Sofra

6.8 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  5      Service  8      Value  6     

I first discovered Sofra in 2006 and have been going there for Adana ever since.
I've confidently introduced the place to many friends and have created many more fans of the restaurant by doing so.

The servings are generous although I have to say, back in the days they used to give a lot more bread than they do today. I prefer Turkish over Lebanese because I prefer Turkish bread and the meats generally taste less salty but at the same time, flavoursome. I always get the double chicken and I love the smoky grilled flavour that never fails to satisfy.

Chips are always fresh and made to order and the service is efficient and friendly enough. I like how it's also a lot cleaner than other Turkish places I've been to in the area.

Jan 27, 2012 

4 Below Average

Food  5      Ambience  5      Service  2      Value  4     

Ordered a double shish today, only to see the salad it came with pretty stale. Limited bread served and meat came to the table warm as if it had stayed on the plate for around 10 minutes before being served to us. Will not be returning as there are plenty of other Grill houses down the road with far better customer service. It was not about the price of the meal it was the overall experience that was disappointing.

Aug 09, 2011 

8 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  8      Service  8      Value  8     

Love the atmosphere... love the food and love the service except one young lady that's really bitchy and a lot of attitude. The rest is perfect.

Aug 09, 2011 

3.5 Below Average

Food  3      Ambience  3      Service  4      Value  4     

Again after reading a rave review on 'Grab Your Fork' and craving Adana we went to try it out. We got two double combo plates. It's two meats, bread, onion and tomato. To be honest, I missed the pickled vegetable many places include or at least offer on the side.

However the chicken was beautiful, the bread generous, but it's nothing you'd go out of your way to eat. Honestly, Top Ryde food court does a plate twice as good that I'd actually bother to go out if my way to get. If a shopping centre rates higher than a dedicated street front... I don't think it flatters you!!

Other people with us ordered a few pied, and they were really the problem. It was a thick slab of very bland bread with the implication of filings rather than fillings. It was bread. I think we could have ordered better with the meat plates, but the pides are really quite sad. For $5.80 it's a lot to pay for plain bread with a suggestion of cheese or mushroom if you can find it!

Jul 30, 2011 

5.3 Average

Food  7      Ambience  4      Service  5      Value  5     

At the end of the day it will never be top notch Turkish Food like when you have it home made or from an actual restaurant. Turkish food is by far one of the best in the world, but this is more of a takeaway/cafe type Turkish Food place, so you need to take that into account, that there will be corners cut and trust me a lot of the stuff you eat like the stuffed cabbage etc tastes Nothing Like what it actually does or should taste like if you know what I mean, let someone make it for you fresh or from a quality restaurant, which would take longer and it will be like chalk and cheese.

That being said, the food is good, the pides and shishs are our favourites. Better than eating the nonsense at somewhere else and other fast food places, at least it is more cultured and interested to the taste buds and better for you. Also a few years ago maybe longer can't recall management changed and the quality of food went down a little.

P.S The food I had while visiting Turkey and Turkish friends here who make foods all the time and foods from bigger restaurants is where you will get the actual taste of Turkish Cuisine. It isn't rated one of the best in the world for no reason. Sofra is a cafe with quick food, don't expect high end stuff.

Mrs Ferguson

Jul 15, 2011 

5.8 Average

Food  6      Ambience  5      Service  6      Value  6     

I ordered a chicken doner kebab, advertised at $7 on the backboard menu, and grabbed a Coke from the fridge. I was charged $11.50, thinking being charged $4.50 for the Coke was outrageous. I was told the kebab cost more because of 'the lot' I had asked for. Oh well, tiny bit cheeky I think, but I was up for it. The kebab was certainly a great feed and filled to the brim, but I found the chicken really, really salty. So salty, I drank litres of water for the rest of the day to try and sooth the 'dry-mouth'.

It was like after a big suburban Chinese feed, you almost feel de-hydrated from MSG overdose. Fish bowl ambience, with lots of local hustle and bustle going on in corner tables, with a huge sidewalk table area for the dedicated smokers. Maybe I chose poorly, but I just can't see myself going back to try again.

