Avlu Ocakbaşı

Had a wonderful experience at Avlu ! The food was absolutely delicious—authentic Turkish cuisine full of rich, traditional flavours. You can really taste the care and heritage in every dish.

What stood out just as much as the food was the incredibly friendly and helpful staff. Everyone had a genuine smile and offered great recommendations that really made the meal even more enjoyable. You feel welcomed the moment you walk in.

The restaurant is located next to a livelier spot, so if you’re after a quieter experience, I’d recommend sitting inside—it’s much more peaceful and comfortable. One small note for summer diners: there are berry trees outside that occasionally drop fruit onto the tables, which can be a bit distracting. It’s a minor issue, though, and didn’t take away from how much I enjoyed the meal overall.

Would definitely come back—this place...

This meal was the worse one I had in Istanbul. It was a complete rip off for prices of the dishes. However, the worse was the chicken wings that we order, they took the chicken riblet portion and cut it into 2 pieces which I have never ever seen anyone do this in my life but the price did not reflect this as it was still very expensive. To top it off the wings came to the table lukewarm. The hot hummus which was also expensive was awful tasting and the salad description did not say it had cucumber so we ordered it because my husband cannot eat it but when it came out it had finely chopped up cucumber so I was left with a mountain of salad to eat alone. The beer on tap was also flat and when we asked to change to a bottle the waiter...

Unpleasant experience. 1) Their pricing can be surprising particularly for big groups who are celebrating special days. I think they abuse the fact that people will be less likely to question the bill to not to spoil the special day. A bottle of prosecco for 2000TL!! Seriously!? 2) Disrespectful staff. I asked the same waiter three times if he can turn off the heating. He said sure but just continued chatting with another waiter. 3) only two restrooms for the whole restaurant!! We turned the wait time into fun by dancing with strangers on the restroom line but a place with about 40 tables should have more restrooms. To be honest, the food was good, hence my...