76 Best Restaurants in Turkey

Excellent coffees, detox juices, herbal teas, croissants or healthy sour-bread breakfasts, vegan dishes, German-style baked cakes, cookies, and desserts are served in this bright yellow corner cafe on the traffic road leading away from the Bodrum Marina. A breakfast Bellini is possible, as it is licensed for alcohol service. The team also creates the Munchbox takeout or delivery boxes of savory or sweet platter nibbles.

A homey, peaceful retreat on the southern edge of the old city serves great coffee, fruit smoothies, homemade American cakes, and home-cooked lunches that include both Turkish and Asian dishes. Part of the St. Paul Cultural Center, it's one of the rare inexpensive eateries in central Antalya with distinctive and high-quality food. There's a library of exchange books on-site, as well as a gift shop with some lovely and unusual offerings (notably traditional jewelry from eastern Turkey) and a garden so quiet it's hard to believe you're so close to Kaleiçi's main drag.

Every Turkish village has a fırın: a tasty, unpretentious bakery that churns out a daily bounty of smooth puddings, flaky pastries, fresh bread, and sweets. The amazing thing about this one is that it's survived in the heart of touristy Kaleiçi—and with reasonable prices, and friendly service. Options include spicy spinach börek and incirli cevizli muhallebisi, a delectable milk pudding flavored with local figs and walnuts.

This local favorite is the place to come for dessert; in addition to black forest cake and semolina cake, there's ice cream in many different flavors, served in a homemade waffle cone. Sakızlı muhallebi, a local specialty, is Turkish milk pudding flavored with gum mastic, the aromatic resin of the mastic tree. A beloved local brand, İmren has opened a casual Turkish restaurant on the same street (Kemalpaşa Cad. 70), as well as an Alaçatı hotel.

This very popular bakery in hip Alsancak serves up probably the broadest selection you’ll find of boyoz, a round flaky pastry with Sephardic roots that’s these days almost unique to İzmir. Get yours savory or sweet, or perhaps with a hard-boiled egg on the side in traditional style. Go early for the best selection, and you might even get a gevriği, the İzmir version of the Turkish circular simit.

The place to be on a busy Bursa weekend evening, this irrepressible meyhane is a local institution, serving a delectable selection of fish fresh from the open-air market on the corner. In the early 1930s, a veteran of the War of Independence nicknamed "Arab" Şükrü opened a fish restaurant here on Sakarya Caddesi, a narrow side street just south of Altıparmak Caddesi; now the whole area carries his name, and his descendants run both this venue and a competing establishment just opposite. The entire street is a lively and popular dining spot, with affable musicians wandering around the many tables.

This busy, counter-serve spot is the place for pide (stone-baked dough with savory toppings). The kavurmalı version, topped with slow-cooked chunks of lamb is especially recommended or, if you can't decide go for the üçlü option, which has three toppings.

An old Urfa stone house looks out over the city's citadel and the fish-pool complex. Sit on the terrace or in one of the several çardaks, small private rooms where you can recline on pillows. The food, the usual mix of kebabs and pides, is unexciting, but the location makes up for it and they have live local traditional music most nights.

In the heart of town, Arzu has inexpensive, simple, and satisfying Turkish fare that is popular with locals, especially at lunchtime. The pide, lahmacun, and lentil soup are particularly tasty, and the staff is friendly. The restaurant's interior is a bit cramped, but there are more tables on the sidewalk outside—perfect for watching the goings-on in town.

You have to pass through a small door off one of Diybarbakır's narrow old city lanes to get to this simple restaurant in a restored historic stone home with a shaded courtyard—there's a sign but you may need to ask for directions. The small menu includes delicious sac tava, chunks of beef sautéed in a woklike pan with tomatoes and green peppers; it's served in the pan, with a mound of flatbread to soak up the tasty juices. This is also a pleasant spot to enjoy a cup of coffee or tea.

This charming outdoor café and restaurant is just a five-minute walk from the Priene ruins and features a shaded, leafy atmosphere with gazebos and picnic tables. The menu consists of classic Turkish staples and the specialty is gözleme: savory crepes stuffed with either potato, spinach, or cheese.

There's no menu at this friendly, family-run spot in Behramkale's tiny main square: Just pick from the selection of mezes on display (don't miss the crunchy, garlicky greens called deniz börülcesi), and let one of the waiters tell you which meat dishes are available that day. The covered terrace looks over the village and down to the sea—it's a wonderful spot to watch the sun set—while a few seats out front let you watch the comings and goings on the square. Alcohol is served.

This Antakya-style meyhane draws a lively crowd of diners with its atmospheric setting and delicious local cuisine. Tables are arrayed in the courtyard (avlu) and on overlooking balconies in a restored mansion, making the place feel like one big dinner party. If you don’t fill up on meze like hummus, mütebbel (eggplant dip with tahini), olive salad with sour pomegranate molasses, or atom (yogurt laced with spicy peppers), there are kebabs and other grilled meats aplenty—and crispy candied pumpkin with tahini and walnuts for dessert.

