Came on a Tuesday night at 6:30 pm to try dining in this time. It as empty when we arrived and full by the time we finished. The eggplant moussaka was delightful again. We also ordered a Turkish Conan salad and a lamb/beef Doner Kabab, which was delish. We also ordered desssert: one sutlac and two kunefe. Not one drop was left. The service was attentive, even as the place filled up. read more

Istanbul Blue - Salmon(in foil), spinach pide, Moussaka, hummus, Instanbul Mixed Grill, baklava. - Mediterranean Near Me - Vienna, Virginia

Brunch offers a lot of breakfast dishes that are all good. Service is attentive. Walls have pictures of Istanbul. read more

Istanbul Blue - Brunch menu. Flat bread with mimosa - Mediterranean Near Me - Vienna, Virginia

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I liked the Imam Bayildi but the doner kebab was way too salty and the flavor wasn't as authentic as the ones tasted in Istanbul. Inside is a bit cramped but servers are nice read more

Istanbul Blue - Mediterranean Near Me - Vienna, Virginia

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We had dinner here last night. Very disappointed. I had the special, Iskander kebab. It was so dull. A lump of gyro meat piled on top of a yogurt sauce, which by itself was not bad but why was it under the meat? The meat was tough, like yesterday's unsold shawarmas. No vegetables except a stingy slice of tomato. The meat and slop sat atop a dried out piece of bread. Not rice. Waitress was barely present, never asked how things were, and I had to track her down for water. I will not be returning. read more

Amazing Turkish food. We had the cheese pide and Adana kebab. Will definitely go again!

Istanbul Blue is one of those neighborhood spots that we need to think of visiting more often.  It is calm and clean and the parking is easy.  Service is pleasant and prompt and, of course, the food is tasty.  We especially enjoyed the lamb shank which had plenty of very tender meat in a delicious sauce.  It is moments like these that make us even more grateful when a restaurant has great bread to dip in! read more

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Visited a few weeks ago for an early dinner with my parents. This is conveniently located near Vienna and Oakton with easy parking. I loved the blue decor inside, it made for a beautiful atmosphere. We started with the Istanbul blue mixed platter as an appetizer. This was delicious, however, the bread to accompany it took some time to come out and when it came out, it was a little charred. I didn't have an issue with this but my mom requested different bread. I wish the bread was ready before we finished half the appetizer, especially because the restaurant wasn't too busy. The falafel and the cigari borek were excellent. Falafel is usually hit or miss because I've had it back in the Middle East so many times but this was very well done. We also got the Lahmacun which was delicious but my mom wished it was less charred/burnt. I didn't mind the crispyness. We got two Pides, the cheese one was my favorite. The star of the show was definitely the mixed grill, which came with rice and Cacik (yogurt dip) which was so fresh. The doner was excellent but the lamb was my favorite. Lamb is also hit or miss for me as I don't like when it tastes gamey but this was so well done. Overall, service was good but a little slower but that just may be because it's European/Middle Eastern. I will definitely be back as the food was excellent! read more

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A messed up reservation at Carnegie Diner led 6 of us to need another place for brunch. We walked across the parking lot and Istanbul Blue quickly accommodated us. I was planning on coming back here and this visit was as good as the first - so a lucky mix up. I had the yummy Kofte Kebab - a very generous portion, a glass of very good Anatolian wine, and Kunefe for desert. Our waitress was personable and deftly handed separate checks. The relaxed atmosphere allowed us to linger and talk. Great experience. Next time I won't wait so long. read more

Istanbul Blue - Kofte Kebab - Mediterranean Near Me - Vienna, Virginia

Food was fresh and amazing, we came here to celebrate my friend birthday and we had a lot of fun. Service was great ( only one lady serving but she handled everything perfectly) , ambience was great and plenty parking read more

Istanbul Blue - Istanbul coffee - Mediterranean Near Me - Vienna, Virginia

Turkish food centrally located in Vienna. The masukaa is amazing. Cute upstairs seating

We found this wonderful and delightful Turkish restaurant yesterday. After viewing the cherry blossoms and working up an appetite. We can't say enough about the awesome meal and service provided to us! Some of us had never tried the Turkish experience, and this was indeed an experience. From the appetizer to the main course, followed up with baklava, that melted in your mouth, along with a hot cup of Turkish coffee. Every mouth watering sense was well satiated. This restaurant is in my must visit again list! Sorry, there are no pictures, but the food was too good not to enjoy it before taking out my camera. read more

