Nola Istanbul

This was a brand new spot when I was in Istanbul. We came here with a huge group and they easily accommodated us all. We took over the outside bar and huge private section of outdoor seating. The staff was great and they even stayed open over 2 hours after there were supposed to close just for us! Nola’s interior is beautiful with a huge upper level. Drinks were great and the food was delicious.
Highlight was the pan fried sea bass, absolutely incredible dish! So much flavor and perfectly cooked fish.
The yogurt kebab was really good as well. Grilled meatballs and beef tenderloin with pita and yogurt, excellent flavor!
Manti (Turkish ravioli) were delicious. They were covered in a spicy brown butter sauce but topped with a garlic yogurt to help cool down the heat.

This turned out to be the best surprise during our Istanbul visit. We were visiting Istanbul to celebrate NYE and the blizzard put a damper on our celebrations. We were lucky to find NOLA near our apartment and it turned out to be a wonderful spot to ring in the new year.
We did not realize it is a prix-​fixe menu for NYE, but it turned out to be a great selection. The food was excellent (the chestnut soup was stellar), the cocktails were beautiful, and the wine selection paired well with the food. The space itself is very sleek and sexy, but the sexier part of Nola is the wait staff. Kudos to the recruiting person — they have an eye to select beautiful wait staff who are also trained well. Our server explained everything to us in English — down to each ingredient in the dishes. We never had to look around for service or ask for a refill. Everything was taken care of promptly and professionally.
While I cannot speak about the rest of their menu, the prix-​fixe menu for NYE was excellent and the entire evening was lovely because of the sexy wait staff. The DJ cranked out some lovely tunes while we rand in the new year with a glass of bubbly and made us forget that we were stuck with a blizzard outside. Thank you for a lovely evening.

I haven’t written a review in a while — my husband has me galavanting around — and lucky for me — he snagged a reservation for NYE at NOLA on our visit to Istanbul.
I must say — this place is DARLING.
I can’t give it a «real» review — because we ended up here happenstance. A blizzard came through NYE weekend and we were staying adjacent to Galata Tower and were concerned about traveling and celebrating and drinking and the snow.
By the grace of the Holy Spirit and my husband we got a reservation «online.» We stopped in to confirm our reservation and there were no issues, just warm welcoming smiles.
Unbeknownst to us (because we did not ask), the menu was prix-​fixe. Lucky for us — the menu was perfect — and included a very large piece of tenderloin as a main course (I do think there was another option).
This is one of the few restaurants I actually enjoyed the cocktails — so much so I went without wine until the sparkling wine arrived at midnight.
The ambiance at NOLA, is sexy and contemporary — and LOVELY. The service at NOLA IS LOVELY and charming and welcoming. The servers were so lovely, as the courses were made of multiple components and the presentation so elegant, they took their time slowly to tell us in English all the components of each plate — it was really endearing and we felt very welcomed.
Did I mention the servers are very sexy unto themselves — yes indeed. Bonus points for smiling, sexy, servers.
NOLA is def on my list of recommendations for Istanbul sexy nights. I did note that another reviewer from Los Angeles (LOL) complained about the neighborhood — we stayed in that neighborhood — it is beyond safe, and free of «homeless people» — in fact there is a very lovely Turkish wine bar just around the corner, and a famous tea shop — so he may have confused this restaurant with a different one for sure — and anyone whom has been to Istanbul knows that the area around Galata Tower is extremely safe.
All that to be said — see you soon NOLA.

The first thing I noticed is that not the restaurant, it’s the area it’s in. Supposedly a historical area, it was full of homeless people and creepy looking people, it was scary to walk around at night.
The restaurant is in a bad location, no matter how «historical» they claim it to be.
The food is 3 stars at best, the halloumi cheese was very rubbery, the creamy pasta wasn’t that good, and the pizza wasn’t that great either.
Greatly overrated, I only came here because it was rated as «hot and new».
The view is very bad also…

Best restaurant I’ve been to yet in Istanbul. Just opened, but the wait staff is extremely professional, the food is 5-​star+, and the dining experience is top notch. I can’t recommend the restaurant enough, and it was our favorite in Istanbul. If you’re in the Galata neighborhood, especially for dinner, I strongly recommend you try.