Istanbul Guidebook
Best and worst restaurants:
Best: Ara Café
Why: Excellent food and interesting clientele.
Heidi in Doha, Qatar 01/29/2012
Best: Self service cafeterias
Why: Food was excellent with lots of variety. Very informal, mostly filled with Turks. Had no idea what we were ordering, just pointed and tried. Everything we had was excellent flavor at a good price!
George Braun in Manassas, VA USA 11/29/2011
Worst: Lale "Pudding Shop'
Why: poor quality of food, terrible service as waiters paced back and forth, not friendly at all very high prices, should be removed from guide book page 316 of Feb 2010 edition
Calder in N. Vancouver, BC CDN 10/13/2011
Best: Sultanahmet Koftecisi and Havuzbasi Restaurant and Tea House
Why: We loved Turkish food, and never ate or even sought any other cuisine on our 12 day trip! Both Sultanahmet Koftecisi and Havuzbasi Restaurant and Tea House had good food at good prices, pleasant atmosphere, and attentive service. We also had a great meal at Pasha (a fancy place on Divan Yolu, near the Sultanahmet tram stop), and at Tophane Taybun Cafe, just slighly uphill from the Tophane tram stop (a cafe with nargile and drinks that also serves light meals with homestyle cooking). Tophane Taybun had a lovely relaxing atmosphere (there's a waterfall and pond with turtles and fish), and it's so good we went twice!
Worst: Haci Abdullah
Why: This restaurant was the only time in all of Turkey that we encountered hostility, indifference, and lack of professionalism in servers. The waiter made it clear that he was very annoyed when I asked him to clarify the dishes (all other waiters were very happy to explain the menu, even if their English was shaky). After a few more questions, he got downright snippy and brusque, then upset that we followed Rick's advice and split one large entree. The food was tasty, and the second waiter who handled our dessert was at least civil (again, not the usual warm, hospitable, and professional service we had at every other eatery, of all sizes, prices, and degrees of formality). There was a 5 lira per person cover charge, which we did not find in other restaurants. Service was included, and my mother's joke was that this was the only way they would ever get a tip!
Harold Chasen in Philadelphia, PA USA 10/11/2011
Best: Istanbul - Kathisma Restaurant in Sultahnamet (on Akbiyik Caddesi) just around the corner from the Hippodrome Hotel.
Why: Delicious food, extensive excavations in the basement which the owner will happily tour you through.
J. Grunau in Abbotsford, BC Canada 06/18/2011
Best: Pandeli
Why: Great food, great atmosphere, excellent service.
Worst: Lale Pudding Shop
Why: Bad food, bad service, they cheated us on the bill. Big disappointment, and unusual for a Rick Steves recommendation to go so wrong.
Joe Costantino in Sofia, bulgaria 04/10/2011
Best: Hamdi Restaurant near the Galata Bridge
Why: Great views and excellent kebabs.
Joan Barnes in Portland, OR USA 04/01/2011
Worst: Lale Pudd?ng Cafe
Why: I w?sh I had read the bad comments before I trusted the Gu?debook and went to th?s restaurant. Service poor, food cold, showed the guidebook for the 10% off but received a bill that was not itemized and we think we still paid 8TL too much for a place that should be dropped from the guidebook. I want to yell at people not to go whenever we see them at the Lale.
M. Hannis in Kamloops,, BC Canada 10/22/2010
Best: Yildiz Restaurant
Why: This small local spot was around the corner and up the street from our hotel, Armada Hotel. The food and service were excellent and reasonable- we ate there twice.
Worst: Balikci Sabatint
Why: Also within walking distance of our hotel but the service was beyond terrible. We fel invisible at our table as we watched the waiter serve the others in the room even as we tried to get his attention. The food was very good but the service ruined the evening for us.
Pamela Welham in ANNANDALE, VA USA 09/29/2010
Worst: Lale
Why: Everything you could think of. Poor snobby 'service'. Not especially cheap. Food mediocre at the best. Lousy atmosphere. Absolutely typifies a place living off its luck to have appeared in a guidebook. We might return to ?stanbul, but never, ever to the Lale.
Bert Buckey in Victoria, BC Canada 09/25/2010
Worst: Tarihi Subasi Restaurant, Istanbul
Why: Please stop listing this restaurant in your guidebook as people will continue to get ripped off because you recommend it. It was absolutely horrible. We paid 75 TL for two plates and two cokes. I could have had 3 meals for that price. The "owner" recommended a sampler platter because he said it was the best way to taste the food but the sampler platter was horrible and he charged us three times what anything else on the menu would cost. If you read other reviews of this place on TripAdvisor, you will see that many people have fallen into this trap because it was recommended in your guidebook. Please stop recommending this place.
