Efes Turkish Doner

This place is hideous and they know it.
Let me explain.
I ask for a chicken shawarma at 5:30 pm on a Friday, the place is empty.
I pay for it and they send me to the toppings counter to select what I want in the shawarma. I tell him what toppings I want and then he says ok, " have a seat"
.??
I guess he will bring the sandwich to my table?
Wrong.
I sit at a table and then when it is ready they call me to come and get it.
.?
They had me sit at a table so that I would not see what they put in the shawarma.
You know how they normally cut it off a big hunk of delicious smokey meat on a vertical cooking thing?
Not here.
The meat is from a metal drawer and once assembled it gets squeezed flat in a grill like a panini.
Ugh, never again.

Tasty. Not great, but not bad.

The Chicken Kebab plate comes with rice, pickled veggies, dolmas, something like hummus, yogurt and a little salad. I ate it all, but wished there was more flavor developed on the chicken. Heavier on the spices!

I love Turkish food though I'm not Turk. I have been to turkey and ate their authentic food I know the taste. If u r looking for authentic Turkish food, u must come here. I always like to come here whenever I feel like having Turkish taste.

Came here for lunch. The man at the counter suggested I get the beef kebab, so that's what I got (on pita. There's also the option for rice). There were large chunks of tender beef, veggies, and sauce. I believe the man said both garlic and tzatziki sauces were in it. Anyhow, the wrap was delicious! You can customize the veggies you want - I went all in, although next time I may skip the pickles.
Service is friendly and the place is bright and clean. Don't know if it makes a difference, but when I was there, there were at least 2 families of middle eastern descent dining there. A little but of street cred maybe?
I highly recommend trying out this place!

Unflavored meat. Totally disappointing. Nickel and fined for extra pita. Portions are petite $12 for one kebab, rice, shredded lettuce, a few slices of tomatoes and pickles. The garlic sauce is the reason it gets an extra star. My husband shawarma was plain shredded chicken. Kids chicken kebabs were off. 5 pieces. They took one bite and dumped it on my plate.

This place was conveniently located in downtown Victoria, Halal, and very clean. I just think the portions are small and expensive. The taste was OK.

Had the chicken plate. Disappointing. I've had shawarma plates all over the world, this one probably is right at the bottom in terms of amount of meat that they give you. Wasn't a fan of the veggie sides either. It was just diced tomato/onion and a couple dolmas. Wish they offered alternatives. Staff was nice enough though.

Really enjoyed our donairs aboard the BC ferry for iftar. We were fasting so we took a couple chicken & spicy beef donairs to go so that we could break our fast with them later on the ferry back to Vancouver. I have to say they held up pretty good for 3 hours. I guess the only thing for me was they weren't spicy enough but I've been to Turkey & know that their food is always less spicy than the subcontinental cuisine. The older gentleman making the donairs was quite cheerful & friendly.

An embarrassment of a shawarma hut. Frozen dehydrated tasting falafels. The shawarma was tasteless and came out of a drawer. The salad was a mere pile of shredded iceberg lettuce alongside seperate piles of tomato and cucumber. Weird. Mids. Avoid this at all costs.

My previous visits to EFES were exceptional - beautiful large pita, very good falafel and juicy fillings. I went yesterday, ordered the "1 up" chicken shawarma wrap - it was awful. Dry dry meat, small dry pita - and the worst part - almost no tzatsiki on the dry meat. Possibly about a teaspoon at the bottom of the wrap. I paid over 12 for the wrap (which did not seem 1 up to me) a drink and tip. Disappointing. I won't be back. With so few middle eastern restaurants in Victoria - a Shame that this place has changed so much over the past year. :/