Sahara Turkish Restaurant

7.3 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  7      Service  7      Value  7     

Stopped in here for lunch. Menu looked good with lots to choose from. Service was a little slow as there was only 1 waiter.

Inside was nice, but we could still smell the cigarette coming in from outside (only reason we sat inside).

As for the food it was really good. We shared the special Lamb Shanks (melted in your mouth) and a chicken wrap. Also had the ultimate baclava which was great.

Overall it was a really good lunch.

Apr 13, 2012 

4.3 Below Average

Food  5      Ambience  5      Service  5      Value  2     

Platter was $40 but the amount of meat was equal a single serving. This is supposed to be for two people. Can't help but feeling ripoff.

Feb 19, 2012 

4.8 Average

Food  1      Ambience  8      Service  5      Value  5     

The place looks clean, chic and smart, so I liked the way it actually looked. The prices aren't as bad as some have claimed, I guess it just depends on what you are used to paying for food. Some menus are priced around $15, some up to $25. It took around 30 minutes for food to arrive and the drink was brought over as soon as the order was made, so I all the acid was gone by the time the food came. My plate looked amazing when it arrived but the chicken was almost raw and tasted disgusting. I felt intimidated by the employee (I know, my bad) and did not dare complain. When I was making payment, my payment was taken by a male employee (owner???) who was very polite and delightful young man. Would I go again? Never, ever, ever...

Jan 27, 2012 

2.8 Not Recommended

Food  3      Ambience  3      Service  3      Value  2     

$25 for a set-menu with so little food is quite expensive. Service is slow, considering, there were very few diners at that time. The main course comes with very small servings of meat, equivalent to almost one kebab stick. One can get a far better satisfying meal elsewhere with the amount paid.

Dec 16, 2011 

7 Recommended

Food  7      Ambience  6      Service  7      Value  8     

I've only ever had the shared platter for lunch and it's good, big and reasonably cheap.

Nov 30, 2011 

7 Recommended

Food  7      Ambience  7      Service  7      Value  7     

I was here a few months ago. Anyway, service, what can I say? A sexy, informative and attentive waiter. Win there. The food was delicious and flavoursome. Value for money also pretty good at $60 for two people. The only shame was that my date only left a 60c tip.

Aug 31, 2011 

3.8 Below Average

Food  6      Ambience  4      Service  2      Value  3     

Well I should have known better than to have defied eatability.com.au! The general consensus here seems to be that the food is great - but very small portions and the service is slow with varying degrees of competence. And indeed, that was our experience on a Wednesday night as well.

We all had the $45 banquet option and in truth, the food was very, very tasty but the small sizes and delays between courses were frustrating. Perhaps it was our own fault for not allowing more than 2 hours for a meal. The meat dishes for the most part were great but I would have been happy with 3 times the quantity of meat that they served.

We ordered drinks several times only for them never to show up. Finally, we had to haggle in order to get the right number of desserts for the number of people who ordered them. In the end, it just wasn’t worth the hassle. When we requested the dessert to come with angel hair fairy floss the staff looked at us quizzically, not having a clue that we were referring to the dessert mentioned on their website.

All in all, it was a pleasant enough evening, but the price tag and the slow service ensured that very few of our group will ever be returning there.

Dec 15, 2010 

6.8 Recommended

Food  7      Ambience  7      Service  8      Value  5     

It's no fine dining but it definitely is a very nice little casual restaurant. We ordered the $35 banquet and it comes with dips, and breads, salad, pides of 3 types (we had 7 people) and then a shish dish of meat grilled from the kitchen. The dips were very nice, the salad is very ordinary like something you can make at home. The pides were very well cooked and you can see that it was made on premise.
The Meats dish were nicely done, but again, nothing fancy. An apple tea came at the end to finish the banquet.

If you are looking for a nice time out for a small group, I am recommending it. The price is reasonable and compared to the rest of Sydney, it's fair. The service was better then expected for a small place like this. Overall, it was a nice casual dining experience.

Apr 30, 2010 

8.5 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  9      Service  8      Value  8     

Went here for my mum's birthday which was on a Tuesday night and the service was actually quite good. The dips and bread were absolutely divine, though wish the servings for this were a bit bigger. However, our mains were perfect, good size and delicious! We all tried something different and everyone was impressed with their meals! Overall, a very pleasant night!

Mar 15, 2010 

2.3 Not Recommended

Food  2      Ambience  1      Service  5      Value  1     

We went to the Sahara on Saturday night with friends and we were very disappointed with our evening out.

As far as the food is concerned, the waiter recommended that I try the ribs, they were exceptionally tough and gristly. My friend's husband ordered the clay pot casserole and it arrived in a small bowl with some rice on the side. There was about 5 pieces of meat and the rest was mostly eggplant, definitely not worth $26. The only person who enjoyed their meal was my husband, he had the lamb shanks.

As for the ambience, when the bellydancer arrived the music was turned up so loud we couldn't talk to each other and it went on far too long. The dancer was concentrating on entertaining the men at the large tables so it was not that enjoyable for us to watch (or listen to).

The noise level all during the meal was very loud, I think it's probably because of the way that the restaurant is designed and noise seems to be amplified. There was a number of children in a large party sitting along the wall and they were screaming and running around the whole time. While this isn't the restaurant's fault, they could try and see if something can be done about installing materials that absorb some of the noise better.

All in all, this was a very unpleasant experience and we won't go back.

Jan 12, 2010