Istanbul

Best and worst restaurants:

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

Best: The Sarnic Restaurant
Why: Just being in the exquisite room was a thrill, but the food and wine were top notch and made our last night in Istanbul one we will never forget.

Carol Miller in Cypress, CA USA 11/20/2008

Best: havuzbasi rest & tea house
Why: fun environment, the manager was nice and took photos for us

Worst: doydoy
Why: best prices, but awful environment. It was crowded with other tourists holding guidebooks & cameras. No music or happy experience. However 15 YTL for a mixed meat plate is the best deal on the trip.

Aron Kansal in Prague, CZ Czech Republic 10/30/2008

Best: Sultanahmet Koftecisi
Why: Great food, inexpensive, and really does have locals eating there. Beware of the restaurant next door with almost the same name --- check street number.

Gail Gerdemann in Albany, OR USA 06/26/2008

Best: Doy Doy Restaurant
Why: Great menu, great prices and very friendly service. Be sure to go to the top decks to eat as the views of the Blue Mosque are spectacular.

Amy Sinclair in Novato, CA USA 06/05/2008

Worst: Sultan Pub
Why: The book says it is cheap -- no way -- beers are 9 YTL for local stuff way more for imports. Also the food is expensive.

John Dillon in New York, NY USA 05/27/2008

Best: Lale Restaurant
Why: Good food at a reasonable price. Friendly service. Straightforward ordering.

Worst: Balikci Sabahattin
Why: Expensive restaurant, snobby service. Fried or grilled fish required not special or unique - at the Bosphorus is likely just as good and much cheaper. Worst of all, we were treated in a snobby fashion with active coersion to order more. Finally, we were tricked into ordering multiple portions of mezes. These entrees were presented in identically sized dishes but each dish could contain 1, 2 or 3 portions of the dish - something you did not find out until the end when the bill arrives and the squid cost 30 YTL instead of the 10YTL that one expected!

Not worthy of a Rick Steves mention and our worst restaurant experience in following Rick over 7 years while living and vacationing in Europe.

Suzanne Lau in St Ismier, France 04/28/2008

Worst: Yesil Ev
Why: It's more like $$$. The waiter was very serious. You should say it's very classy which is nice, but it's not worth paying for because we found another restaurant to recommend instead of this (Enjoyer Cafe).

Mark McKnight in Austin, TX USA 04/07/2008

Worst: Balikci Sabahattin
Why: Way over-priced, the waiters were in too much of a hurry, and the food was fairly dull. This was a good lesson that we should steer clear of the Sultanahmet area if we wanted good food at a reasonable price.

Gary Fogal in Renton, WA USA 03/16/2008

Worst: Cumhuriyet Meyhanesi
Why: Indifferent service, but most of all, dried out meats from overcooking or recooking.

mm gillen in potomac, md USA 12/09/2007

Best: Taksim Sutis on Istiklal Cad.
Why: Delicious entree loaded with doner kebab; helpful staff; fun explanations of puddings -- but chicken pudding??!! I'll definitely return.

Helen Holter in Seattle, WA USA 11/01/2007

Best: Sultanahmet Koftecisi
Why: Simple but good food, lively place to eat, convenient, cheap. It is busy now; I wonder what it will be like once hordes of Rick Steves readers descend on it.

Dale in Fairfield, Oh USA 07/20/2007