It was our first time here and it was so delicious with great service! We started off with some nice, strong Turkish coffee which was delicious! We ordered the lahmacun appetizer which was phenomenal with amazing flavor! My friend ordered the Istanbul Blue mixed grill which consisted of grilled beef and chicken, lamb chops, and doner kebab and served with rice for his entree and it was so delicious. I ordered the chicken yogurt which consisted of two grilled skewers of chicken marinated with olive oil, tomato, and pepper which was served on a bed of bread chunks, tomato, and yogurt sauce. It was very good, but the yogurt sauce made the bread extremely soggy, hence the four stars versus five. We then got the baklava dessert to split which was excellent! We will most definitely go back, but I will order a different entree for sure. We would definitely recommend this restaurant! read more

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Delicious authentic Turkish food bursting with flavor! Definitely get the Istanbul Blue sampler! Great mom and pop restaurant with excellent service that really goes the extra mile. Istanbul Blue sampler (5/5) - Fun way to dapple into the appetizers and try the dips. The crispy Cigars Borek phyllo pastry was the stand-out, filled with soft cheese that paired so well with the dips - hummus, baba ganoush, and garlicky feta spinach cheese. The nice staff easily accommodated my request to swap out the dolma grape leaves for the baba ganoush - glad I asked! The complementary bread is quite dense and filling, not as fluffy as I expected. It's better warmed up (if you get delivery or take-out). I wasn't a big fan of the falafel, it was very dense and dry to the bone. I would love to swap it out for another cigar borek! There was plenty of leftover dip for the next meal! Spinach Pide (1/5) - Not a fan of the pide, it was too cheesy and did NOT matched the photo depicted on the menu which had a lot more spinach and much less cheese. The cheese to veggies ratio was really off. After a few bites, my stomach started churning and threw in the towel. When I opened up the box, I saw a veggie pide with tomatoes and bell peppers and scant spinach, did I get it mixed up? Bbut after looking at other Yelp pics, the spinach pide look the same. I would skip the spinach pide and save room for the Sampler! Excited to come back for some Cigar Borek with some hummus, baba ganoush, and garlicky feta spinach cheese goodness! read more

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After reading the reviews my friends and I had high hopes. First- decor is outdated and feels antiquated. The servers were nice but service was extremely slow - took over twenty minutes to get drinks and we had to ask for ice four times because the water was not cold . The app and meals took a long time to come out and had we not asked we would never have gotten our check. We were there almost two hours. My friend's whisky sour was made incorrectly with cheap booze and tasted awful and it looked like the server had no idea how to make it and was googling it. The sampler platter was decent until my friend ate a wiry piece of grayish/silver hair from the chef. She is very nice and didn't complain to anyone while she was there. The chef did not have a hairnet at all and she could see him in the kitchen. The yogurt chicken was ok, the pieces of bread were too soggy, wish I had ordered rice instead. My other friends had the beef kabobs, and ground lamb/beef with rice and yogurt and it was fine but nothing special. Prices are on the high end for average quality at best. Even a side of fries was over $7. And to top it off a guy sitting at one of the tables went out to smoke through the back door and left it open and wafts of smoke were coming in. Clearly it was someone who works there or the owner. He just helped himself to beer and food and was at the back talking with the servers. It is disgusting to have smoke coming in while dining. We will not be coming back here. read more

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Wonderful food selection and quality plus excellent service! Great people however, suggest they update Yelp profile settings. As I checked in using Yelp app the restaurant had 10% discount coupon which they did not honor. It was very uncomfortable for all as owner explained they were offering that coupon when business was down but won't honor it now! My family of 7 dined using one credit card, it was an uncomfortable situation for all. Please update your offerings. We will definitely return!! read more

We enjoyed a pleaser afternoon lunch with the family at this quaint restaurant. The owner was pleasant and came to talk to us to ensure we enjoyed our meal. I'm curious where they get they lamb because it was awesome. The meat was so tender and tasty. I also liked the Iskenderun Kebab which had crunchy pita chips and yogurt under the delicious meat dish. We'll definitely go back. read more