Fresh delicious food at reasonable prices in atmospheric surroundings—this is a real find tucked away inside a peaceful stone-walled courtyard amidst the chaotic energy of Kemeraltı Bazaar. Make your own plate (cost is by weight) from the colorful variety of lovingly displayed salads, vegetarian dishes, savory pastries, and other home-cooked dishes for a bargain lunch. It closes early, at 6 pm, so it's not a practical dinner option unless you are bringing your food home.

This little shop inside a spice bazaar is considered by many Turks nationwide to have the best baklava in the country. Run by a fifth-generation baklava maker, this humble store turns out a delicious version of the classic dessert, as well as other phyllo-and-nut-based sweets.

Fresh-grilled fish with raw onions encased in a lightly grilled, oily wrap is the perfect lunch-to-go, and while the seaside is dotted with many balık dürüm (fish wrap) vendors, this small storefront on a Karaköy side street is the best of the bunch.

Bitez Dondurma's creamy ice cream concoctions full of fresh fruit have proved so popular that the shop now has branches all over the Bodrum Peninsula, and as far away as Istanbul. The waterfront location in Bodrum's town center is a convenient spot to grab a scoop or two as you stroll along the promenade. Sit down for coffee, waffles, and more ice cream.

A humble and hospitable spot for a quick bite on your way to or from the beach and ruins, this simple, open-air eatery offers a wide range of gözleme (a stuffed Turkish crepe), including those with less-common fillings like eggplant and cheese or chicken with walnuts, as well as sweet options. You can also get egg dishes, meatballs, chicken kebabs, and other standard fare.

This basic steam-table restaurant serves the usual menu of stews and casseroles but the owners have tried to add some class by hanging white lace curtains and putting pots of plastic yellow flowers on the walls—your call if it's classy or tacky. Either way, the food is tasty, the staff is friendly, and the location, down the street from the Mor Barsaumo church, makes this one of the few decent options near Midyat's old town.

This airy café-bakery, filled with lush green plants and big greenhouse-style windows, has an extensive menu of coffees, sweets, and brunch foods.

The more blue-collar or on-the-go way to eat fish in Turkey is the balik ekmek, a salty grilled fish sandwich often stuffed with onion, tomato, and lettuce. With Dikili's access to quality fresh fish, the flavor multiplies at this portside restaurant, with tables spilling out onto the street. Other classic Turkish seafood dishes available include fried calamari and mussels stuffed with rice, pine nuts, and currants.

A real neighborhood spot located close to the seaside, Doorstep is a meeting point for locals and visitors to drink coffee by day and alcohol by night. With a limited lunch menu and a mix of indoor and outdoor seating, the place has a laid-back vibe and an easy charm.

This Beşiktaş restaurant is a family affair, serving home-cooked Turkish cuisine with a twist and run by a brother-sister-mother team. Like a typical Turkish lokanta (a cafeteria-style restaurant, usually for workers), the food is prepared ahead of time, and you can choose many options to fill your plate.

The main attraction here is home-style kuru fasulye, white beans slow-cooked in tomato paste and oil. Located centrally on a bustling Karakoy corner with a two-story dining hall chock-full of communal long tables, there is always a spot and always a crowd enjoying local cuisine.

This restaurant does exactly what its name suggests: serves up tasty döner kebabs, pide topped with the usual range of meat and cheese, and crispy lahmacun (baked dough topped with ground meat, fresh parsley, and a squeeze of lemon). Try a mercimek (lentil) soup to start (ask for az porsiyon to get a small bowl).

No trip to Antakya is complete without eating künefe, a rich dessert with thinly soft cheese in between layers of pastry, baked in an oven and topped with sugar syrup. A row of shops selling the local sweet line the road in between the bridge into the old town and the beginning of the Uzun Çarşı. Ferah, in business since 1948, is a deservedly popular favorite.

Squeezed into a former market stall in the heart of the Grand Bazaar, the small kitchen at Fes Café turns out simple sandwiches, salads, excellent fresh lemonade and fruit juices, homemade desserts, and other American-style fare. The fuller menu includes salads, pastas, and meat dishes.

Occupying several rooms and storefronts on both sides of narrow Kallavi Sokak, this down-to-earth restaurant is best known for Turkish standards and Circassian specialties, including the signature fıccın, a savory pastry filled with ground meat. The menu, which changes daily, always includes a range of mezes—many of them vegetarian—as well as a handful of simple meat and fish dishes, and prices are extremely reasonable.

In the heart of Ayvalık, just north of Saatli Cami, this eatery serves up filling lunches to hardworking street traders; it's tiny but almost always full, so you may have to share one of the dozen or so tables. The Turkish home cooking—rice, beans, eggplant with minced meat, and lamb stew—is delicious, making this the perfect place for lunch when wandering the historic part of the town. A red 1970s rotary telephone adds some character.