Charcoal Rooster - Canberra

None of that bread and a little bit of filling. This is a lot of filling as well as fine bread. The guy here is Turkish. He knows his stuff. The mushroom pizza is the best in Canberra. Take it home, sit back, eat it and be grateful for your life

We have been enjoying fabulous Turkish pide from this unassuming little takeaway for years. The pide is consistently good and freshly made.

Charcoal chicken was beautifully tender, but way too smoky in flavour, even for someone who likes smoky flavours. The pide was ok, but too much cheese (yes, that is a thing!) and cheap salami meant it wasn't great. Chips weren't good - cut too big, and not crispy enough. My young son liked the fish cake but I thought it was very cheap-tasting. Lovely man behind the counter working very hard on his own but overall very disappointing and we won't be back.

Curiosity drove me to try the place. I reflect now upon where curiosity led the cat. Here's my impressions. The stuff that is used in the dishes that they make is OK, maybe pretty good. After the meal I poked through the remains to see what had made it so oily (or greasy). The quality of the primary ingredients seemed good.So why did the meal have almost no taste? The Greek Salad was great looking. But it had almost no taste. The meal was shared by two, and, although we often disagree, we agreed on this. Secondly, the pepperoni pizza was swimming in oil. If the oil had been the type that some pizzerias squirt on top as a finish, it would have boon OK. But it was a tasteless vegetable oil. How can a pepperoni pizza not have any flavour? Coat it with a tablespoon or two of oil and find out.I cannot question the efficient service or the smiles. Nor do I feel like the staff doesn't care.The food just had no taste. Maybe I'll try the place again and get the Middle Eastern style pizzas. But just maybe.

I've been coming to the charcoal rooster since 2003, and can say without a doubt, their Kimali (minced lamb) and Mantarli (mushroom and olives) pides are the best in Canberra. an unassuming takeaway/fish and chip shop, the other takeaway food is standard fare.