Turkiss

The sandwich was top notch. That Turkish beer they serve was refreshing. The service was fast. The inside of the place doesn’t feel super clean or well thought out and the fries seemed like they were lower quality than what they could do.

Great place. Excellent food. Good staff. The falafel and kabab were amazing. I love the presentation and the wait time was less than other places. Very recommended if you are in the area.

The Turkish bread is by far my favorite at this location. The meat is really oily; it’s good on the go, but not worth the cost. Kind of looks/​feels like mystery meat.

Falafel was light, verdant, & fresh. Nice amount of sauce & veggies.
It gets busy and can take a good chunk of minutes but it’s price & quality make up for any wait.
Tiny amount of seating. Wedge in or take it on the run.
Recommendation:
extra sauce, squeeze in a seat and be prepared w/​extra napkins and some gum/​breath mints after.

I see Turkiss as being a very good option for those looking for a late night snack or drunk food. It’s priced pretty fairly, and the portions are decent.
I believe I got the chicken doner pita, while my friend got the lamb version. Both were tasty, especially with the nice additions of sauce and vegetables. The meat was also cooked well, especially considering it’s not uncommon to see meat like this being dry. There’s a NYU student discount here!
Although its not the cheapest food in the area, it does serve a certain niche that can certainly satisfy those who are craving Middle Eastern cuisine.

After going out we stopped here to get halal food around 3 in the morning. I ordered the chicken halal platter. I got home and was surprised at what I received. The chicken was made to perfection but I did not like the «rice» and the salad was ok. I later found out that it’s «healthy Mediterranean food.» Also, they are a bit overpriced. I would have been better off getting «real» Halal food at a grease truck and it would have been cheaper lol.

Not a fancy place (much like the rest of MacDougal) but the food is great! Friend and I were on a study break and wanted to grab something to eat. We were headed to Chloe’s but decided to try out Turkiss instead. We both got the chicken kebab — it was so good! The only downside was the cheap plastic tableware — we could barely cut the chicken. But other than that, no complaints.

This little spot on MacDougal street is good to grab a quick lunch. Have tried this place a couple of times and found it to be pretty good. I normally take either the chicken platter or chicken shawarma –tastes good but I believe the quantity is a bit too little for my liking, making it not that great value for money. Worth a try if you are on MacDougal and wondering what to have.

I was really wondering, what’s the difference between a Greek gyro and a doner? Probably nothing right? WRONG! The doner is a thing of sheer beauty and flavor. I LOVE gyros. I could eat them everyday. But when I bit into the lamb doner at Turkiss, my spider senses went full tilt. It’s the strong smell of the lamb meat that you don’t get from a standard gyro (which is generally lamb mixed with beef, FYI). And the taste of the pure lamb was equally intense and amazing. It was heavenly tender, and meat packed to the brim. You might think 9.95 for a lamb gyro/​doner seems pricer then usual. But that thought is out the window when you realize how packed it is and the quality of the meat and veggies. All I can say is GET THE LAMB DONER PITA. GET THE LAMB DONER PITA. GET THE FREAKIN LAMB DONER PITA.

Tender and tasty chicken and lamb, the bread is amazing and the salad is good too. Only negative note was the rice, but the quality of meat makes it deserve 5 stars

Best Gyro and Falafel ever eat in New York city
If you like Gyro 1. Spot here
I would recommend anyone

My boyfriend and I got two shwarma sandwiches, for about $ 20. A little overpriced in comparison to other shwarma sandwiches I’ve had in the city, but it was pretty good! I appreciated that they really packed on the meat in the sandwich, and doused it a very reasonable amount of white sauce and hot sauce. Although, I must say, the white sauce seemed like it was just yogurt — not that I’m complaining, but I did think it was a little silly to charge 50 cents for extra white sauce, which is actually a small container of what I presumed to be regular yogurt.
The place itself is pretty small with very limited seating — it’s also really hot in there so it might not be the best place to sit in to eat during a humid summer night.

Ordered out from Turkiss last night. What a disaster. I work at a job that is time sensitive and low paying. We ordered at 7 oclock and the food did not arrive until 8:30. Apparently the soup was being made. On a Thursday night. The hour wait was for lentil soup. Being made.
Anyway, aside from the outrageous wait time and nonsense excuse, the food was barely edible. I ordered a chicken shish sandwich, and upgraded the bread from pita to what they call «house bread» which I was told was thinner than a pita.
It was a KAISER ROLL. I am not joking, I got a hamburger bun with three chunks of non marinated chicken and a few shreds of iceburg lettuce and NO SAUCE. Nope, just dry tasteless overdone chicken with some wilted lettuce on a STORE BOUGHT hamburger bun (that’s right, I know when bed is fresh, this was FRESHLY PURCHASED FROM RITE AID).
Putrid. I spend an hour’s pay waiting for this slop — for 90 mins no less — and then was immediately hungry after finishing. I will not be going back.

