43 Best Restaurants in Turkey

Authentic Turkish mezes with delicious imaginative twists such as added peach or apple are displayed in the cabinet, where one of the family, Ümmühan, will assist with her infectious pleasure in explaining their dishes. Mains can be meatballs, kebabs, tender meats, liver, mushrooms, or if the fresh fish of the day. All dishes are attentively served at tables tucked into a lovely hidden garden in summer or in cooler weather, in a quaint, Bodrum-style, white one-story house. Local and regional Turkish wines, plus a menu of raki blends are offered to the many local and visiting diners who return to this haven of dining.

If you are kebabed out, this old town restaurant has some of the best contemporary cuisine on the coast and serves it in an appropriately stylish setting. The menu changes regularly, though it's basically modern European with lashings of Southeast Asia. There's also a stylish lounge area where you can order coffee during the day or cocktails at night. It's on the pricey side for Turkey, but so is most of Kaleiçi—and this is some of the best food you'll find here.

This outdoor terrace overlooking the waterfront is an ideal spot in Dalyanköy for a splurgy seafood dinner. After meze of kabak çiçeği dolması (stuffed zucchini flowers) and deniz börülcesi (samphire), and a main of tuzda balık (fish baked in salt), try to find room for sakızlı muhallebi, creamy traditional milk pudding flavored with gum mastic.

Popular with locals and visitors alike, Giritli offers a prix-fixe multicourse dinner menu of well-prepared Cretan specialties that includes unlimited local alcoholic drinks (wine or rakı). At least 15 different cold mezze—such as sea bass ceviche, herb-covered cubes of feta cheese with walnuts and olives, and various uncommon wild greens—are followed by hot starters like fried calamari in olive oil; the main course is a choice among several grilled fish, followed by dessert.

This lovely restaurant on the waterfront specializes not only in fresh fish, seafood, and meze but also serves an excellent summer brunch. Tables are only a few feet from the peaceful waters of the bay, with a truly romantic view of the ancient ruins of Rabbit Island, often with a soft breeze. The waitstaff are cheery and attentive, and though the kitchen has been refurbished almost beyond recognition, it retains a 300-year-old hearth from when it served as the bakery for the surrounding villages.

Fresh, creative mezes, eclectic seafood dishes, and zingy salads are accompanied by a great list of high-quality Turkish wines at this local culinary institution, which recently moved from its former terraced setting to a new, tranquil garden setting among pomegranate and fig trees. It's the same owners behind the tantalizingly inventive but great value menu, whose culinary combinations are not often found elsewhere.

Chef-owner Musa Dağdeviren, who hails from the southeastern Turkish city of Gaziantep, is something of a culinary anthropologist, offering truly unique dishes made using recipes from around Turkey. This restaurant, Çiya Sofrası—the original of the three no-frills branches along the same street—is known for its seasonal meat- and vegetarian-based daily specials that feature unusual flavor combinations. Nearby Çiya Kebap serves top-notch kebabs along with home-style dishes.

Though the sweeping sea view is the star attraction of this meyhane above the harbor, the service and the food hold their own. Fresh fish, seafood, and meze are the traditional pairings with the rakı and Turkish wines on offer, including a wide array of tasty grilled shrimp dishes, köfte, and lemony fried fish.

One of Sultanahmet's most outstanding restaurants emphasizes the Arab- and Kurdish-influenced cuisine of southeastern Turkey, including mezze like hummus, muhammara (hot pepper and walnut spread), and thyme salad, as well as tasty kebabs like lamb shish. One of the interesting non-kebab main dishes on offer is the chicken stew, which has chunks of meat in a thick sauce of onions, mushrooms, and sweet pumpkin.

If you want to eat in the harbor area, many would say this your best bet. The tables are well spaced, trees offer shade, the service is good, and the food is excellent (if expensive). Fresh seafood is the specialty, including melt-in-your-mouth garlic prawns, but there's something for everyone on the international menu. The view over the western beach is just right at sunset. Service is attentive; if there's a chill in spring or fall, you can count on the waiters to bring out blankets. Reservations are highly recommended for dinner, especially in high season.

Housed in one of Kadıköy’s historic Moda apartment buildings, Aida’s dimly lit coziness brings the feeling of an Italian bistro to Istanbul. The Italian chef creates authentic cuisine, and some nights, there is live piano music to accompany dinner.

This restaurant with exposed brick walls in the popular Tünel area of Beyoğlu offers specialties of Turkey's Arab-influenced southeastern Hatay province. The menu includes a variety of meze and kebabs with intense flavors and served with Antiochia's uncommonly tasty chile pepper–rubbed flatbread.

Rather small and with a sophisticated design, Areni serves a variety of dishes, with simple and delicious twists, from Anatolia and beyond. Topik, a local favorite, is almost like a stuffed vegetarian meatball: a mixture of caramelized onions and spices inside a ball of chickpea paste. The friendly, knowledge staff are happy to recommend one of Areni’s impressive selection of local wines.  

The menu at this harbor-front eatery focuses on wide-ranging international classics: think anything from chicken kievs to Asian stir fries. Despite the lack of focus, the restaurant offers tasty dishes, with big portions. The restaurant caters predominantly to the British expat crowd (hence the rather ambitious prices), and offers a nightly happy hour and a legendary party on New Year's Eve. All the desserts are made on site. It's worth calling ahead to reserve a table right by the water.

