Istanbul Restaurant & Patisserie
| Address: | 1000 Aaron Rd, North Brunswick Township, NJ 08902, USA |
| Phone: | +1 732-940-1122 |
| Site: | theistanbulrestaurant.com |
| Rating: | 4.1 |
| Working: | 11AM–10PM 11AM–10PM 11AM–10PM 11AM–10PM 11AM–10PM 11AM–11PM 11AM–11PM |
Location
Photos 100
Reviews 8
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Chris Maloney
I am so glad we found this local restaurant. Driving up I was a bit apprehensive. Its situated in a somewhat dingy strip mall right off of Rt 1 South. Parking lot was mostly full and handicap parking was very limited. (None in front of the restaurant and only 1 or 2 spaces both full at the other end of the strip). Inside decor is nice. It needs some repairs, some torn wall paper, but overall very clean and decent quality furniture. Staff was extremely attentive and made good recommendations, even advising my wife that while the veggie shish was good she should try the Veci Guvec (Turkish dish made of vegetables and baked in a clay pot). We started with some fresh made hummus and the cheese rolls. My wife really like the hummus it was a bit too creamy for my taste. We both loved the cheese rolls. They are a simple dish of feta cheese wrapped in phillo dough cooked so that the dough is crispy and the cheese melts. They were out of this world and worth the trip on their own. When we ordered those our waitress indicated those were one of her favorites. (Always a good sign when the staff eats the food) For entree there were far too many good things to chose from. Fortunately for me they have combo plates. I ordered a combo of chicken shish and Lamb chops. The chicken shish was out of this world. I kept savoring the wonderful spices. The lamb chops were mixed. They were slightly more done than I like, just a bit fatty and one of the two was under spiced. Overall the meal was very good to excellent. My wife LOVED her entree (the Veci Guvec). Both dishes were served with a small container of mint yougurt sauce. Not my cup of tea but my wife thought it was fantastic and took mine :) They also had fresh made lemonade that was fantastic. By dessert we were too full to eat amy more but elected to take home a container of 12 of their Baklava. Simply put it was the best baklava Ive ever had. It was crispy and gooey at the same time with a wonderful flavor. If you are in the area dont hesitate to try this restaurant.
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iFix PA
They dont know how to handle custemers demand i spent almost $100.00 and they charged me for a glass of tea , shame on you . 100 dolara yakin para harcadik, utanmadan iki cayin parasini da charge ettiler cay da cay olsaydi bari sanki bir haftalik caydi . Kibarce soyledim cayi charge etmeseydiniz , Boss hanimefendi garsona git caylari cikar dedi , oysaki garson charge etmeden hanimefendinin onayina sundu Bide 1 saate yakin orada kaldik esimle , bu bi saat boyunca kafamizi sisirsi biriyle facetime yapiyorsu Herkese anlattim hic kimse gitmesin
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Ertugrul Dur
Istanbul Restaurant is the crosspoint of delicious authentic food and unparalleled hospitality. Known for its variety of mouth-watering Turkish cuisine, this place is a must-stop-by restaurant for all the connoisseurs that expect nothing less than the best of the best. Have a romatic lover? Thinking of bringing your mom out on a dinner date for Mothers Day? Family or Birthday Celebrations? There is simply not enough occasions on the calendar to count out reasons why you should go to Istanbul Restaurant! When you go, make sure to try out their Combo Kebabs (my personal favorite is the 1/2 Adana, 1/2 Doner). The doner meat, which is always cooked to its perfection--crispy and well done--as well as the lamb Adana, juicy and fair, are so delicious they are addictive. If you still havent been here, you are missing out. I have by far had the best dining experience consistently out of any other Turkish Restaurant I have been to! The staff is very welcoming--they will carry out all the accomadations to make you feel home! Dont wait, go!!!
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A Private User
Let me star with stating that i am actually Turkish and i was raised in Istanbul. This place was not good at all. The gyro(doner) was stiff and the amount of lamb used was obviously far less than the amount of beef(it tasted more like chopped beef). The Adana kebab(beef kebab) was absolutely distasteful and the tenderness of the meat was completely gone(it was a very low quality meat). Same exact horrible taste with Chicken Kebab(you can actually taste that the Chicken was of very low quality and the cook did not do a good job at grilling at all. I also got Cacik(Cucumber yogurt). It was more like soup then yogurt, filled with water to save money and covered in herbs so you can just get the taste and be cery satisfied. I am not saying all this because i grew in Istanbul(there are far better places in NY/NJ area than this one). Do not get tricked by the price. Its actually very expensive for the quality they are offering. The only good thing was the nicely designed menu and the deceiving website pictures.
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A Private User
FANTASTIC Experience and GREAT Food ! The restaurant doesnt look that promising at all from outside - almost like a low-priced nail salon... but once you enter, you really begin to understand this place as a hidden gem. My wife and I are vegetarian, so we asked the waitress to help us out. We went in with a Groupon coupon, and she still treated us like her best customer. Everything was delicious from the Cheese Rolls to the falafels, even the bread before the meal was unique. One thing I wished we had received - there was no pita with the falafel.. but the hummus and falafel "fritters" were awesome and crispy ! I HIGHLY recommend this place to anyone interested in trying something new... and the Rice Pudding was REALLY GREAT BTW...
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A Private User
Horrible horrible dining experience! I was forced to give at least 1 star to rate otherwise I would have left 0 stars....even though there were just 2 other people in the restaurant, we got our menu 20 minutes after we seated all the while the waitress was going about as we dont exist..my husband finally had to call her and ask for menus...after lunch we ordered tea which was lukewarm and waited another 10 minutes for our dessert which never came and we finally asked for it to go...I hardly ever reviews and I have never left a negative one but this was such a bad experience..I would never go there again and I wouldnt recommend anyone else to go..
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bilalb786
Food was good, but have to give it a really low rating because of the portion size. It was ridiculous. For the price I would expect much more. A $13 entree gets you one small scoop of rice, two small strips of meat, and some salad. Way too overpriced for the portion size. Server brought olives with olive oil initially but brought the bread 5 minutes later. Also, my dish and my friends dish came with soup but they brought out it after the entree, wtf? Only reason I didnt give it 1 star is because they gave us complimentary buklava, which was good.
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Nathaniel DSouza
Service could be much better: - 2 Employees for full restaurant - Employees are visibly chatting - The server came up to us, asked the size of our party, and walked away after we gave our answer. He didnt come back for a few minutes. - We didnt get water, I ended up having to get up and ask the other server myself. For manager: I was here at 7:45 PM on May 20th. There were a man and a woman serving people, my complaints are about the man. But, if you put aside the serbice, the food and desserts taste authentic, good for large groups
