Seaside Turkish Mediterranean, Staten Island

I love, love, love Middle Eastern food.  Whether it be Greek, Turkish, Lebanese, it's all good to me.
I have been to Seaside before and thought it just to be okay. Passable. But I was dying for some Middle Eastern food and didn't want to travel, so I figured I'd give it another try.
We get there at 6pm on a Wednesday and the place is packed.. Promising? Maybe.
We receive the menus and the choices are many and sounding delicious. Then I notice a large Italian menu with pizza. Really? I figured at this point, maybe not so promising. Not a good idea to advertise your Turkish restaurant and then feature Italian food and different kinds of pizza.

I much prefer Sahara, Turkish, in Bklyn, or Elia, Greek, also in Bklyn.  But this is five minutes from my house.
We order the Shepherd Salad which I love. Once again, it falls short. Not even the shredded feta could save the salad, nor the freshly baked bread, which to me, was not freshly baked. It was decent, but not hot out of the oven. The salad needed salt and perhaps some lemon. I do not want to add things to my food in a restaurant. If it's good food, you shouldn't have to do anything but eat and enjoy...

Next we had the grilled calamari, at $8 a serving. And after counting the rings, there was 7, 7 rings of calamari. I have never seen such a small portion of calamari in my life.. And again, it was just okay. I didn't think it was worth a photo, so I didn't take it.. But I should have. 

The mixed salad looked great, came with craisins,, walnuts and cheese, but the dressing was bland. It wasn't awful. Just needed something, again.

I will say that the chicken shish kebob was very very good. The chicken was flavorful and moist, the rice pilaf was delicious as well. The accompaniments, the red cabbage slaw with slice red onion and the grilled tomato and pepper also were very tasty and the flavors all complimented one another, especially when adding the tzatziki sauce. 

The beef kabob also was good, but the vegetables on the side were mostly red & green peppers that were sauteed and it really didn't go with the dish.

So, basically, if you are on Staten Island and have a jones for some Turkish food and you don't want to travel, this will suffice. But if you prefer really great Turkish food, head on into Brooklyn. 

Seaside
Turkish Restaurant

124 Ocean Ave., Staten Island, NY 10305 Ph: 718 556 9000