Karaköy Lokantası

This restaurant was recommended by our Lonely Planet Istanbul guide and we tried to get a table for two on a Thursday night around 8:30pm to no avail — turned away at the door because we didn’t have a reservation! Undeterred, we came back the following night with a 9:00pm reservation which got us in. That said, showing up at 9:00pm even with a reservation means you probably won’t get seated until 9:20pm (which happened to us and a couple of other parties who were waiting). In any case, it’s worth the wait!
Karaköy Lokantası is pretty well-​known in the area, and rightfully so. The menu presents an interesting, somewhat traditional bill of Turkish fare with an interesting wine list to go with it. My sister and I enjoyed a few dishes selected from the menu — standouts included the grilled octopus, mixed Turkish salad, sigara boregi and köfte, all presented with flair and in very generous portions. We chose an interesting Sauvignon Blanc from a region just west of Istanbul which was new and unique to us.
The restaurant itself is beautiful — a bright, tiled, two-​level space thronging with hip groups of young locals sharing bottles of Raki and whiling the night away. Service here is super friendly, but slow to the point of frustration. That seems the norm in Istanbul, so just be patient and take in the fun scene while you wait! One of the more memorable meals we had in Istanbul and with good reason!

Great atmosphere and service for breakfast. The owner is a sweetheart, always making sure everything is up to her guest’s satisfaction. Definitely one of my favorite spots in Istanbul.

We got a recommendation for this place online. We didn’t know what to expect, but this place was awesome. We didn’t have reservations, but the hostess, Seçil put our name down… Call ahead for RSVP. Once seated, she proceeded to take us through a journey or Turkish Mezze… It was amazing. She is truly an asset to this place.

Karakoy Lokantasi is so popular. I want to say I get it, but I don’t. While the location is nice and the décor is nice, the food is subpar. Maybe this is unfair considering Istanbul has so many meyhane and meze places to choose from. But then again, how can you stand out amongst the rest? The mezes are good and it’s a great place for groups but that’s just about all it is. Overpriced and not worth going again in my opinion!

We were really lucky to have gotten a table for 4 on a Saturday night here without reservations. Service was really great. My friends and I had our first taste of raki here and the waiter was nice enough to explain to us that this is not an alcohol you shoot — haha. We ordered a few dishes to share — most memorable ones being the grilled octopus (so tasty and we’ll seasoned) and the grilled fish (pretty good). So glad we got to eat here on our last night in Istanbul!

This is the place for Meze!
You should come here and order from the great variety of turkish Meze (starters).
It’s a delight!
The Restaurant is located in one of the hip (currently) districts of Istanbul Karaköy. So if you’d like to come in the evening — especially on weekend — reservation is a must. Many locals come here — which is an additional sign that the quality is good.
I ate Liver (ciger), karaköy salad, hummus and fried zuccini — all really good and delicious! Paired with a Raki — a perfect combination.
Try it by yourself — i can absolutely recommend it!
And — if you still got room for a dessert — my hint don’t order here (even though I’m sure theirs is also good) go to Gülloglu located nearby — have a coffee, tea and Baklava and make the best possible out of your evening in Karaköy!
Enjoy!

Great food and service but the portions could be bigger. Even if we went there on a Wednesday night, the place was fully booked. So better to make a reservation. We ordered only mezes and all of them were delicious. I would higly recommend arnavut cigeri and ahtapot izgara.

We didn’t have a reservation on a Monday night at 6 pm but got one of the last few open tables.
The service was great, very professional and patient (we were waiting for a third for a bit), and they could describe everything in English very well. We left a box of desserts we’d gotten down the street here when we finished dinner and came back about 30 minutes later; they had out box safely stashed at the server’s station.
They don’t have Wi-​Fi here.
They have a display downstairs of all the cold mezes and that was really helpful for us.
80 TL before tips for three mezes, one starter, one glass of wine. We also got charged for the water and the bread.
See my photos for more details. The Grilled Octopus in the hot starters was the most amazing dish!
Overall, very high quality food, but quite pricey. Wish I’d come at lunch, I was looking forward to the Hunkar Beyendi, which is only a lunchtime dish.

Incredible place. Located in the heart of a changing incredible city. Its food is of the highest quality. It really is an authentic experience. The best thing i found to eat there is Beyendi with meat… this is an eggplant dish served warm and very incredible.

Phenomenal. I love the fish restaurant/​meyhane hang on the coast, but this is the perfect place to get that taste in Istanbul. Definitely make a reservation well in advance. The meze is great, I really like their calamari, and the greens are so fresh. You can’t go wrong with anything on the menu, but my favorite was the cow cheeks… truly memorable.

Exceptional place in an up-​and-​coming (Williamsburg-​asque) part of Istanbul. The appetizers are enough for a meal. The artichokes, the fava beans, oh my. The menu is rich and delicious and there are plenty of options for vegan and vegetarian choices. Enjoy !

My friend and I were at the Galata Tower early one morning and we decided to have lunch here. I had it bookmarked based on recommendations and I am so glad we managed a meal here.
We arrived just as they were opening for lunch, and were seated in the middle of the dining room. It was definitely on the more upscale side. At this point, I can’t remember exactly what we ordered… I believe we ordered the two eggplant dishes, the sunchokes, and my friend ordered a soup.
The sunchokes were just okay, but everything else was spectacular. The turks manage to make vegetables that I’m normally ambivalent about completely amazing. Service was not the best, but not bad enough to detract from the experience. Highly recommend for anyone visiting for a nicer, yet delicious meal!

