Ali Muhiddin Hacı Bekir Lokumları — Local services in Fatih

Pros. Above average bakery items. Cons. Their customer service. It’s not bad. It’s terrible. I came in at 8 am (right upon opening) so was the only one there with three employees. They all said “no English”. I said no problem…and took out google translate. Then they shook their head “no” that they were not willing to read Turkish. So I said no problem! And changed to voice translation. Then he looked at me like he could not understand google translate transcription (which I had been using for my last two weeks in Turkey!). Do not open a store in a tourist area and act like that. I do not expect people to speak English. But I do expect them to make a reasonable effort to at least accommodate someone trying to use Turkish. Anyhow. Bought a few pastries only because I couldn’t figure out what was what and left. Went to Hafiz next door (they can read Turkish) and bought boxes of halwa for my friends and coworkers. So sad and...

We found this store with very good reviews on trip advisor so decided to check it out. Tried many flavors: mint, strawberry, pistachio and all were so good so we decided to buy some. They don’t let you pick from the fresh ones that you tried, instead you have to buy a closed package. When we got to the hotel at the request of our family who would be receiving it as a gift we opened it and it looked NOTHING like the ones in the window! If you will be eating in, do get some if they allow you to get fresh ones in the window. Otherwise I do not recommend. Frustratingly enough this shop was triple the price of another from which we purchased very fresh turkish delight. You should go to...

Most stupidest place I’ve been to in Istanbul. They have small Lokum varieties on the window with prices for 1kg to choose from. I asked if I could choose a variety of everything not just buy 1 kg of one type. They offered me a wrapped package like the ones you get from normal grocery shops I said I was after more fresh ones like the ones on the window. They said they can do that however when I picked one they said they had ran out of that one, I selected another and again they had ran out. I asked which ones they have and he pointed at one and the other worker said they had ran out of that one too. Language was not an issue here because I was speaking to them in...