Cafe Gallipoli

FoodSlut

what a let down 25th November 2009

0 found this helpful

Could be so much better. Mezze was a joke. Meats were greasy. Service was arrogant.
Four times i was asked if i wanted bread. As it happens I didnt becuae it fills you up to much. But any turkish restaurant ive been in brings you bread immediately. This place wanted to charge.
The bill waswhat youd expect in Upper Street but the food wasnt worththe money. Why not just do it properly?
Obviously a business has to make money but when a restaurant is run by businessmen rather than caterers this is what usually happens.

arianova

Bad experience all-round 23rd October 2007

2 found this helpful

If you must sit, dine, nibble or have a coffee at gallipoli, you'll soon find out that there's many nasty surprises in the menu. The dolmas as mentioned in the above review are out of the can, the turkish coffee is simply bad, and the mezze is a mixture of average and bad dishes.

Fancy Turkish, Greek or mediterranean food? your best bet around the area is the Pasha - hands down.

Sami

3rd September 2007

2 found this helpful

... and won't return.

While the price structure qualifies the restaurant as a cheap eat, it's not worth the money. This is unfortunate, as Angel is packed with restaurants of mediocre quality and I was hoping to be pleased with the fare at Gallipoli, but dolma plucked out of a can and placed on a clean white plate do not justify a charge of 3.90 - thank you very much, but I can easily walk down to the nearest Turkish deli and choose the brand of dolma that I personally would like and do the same, all for a pithy 99 pence.

I hate to say it but I don't understand why everyone thinks so highly of these three restaurants - is it that they are the best of a middling bunch along the Upper St/Essex Road throughfare, or that people are happy to accept substandard dishes?

While the sucuk (grilled Turkish sausage), scampi, and olives were rather good, the hummus, cacik and tarama were just average. The pide, while fresh, could have benefited greatly from a blast of heat, and the dolma came straight out of a can.

Although the food wasn't terrible, per se, I have an exceptionally difficult time paying for a meal at a restaurant when the effort exerted is less than what I can do myself at home. Not recommended - if you want good Turkish food, albeit in lesser surroundings, try anywhere along Green Lanes - or Petek, in Stroud Green , which is infinitely better.