"They deserve five stars but am giving them only four because I want to motivate them just a bit more. They are not quite 'Berlin ' level Döner but the ingredients, the building blocks, are all there to make a Berlin-Level Döner. First of all, I love supporting a local 'mom and pop ' restaurant! This is a Turkish family restaurant through and through. Their service was excellent and the restaurant ambiance is very cute and European. Second, the ingredients are fresh. Everything from the freshly baked bread, baked on-site, to the veggies to the beef/lamb meat on the rotating spit: these are the freshest ingredients I 've had on a Döner, in the United States. The 'Berlin Döner ' is my benchmark and I consider myself to be a Döner connoisseur. Third, less is sometimes more. The meat-to-everything-else ratio was a bit off. With less meat and more sauce and veggies, the Döner would have been even more enjoyable! I 'd suggest removing about 33% of the meat they gave me! Yes, that much! Make room for more sauces and veggies! Fourth, in true Berlin Döner Bude fashion, when a customer orders a Döner, the cook should ideally make the Döner 'with ' the customer. What do I mean? The customer waits at the counter and works with the cook to make the customer 's ideal Döner. To start the order, the cook should grab a piece of (freshly baked bread, split it, then slide it into a bread warming press to get the sides crispy and warm. While this happens, the cook slices meat from the spit, ensuring the freshest, warmest meat is used. (Some Döner restaurants in Berlin take it a step further and cook the freshly sliced meat on a side griddle, along with a special marinade and sauteed vegetables. Think Gemüse Kebab. By the time the meat is ready, the cook then removes the bread from the press and lathers the inside with the sauce(s of the customer 's choice, usually garlic sauce, tzatziki sauce, spicy sauce, Kräuter sauce, curry sauce, or special secret sauce, etc. Once the inside of the bread is covered in sauce, the cook then adds the meat (or meat and vegtables for a Gemüse Kebab , and finally asks the customer what they want on their Döner: lettuce, tomatoes, red cabbage, white cabbage, onions, etc. Once the customer adds what they like, the cook often finishes it off with a squeeze of lemon juice, salt, pepper, and maybe red chili flakes or jalapenos if the customer wants some spicy heat upon request. The Döner is now ready to be served or packed to go. Fifth, I recommend they eventually add a chicken meat spit for those that don 't eat beef/lamb. Falafel is already an option for vegetarians. Sixth, the French fries, lentil soup, Turkish tea were all tasty and on-point. The fries even tasted exactly like what I 'd eat in Berlin! Finally, I suggest the owners take a business trip to Berlin. Go to the mountain top! Write it all off on their Schedule C as a business expense! Go to Rüyam Gemüse Kebab on Schönhauser Allee/U-Bahnhof Eberswalder Straße. See how the perfect 'Berlin Döner ' is made!"
Kebab
