Iskele

Excellent food and good value for money, perfect for a night out with friends and family. Highly recommended. The food is tasty and waiters very friendly.

The real appeal of Iskele is ample sidewalk seating on charming little Whitecross Street. In cooperative weather, this setup is legit.
It’s what drew us in on a recent walk to Waitrose, needing some sustenance in a casual atmosphere, Iskele fit the bill very well. We’ve passed many times but never stopped, but we’ll definitely be back.
A smattering of cold starters (stuffed vine leaves, greek salad, tztaziki, bread) went over quite well especially with our youngest diner, who was swiftly seated in a high chair upon arrival and situated with a hunk of bread to allow for the procession of the meal (important!). Applause for the kid-​friendliness. Followed by some hotter plates (chicken skewers simple but nice) and the lamb cutlet main was hearty and full of spice.
Service was on point and food was better than expected. Prices are fair (mezze range from 3 – 7 quid) and the mains are a good value for the portion and quality.
A nice neighborhood place with a great outdoor patio to enjoy some drinks and mezze, recommended.

So three stars for the food and ambience. I couldn’t give it a four or five star experience given how rude the waitstaff was. He was pushy and the staff seemed confused about if we had ordered-​not very coordinated at all.
The ambience is cozy and warm and the food was delicious. We got a bottle of Sauvignon blanc and ordered the mezze starter which was nice. Came with tabbouleh, cacik, hummus, broad beans and some other items. We also settled on sharing the mixed grill platter. Al were cooked well but the outstanding pieces for me were the lamb sausage and the lamb chop. Could have been four stars if the service was better!

This review specifically refers to the restaurant’s stall on Whitecross Street Market. I’m a big fan of Turkish food– one area of which I’m less familiar with being «Turkish pizza». This, however, will change, in part because I’ll be coming back to the stall on a regular basis. I have to say the «pizza» description doesn’t really do justice to the elegant wraps served (personally, I’d always go for the lamb), but I gather they also do salad boxes etc. expect to pay around £5 per item. Highly recommended.

Restaurant méditerranéen situé juste à côté de la pizzeria Cozzo.
Même propriétaire pour les deux endroits. Du coup on peut s’asseoir à Iskele, profiter de la décoration turque, de l’ambiance (le restaurant est un peu plus grand et plus sympa que la pizzeria également…) et commander méditerranéen ou italien!
Les plats sont bons sans être exceptionnels. Nous avons essayé les grillades et les casseroles.
Les petites entrées sont très appréciables, le vin y est bon également et pas cher. Le taboulé n’a rien à voir avec le taboulé libanais (que j’adore) mais il y est également délicieux!

Amazing vibes and lovely staff. Cool lighting and a fun, simple, but effective Mediterranean menu. Definitely recommend the chicken pita, but would shy away from the calamari starter (very meagre portions)

We have come here on multiple occasions. The meals are always very good and consistant. The wait staff we’ve found very friendly, attentive and accommodating. The prices are very reasonable for the quality and quantity of good and level of service.

I come here for lunch sometimes when I feel like indulging, aka — breaking the budget. The staff here are kind and unobtrusive. The menu offers a wide variety of dishes and I especially love the lamb cutlets. The first time I ordered these I wasn’t expecting much but was pleasantly surprised at how much they serve you. While this venue is a little on the pricey side for me for a typical lunch, it is definitely great value for money. The food is flavoursome and I’ll definitely be treating myself again, and again, and again.

Very fresh and tasty. The service was good and the food came out quick. I had the Healthy Meal which initially came out as a vegetable meze plate with fresh bread. I was then pleasantly surprised to get three further meat dishes. All very good. I would definitely go again for a light and healthy but tasty and filling meal.

I came here for my works Christmas do yesterday, we had a selection of starters and then I chose the lamb meatballs.
The starter selection we great, being able to try a bit of everything. There wasn’t really enough for a starter each though which was disappointing.
The staff seemed quite attentive although getting their attention was definitely a challenge :-/​.
Their style of serving seemed pretty disorganised with them walking around the restaurant with plates of food just shouting ‘beef casserole’ until someone answered.
I was sitting with a vegetarian during the meal and all of the starters had meat on them which was a disappointment (I ended up asking for a bread basket because I felt bad for the guy). The next issue was that after we told them he was a vegetarian they came and put a plate of liver right under his face which wasn’t particularly cool IMO.
The main was quite large and was filling, it was a little dry though — the plate consisted of some rice, a bit of salad and then four massive meatballs. No sauce or anything accompanying them, meaning the whole meal ended up being pretty dry and difficult to eat.
It may have been that I was with a large party but we didn’t exactly fill the restaurant.
Based on my experience I’d find it hard to recommend them again.

