the well-stocked bar lies another room. It is all very chic...

I came here with a friend before the Arsenal match before April 1st in anticipation for the menu. Greek/Turkish/Kurdish? A meat lover's dream. The man who attended us knew the menu well and even taught me the pronunciation for one of the food items. I...

Pleasantly surprised, Andy the owner greeted us , made us feel extremely welcomed, the food was fabulous, Turkish /restaurant/ with an option of a bottomless brunch section , great disco downstairs to dance and have great fun , highly recommended

Not sure if it was an off day considering other good reviews but was really disappointed. First time I've been and wanted to eat near Union Chapel before a gig. Waited 45 mins for our meal after asking twice where it was. When it came...

Wow, I celebrated a milestone there last night, where do I start. The atmosphere, the service, the quality of the food, everything was first class. Got a special birthday song at the end of the night too. If I could would give more than 6...

Honestly cannot fault this place - what an absolute GEM of a find! We stumbled across this restaurant as a very last minute decision after a quick google search! Excellent food Excellent service Loveliest staff GREAT playlist (Motown classics) Amazing value for money - we...

Recommended to us by our daughter-in-law who lives locally. We were with friends and looking for an early evening meal prior to a concert at Union Chapel. We had several hot and cold meze to start and they were all yummy, particularly the sausages and...

We were very disappointed. We ordered hot and cold mezes and none were good. Very poor quality. The main dish was ok, but nothing special. Overall very overpriced and below average dishes. We were so excited to go to Gem, as it was our favourite...

About 30 of us went for a staff meal and chose the A & B set menus and C for vegetarian where they shared starters then chose from the menu (the only options). B was £35 (incl. soft drinks), A was £50 incl. "unlimited alcohol"...

Moussaka and chicken dishes were wonderful. But this enjoyment had a few sharp edges: main-course service of an announced pre-theater dinner hour took 40 minutes and the noise level was high (even though two sets of tables in front of us were not occupied). Also,...

A great neighbourhood casual restaurant. Lovely, friendly service. I could be misremembering but I thought the chips used to be hand cut and better than this visit which were blah.

Excellent, attentive service for the bottomless brunch. Top quality food with generous portions and friendly staff.

Great food great service. Would go back again. Nice table display too. Drinks a little expensive though which was a shame

The service, food and value is amazing. When you go, it is not hard to see why this restaurant has survived on Upper Street for many years when so many other restaurants have not. Flavourful food, great prices and friendly service.

I went there with a friend on Saturday, late afternoon.We ordered the 4 cold meze and 4 hot meze from their menu as it was was part of the deal on Groupon.Everything was really tasty even through I was expecting something different from some dish, we both appreciated the quality of the ingredients and the quantity was just fine.I was also quite pleased with the house wine as well because both red and white were really enjoyable! The only thing I did not like was the Turkish coffee.. It was like drinking sand!! I am sure it really worth the money and the service was wonderful!

Absolutely amazing place! Had my birthday party here, downstairs and had the best experience. The venue was just right, Andy the manager is exceptional taking care of our every need making sure me and my guests were looked after and having a great time. Johnny the bar man was brilliant and the food buffet we ordered went down extremely well, not forgetting the amazing DJ Champs who caters for your every music need and banged out the tunes!! Best night and will defo be booking all my future special occasions here

Went for birthday party. Amazing service and food; the servers helped with the surprise cake and came up to check on us many times. The food was perfectly cooked and marinated. Was genuinely caring and lovely. 100% will be coming back.

We arrived at the restaurant, my husband is in a wheelchair, they put the ramp down for us as there is 1 stair up to the restaurant, we had not booked. They sat us down on a very nice table, then drinks and food was in full swing. we both had chicken thighs which were very tender delightful to eat, my husband had shandy and I had red wine, the food, drink, service and attention that we received was just fantastic, we will go again very soon, we will book next time as when we were leaving it got very busy, a great place.

Went there at 16.00 pm on a Sunday, there was literally two other taken tables in the place. Yet both the waitress and the manager left us waiting for 20 minutes and when we told them why we were leaving they didn’t acknowledge us, nevermind bothering to apologise.