Lana in Alexandria, VA USA 09/16/2010
Best: Havuzbasi Restaurant and Tea House; Buhara 93
Why: The atmosphere of Havuzbasi is the best of any restaurant I could find in the Sultanahmet area. It was wonderful especially late at night during Ramadan, with the musicians playing, the nargile smoke floating up, and young Turks clapping to the music and enjoying themselves.
Ryan McCarthy in Glenmoore, PA USA 08/20/2010
Best:
Why: We just wandered around a found places to eat. Didn't really use the book a whole lot for this.
c armstrong in hilliard, OH USA 07/20/2010
Best: Lipsos
Why: Local resteratunt on the Flower Passage that had varied entres and appetizers. Little costly (20tl) per person, but food was well worth the cost. Good variety of Turkish dishes along with seafood and nice ambience.
Dianne in Austin, TX USA 07/06/2010
Best: Cokcok and Otantik (tie)
Why: Nice outdoor terrace, great food, friendly service. We fell in love with the gozleme at Otantik and the little "mamma" that made it for us. Other favorite dishes overall were karides guvec and mediye dolma. Gusta is a tasty beer with a Blue Moon finish, and the wine was by and large very decent.
Clara in Cincinnati, OH USA 05/17/2010
Best: Hamdi
Why: Best food
Worst: Doy Doy
Why: Not as good as Buhara 93
George lauscher in Pocono Summit, PA USA 01/26/2010
Best: The Doy Doy
Why: Not only was the food amazing, but the view is the best in Istanbul. We ate around 6:30pm, which was early enough to get the perfect table on the roof. Ask for the sample platter. It comes with a variety of Turkish specialties and easily feeds four.
Kelley Snead in Washington, DC USA 07/31/2009
Best: DoyDoy & Otantik
Why: The views of the Blue Mosque and the water from DoyDoy's terrace are memorable, food is good. The food at Otantik is the tastiest I have had in 2 trips to Istanbul, with a nice atmosphere & friendly staff.
Dale in Fairfield, OH USA 07/19/2009
Best: doy doy
Why: Nice view, great service/prices.
Jane Wolfarth in Salt Lake City, ut USA 06/21/2009
Best: Bostana Restaurant
Why: It was the most unexpected, fun thing we did in Istanbul. We were on a cruise that stayed overnight in Istanbul, so after doing all the required tourist activities, we took the funicular to Taksim Square and found the restaurant with some help (Rick's right, it's tricky!). We walked in to a small room with only 6-8 tables and not a single tourist. Our waiter spoke NO English and brought over a waitress with just enough English to describe a few things on the menu. We recognized shish kebab and pilaf, which we knew we wanted, figured out Caprese salad, then asked for what we hoped would be a dish of appetizers. We ended up with the most fabulous meal - ate every bit of it, even if we weren't sure what it was! We saw someone drinking what we knew from Rick's book to be Raki, so we decided to be adventurous and ask for it. The waitress brought glasses, ice and bottled water, then enlisted the help of other patrons to give us directions on how to mix and drink it - sip, not gulp.
Marsha McCracken in Mill Creek, WA USA 06/17/2009
Best: Sultanahmet Koftecisi
Why: The meatballs were the most amazing meatballs I ever tasted! And the salad and pickled peppers were incredible. I loved this place for lunch!
Worst: Changa
Why: It wasn't open. :)
Sara Patterson in Atlanta, GA USA 06/15/2009
Best: Street food and lokanta
Why: We were in street food heaven, and the steam table places had remarkably tasty food.
Matti in Chicago, IL USA 04/12/2009
Best: Sarnic Restaurant and Rumeli Cafe
Why: Both located in Sultanahmet and both fanastic. Sarnic is set in an underground cistern and lit only with candlelight. Fantastic meal and great way to finish out our trip. Rumeli has good atmosphere as well - small rooms, white tablecloths, roaring fires and great food.
Worst: Rejans
Why: Mediocre food and REALLY bad service. Our waiter disappeared for 20 minutes at a time. Our table was moved THREE times while we were dining. The first was to adjust the table so I could see the entertainment they had booked - no problem. The other two times were shoving our table around to make room for other tables. The last time, the manager basically yelled at us to "Move move move!!!" and dragged our table across the room. Plus, 30 lira mysteriously appeared on our tab at the end of the night. My husband was assured no service charges had been added but asked for an itemized bill - you guessed it, the service charges had already been added in. Just a really bad experience.
Shelby in Columbia, SC USA 04/08/2009