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Excellent meals and service. Thanks to chef & owner Mr Ismet, everything was great! Excited to be back as soon as possible! read more

Istanbul Blue - Mediterranean Near Me - Vienna, Virginia

Here is my second time at Istanbul blue.I love this place.The food is so good. Starters Entrees and deserts are so yummy.Adana Kabab and Kasandibi are my favorite.After trying many Turkish restaurants in the area I can say Istanbul blue is the best.Thank you chef Ismat. read more

Istanbul Blue - Mediterranean Near Me - Vienna, Virginia

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Wonderful food, wonderful ambiance and great service and staff. Fantastic evening. We'll be back read more

Istanbul Blue - Kunefe Turkish national dessert - Mediterranean Near Me - Vienna, Virginia

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Such a cute restaurant. Wished we dined in, but my daughter had a cough and didn't want to disturb the diners, esp since it is a smaller restaurant. Carried out some apps, beef lasagna and salmon dishes. Wonderful meal! Forgot to order dessert (balaclava) - so we plan to be back. read more

We were in the mood to try something different. I have only had Turkish food a several times. We decided to give Instanbul Blue visit. This place has received quite few good reviews on yelp. It is a small resturant in a stripmall. The resturant is small and cozy. There were not a lot of customers there when we arrived. We sat at the front by the window against the wall. Very cozy and quiet. The resturant is very nice and clean. I will say the waiter was there when we needed him to be. He let us have space and time to enjoy the meal. I wanted to try the Instanbul blue mix drink but unfortuanlly they ran out of what was needed to make the drink. We also ordered ice tea but unfortuanlly there were out of tea as well. There is a nice selection of offerings on the menu. For appitizers we ordered the Lentil soup and the Instanbul Blue Platter which consisted of a combination of appetizers: 3 cigara boreks, 3 yaprak, dolmas, hummus, feta cheese & falafel. The Lentil soup is rich but flavorful not overly spiced. The waiter also brought our a loaf of bread. I ending up dunking the bread in soup. That could be a meal in it self. Very satisfing. I envjoyed everything on Instanbul Blue Platter. I am not a big flafel person but these were quite tasty. The main course we had the Fresh Mediterranian Branzini Fish (whole fish). This came with rice or vegtable skewers. We ended up getting the vegtable skewers and a side salad. We love Banzini fish and this was amazing. The spices were just right. Fish was cooked perfectly. We also had the Instanblue Mixed Grill. This was a combination of grilled specialties of beef shish kebob, chicken kebob, lamb chops & doner, served with rices. Every piece of meat on this platter was cooked perfectly, very juicy, well seasoned. I ended up ordering the Doner Kebob / Shwarma togo for lunch the next day. For dessert we had the Baklava with pistachio. Very delicious and not to sweet. Overall this resturant did not disappoint. Food was very delicios. Service was great. There is a large shared parking lot. I can see it being full at times there was quite a bit a traffic there. Overall a solid 4 stars. I will definitly be back. read more

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I very much enjoyed their baba ghanoush but the falafel wraps were just okay. The falafel was very dry and overall not very appetizing, so i would give this a 3. But an extra star for their great service. Due to an error on their part when making the wraps, they made it up with some baklava and Turkish tea. read more

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I hadn't been here for over a year but it was as good as ever. I had mixed grill and my companion had salmon salad. Both were excellent. We shared the desert - everything was great. The service was very good and the ambiance is cozy. read more

Service sad. Slow. Not gracious. One piece of bread for two for over one half hour. Salad so strong on tomato it was inedible. Branzino not fresh. Lighting too bright. Not impressed. Bread and dip delicious is only positive thing I have to say. read more

I came in for a date night. We shared the appetizer platter, as my BF didn't know much about Mediterranean food and wanted to try a few different things. This platter is HUGE and filling! It was a good pick. We checked into YELP and received free bread and lentil soup (SO GOOD!). The waiter didn't seem to know what Yelp was though, or the coupon. We also got the Pide below. It was very delicious! We split a bottle of Turkish Wine and couldn't finish our Pide or the appetizer platter. We both want to come back and try some of the entrees and after dinner deserts/drinks. We plan on being back! read more