Similar to a recent review. I had a Living Social voucher due to expire on 26th December, however having booked with the restaurant and quoting the voucher I was simply told they weren't accepting vouchers during December. This leaves me with an unusable voucher - very poor service, and communication with the voucher company must be non-existent. Do not offer voucher with incorrect product description - misleading potential customers.

Turkish restaurants are the heart of many areas but Gem in Islington is exactly what it's name suggests. Although it's basic food it is served in good quantity and freshly cooked on your behalf. The staff are very friendly and polite and a credit to the employers.Our small group of four have been to the restaurant a couple of times and on this occasion (12th December) found a number of Christmas diners ahead of of us, nevertheless we were welcomed and served very quickly with the lunchtime special(£13.95 for three courses). Just couldn't fault the starters, Taramasolata, Calimari, Prawns and Aubergine whilst we had various grilled meats for mains, all cooked for us and piping hot.Not worth adding more it's simply excellent value for money, try it for yourselves.

The food was good, but very small portions in the mixed kebab. We had two mains, two drinks and a mint tea came to £42. I would rush back.

Reservé este restaurante para 2 el 4 de diciembre por correo electrónico, para la noche siguiente. El Wowcher fue válido hasta el 26 de diciembre. A mi llegada me dijeron que el "Wowcher no era válido durante diciembre", aunque no se menciona nada al respecto. Les dije que les había enviado un correo electrónico para reservarlo y que no había recibido respuesta, y me dijeron que, por lo tanto, la reserva no estaba confirmada, ¡ya que no habían respondido!Pedí hablar con el gerente que me informó que Wowcher les había dicho que no aceptaran más reservas y que el código de Wowcher no se podía ingresar en su sistema. Realmente no entendí eso ya que a Wowcher se les paga de todos modos. El restaurante no estaba lleno, pero no cumplirían el trato al precio de Wowcher, ¡presumiblemente porque estaban lo suficientemente ocupados y no necesitaban hacerlo!Entonces nunca pudimos comer. Si reservas por correo electrónico, asegúrate de recibir una respuesta o llámalos.

Groupon coupon - the restaurant is cosy and lovely with a mix of interesting forniture and attention to details (like cutleries, plates glasses). Using Groupon could be tricky but talking about the choices and the quality and quantity of food served, I have nothing to complaint about! Everything was good and absolutely in line with the price we paid.I gave 4 stars because some members of the staff didn't seem to be in a good mood so at some point asking them things like more bread or more tap water results in long wait or not the level of service you would expect! Said that, another couple of waiters were extremely nice :)In general a positive experience :)

Have been visiting Gem for many years and it has been a favourite. Unfortunately there has been a staff change and the some of the new serving staff are rude and indifferent. Disappointing to see a great local restaurant change in this way. Pity because the staff they used to have were great.

Four of us booked a table for 6.30 on a Friday night before a gig. It's always wise to book as this place gets busy. The food is Greek, Turkish and Kurdish. Very tasty. The staff are very friendly and efficient.

I have written what happened already In another one, but I must say the waiters in the reataurant were the rudest we have met.

The mixed izgara (a mixed grill) is always great, and you are greated with freshly made flat breads that are made in the front of the restaurant.

Just had the tastiest express lunch! Fresh, absolutely delicious, vegetarian choices! Most definitely will return!

Called in here on a random Tuesday night for a quick bite. We got a warm welcome and the atmosphere was lovely. We got lentil soup to start and a mixed grill for main. Everything tasted fresh, the portions were big, everything had been prepared with love. The staff we attentive and were willing to please, and when the bill came we couldn't believe how cheap it was for the quality of food. We are def going back here, it really is a 'Gem!'

Great selection of really tasty and authentic cuisine and an unbeatable £14.95 fixed price option to chose your own starters and mains. Mix them up and share. Friendly and helpful staff. Only £7.50 charge for BYO wine so get it next door at the Wine Sampler and enjoy!