Koy Turkish Grill
“I used to go to a Turkish restaurant many years ago, but when I went vegetarian I had to stop going.”
“So fresh, it had hummus, babaganoush, tabouli,and a few more dishes I'd never had before.”
“Got to meet the owner, Jawad (sp?), who was delightful, kind and attentive to customer service & care.”
Koy Turkish Grill
Takes Reservations: Yes
Delivery: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Outdoor Seating: Yes
Has TV: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
PokéStop Nearby: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
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My family and I had a small dinner here to celebrate my dad's seventieth birthday. This establishment was actually my brother's recommendation, for he had not one, but a few excellent experiences at The Koy.
Unfortunately, such excellence was mostly not the case with our visit this time around, which was on a busy Saturday evening.
Upon walking in, we were seated and given our menus promptly. The menu distribution was, again, promptly followed by the distribution of water and bread.
However, our straightforward service experience ended there. After deciding on our dishes, no one was available to take our order. We flagged down a total of three different individuals, each of them saying indicating that they were not wait staff or they would send someone over. Fifteen to twenty minutes after obtaining the menus *and* making our decisions, someone who obviously was not part of the wait staff arrived at our table in order to inquire about our desired dishes. I noticed that she was curiously writing down every little detail, which is not common among experienced wait staff, and in a rush to bring our order to the kitchen, she had even had forgotten to take our menus. I later realized that this individual was both our greeter and the one behind the bar.
Then an actual wait staff member, who likely saw the menus still present on our table, dropped by five minutes later to take our orders. We politely said that someone had already taken the orders. She then returned a few minutes later to collect our menus, lol.
By this time, my hungry father was ready to summon a manager and give him or her what for. You simply do not mess with an elderly Chinese patriarchal figure, especially one who is quite famished. Thank goodness we were able to convince him to hold back and give them the benefit of the doubt. Clearly, this establishment was short staffed on a busy night, resulting in much confusion.
Now for our dishes. Portions were extremely generous and very respectable for the price. However, consistency is not this Turkish restaurant's forte.
My brother's beef gyro meat was perfectly cooked and seemed to be cut right off the spit.
However, my parents' Koy Mixed Grill entree for two, which, in part, also included the same beef gyro meat, was mostly overcooked. It seemed like the aforementioned gyro meat was taken off the spit and recooked for no apparent reason, causing the meat to be extremely dry. The same was done with the ground beef patty. However, the seasoned lamb skewers were, unlike the other elements on the plate, quite flavorful, leading one to believe that they were freshly cooked.
Mom and Dad had one other complaint with regards to the salad and provided carbohydrate; unlike the meat, which was truly a two-person portion, insufficient amounts of the salad and rice were given as part of the dish.
Finally, my dish, the iskender kabab, was perhaps the most unique among our three dishes. The tomato and yogurt sauces, which topped the layers of gyro meat and pita bread, were a tasteful (if not a bit too salty for my taste) combination. Unfortunately, the gyro meat was noticeably overcooked in the same way my parents' meats were. The sauces, however, compensated for the dry meat.
It is very possible that this establishment was having an off night. I have a suspicion that the delay in taking our orders cyclically caused a bit of a rush in the kitchen, resulting in the unexpected missteps we experienced. After all, both my brother and previous reviewers have had many positive experiences prior to ours.
My parents will likely not return to this establishment, but I would recommend that readers give this place a try.
The only reason for 4 stars instead of 5 is because of the smoke. I don't really know where it was coming from but it brought me back to my childhood days of smoke filled restaurants.
The service is excellent, decor is very nice and restaurant is very clean. It is a nice place for a date night. They had a belly dancer performing on the Friday night we were there.
As for the food, everything we have tried has been excellent. This was our 2nd visit.
Upon sitting down, you are given a bread basket with a very tasty olive oil.
The cheese borek were delicious, freshly prepared and tasted homemade. Hummus – very good.
For the main course I had the lamb and chicken shish kabob comination platter. It comes with 5 pieces of chicken and 5 cubes of lamb. Both meats were perfectly seasoned and cooked! You also get half rice pilaf and half bulgur pilaf. Both were very tasty and the bulgur pilaf had a bit of a kick to it. I really enjoyed both. Cost Is $15.
I look forward to coming back here and trying some different items.
Me and my sister decided on a post Christmas lunch at Destination Dogs, but being stuck in Route #18 traffic (thank you East Brunswick local government for scheduling major road construction for the day after Christmas) we decided to change our plans and head to Koy.
My past experience at Koy was very good but it looks like Koy has stepped up their game as the food this time around was excellent!