Istanbul Blue - Mediterranean Near Me - Vienna, Virginia

Wow. This place is a hidden authentic Turkish gem, and we are so fortunate to live so near by! From the decal, to the ambiance, to the service, and down to the detail of the food -- I felt like we were transported right to Turkey and we never wanted to leave! Our first time here, we tried the kofte and doner kebab - these dishes comes with the meat itself (seasoned perfectly) with rice and vegetables. Our wonderful server advised for the yogurt dishes and boy did I regret the decision of not going with his advice after seeing the next table ordering this! I knew we had to return simply to get through some more dishes on the menu. :) Second time, I was not going to hold out on anything! We ordered the calamari again (THIS is a pot of gold..more on this in a minute), the Istanbul Blue platter, the beyti yogurt (Heaven on earth! An absolute MUST!), and the sucuklu pide. The calamari...oh my calamari...this is no ordinary calamari folks. I'm telling you, the secret is in the breading. You know how some restaurants the calamari can be over breaded, where the breading is a surplus more than the squid, and half heartedly hanging off the squid, or where it may be too overly greasy? NOPE not here! It is literally p.e.r.f.e.c.t. First off, their breading is different - no idea what they are using, but it is spiced with some herbs, and perfectly coats the squid. Not too thin, not too thick - a secret burst of crispy flavor. Not to mention their special dipping sauce is no ordinary marinara. Instead imagine a mixture of a cocktail between special tomato sauce with some siracha and a little bit of heat. Soooooo good. Do yourself a favor - order this appetizer for the table. You won't regret it. The Istanbul platter gave perfect slices of delicious bites of each of the appetizers in one place. The creamy spiced hummus, with the buttery spinach feta (yum I loved this - serve it with the side bread and it's good), with the lemony dolmas, cheese filled yoprak, and crispy exterior but moist and soft centered herby falafels. We thoroughly enjoyed the variety of different bites and and flavors offered in this dish. Along side of this I completely forgot to mention the complimentary bread - nicely dense but served with the perfect pairing of a home made spiced olive oil ( the spiced olive oil surprised me). I couldn't get enough of it. Next up - the sucuklu pide was made with a nicely baked bread filled with a delicious cheesy center enfolded with chunky bites of Turkish sausage and vegetables. An absolute surprise and definitely a friendly dish for anyone. Last but not least, the winner of it all: beyti yogurt!! I knew not to make the same mistake of last time and made it my mission to order it this time and there is 0 regret. My husband and I devoured this! Never did I think I would want yogurt on my savory dish til this day. Married perfectly with a tomato sauce, drizzled over a thin bread wrapping over a juicy and perfectly seasoned Adana Kebab - I was in Heaven! So so so good. Try this if you ever come here! The next time we return, we've got our eyes on the iskender kebab. :) Not to mention, superior service. The authenticity behind the Turkish restuarant rings true, they deeply care about the food made from their souls served to the table. It is a great representation of where they come from. It feels like a sweet family ran restaurant of which we are becoming frequent flyers of now. I'm pretty far along in my pregnancy, and both times the servers have noticed this and have brought me out a pillow to lean on for the comfort of my meal. They treat you like you are entering their home for a meal. I can't give them enough stars, if I could - they've earned 10 in my books. We'll see you soon again Istanbul Blue! read more

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We loved the place. We would come again to try other things. The food, the service & the ambience, all of it was good. Lot of parking. Food: We ordered 1. Turkish Beer (Fees Pilsener) 2. Istanbul Blue Platter (3 Cigara Boreks, 3 Yaprak Dolmas, 2 Falafel, etc) 3. Sucuklu Pide 4. Iskender Kebob Cigara Boreks are like pastries/pulls filled with cheese and other stuff. Loved it. Sucuklu Pide is a flatbread/pizza. It was good yummy. Something similar to what you would get outside. Showstopper was Iskender Kebob. The meat was so we'll cooked, that I was easily bite into it. It was quite flavorful. It contains light gravy of tomatoes, and other spices. It also had some croutons in it. Idea wise it is similar to Shakshuka. Service: The place looked low key. We went ton Wednesday evening. Hardly any customer. Is that good or bad? ‍ The waiter was nice young guy, polite, patient & helpful. Answered all our answers & had no issues where we sat. He did not bring the check and keep it at my table like they don't everywhere. He asked us to let him know when we were ready for the check. The reason might be it was a slow day for it. But nonetheless he gets my points. Lot of parking. It is in a big strip mall Ambience: We chose to sit outside. Weather was great & Covid. Inside the restaurant looked really nice and the furniture is tastefully done. Looks neat, clean & tasteful. Kept one star as I would still like to taste other Kebobs. Will update ratings once I do. read more