Fun neighborhood restaurant. Loved the blue tiles and the simplicity of the white table cloths. The restaurant is known for its mezes; of which there is a wide selection. In fact, you go to the kitchen counter and point to the ones you want. From muamarra, humus, beet salad, Armenian type meze and do on. I enjoyed the atmosphere and no one is chasing you out the door. Just as well since my friend and I didn’t leave until after midnight.

Lovely, minimalist place with many good dishes, a straightforward menu, and attentive service.

Restaurant sur deux étages dans un style bistrot! Très sympa! Nous y avons mangé de la salade, des calamars grillés et frits, des poulpes etc… Excellente cuisine … Manifestement une très bonne adresse car il est difficile de trouver une table pour deux personnes même hors saison !!! L’ambiance est sympa mais le ballet incessant des fumeurs — aussi bien au rez de chaussée qu’à l’étage sur la minuscule terrasse — rend l’expérience franchement désagréable surtout s’il fait 1 degré dehors et que votre table se trouve sur le chemin ! :-(

This review is for their lunch menu which I have eaten more than 200 times. (yep, two hundred). The only thing I do not like there is the tripe soup (I love tripe soup but not theirs). That’s it. You can pretty much eat anything on the menu and I doubt you will be disappointed. Probably the best place in Istanbul to eat authentic Turkish dishes. They may not have many choices like Çiya but to me their dishes taste better than Çiya.
I have eaten dinner (meyhane actually) there once and I was not as impressed but I should give them another chance for dinner. However, that night I have eaten the best keşkül ever in my life. My wife and mom agreed on that too:)

Beautiful restaurant close to Modern Istanbul and Karakoy, a nice neighborhood with cute cafes. Blue & white tiles everywhere, it does create a special atmosphere. Ingredients are fresh and every dish I had was delicious. Be aware that portions are not giant. If you are starving, eat more than just an appetizer and an entrée. Also, waitresses were very friendly, which was unusual in my experience in the city.

Just a short walk north from the Galata Bridge near the waterfront is a charming little restaurant that has proven to have perhaps the best (and most consistent) food I have had in my three visits to Istanbul over this last year.
The mezzes have all been very tasty: the humus, the tabbouleh and most especially the eggplant rolled with tomatoes and onion. The last item was just exquisite. The Turks do amazing things with eggplant and squash, food items I don’t normally gravitate to. Here do try their fried squash (mucver). For meat dishes, I’m fond of their meat stuffed cabbage dish and their veal stew.
Getting a table for dinner is a challenge here and on several visits I’ve had to settle for lunch, which is very pleasant and even more reasonably priced than their alsready moderate dinner prices (my lunch bill for one came to TL 35, my dinner bill came to TL 55) These included lovely desserts, quince with cream and dried figs with cream. Both delicious.
Go, but do plan ahead and get reservations.

Perfect experience! Lovely interior, all waiters friendly and the food was excellent, and you have the feeling that they made an effort that for each dish they made an effort and that they care about food.
100% recommended

Fantastic all the way around. A friend in Florence Italy made reservations for me saying it was sometimes tough to get a table and I could not contact them (for whatever reason) from Seattle.
Arrived, sat, ordered a taste of almost everything, and of course some Raki too!
Delicious and I would go back in a second if/​when I’m there again!

Nachdem ich gestern Abend keinen Tisch bekam, habe ich es heute zum Mittagessen noch einmal versucht. Ich hatte Mezze zur Vorspeise! Lamm mit Aubergine zum Hauptgang und Pudding und Mokka zum Dessert. Es war wirklich sehr lecker. Der Service war sehr freundlich und kümmerte sich sehr um mich (teilweise zu schnell, aber es war in Ordnung). Preislich war es auch super. Hier werde ich gerne wieder herkommen.

Such tasty and satisfying food, very nice atmosphere, very good service, reasonable price — I’m absolutely, 100% a fan of Karaköy Lokantası.
Karakoy area has been transforming and many new places have opened recently and Karakoy Lokantasi is one of the best ones. It is very easy to reach the place even from Anatolian or European part. Karakoy is on the ferry and tram route and if you want to come by your own car, the parking lot is very close to the restaurant.
There are two saloons at upstairs and downstairs with an outside seating area but still reservation is required. The interior walls of the saloons are cladded with shiny blue tiles which reflect a traditional ambience with the metal stair. I appreciate that the mosaic floor tiles were preserved since most people try to get rid of these very nice ancient material while renovating the spaces.
There are many options for cold dishes (meze) and it is not easy to decide what to choose. We listened to our waitress and all the food we tried were extremely fresh and tasty. We went for humus, tabbouleh, meshed faba beans, purslane with yoghurt, meshed eggplant for cold dishes accompanied with RAKI of course. Then, for hot we had mucver (fried meshed squash) which is absolutely recommended. It tasted like my mum’s mucver which I couldn’t reach the exact consistency; different type of crispy squash served with natural yoghurt; liver slices with fresh cut onions; grilled octopus; shrimp at casserole accompanied with RAKI of course.
Then, unfortunately we were too full to continue with main dishes which sounded extremely delicious but there were no room for them. However we couldn’t skip the desert and we ordered quince with cream, fig desert with cream, gummy pudding which were too good. My favorites were figs with walnut and quince. Next time I am dying to try chocolate soufflé. We decided to come again as soon possible.

Waren vor 2 Tage zu mittag da. Sehr freundlicher Service, Essen Preis-​Leistung ist Top. Wir kommen wieder.

Sauberes, gut geführtes Lokal. Die Lage ist etwas abgeschieden, dennoch war es bis auf den letzten Platz voll. Der Geräuschpegel war dementsprechend hoch
Das Essensangebot ist konsequent türkisch, die Qualität sehr gut und der Service war trotz Hochbetrieb sehr aufmerksam.