There is a Best Mangal and a Best Mangal 2 on the same road, and owned by the same people. I point this out as a friend invited me to dinner at Best Mangal. She had given the address of Best Mangal 2 but the name Best Mangal, so while myself and another friend sat in one, the person we were meeting sat in the other. If something of a pain, it was resolved and does at least mean I can tell you that the menus are virtually identical but with a couple more items at BM2. The décor in BM2 is attempting to be more upmarket and has the feel of a proper restaurant, where as the original is essentially a very small caff. The prices are the same at both, which would seem to make BM2 the obvious choice. I'm not so sure though, the extra menu items weren't terribly appealing (prawn and avocado salad in a Turkish kebab house anyone?) and the original had a certain authentic charm lacked by its notionally posher brother. That said, we were only in BM long enough to have a small beer before the confusion was resolved (thank God for mobile phones) and we then all trekked across to BM2 so I can't comment on the food in the original.

So focusing on the restaurant were we actually ate, the décor was in the standard misguided ethnic goes upmarket idiom. Particularly memorable was a fake garden visible through a window at the back. This consisted of one of those twee wooden wishing wells available from garden centres, alongside a sun painted on a concrete wall and some stone chippings. The lighting of this feature only worked for some 3 seconds in every 30, whether through an intermittent fault or an attempt to hide what was a fairly poor effort I cannot tell you. (Turkish restaurants seem to go in for this type of thing more than most, I have hazy memories of a good restaurant in Green Lanes with a rockery and waterfall on the back wall).

In the authenticity stakes, I did notice what in Turkey seemed to be a de riguer accessory- a glass fridge with a rotating rack containing only a couple of rice puddings, which I took as a good sign. Even more promisingly was a large charcoal grill, though not as prominently located as in its sibling restaurant, the cooking was still clearly visible.

I over ordered as I was in something of an odd mood, only just being persuaded not to order kidneys by friends who know I only like them in small quantities with steak in a pie. Otherwise, even in notionally good restaurants I have found the hint of ammonia off-putting. What I did order was Iman Bayildi (stuffed aubergine), Ciger (liver) with sumac and some muska boregi (cheese pastries). The Iman Bayildi was a really good example, sweet and oniony with a good non-bitter aubergine flavour and enough oil to mingle the flavours together without being greasy. It was served more as a salad than a stuffed aubergine but was delicious.

Also successful was the liver, packed with flavour, a bit more overcooked than I would like but this is normal in Turkey, the offal taste was clear but not overpowering and the sumac and paprika gave a real savoury tang. This was another good dish, not quite as well executed as the aubergine. Much less successful were the boregi, the pastry was fairly greasy and oversized, nor were they as warm as they might have been. The cheese and parsley interior was fine, but had nothing to lift it, overall I have had much better.

I had also meant to order patlican ezmi, the white aubergine puree, but had forgotten. This was a good thing as the volume of food would have been getting silly, and in any event it was on one of my friends mixed cold meze starter. The patlican was not a great example, being very much on the bland side, too much yoghurt and not enough of either the garlic or the aubergine. Again fine, but not special in any way. As a side note the mixed cold platter was ordered by two of my friends, and whilst overall there was an excess of food, it did seem a little on the mean side between the two of them and I think it would make sense when in a group for everyone to order a dish or two and share the more interesting options. I should add that another friend had grilled halloumi, which she loves. It tasted like grilled halloumi, which I daresay is the aim.

With the starters done reasonably well, we moved on to what should be the star of an okcabasi restaurant, the grilled meats. I had ordered quail in keeping with my slightly odd mood. It proved a mistake. In many ways my own fault as I know quail, especially at these prices, will be farmed and bland. What there's not much excuse for is it being thoroughly dry which this was. In case the problem was only with my quail, I nabbed some lamb sis from a friend's mixed kebab. Unfortunately this too was on the dry side, the cubes being too small and it was pretty bland lamb, neither as tasty or juicy as you might reasonably expect.

I had assumed the main courses would come with some rice which they didn't. But that said there was plenty of bread and no shortage of food in general. Its just that I really like the turkish way of doing pilao so it was a pity not to get a spoonful with the kebab. The bread was the standard poppy seed covered light Turkish stuff, warm and good, though I think reheated rather than completely fresh, but pretty decent all the same.

I didn't have room for any baklava or the aforementioned authentic looking rice puddings and so we settled the bill. Because I had completely over-ordered mine came to £30, ordinarily a meal here would be £20-25. I should point out that includes beers, Effes at £2.75 a glass, which sounds a bargain, but they seemed to be very small glasses, they may have been 330ml but they didn't seem that way.

Overall this was a bit of a disappointment, it was chosen by a friend not me, but when I looked it up online I was enthused. All I can say is that the number of people giving it a 10 on London-eating is dodgy to say the least. Best Mangal 2 does some things well but it lets itself down in a lot of areas and overall is no better than OK. If it was in my neighbourhood I would go as its not bad, but don't be fooled by some of the online suggestions that this is one of the best Turkish restaurants in London.

On a final note I haven't mentioned the service which was friendly, efficient and unobtrusive. Which makes a change!