Istanbul Blue - Iskender Kebob - Mediterranean Near Me - Vienna, Virginia

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The service was excellent. I haven't been at the restaurant after Covid. I feel their food has slightly changed. Most of the food was a bit salty. There was an extra service charge in our bill. Which was surprising. read more

A few of our neighbors had tried Istanbul Blue and had mixed reviews. A few nights before we were introduced to Turkish food at another local restaurant and the food was out of this world so we thought we'd give this place a try. It was a Thursday evening and there was a family of four sitting at a table across from us who had ordered and were waiting for their food. We were brought bread and spiced oil while we waited but the oil was so spicy that it was inedible. I ordered the mousaka and my husband ordered a beef kebab. We also ordered babaganoush appetizer. The appetizer did not come with ant extra bread and on the plate with the babaganoush was some shredded lettuce and two slices of cucumber and had much too much garlic . So definitely not enough salad or bread was served to properly dip in the babaganoush. We waited even longer for our entrees and watched as the owner and the table of the family of four had an encounter that caused the family to leave. It looked as if the family had waited so long for their meal that their kids (who were very well behaved) had just about reached their limit of patience and the owner was going to pack up their dinner as takeout. To the owners credit he tried his best to rectify the situation Finally our food came and my meal had been prepared before my husband's and left under the warmer so long that the top was burned to a crisp. It was not good and highly salted. I could not eat it. My husband's meal was definitely not up to the taste of the restaurant we had previously eaten in. When I sent back my plate the waitress and owner were both very apologetic and offered to switch out the food for something else but my husband had pretty much finished his meal. He wanted to eat some of mine so the owner wouldn't feel bad, when I returned it but he couldn't and honestly the owner really needed to know the dish was not good. The owner explained he prepared the mousaka that morning and it was fresh. I have no reason not to believe him, but because the top was burnt and too salty. He removed the charge for the dish and there was no hard feelings on my side because he really wanted to make things right. I'm not sure if we will go back again and should have stuck with the restaurant we knew was better suited for our taste read more

We came for my mom's birthday and had the most fantastic meal! The steak and chicken kebabs were juicy and lfavorful as always (we've had takeout a few times). But the best find was the doner pide. It's like a cross between a flakey flatbread and a pizza, covered in the most delicious cheese and baked into the shape of a boat. The doner kebab on top was melt in your mouth tender. I'd order it again and again. The Istanbul blue platter is also a solid starter, but if you go with only one item I'd choose the falafel or hummus. read more

This was a very pleasant surprise. I love Turkish food, which is under-represented in Northern Virginia (in my humble opinion). We visited for our anniversary and had some wonderful choices-- not the most "adventurous" menu choices but they were fantastic, kebob-based dinners. We had a Lentil Soup that could not be beat, maybe the best lentil soup in recent memory, for appetizer as well as a sort of flat bread with cheese and meat bits. We also had The "Blue Istanbul" house cocktail. The service was great, the chef a seasoned hand of 30 years experience, and they did honor Yelp coupons on the spot. I like this place a lot and WILL be returning. read more

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Istanbul Blue doesn't look like much on first glance - its in a strip mall, and the interior is nice but simple. Don't let that fool you - the food here is really, really good. Everything we tried was amazingly tasty, and the service was lightning-fast. I'd definitely come here again. read more

We ordered carry out tonight, first time trying this restaurant. We had high hopes as we are familiar with Turkish cuisine, but we were extremely disappointed. We tried several dishes from the kabobs to the pides. The food was awful. Not only did it not have any real flavor, but I can tell the food was reheated/microwaved frozen food- absolutely none of it was fresh. There wasn't more than 2 spoonfuls of rice with each kabob, and it cost over $20. The cigare borek was soggy and flat instead so of round and crispy and so was the lahmacun. We called the restaurant and spoke with the manager. Rather than apologize and offer a partial refund, he arrogantly insisted his food is 'very good'. This is not good business and I do not recommend this restaurant at all. Go to Agora for good Turkish food! read more