Jun 06, 2011 

6.3 Average

Food  6      Ambience  5      Service  4      Value  10     

I'll start with the positives first. Excellent value for money, paid next to nothing to feed three. Service was quick. The double chicken shish plate was really good, very moist and flavoursome. I'm not sure if its an acquired taste but I didn't like the adana. Or the arayam (spelling). We are just sheltered mountains kids. Anyway all the places in Auburn were pretty dingy looking so we went with the higher rated joint on eatability. Anyway so when we went to pay the woman had forgotten what we ordered. We had to repeat our order to her and got ourselves confused in the midst and ended up paying for a small salad plate and didn't get charged for the one drink we had. She was even the one who served us and had forgotten. Weird.

Dec 22, 2010 

5.8 Average

Food  6      Ambience  5      Service  6      Value  6     

I must state that I'm not at all very familiar with Turkish food but a recent lunch here left us pretty satisfied. I had an adana plate and my wife had a cheese spinach borek. The borek was well filled and it was soft and tasty. My adana dish was not bad but meat could be a bit more fatty though and it's also a touch salty. Accompanying bread was soft and delicious. Am keen to try new star kebab down the street next time as a comparison.

Nov 21, 2010 

2.3 Not Recommended

Food  4      Ambience  1      Service  1      Value  3     

We came here at the weekend and I ordered the chicken shish kebab while wife ordered the spinach pide at the counter. After grabbing a couple of drinks, we sat down at a table and waited for our food. The shish kebab arrived promptly and we dug into that. It wasn't bad. However, after seeing another table nearby (who had arrived after us) get their pide, my wife inquired politely about ours. It seemed the order had been misplaced or forgotten. That's fine as these things do happen, especially when things get busy. We (and I think most people) can appreciate that mistakes happen and the staff should just act graciously when they do happen. Instead they pointed the finger at us and insisted that we hadn't placed the order and two separate staff members questioned us about it.

It was almost a Spanish inquisition. When did you place the order? Who did you place the order with? Where did you place the order? And wait for it: "Did you place the order because I would've remembered if you did? I have never forgotten an order before."

Umm... yes we did place the order. The lady at the counter even turned around to the kitchen and yelled out, "Seven!" (the number of the menu item) when the order was placed. When we go to a restaurant or cafe, it is usually with the explicit intention to eat, and we have never forgotten to order our food either!

I think anybody would see that it would be more likely that they had forgotten our order, and not that we had forgotten to order! We thought that it was rude and unnecessary and my wife felt embarrassed as other tables were turning around to look at us. (NB: We did not actually make a fuss or tell them our thoughts, we just said simply, "Yes, we did order it". The attention from other tables was due to the staff members' loud and persistent questioning.)

To top it off, the spinach pide (when we finally got it) wasn't good at all. It was too yeasty and lacked flavour. All in all, a most unpleasant dining experience. The mediocre food and the bad attitude from staff will prevent us from going there again. There's definitely countless other (and better) kebab places to go to in Auburn and around Sydney.

Nov 14, 2010 

2.8 Not Recommended

Food  3      Ambience  3      Service  3      Value  2     

After many friends visiting Sofra and exaggerating how good the food was thought I'd try it out (finally) this week. I have been to many of the other kebab shops in Auburn and now I understand why I hadn't tried Sofra.

The food was not good at all. We ordered two mixed plates and chips. The chips were burnt. The mixed plate had absolutely no taste. It was tasteless. I make a better mixed plate at home. I have tried mixed plates from other places and this is by far the worst I have had. It was that bad that I actually ended up being sick from it when I got home.

And for $58 dollars it is a rip off. I would have had no regrets paying this for something that tasted good. Neither myself or my husband were happy. I don't know what the big fuss is about this place. Try somewhere else on the other side of the station if you want anything that actually tastes good in your mouth. My first and definitely last time.

Sep 01, 2010