I’ve been to Iskele a few times now, but I came here on my birthday recently and had a great time. The staff were really accommodating, even when I had to cut my booking down to 10 people at the last minute, due to people dropping out.
I like the atmosphere here — it feels civilised without being restrictive. Everyone seems to be in good spirits and no one minded that my friends were being a little bit loud. I ordered some meze platters to share before our main courses, and we had quite a few cocktails, too. The bill came to £273 — not bad at all, considering how much food and alcohol we had. We got some free shots of Amaretto too!
Because I had said it was my birthday, the waiters made the whole restaurant sing happy birthday to me and brought me out a tiramisu with a birthday candle on it, which was delicious. Obviously, I was a little embarrassed about being sung to by a whole restaurant, but it was funny and the tiramisu was definitely worth being embarrassed for!

The food is pretty good and they have an impressive selection of vegetarian dishes on offer too. A must if you’re in the area!
We’ve been several times and it always feels like a special occasion, due in part to the beautifully decorated interior.
Best chilli sauce EVER!
Food: 3.5÷5
Portions: ⁴⁄₅
Atmosphere: ⁵⁄₅

Love the décor here! The colorful lamps really set the mood which is complimented by some good food. Service was very fast and friendly.
We tried the hummus, lamb meatballs pita and the grilled salmon salad. They also provide some complimentary baklava! Good portion sizes at very reasonable prices. The salmon was moist and flavorful with a nice crispy skin.

Quite intrigued by the much decorated interior of this Turkish restaurant. Came on a late Friday night and it wasn’t very packed. I’ve walked by during lunch hour of a normal day and usually do see people sitting outside (aka packed during lunch?)
There are quite a large range of choices with acceptable prices. Ranging from grills to casseroles to seafood and such. Mezze to share is around £8.95, did not order that but from what I saw at other people’s table, the portion looks alright.
Fresh bread comes with every table. The order came pretty quickly. I was retarded enough to not try other starters and ended up with their augbergine and charleston pepper– very mediocre. 3 sad thin slices of aubergine topped with overcooked chopped peppers, blend, and just tasted sad. the generous amount of full fat yogurt topping didn’t help much.
For mains, we got house special with cubes of lamb and the spicy fish pot. Quite a fair amount of meat was given to both the dishes, which wasn’t a complain at all. The lamb was tender and the tomato sauce was delicious! The yogurt that coated with it matched perfectly with the dish. The fish pot also came with various amount of veggies and quite a lot of fish chunks. Oh! In addition, a pot of chili was brought over by one of the waiters if you’re into spicing up your food! The chili was soo good!!! Very full on onion flavor and WAS spicy!
Would need to venture with the menu again. Ah, they also have a reasonably priced cocktail menu, a wine menu and a dessert menu.

Yum — tasty Turkish treats in a cosy colourful setting!
Great selection of hot and cold starters from £3.50-£5.95 and meze platters to share for under a tenner per person. There’s an extensive range of meat, fish and veg mains, all a little under or over a tenner. I went for the falafel and it’s the freshest I’ve had in London yet so I was happy. Although, I’ve yet to explore the lebanese eateries up Edgeware road I hear good things about… Everything seemed to be unsalted or have very little salt in it which I guess is good for us and you can salt to your own taste. I’d probably have preferred a little more salt in the falafel and humous though.
On the topic of humous, you get some free with bread at the beginning as well as free baclava to finish! This won me over, as did the décor. The place is full to the brim with turkish lanterns of every colour, creating a really nice atmosphere. Our waiter was a bit on the dour side however, but all other staff seemed really chirpy and polite so maybe he was just having a bad day.
I’ve since been to the food market on the same street for lunch and the Iskele have a stall there in case anyone wants to try it without committing to a full sit down dinner.
Enjoy!
c*