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This was a nice place to come on Valentine's Day. The menu is a bit different than what is on the website but maybe there was a limited menu for this day. To start, we ordered calamari and the Istanbul Blue mixed drink. Despite having blue curacao listed as an ingredient, the drink did not come out blue; however, it was still pretty tasty. The calamari was cooked nicely and their special sauce was almost like a cocktail sauce and a paired well with it. We got the mixed platter and Beyti yogurt for our entrees. The meat on the platter were grilled perfectly and they were so flavorful and tender. The bread around the kebabs for the Beyti yogurt was toasted just to my liking and the tomato sauce and yogurt on top were a great addition. Overall a very satisfactory meal! I need to come back to try out one of my favorite Turkish dishes: the iskender kebab. read more

Delicious food. Great friendly service. Takes you straight to Turkey. Owner/chef is super nice

We came here on a Sunday to have lunch as this place was on to try lists for quite some time. The place was nice and cosy, but the seats are limited (max capacity 30-35 people) so probably it's best to get a prior reservation on busy days. We ordered ISTANBUL BLUE PLATTER- a Combination of 3 cigara boreks, 3 yaprak, dolmas, hummus, feta cheese & 3 falafels. PISTACHIO CHICKEN KABOB-with rice,yogurt sauce,salad,tomatoes & peppers.A lentil soup bowl was given complimentary with this dish. As we waited for the food we were given warm fresh bread and oil for dipping. All the items we had were very good and the portions were good too. The food is made to order and it takes a tiny bit long to arrive but that's not a deal breaker though. It was 38$(including taxes) for both the dishes and I feel that's reasonable in that area. Service was good and the lady who served us was attentive and sweet. Will definitely revisit if I get a chance. read more

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First visit there. Perfectly located opposite an electric car charging station. The service is incredible. Hassan, our surver, went out of his way to make us comfortable despite Covid. Real old world Turkish hospitality. The food is absolutely delicious. It's freshly prepared, nothing frozen and warmed up for us. We had the Mediterranean pida and kebab platter. Both were excellent. Highly recommend it and we will be back. Hassan, thank you so much my friend. read more

Istanbul Blue - Delicious Turkish Coffee - Mediterranean Near Me - Vienna, Virginia

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Can't say enough great things about this place. Food is amazing, service is great. All employees are polite and attentive. The chef/owner came to our table to talk to us, and explain his passion for cooking and being apart of the processes, which really shows in the quality off food that's being served. We are forever customers. read more

Hidden gem in a strip mall in Vienna. My husband and I recently had dinner at Istanbul Blue and were very pleased. The restaurant itself is small, clean and cozy. The waitstaff was attentive, but not cloying. The menu is broad, but not overwhelming. The hummus came with delicious and fresh Turkish flatbread. It had just the right amount of tahini mixed in. For entrees, we had the doner and the iskender. The meat was tender, well seasoned and fantastic. The yogurt sauce was a highlight and rice was flavorful. The food just tasted fresh and well favored. We were smart enough to order Turkish coffee and baklava after our entrees. The coffee was delightfully authentic and the baklava was some of the best I've had in Virginia. We will absolutely be back. read more

I had the privilege of dining here the other night with someone of Turkish descent visiting from out of the country. I asked what she'd rate it ... and she suggested 3.5 - primarily because the taste of the food wasn't "quite" matching her expectations. All that said, unless you're of Turkish descent with a set of reasonably specific expectations around your Adana or Iskender entrees, you're likely to be pretty happy. We've come here for years, but for some reason don't find ourselves coming that often. While the food is quite good, the price is a little on the high side. Still the menu is extensive and there's a never-ending list of really great entrees to try. Want a little something to get you started? - the istanbul blue platter is an easy choice with some diversity Wish you were at a pizza restaurant? - grab a pide Feeling a little spicy kebab? - try the Adana (potentially in a wrap) Want a substantial meal? - consider the iskender kebob or if you're worried about too much spice/flavor, the hunkar begendi All in all, you'll be hard pressed to leave here disappointed. read more