Cafe Istanbul

jjdallas, says:

• Food:

  4/5

• Vibe:

  4/5

• Service:

  3/5

• Value:

  4/5

• Overall:

  4/5

If you want something ethnic and are tired of asian food, give Cafe Istanbul a shot. The food is Turkish and Greek a little, and the menu is large and interesting. Prices are reasonable and there may or may not be a belly dancer there (I prefer it when there isn't because it is quieter). My favorite dish is eggplant, done in a middle eastern sauce of some kind. Fun for a casual, but different, night out.

TerrellA, says:

• Food:

  5/5

• Vibe:

  4/5

• Service:

  5/5

• Value:

  4/5

• Overall:

  5/5

Great food, good service. It's really Turkish which is hard to find in Dallas. I have to try hard not to fill up on the bread. This is a great place for meat lovers. Try the mixed grill platter to share. It's fantastic.

Billusa99, says:

You're definitely cracking me up on all this.

DC, says:

• Food:

  4/5

• Vibe:

  4/5

• Service:

  3/5

• Value:

  4/5

• Overall:

  4/5

I am not Donna Chen.

I went with my date to Cafe Istanbul. It was Friday. She ordered braised lamb. I had a yogurtlu kebap. They were good. We drank some Turkish beer.

There was a belly dancer and it got really loud.

luniz, says:

• Food:

  4/5

• Vibe:

  4/5

• Service:

  5/5

• Value:

  4/5

• Overall:

  5/5

I ate here with a friend a couple Thursdays ago. It's conveniently near Love Field. We got there early, probably before 6 and the place was empty. It did fill up by the time we left.

Neither of us were drinking, so no wine. I did notice a guy at another table get a yogurt based drink he really seemed to like. I might have to try that next time. We started with baba ganoush. It was different from what I'm used to, quite chunky, but light and fresh tasting. It came with thick bread almost like foccacia, I would have preferred something more like pita myself but the bread wasn't bad. Not what I expected but we gobbled it up anyway.

I ordered the grandma's dumplings, I forget the name. It was basically pasta, like a tortellini. It came in a yogurt based sauce that I think had mint and olive oil as well. It was very good and definitely something different. Probably not super healthy though. My friend got the lamb on roasted eggplant which was also good, the lamb was tender and tasted like lamb. The service was very good and they did it without bothering us. Overall it was a pleasant experience and I'd like to explore more of the menu. Oh yea and the decor was probably good too (maybe not up to Bill Addison standards), they had a poster for a failed Greek Olympic bid :)