Illbay in Gateshead

Lovely restaurant, relaxing feel to it. Fantastic customer service, guy went out of his way to help us. We are vegan, so we asked if they could keep a bottle of vegan red wine for us. They sourced one for us especially, no problems at all and didn't charge any extra for it either. Really reasonable prices and the food is fantastic. A couple of vegan mains, and a few starters, which was good. Always nice to see more vegan options if possible. Loads of options for meat eaters. The food is amazing and great portions. Definitely will be back at some point.

Very friendly staff and lovely food. They made sure we had vegan wine with our meal. Would highly recommend this restaurant.

Firstly don’t be fooled by the modest small exterior of this restaurant as this is the entrance to Turkish food heaven. We have travelled Turkey quite a bit and experienced majority of Turkish Restaurants in the North East of England and this has to be the best overall. We booked our table and were greeted by the owner Sertac who showed us to our table then took our drinks order and looked after us all night. To start we ordered the cold Mezze platter for for two with some chilli sauce, Turkish bread and additional olives as there was three of us. These were all so good and to be honest we had some left over which we put to one side to have with out mains. For our mains we had Chicken Shish, Karisik Shish (lamb and chicken) and I was so full I ordered some calamari and potato skins. Sertac also presented with some more Chilli sauce which had just been made. Sometimes when you order Shish the restaurant can over cook the meat and it is very dry and not enjoyable but both of these Shish were amazing and cooked to perfection, huge chunks of meat and succulent. The Calamari was in chunks rather than rings and was not chewy at all and even the potato skins were sprinkled with a pepper which just gave them a something different as opposed to plain potato skins. We were all stuffed but Sertac presented us with a piece of Semolina cake to share which was nice but to be honest we preferBaklava we but couldn’t have ate anything else. We finished our meal with a Turkish tea, Apple tea and I had the Raki which was the good stuff not a cheap brand. At the end of the meal Sertac shared some time with us to exchange experiences and was a perfect end to a perfect meal. Thank you Sertac your hospitality and food were amazing. We will be back.

We had a delicious meal at Ilbay’s with our son, daughter in law and 2 young grandsons. The food was fresh and delicious, the staff was enchanting and the ambience was perfect - casual and relaxed. I recommend Ilbay’s very highly and will definitely return there for a simple, casual family meal!

Really enjoyed our first visit to this restaurant, we are not from the area, but staying nearby. We could have eaten in our hotel but then we would have missed out on a great meal. Lots of choice & also has a number of fish dishes that are not showing on the takeaway menu. Husband had garlic mushrooms & I just dug into the tasty Turkish bread, dipping into his sauce, it was yummy. We both had the sizzling seafood dish, really tasty & filling. Didn't really have room for dessert but was invited to share and taste a complementary slice of semolina cake. So light & moist, delicious. Husband had 2 pints of Efes & I had a large glass of wine, all came to less than £70. Excellent value. Was quiet in the restaurant, midweek, but expect it would be lively at weekends etc. Owner very friendly, service excellent & he is justifiably proud of his restaurant. Give it a try, I'm glad we did.

Went on a Saturday night, the service was fantastic and food was exceptionally quick. All the food was really delicious and the meats were cooked on the grill to absolute perfection!

Unplanned night out, couple of drinks and ready for some food, decided to try Ilbay's. What a great decision, the service was friendly and the food was fantastic. Izmir Kofte, roasted lamb meatballs in a special tomato sauce 👍 well worth a visit and they also do takeaway, collection only

I love Ilbays! I go for food here and order their food for deliveries quite often since I first found this place. It is a beautiful restaurant with friendly staff and AMAZING food. I didn’t catch his name but the man who takes orders and serves the dishes is so so welcoming and always has a smile on his face - it is really lovely. The 2/3 course deals are amazing value for money and the food is always brilliant. Compliments to the chef! Thank you Ilbays!!!

I booked this restaurant on a TikTok review. It was also our wedding anniversary. We ordered the same food but it was not what was seen in the video. Firstly the starter, the mixed platter for two. Portion sizes were tiny of each item and there were no olives in a bowl as seen. Tasty but left wanting. We then ordered the Ilbays Kebab x 2. It states on the menu that it is a minced kebab on a bed of Turkish bread. It also looked it had a sauce on top in the video. We ordered chips and rice on the side. Only 1 kebab came out. No bread on the plate at all. When we questioned it they took it away and it came back with fried greasy strips of bread on top. We didn’t even ask for the other one as we could see it was not good. Such a shame. But we won’t be back and I would not recommend it.

Amazing authentic Turkish food. Great atmosphere and extremely attentive staff. Thank you for the best meal we have had in ages.

Wonderful food and atmosphere for our group of 17 last night for my Dad’s birthday. Fantastic, friendly staff and delicious food and drinks. We’ll be back soon! I hear Sunday lunch is delicious as well. 5 stars.

Food is outstanding along with the excellent service. Staff here go above and beyond to ensure customers have a lovely night. Would highly recommend and will certainly be returning soon.

Lovely little hidden gem of a restaurant, the food was superb some of the best Turkish food I’ve ever had. Would definitely recommend and 100% would go back.

Very nice restaurant, excellent service and high quality food. If you want to have a good time with your family that is the restaurant will the best choice.

The mixed kebab is better than anywhere and Sertac is a good man The service is fantastic lovely atmosphere and lovely food recommend to everyone

Do yourself a favor and visit/takeout from this lovely restaurant. The service is unmatched. The staff truly cares about your experience. The food is absolutely amazing – everything we tasted melted in other mouths. Absolutely the best meal we had in a while. Highly recommend!

What an absolutely amazing meal, first time at Ilbays and it was delicious. The hummus and falafel starter was fantastic, we want the recipe please!Main courses were equally as excellent, my girlfriend had the Tavuk Dolma, chicken breast and I had the Ilbays Special Kebab, heaps of lamb with the tomato sauce and chips. Cannot say enough about it, hot, tasty and great value. We were treated to Baklava and ice cream for afters.Thank you for a great evening folks, we will be back.

Our first visit and very impressed. Service was friendly but not pushy. Food very high standard and delicious.