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This coast has been serving tourists for a long time, and you will find a rich choice of restaurants to prove this. There’s no shortage of older, established eateries, which dish out the standard national fare (think mezes, kebabs, assorted grilled meats, and fresh seafood). Simple—but often superb—spots are as popular with vacationing Turks as they are with foreigners. In recent years, the number of fine dining options has also increased, especially in larger cities and tourist centers. The top ones prepare creative dishes, combining high-quality local ingredients with international flair.
Regional specialties along the Turquoise Coast include mussels stuffed with rice, pine nuts, and currants; ahtopot salatas?, a cold octopus salad, tossed in olive oil, vinegar, and parsley; and grilled fish. Most of Turkey's tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants, zucchinis, and peppers are grown along the coast, so salads are fresh and delicious. In Lycia, a local home-cooking specialty is stewed eggplant with basil—wonderful if you're offered it. Semiz otu (cow parsley) is a refreshing appetizer in a garlic yogurt sauce.
Owned by a local butcher, this sophisticated waterfront spot serves up the high-quality, perfectly cooked steaks and chops that you’d expect, along with burgers, kebabs, and lighter options like mezes and salads, though the selection of non-meat mains is slim. There’s a full bar and a great view, especially at sunset.
Forget the printed menu and order from the meze case, where the wide range of tempting starters includes unusual mushrooms from the mountains out back, fresh seaweed dishes, and squid in garlic, oil, and lemon. Özcan's mains are predominantly seafood but there are also excellent kebabs and local lamb dishes. It's set on the wide esplanade that makes up Göcek's main public harbor.
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.
A few blocks north of the fray, Flash attracts more locals than tourists and survives on word of mouth. It’s known for soups, steaks, kebabs, and meat stews cooked in a clay pot (kiremit); it also makes delicious oven-fired pide and lahmacun (wafer-thin spiced-meat flatbread). Come ravenously hungry, and you may have room for a dessert of künefe, a rich confection of cheese, strands of stringy pastry, and sugar syrup sprinkled with pistachio.
Tour groups often fill this restaurant at dinner for good reason: the food is both delicious and inexpensive, a combination that also makes it popular with locals at lunch. The restaurant also offers a nice, traditional Turkish breakfast. Expect all the usual Turkish dishes, plus local specialties including soups, stews, and börek pastries.
Part of the Gunay's Garden villa complex, this tranquil spot in the far corner of Kaya village blends the best of Turkish and European cuisine, using homegrown ingredients as much as possible. There is a good range of largely organic starters; try the mixed meze plate for a taste of everything. Mains include excellent fish, steak, pizzas, and a lovely oven-cooked lamb. As befits the hotel's family-friendly ethos, there's also a kids' menu.
With a prime spot right on the beach, Karakuş is a beautiful spot to enjoy any time of day—and if you spend 500 TL on food, you'll get sunbed and umbrella use for free. The mezes, grilled fish, and oven-fresh flatbreads are delightful, and the beachfront scene is serene.
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 excellent, straightforward Turkish restaurant is on the western edge of the bazaar and favored by locals for its kebabs, pide, and traditional casseroles. It's open all day, morphing from a breakfast joint in the morning to a family restaurant in the afternoon to the perfect place for a late-night snack at 3 am. The same owners also operate the somewhat more upscale Meğri Restaurant in the center of the bazaar.
This restaurant on the Netsel marina has a lot more style and dignity than you would guess from the name, and it's a great escape from the mass tourism of Marmaris. The house specialty is tender, oven-cooked, Anatolian lamb; however, the chef also prepares octopus, pasta, pizza, steak, Turkish grills, and divine desserts.
Located next to a 19th-century Ottoman house at the edge of the harbor, Smiley's has been a favorite among Turquoise Coast yachters since 1987. Relax in the fresh air beneath vines, flags, and fishing nets, and enjoy a reasonably priced and generously portioned meal of some of the best kebabs and seafood in Kaş, as well as some of its friendliest service. Head downstairs to see the restored Lycian cistern.
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