This restaurant by the harbor has a “back to basics” approach focusing on fresh fish, seafood, and a well-stocked counter of mostly vegetarian meze freshly made daily. Service is fast and friendly, and the atmosphere, beside a road a line of busy bars, is fun and lively.

This busy harborside fish restaurant is popular with Göcek locals and visitors alike, and is considered an institution of the town. In summer, the seating extends out toward the waterfront, under tropical trees and with romantic views of the water. Main dishes (kebabs, steak, seafood) are typical, but the pride of the menu is its wide selection of hot and cold meze. The homemade bread is delicious, and wild mountain mushrooms are served as a side dish in spring and fall.

Tucked among the antique stores of Cukurcuma, Cuma is a casual café by day and a cozy place to sip wine at night. Its seasonal menu uses local produce and offers a range of day-to-night options, along with fresh-baked bread and a comprehensive wine list.

This charming spot just off fashionable Tunalı Hilmi Caddesi specializes in nicely prepared Aegean-style mezes and seafood dishes, such as Cretan-style cubed cheese with herbs or octopus with thyme. The design—painted wooden chairs, blue-and-white walls with seashore motifs, and maps of the region painted on the ceiling—transports you straight to the Aegean Islands. In summer, it's good to sit out on the vine-covered patio.

One of the several Ferdi Baba fish restaurants (the others are nearby in Port Alaçatı and in Alaçatı town), this spot serves classic meze and seafood dishes with beautiful waterfront. Special dishes include shrimps with eggplant puree, the local greens Sevketi Bostan with delicious fresh sea bass kebab, along with classic grilled fresh bream and calamari. It's pricey compared to others set off the main seafront, but that is the price of views.

This long-standing favorite has a panoramic view of the harbor and excellent traditional Turkish fare that's focused on fresh seafood, though meat, chicken, and pasta dishes are also on the menu. If you're lucky, it will have grida (grouper) as a daily special; if not, try the fried squid with tarator sauce—a mixture of yogurt, garlic, lemon, walnuts, olive oil, and bread.

The chef of this newer Göreme establishment found inspiration for some dishes perusing translated Hittite tablets. Happena serves traditional and modern takes on Anatolian and Hittite food. Lamb is the star of the menu; in fact, nearly all parts of the animal can be found on the menu (try the Hattusha kebab, if you're brave enough). However the menu is also heavy on regional vegetarian dishes. An extensive wine menu enhances the already fabulous view of Göreme from your table. 

The largest and one of the most popular branches of this local chain of chic eateries is directly on the waterfront, with stylish furnishings and two enormous open-air terraces. The international menu ranges from starters like Asian-style crispy chicken fingers and salmon ceviche to main-course salads, pastas, pizzas, steaks, and the signature house burger.

This casual yet stylish bar-restaurant in the old town offers a well-prepared and presented menu of traditional Turkish hot and cold meze, combined with international crowd-pleasers like burgers, fried chicken, and pasta. It's a disjointed approach, but the kitchen manages to pull off this large selection with aplomb. The upstairs terrace has great views over the harbor (sometimes closed off-season), and there’s a lounge on the ground floor where you can stop in for a coffee or cocktail.

By day, this sleek, airy restaurant with a large outdoor dining area offers a changing menu of reasonably priced Turkish vegetable and meat dishes. At night, it becomes a classy meyhane, serving an excellent variety of meze.

Tables spill out of the small courtyard into the cobblestone alley at this fish and meze restaurant in central Alaçatı. Innovative house specialties include delicious dishes of octopus cooked with mushrooms, onions, and soy sauce; creamy potatoes and shrimps; and for dessert, a delicious apple baklava. The cozy fireplace lures diners indoors in the cooler seasons.

The waves practically lap over your feet at Kekik’s tables on the sand, lending a romantic air to this laid-back restaurant on Datça’s waterfront. Fish, seafood, and mezes are the specialties, including dishes incorporating the famous local almonds as well as wild herbs. Indoor dining is also atmospheric, in a traditional stone house.

Hidden away on a side street off busy Cumhuriyet Bulvarı, this peaceful garden oasis attached to the French Cultural Center offers a range of well-prepared Mediterranean dishes, including fresh, flavorful salads, pastas, and grilled meats. There's a winter garden for cold-weather days and regular live jazz or Latin music, generally on Wednesday and Friday nights.

This waterfront spot in pleasant Şevket Sabancı Park, just on the outer Turgutreis city center, has grand views of the sea along with a nice selection of Turkish and international dishes (though, perhaps surprisingly given the location, no fish). Alcohol is served and reservations advisable in high season.

The location is its best asset, and a fantastic one it is at the eastern end of the harbor. Mermerli is a spacious, breezy terrace that offers phenomenal views of the sea and the otherworldly mountains in the distance. A stalwart Antalya harborside dining scene, the Mermerli restaurant opts for a crowd-pleasingly broad menu that includes fish, steak, pastas, burgers, Turkish grills, and all-day breakfasts—but the prices reflect the location and the cooking won't blow you away. It's a good place to eat if you want to relax on Mermerli Beach, too—the private bathing spot (costing 250 TL to enter) is just down the steps, and the restaurant controls access.

This restored late-19th-century house with small, sun-dappled dining rooms, cozy furniture, and creaky wooden floors is a delightful refuge in the midst of the busy Sultanahmet neighborhood. The vast menu features a variety of kebabs and other Turkish specialties, as well as salads, pasta dishes, steaks, schnitzel, and other international fare.