This place really hits the damn spot. I’m always going to Mamoun’s falafel religiously, because of how satisfying it is late night, but I wanted something different today so I looked up some shawarma while passing through the city, and I found Turkiss. The food is absolutely delicious, a little hard to eat, but delicious. My friend got the chicken shawarma and I got the lamb shawarma, both were very good, but the lamb was a tad bit better. They were packed to the brim, so it was a fork ordeal for about half the sandwich, at which point it transitioned over to a sandwich situation. It was messy! Do not do this wearing a white Tee, unless you’re the hunchback of Notre Dame, and can lean forward enough while eating to prevent spillage. The only down side is that the pickles in the shawarma don’t work; they are way too empowering. They need to add something else that adds a crunch but doesn’t disrupt the flavor of the shawarma.
I’m probably going to find myself wandering into Turkiss the next time I end up on McDougal, and I hope it’s as good as last time.
Fyi, they’re pretty clean about their setup.

I’ve lived in Europe and had real donner kebab (gyro) in Germany, London and Paris. Indeed having experienced global gyro (Turkish/​Greek/​Pakistani/​Indian) to some extent, especially in my own mind, I am the international expert of donner kebab (gyro) equivalent to the Marilyn Von Savant of mystery meat.
So believe me when I tell you … this is the REAL thing!
For newcomers to this slightly crude branch of Middle Eastern cuisine, donner kebab a.k.a. «the gyro» is that ambiguous pseudo-​lamb fatty meat cylinder on a vertical spit type concept that you can see across Europe — and this is simply the place I feel does it best in the US. Yes, entire US — I’ve had this numerous places in the American’s but never had it as good as this place.
Sure there’s limited seating here with just a wall shelf and two crude wooden tables. But hygiene is impeccable. You’ll see from the well planned layout and white washed walls as soon as you enter. The owner takes care here and is delivering a high quality, albeit extremely fat-​based, product.
I’ve thought deeply about why GOOD donner or gyro is tough to get in America and I think its a Greek vs Turkish thing. I don’t think Greeks like the gyro-​concept although they are definately famous for it. For Greeks, its sort of embarrassing and you can understand why … Greek food is so much more than gyro. So many times in the US getting gyro is risky and frankly equivalent to ordering burnt dog-​meat on a pita. But not at Turkiss — yes, the name betray’s it, these people are Turkish and they’re proud of donner.
Turkiss has no qualms about their product, they’re in the gutter of the restaurant industry and that’s where they’re comfortable and going to excel. They perfected the American donner/​gyro concept and its almost as good the filthy fatty mystery meat delights you can buy in London or Berlin.
Sure, I’d like to deduct half a point for less than stellar service, but its not really bad just not really that friendly. But can you fault them? They’re trying to run a business in De Blasio’s paradise catering to a bunch of spoled NYU rich kids. That would definitely give me a bad attitude!
Since I can’t deduct a half, I’ll stick with five stars total. Bravo Turkiss — you have reached the pinnacle in donner kebab/​gyro.

A Tour-​kiss is what happens to me almost every night that I play a show when on tour these days. Not that I’ve toured in awhile, so I’m looking forward to the next one so I can taste some more random boys from different states. I mean girls. Damn, I keep forgetting to say girls.
Turkiss on the other hand, make very average Doner Kebabs. The meat was dry and the kebab didn’t really taste of much to me. Some of the sauce was a little sugary. I definitely wouldn’t get it again. I’ve had some miraculous Doner Kebabs, Shawarmas and Gyros, even in this region, where my fave Gyros and Shawarma of all time are located nearby. But this doesn’t stand up to them. The Doners in England are far better… and the one over at Turco in Midtown is much better, too.
It’s on McDougal right next to Kati Roll, Thelewala, and Mamoun’s. I recommend all of those instead, especially the latter.
They are open incredibly late at night though, so that’s good. And if you charm one of the girls that work here (not sure if there are any, to be honest), maybe you’ll get a Turkiss. Or from one of the guys, which I imagine wouldn’t taste as good.

If you know Turkish food, this place is awesome! Chicken gyro (doner) is great! Owner is awesome and they of course sell ayran as well. Would totally recommend!

Headline: Decent but go to Mamoun’s down the street (which is better and also cheaper)
Food: Better than average shawarma joint but again, go to Mamoun’s.
Ambiance/​Service: Basic with a few tables. Friendly folks shearing the meat.

Had a lamb gyro sandwich and it was good but the meat was very salty. The tzatziki sauce was good but hard to find in the sandwich. Also it was basically on a large deli roll. I will be back soon to try the chicken hopefully it will be a better experience. The door and entrance are very small so expect to have people walking through you while your waiting for your food.

Summary:
Hole in the wall place housing the absolute best gyro in the entire city. If you like gyros, this is the spot for you.
The Atmosphere:
Hole in the wall that is the epitome of a late night spot for «college bar food.» It reminds me a lot of the late night spots back at my own university.
The Food:
Here is why this place has the best gyro in the city: real, actual lamb, on a rack, slowly roasted, and sliced onto real Turkish bread. Screw pita bread and fake gyro meat you get at the carts. This is the real deal.
Ask for the Turkish beer as well, goes super well with the meal.
The Service:
Extremely friendly. Cannot say anything bad about these guys and gals.
Recommendation:
The «spicy» sauce was a bit much for me. I’m not into the super spicy stuff but I will say that it had a great smoky taste. Definitely have the Turkish beer.