We started with the Gavurdagi Salad which has some nice contrasting elements like pomegranate for sweetness and walnuts for texture. I've had this salad at other Turkish restaurants and Koy's version was excellent as the pomegranate seeds were super fresh and bursting with flavor. A really nice refreshing starter which I recommend considering the meat heavy nature of the entrees.
I ordered the Lamb Shish with Kofte which is right up my flavor alley as I'm a huge fan of lamb. The shish was cooked very well with a nice slight grill char and the lamb still being very tender on the inside.
The kofte patties were excellent with really nice beefy/lamb flavors and superb Turkish/Mediterranean seasoning; I wish there were more than three!
The combination of rice pilaf and bulgur rice was excellent as well.
My sister's Koy Mixed Chicken dish was delicious. The chicken shish kebabs were big and moist, the chicken gyro was flavorful dark meat slices, and the Adana was grilled perfectly and had some nice robust peppery flavors.
Overall the meal was excellent and noticeably better than my previous Koy experience.
When the host behind the counter asked us how the food was, we mentioned it was much tastier than our previous visit. Our taste buds must be acutely set for Turkish because the host mentioned they changed head chefs a few weeks ago.
A real pleasure to see Koy has improved to get even better!
Came here with a small group on Saturday night; it was pretty busy, but we had a reservation and were seated right away. We ordered the hummus and falafel for appetizers: hummus was good and falafel were some of the best I've eaten! For an entree, two of us ordered the shrimp and brown rice, which I was very happy with. Definitely a fair amount of shrimp and seasoning was great. The boys seemed happy with their chicken dishes, as well. It's BYOB and there is a liquor store in the same plaza which is convenient.
This place still has amazing food. I went for lunch with a friend who had never been there or had turkish food. So I was feeling kinda pumped up lol. I ordered the lunch special of chicken shish and of course my fave red lentil soup. My friend ordered a chicken gyro. I said to him wait till you try the bread with oil and olives. He inhaled it. It's so light and flaky and doesn't weigh you down like normal "italian" bread. He had never had red lentil soup so I shared mine and he liked it. We were both savoring the moist flavorful chicken. Mine came with the Turkish rice and the grain and a little salad with a light dressing. I inhaled it. He even liked the fries. I ordered the bottom of the pot pudding and we split it. He had never had it before. I ate my half in seconds and was waiting for him to finish so I didn't inhale his half lmao even tho I wanted too. I definitely found a place he would love to go back too and now I have another happy customer to return with me. I said to him next time we have to come for dinner the lamb chops are to die for. His parting words I'm game that was delicious. Next time I will get him to try the rice pudding oh yeah!!
The good first:
1. I'm happy to see that they've maintained the quality of food and the look and feel since they first opened.
2. Very nice, fresh hummus, falafels are average, and the chicken and lamb entrees are always good. Having tried several items on their menu, our favorites are the Chicken gyro, the Mixed kebab and the chicken seekh. All entrees are served with white rice, red pepper pilaf, greens and some of them with a roasted pepper. I also like the dessert called Kazandibi.
And then the not so good:
Be careful when you order take out on the phone. I'd advise everyone to be very particular that they took your order down and sent it in to the kitchen.. I have now had two occasions separated by a couple of months when my order has been delayed and I've had to wait 30+ mins at the restaurant despite ordering ahead. The most recent experience was weird – none of them remembered taking my order 30 mins before I got there! I had to show them my phone with the last dialed call info and repeat what the order taker told me my bill amount would be to prove I actually did place an order! They then made the order while I waited (the owner took responsibility) and thankfully apologized as I was leaving 45 mins later; else they surely would have lost a regular!
The other thing I hope they take note of is the fact that I witnessed downright unprofessional screaming right outside their front door – apparently one of the servers messed up and one of the owners/ managers really was letting her have it! Guys, take these feedback discussions indoors, in private!
Huge portions and tasty food. Service could be a little better. BYOB. Order the koy mixed grill – so much meat! For dessert, order the milk pudding, not sure what it is called, but it is a cross between flan and panna cotta.
Koy is my new favorite restaurant in EB! My boyfriend and I headed over for dinner and I could not believe how amazing all of the food was. I usually go to Sahara in New Brunswick for my Mediterranean fix and am glad I found a closer option.
We started off with the chicken kebabs which were very flavorful and seasoned perfectly. I ordered the falafel platter and loved the hummus (convinced it's the best I've had to date) and my boyfriend liked his gyro platter. Both platters came with two types of rice.
Besides the excellent food, the staff was friendly and the decor was adorable. I can't wait to go back!