Istanbul Restaurant

Great authentic Turkish food! We had the mixed appetizer platter and the combo 3 plate. The flavors were amazing! We finished with the desserts and chai tea… so good. Our server was fabulous and the owner took time to chat with us. This is your place for authentic Turkish food in Nashville.

Good quality food. Reasonably priced. Highly recommend. I recommend having the Kofte Kabob. Very friendly staff

A hidden gem.
This is our go-​to date spot. The service is wonderful and the chef is a delight who pours his soul and heritage into his cooking.
Great portions, too!

Awesome food and service. Really glad they have their own parking as well. Friendly environment.

A friend of many decades and I come to Istanbul every few months. It’s not fancy, but the food is always good. Each day there’s a special; the day we were there it was spinach stew.
My first thought was — well, you’re probably thinking the same thing — but, it was great. It came with plenty of rice to add to it along with pita bread. I always plan to bring half of a restaurant meal home, but I gobbled down the whole thing. I was full so passed on indulging in another fave which is the rice pudding.
The specials are different with lamb, beef, chicken, vegetables, etc depending on what the owner/​chef feels like. There is a varied menu so you can order from it instead of the special.
They make good sweet iced tea, too, but there is no boza for any real aficionados of Turkish food. In fact, there is none in Nashville that I know of.
I will be back.

One of my favorite restaurants in Nashville. The döners are excellent, the Iskandar döner is absolutely amazing. Don’t forget to get some pecan baklava.

Yum! Got the app sampler, yogurt soup and chicken platter– all were delicious. Service was good, no frills– don’t expect amazing ambience. No alcohol but you’re allowed to byob for no charge!

Worst tasting gyros. Practically had no taste. Just a chunk of meat without any sauce, tomatoes onions nothing. Don’t understand how they got so many stars. We literally had to throw food.

Went with my friend Kennedy, some of the best lamb meat I’ve ever had! Hummus is great! Definitely an explosion in your mouth! Owner was super friendly and told us whatever thing was :).

Rarely do I give a 5-​star rating. The food was flavorful and plentiful. I had the Istanbul Combo, lentil soup, pecan baklava and I took gyros and a Turkish wedding cake home for lunch the following day. The coffee i ordered for the ride home was fantastic. The herb mixture on the combo was right for my taste, but the hummus had a too much paprika for my taste. The pita was equal to what is available on grocery shelves, but let us be honest and say that a small restaurant is not going to bake their own breads. The building is small, and the neighborhood could be better, but at no point did I feel unsafe. The service was great; I believe her name was Kayla. The owner, Mehmet, was most gracious, as was the server, especially considering we ordered an hour before they closed. I will absolutely return and recommend it to friends.

It’s all relative right? If you have experienced middle eastern food in other larger cities then this is going to feel like a few steps down. But when you don’t have many authentic international options in Nashville this works. Since I’m «Princess Foodie» and middle eastern is my favor flave then hopefully this will help:
Ups: All 3 soups great, gyro and Donnor meat good, hummus is amazing. Hot cinnamon tea good. Owner so sweet-​always wants to give me free stuff to try
Downs: Location of town not great, building shoddy, atmosphere lacking, chicken shish dry-​lacks flavor, cucumber yogurt just ok, pita dry old and styrofoam-​esque.
Would refer or return? Yes

This quickly reminded me of one of those random sketchy places in Chicago. There was a foul stench I noticed as soon as I walked inside and started to regret buying food from here because I was questioning the cleanliness of the place. By the way, the place was dead on a Friday…
We got the gyros sandwich and asked to make it spicy. Not a hint of spice in our sandwiches. Also, I was hoping he would put the tzatziki sauce on the sandwich but he gave it on the side. So basically our sandwich was gyros, lettuce, tomatoes with pita bread (in other words, it was very bland!). I poured two entire tzatziki cups + many packets of Taco Bell fire so I wasn’t just eating dry gyros.
The gyros was good, but not great.

I highly recommend the molded ground beef thingy. Sorry I forgot what they called it! Everything we had here was really good, but that stuff was outstanding. I’ll be getting a full order next time instead of the steak kabob. Last time I just stole a bite of husband’s to try. Glad I did though. The baklava was awesome. The ground beef was awesome. The steak was good. All in all, excellent dining.

The hummus was good, but not the best I have had. I must admit I was a little disappointed in the lack of spice in the rice… Almost seemed overcooked as well.
I ordered the kafta special. The kafta was good and cooked nicely. The meat was good and helped spice up the rice.
I would like to come back to give the place another try…

Wow, what a restaurant! I stopped in on Saturday to get a chicken pita, hummus, and baklava. I cannot complement them enough on their hummus. It was delicious, really amazing and fresh. The tahini taste was just as I love it. Usually I gripe that I never get enough pitas with the hummus, but not here. They load you up with the perfect amount! No pita left behind, no hummus left behind.
The seating area is simple, but clean. The waitress was quick and friendly. She let me take my time while I scanned the menu. Overall it cost me $ 13 for the pita sandwich, hummus, and a slice of pecan baklava. Not bad, right? I would also like to mention the baklava was fantastic. I wish I bought like 5 pieces of baklava!

