Really good price for the quality which was top notch…read more Apparently I forgot to complete this review six years ago, but I still remember that the food was really good, and I've visited the place a few times after that.

Great hookah bar and restaurant in Helsinki Finland. Menu selection includes classic arabic and…read moreLebonese dishes. Outstanding Turkish coffee and bakery selection. Overall great place and positive experience highly recommend it!

My wife has asked me to write this review, because she is presently in Lapland with a dead phone…read moreand cannot write it herself. Last week she dined at Farouge alone, and was very impressed with both the food and the service. She said the entire staff was very gracious and made her feel very welcome. The spicy shrimp was outstanding, and she recommends the Lebanese dessert assortment, which is on the menu. I would like to add my personal thanks to the staff for treating my wife so well.

Organized a dinner for 23 people. The food and service was extraordinary. Everyone, adults and…read morekids included, loved the food ...and each other's company. Could not have asked for any better outcome to an important reunion of friends from the U.S. and Finland. We have been frequenting Farouge for over 28 years and their food and service is ALWAYS outstanding. I'd recommend them with no hesitation.

Stayed at this hotel with my family, the Nordic theme is in every single detail of the hotel, from…read morethe rooms to the restaurant, loved it. The breakfast was included & it was absolutely delicious and with plenty of options!

I love middle eastern food and for over thirty years my favorite has been a small chain in…read moreAustralia. Many middle eastern restaurants do a great job roasting meat, but the key is in sauces, salads, bread, and other sides. Levant is the best I have ever eaten anywhere and it's in Finland?! Crazy. Love it. I make a point of eating here any time I visit Helsinki (which is quite often, I live in Oulu).

Knowing this place since 80s, it has never failed to serve tasty buffet of kebab and accompanying…read moresides. The meat is always of high quality, flavorful, thin sliced - just perfect. There are also a la carte options although the lunch-time self service is simply unbeatable as for the quality vs cost. The place is very small with plenty of turkish decor, which creates a special ambiance. Friendly service, and sometimes thematic performances.

Still the best kebab/Turkish restaurant in Helsinki. This place is rather small but somehow it…read moremanages to serve more than 20 different dishes from their buffet table and they are all good. Friendly service too.

Quality has collapsed. This used to be a nice buffet, but now they are clearly saving on the…read moreingredients. Tough to bite meat was on offer today. I'll skip this place for a few years from now.

Im a huge fan of Pilpel, which is a Israeli falafel shop in London. So when I learned from my…read morecolleague that there's a falafel shop with a similar concept in Helsinki, I begged him to try it out right away. Fafa now has several locations in Helsinki and we went to their latest venture - the shop located near Kamppi. I was very happy to see a Sabich salad featured on the menu; Sabich means typically the addition of aubergines and boiled eggs to the pita or salad. I went for the spicy option and was positively surprised by the genuine kick that the chilli sauce added. My colleague went for the "normal" falafel pita sandwich. My salad was ok to good - flavourwise it was spot on, but I disliked the fact that they puffed up the salad with too much lettuce. Now, don't get me wrong: I ordered a salad after all and now I'm complaining about too much lettuce? - Well, as I mentioned earlier I love the Pilpel chain in London and when they do these kinds of salads, actual lettuce is only part of the equation and the rest is made up of spiced cabbage (both white and red), tomatoes, hummus, onions etc. My colleague was mightily happy with his falafel pita/sandwich and I have to say it looked quite delicious. Overall, I was quite happy with my visit here...and I will definitely return when I visit Helsinki next time. (Oh, only this time I will not sit in, as the smell of fried falafels really stays in your clothes for quite a while ;-)

Server sneezed, wipe the nose with his hands and proceeded to prepare my food without cleaning his…read morehands. Cauliflower is burned.

The best Middle Eastern cuisine I have found in Helsinki. The fellas are hospitable, and the choice…read moreof food is just great for a buffet lunch. Most of the buffet places are just rip off businesses in Helsinki but this particular restaurant provides you the best bang for your buck. The food is soo good that you wish you had an extra stomach. 5/5..highly recommended.

Terrific Turkish food frequented by many Turks. Casual. Inexpensive. They have a fantastic mezze…read morebar with all kinds of fresh vegetarian appetizers/salads that would be of a meal in itself, included with entree. A number of grilled meats. I had felafel, rice, hummus and the mezze bar. Children welcome. Owner very friendly. There's a buffet at lunch. No alcohol.

No, I don't go around looking for just the buffets when I'm in a new place. I might happen to…read moreinclude some if they look appetizing and seem to enjoy a good reputation. That said, I did go to this restaurant, Istanbul Grilli, while in this city on a stopover. (I ate at a restaurant of another ethnicity using a menu the other night I was here.) They did have a buffet going when I visited. This part of the globe has really short days during the colder months and really long days during the warmer months. Thus, it was dusk when I arrived here to eat, so I don't recall if it was the end of the lunch buffet or the beginning of a dinner buffet, if such a thing even exists. There is also a menu to order from. At Istanbul Grilli, there seem to be two major serving stations: the one toward the left and further back seems to have the meats, chicken, and main dishes and the one to the right and closer to the front seems to have the salads, fruits and vegetables, and some desserts. There is also an area where things like coffee and tea get put together. Some food selections were 3 star items and some things were 4 star offerings. It was good, but it didn't rock my world. (That's probably because I keep trying to like Turkish food as much as I like Greek food.) I don't believe they had kunefe, which I really like, but they had something like baklava. The interior is clean. It's on a major street close to the center, so there are big windows all around and the lighting is good. The service leaned amicable. The price is a good value and fair for this slightly more expensive country. It's also easy to get here, being close to Helsinki's center. The Metro seems to weave across the city and surroundings in an east-west manner, so it won't get you close enough. However, one can easily hop on just one tram or bus and/or walk to reach this restaurant. These latter observations kick up Istanbul Grilli to a solid 4 stars. In addition to that, the restaurant is popular and one will see customers who are locals, probable expats, tourists, and people of Turkish and Middle Eastern extraction. If such a diverse clientele frequents this eatery, that is also indicative that it's a worthwhile stop.

We came here at 9:55 pm thinking that this place closed at 11 pm. But they actually closed at 10 pm…read morethat evening. The staff member was kind enough to take our orders even though we couldn't eat in-store. It took about 15 minutes to get our food. Everyone really enjoyed their food. The falafel wrap could have used more flavor though and I could barely taste the spicy sauce that I requested on it. But the ingredients were fresh. Someone else who ordered the beef wrap thought it was interesting that the beef was a patty but still liked it. The chicken wrap was tasty according to someone else. We also ordered the loaded fries, which were really good but the halloumi was kind of too stringy and weird for us to enjoy or finish.

So delicious! The pita's are packed to the brim, incorporating great flavors. Nice outdoor seating…read morein the side street