Villa Bosphorus — Restaurant in Üsküdar

AVOID THIS PlACE!!!! I don’t really like writing negative google reviews but This time it’s a must so other people don’t get tricked. I googled this place before our travel to Istanbul and it was ranked pretty well. View is fantastic, food is good (nothing special). However, They Tried to SCAM us there! I speak fluent Turkish however I was there with my Canadian Husband and other foreign friends and family. As they saw we are not Locals they decided to scam us! INSANE! I have travelled to enough countries and to much poorer places than Turkey and I have never seen such a thing in my life. Firstly even though I asked for menu 3 times waitress was like Oh don’t worry I’ll make u nice table and I will bring u some appetizers and fish. Long story short, he gave us bill for 8500 tl, that’s like over 600$ bill! He tried to hide the part of the cheque where I can check the list of the items on the bill. Service was slow and fish never came to table before we left, I told him that I don’t want it anymore cuz It took too long and there are lots of smokers outside and my baby won’t be comfortable here. He was like no we already cooked the fish, I said well it never came, please call me your manager so I can discuss the bill with him, he instantly took bill from 8500 to 4800 tl. Seriously???? If my infant wasn’t crying there I’d have insist on talking to manager because I’m pretty sure even at that price there are overcharged items. Next week my Canadian friends are coming to Turkey And I will make sure they don’t visit this place. If you are tourist avoid this...

We were on a road trip on the Anatolian side of the Bosphorus and checked out "best restaurants near me" and this came up.

Checking it out, it was directly on the Bosphorus and since the weather was terrible we stayed inside - but with large bay windows, it was a real pleasure to watch the navigation go by.

Then we ordered the food - and were in for a real treat! A culinary discovery of mezzes (small dishes) that they showed us and explained on a tray. We had half a dozen dishes and the ones that stood out were the Calamari and the Cheese Pesto... Sorry we cannot remember the names of the dishes but they were all excellent.

Then we had grilled Blue Fish which the waiters fileted in front of us, with small vegetables. Wow - delicious and pretty healthy too. A glass of Sauvignon Blanc accompanied it well.

Too full to have desserts, we ended with a Turkish Coffee and got back to the car (which by the way had been parked by valet, which was great because the weather had not gotten any better).

Really memorable. Really recommended. We had a weekday lunch and it was quiet but we understand the evenings get very busy.

Some might say the meal was pricey. It was much cheaper than a similar meal in Western Europe and when you want quality, we don't mind paying a little more. In Nov 2024 the price was around 45 Euros per head all included, which is a bargain with the quality of the food and the impeccable service of the attentive and professional staff there. Wil definitely visit again in a future visit...

This restaurant is a typical scam.

We were a group of eight and ordered mezze and drinks. The prices were inflated, which we expected due to the Bosphorus view. However, they added items from the menu without asking, which we assumed were complimentary until we got the bill. Six out of eight people at our table were Turkish, so it wasn’t a matter of not understanding the language or culture. They also opened an extra bottle of raki that no one requested and started pouring.

The worst part was when a few people asked for tea around 11 o'clock. Without asking, the staff cleared everyone's plates, even though most of us still had food left. This disrespect led to half of our 15,000 TL meal being wasted. Portions were small; for example, we were charged 1,960 TL for four portions of calamari, which amounted to just two pieces per person. They didn’t bring the tea and instead served watermelon and cantaloupe, which we didn’t ask for, and charged 2,000 TL for it.

This isn't just "meyhane culture"—we’ve been to many in Istanbul and Turkey and never experienced anything like this. I recommend avoiding this place unless you want to spend 3,000 TL per person and leave hungry and...