Del Mare — Restaurant in Üsküdar

Mixed experience. Beautiful views and a convenient (free) boat shuttle from the European side makes for a very memorable experience especially for visitors to Istanbul. Prices are very high for Istanbul standards and unfortunately the service does not match the price. The fish is very good but again, nothing particularly extraordinary for the price.

Unfortunately the service was not particularly attentive especially compared to many other nice fish restaurants. We would sit many minutes with empty water glasses without the waiter coming by—quite unusual for a Turkish restaurant of this caliber. (The service wasn’t due to language barrier; we speak Turkish.)

Finally, when we went to leave, we asked several times about the boat service several times and didn’t receive any updates. We had to ask several times and every time we got the buck-passing (our waiter would say he was going to call the ferry and then yell at someone else to call it, very unclear if anyone was ever actually calling it or not).

Lastly, we went downstairs to catch the boat ferry, only to find that the staff had already shut and locked the downstairs, so we were waiting in the dark using our cell phone flashlights to figure out how to open up the locked doors…. not a great conclusion.

In sum: amazing views, but probably not worth the price. Do a boat tour for the views and get your...

If I was able to give this place a zero, I would. If you do not feel like being utterly robbed, I would suggest that you do not attend this establishment. The views are great and the waiting staff is attentive and that is where the good ends. The food is terrible, like actually terrible. The head waiter that took our order started our evening off by suggesting a fish that was beyond terrible. The starters were bad. But we held out hope. The mains arrived and the suggested fish smelt bad, was very clearly frozen and inedible. We did not eat even a fraction of what we ordered, which was noticed however was not addressed by the staff. The real kicker was when the bill arrived. I have eaten at expensive places in Istanbul but I will have it known that NEVER have I been more utterly shocked and downright disgusted than when this bill arrived. Over 13,000 TL on three mains and a few starters. It is literal robbery. For food we were unable to eat. Do not go Do not even think of going There are many excellent restaurants on the Bosphorus that you can attend. And even though their food may be pricey, it still will never be this bad and I can guarantee that. Furthermore you might actually be able to eat their food unlike...

Has a great location right on the sea. Has both smoking and non-smoking areas. Even though the smoking area seems to be ventilated well, non-smokers area should be the choice as it is a few steps to the terrace if you fancy one anyway.

We usually do a lot of mezes and no fish. Tonight was no exception. For cold mezes we had the jumbo shrimps, artichoke slices in olive oil, eggplant puree, marinated sea bass (awesome!) and radika (an Aegean green). For hot starters we had stuffed calamari, cheese stuffed zucchini flowers and teeny fried shrimp dough pastries served with yogurt. We also had a rocket tomato cheese salad and 35cl Efe Raki.

All the mezes were tasty. The marinated sea bass, jumbo shrimps and the shrimp 'manti' were really good. The staff, and when I say staff I mean from the waiter to the valet, all are very welcoming, friendly and helpful.

For me, the only downsides were that it was a bit louder than I expected and there was a long wait between the cold and hot starters which I believe our order was somehow missed.

Would recommend and would visit again!

P.S.: Wife wasn't a big a fan of the RnB music coming out of the...