At first sight, this place can feel a little sketchy based on appearance alone, but once you meet the fantastic owner, and try the food, you’ll be pleasantly surprised. I love the falafel sandwich, and the lentil soup. Both are made with care, and very delicious. And while fries are never a good choice, their fries are seasoned very uniquely, and are super addictive!
In my opinion, this is one of Nashville’s best kept secrets for vegan/​vegetarian food. According to them, the falafel sandwich without the yogurt sauce is vegan. And a HUGE value!
Don’t let the ethnic, ma and pa vibe scare you off. I think that comes with the territory with this style of food.
Enjoy!

Let me start off by saying how I have been in town for a year and a half, searching this city high and low for a place that makes a good chicken and beef kabob. Coming from Toronto, I had no idea how spoiled I was in that department and thus my standards were far too high moving down here. However, I visited nearly every single restaurant in the greater Nashville area and for the most part the chicken was either stale, hard, and overall just pretty disgusting. The claimed «authentic Greek» restaurant Tzaziki served probably the worst chicken I’ve ever had in my life lol.
Regardless, I wish I never wasted my time with the other places because this place was incredible compared to every other kabob restaurant in the city. The chicken came pipin hot off the grill, the beef kabob was tender and the kofta was great. I’m Lebanese, so the tabbouleh was not my mommas tabbouleh by any means but I appreciated the fresh taste. The saffron yellow rice tasted like home. It was pretty amazing. I was really surprised by the value — unbeatable. I paid $ 15 for a drink, soup, 3 diff kinds of meat, rice, and 2 salads plus bread.
For any kabob cravings you may have, do yourself a favor and come here! Unlike most of the other places, it’s actually fresh. Enjoy

I really didn’t like the food… I’ve tried Moroccan and Afghan dishes which I think would be the closest to what I expected their food to be. Complex spices savory sauces… instead the lamb shank I ordered was the equivalent of a boiled chicken with a dusting of Adobo seasonings.
The redeeming value is its customer service, my waiter was nice and offered I tried dessert baklava… nope. It was so old and stale… nice try A for effort… not sure I would ever go back.

It’s a shame I don’t live in this state because the food is so good here. We were looking for something different and this place came up on Unilocal.
We ordered the half and half, (half hummus, half baba ganoush), Istanbul combo and gyro sandwich with fries. The food came out hot and the portions were decent. The meat was well seasoned and the hummus was great.
The service was friendly and attentive. The young lady who took care of us was kind enough to give us a free piece of baklava and wedding cookie when we ordered rice pudding only to find they were out of it.
I’d come back to this place next time I visit Nashville.

Venturing down Nolensville Road the other evening, the German and I decided we needed sustenance. Instead of our typical fare, we opted to try out Istanbul. My husband knows far more about Turkish cuisine than I because his home town of Hamburg has a very large Turkish population. Me? Not so much. My foray into most Mediterranean cuisine hinges on the mundane and typical little gyro shop. So I am not one who knows if it is authentic or not, instead I go by what my taste buds prefer.
Parking was a challenge. We circled the block 2 – 3 times and finally were able to score a spot in front of the restaurant. Neither of us was certain as to why there was such a difficult time snagging a spot because upon entering, we were two of only six patrons.
It was quiet when we entered. We were able to select our seats and peruse the menu. My German opted for the Iskender and I ordered the Kuzy. I was asked what type of soup I wanted and I selected the Tarhana, a thick, nippy yogurt soup. I like spicy and hot but this got to be a bit much for me to keep spooning into my mouth so I finally started dipping the warm, fresh pita in it and found that much more to my taste.
Without being asked, my husband was brought a small bowl of the white bean soup. It too was a bit nippy but not nearly as much so as my Tarhana. It was thick, like a bean chili (which, as a native Texan is an oxymoron because chili should NOT have beans in it — but that’s a horse of a different color) and had a tomato base. It was deliciously satisfying and he and I both agreed that we preferred his soup over mine.
When our entrées arrived we were both overwhelmed with the sheer quantity of food we both had in front of us. My Kuzy plate came with one lamb shank (you can order a second for $ 6.00 more) with delicately fragrant yellow rice, tabouleh and cucumber salad. There was also a dipping sauce referred to on the menu as cucumber sauce. It was thinner that tzatziki and much sweeter with less creaminess. It was good but a bit too sweet for my taste so I’m glad it was in its own ramekin versus coating my lamb shank. Speaking of the lamb, it was lovely! Lightly seasoned and well prepared — it quite literally fell off of the bone when I first cut into it. For $ 12.99 it was a bargain to be sure! You would be hard pressed to pay less than $ 20 at more upscale places for the meaty deliciousness that was my lamb shank.
My husband’s Iskender was a base of toasted pita covered with lamb gyro, coated with what is referred to on the menu as house marinara (which is a rich, tomato base with a wonderful bit of heat to it) and then a large serving of yogurt on the top which is sprinkled with fresh herbs. I am not typically a fan of yogurt (unless it is frozen and chocolate) but this yogurt was scrumptious! Thick, velvety, smooth and just the right amount of tang. It was the perfect complement to the spice of the sauce and the richness of the lamb. But my favorite part? The toasted pitas underneath just hanging out there and absorbing all the essences of the lamb and that marinara goodness were almost transcendent. His dish was so large that we brought over half of it home and shared it the next day for lunch. At $ 12.99, that was the biggest bargain of the evening since we ate off of it for three complete meals.
Neither of us saved room for dessert. Next time I will because the baklava looked amazing. I’d also like to have a cup of Turkish coffee as well. I did not think that prudent on an evening when I’d have to work the next day. I do prefer to sleep some at night.
We are both looking forward to going again and trying a few other items on the menu. I’ll keep you apprised of what we try next