A city too big to eat in one trip
Istanbul is the largest dining city we cover by a wide margin: 7,635 restaurants spread across more than thirty districts on two continents. That scale is the first thing to understand. There is no single restaurant quarter and no neighbourhood that stands in for the whole city. Where you eat well depends almost entirely on which side of the water you are on and which district you can reach without crossing the city at rush hour.
The practical way to use Istanbul is to pick a district first and eat within it, rather than chase a single famous name across town. The five districts below hold the densest concentrations of listings and give you the clearest sense of what each part of the city does best.
The European side: Fatih, Beyoğlu, Beşiktaş, Şişli
Fatih is the historic peninsula and our densest single district, with 562 listings. This is the old city, so the cooking skews traditional: Turkish grills, kebab houses, soup spots and the breakfast and dessert places that cluster around the tourist core. It is the right base if you are sightseeing and want classic Anatolian food a short walk from where you already are.
Beyoğlu (408 listings) is the city's night-out district, running from İstiklal Caddesi down toward Karaköy. It carries the highest concentration of bars, meyhanes and late venues in the city, alongside a strong cafe and brunch scene. The Tarihi Çiçek Pasajı, the covered arcade off İstiklal, is among the most-reviewed venues in Istanbul, which gives you a sense of how much foot traffic moves through here. For a quieter sit-down evening, neighbouring Beşiktaş (363) balances bars with everyday Turkish restaurants and is easier going than İstiklal at the weekend.
Şişli (328) is the business-and-shopping spine of the European side. Expect a high density of cafes, fast-food and mid-range Turkish places built around offices and malls, rather than destination dining. It is reliable rather than romantic.
The Asian side: Kadıköy and Üsküdar
Kadıköy (482 listings) is the single best argument for crossing to the Asian side. Its market streets behind the ferry terminal are wall-to-wall with meyhanes, fish restaurants, coffee roasters and the kind of independent kitchens that have largely been priced out of central Beyoğlu. If you only have one evening and want the contemporary Istanbul eating experience, take the ferry here. Üsküdar (231), just up the coast, is more traditional and conservative, strong on Turkish breakfast, baklava and waterfront tea, and makes a calmer daytime counterpart.
The Bosphorus, the outer districts, and timing
Two more districts are worth knowing for a longer stay. Sarıyer (318 listings) runs up the European Bosphorus shore through the fishing villages, Anadolu Kavağı, Rumeli, the weekend breakfast spots and the waterfront fish restaurants that locals drive out for; it trades volume for setting. Bakırköy (219) on the Marmara coast holds the Florya seaside strip and is the city's most-reviewed single district by sheer footfall, anchored by its waterfront social facilities. On the Asian side, Ataşehir (258) is the modern business quarter, reliable rather than romantic.
On price and timing: the historic core (Fatih, the İstiklal end of Beyoğlu) and the Bosphorus waterfront are the most expensive, the first because it is tourist-facing, the second because you are paying for the view. The best value sits one step inland, in Kadıköy's back streets, Beşiktaş and the residential Asian-side districts. Turks eat late: lunch runs to mid-afternoon and dinner rarely starts before 8pm, so a meyhane fills up around 9 and stays loud past midnight. Reserve for a weekend evening in Kadıköy or Beyoğlu; almost everywhere else you can simply walk in. Sunday breakfast is an institution and the good brunch spots queue, so go early or expect to wait.
What the city actually serves
Across all of Istanbul the most common categories are everyday diners and cafes, followed by a deep Turkish backbone (894 listings) and a large Middle Eastern presence (589). The city also has a serious steakhouse culture (388) and a fast-growing breakfast and brunch scene. Use the cuisine filters on the city page to narrow a district to exactly the kind of meal you want.
Most-reviewed places in Istanbul
As a starting point, here are some of the most-reviewed venues in the city by public Google review count. This is a popularity signal, not our endorsement, and the ratings shown are Google's, linked through to each listing.
Ranked by public Google review count. Ratings are Google's, shown for reference.
- 1 İBB Florya Sosyal Tesisleri Bakırköy A waterfront municipal social facility on the Marmara coast.
- 2 Tarihi Çiçek Pasajı Beyoğlu The historic covered arcade of meyhanes off İstiklal Caddesi.
- 3 Wama's Beyoğlu Beyoğlu A high-volume bar and pub in the heart of the night-out district.
- 4 Kofteci Yusuf Beylikduzu Beylikdüzü A branch of the high-volume köfte chain on the western European side.
- 5 Loi Bosphorus Beyoğlu A Bosphorus-side venue in Beyoğlu; the highest-rated of this group.
- 6 Polonezköy Tabiat Park Beykoz A nature-park dining destination in the green Beykoz hills north of the city.
This guide is e.restaurant's own editorial. Listing data comes from open global sources; where a restaurant is named, any star rating shown is Google's public rating, labelled and linked to the listing, and is kept separate from e.restaurant diner reviews. See our methodology for how we build and stand behind our listings.