Boâz Ocakbaşı — Restaurant in Beşiktaş

Starting off with the ambiance, this place scores high. Beautiful interior, nice large windows facing the park. Service was very attentive, then yet again it was a very quiet night. The only comment I have on the service is, when I asked what they recommended on the menu, they could not come up with a reasonable answer, and instead tried to convince me instead to order lots of their more expensive dishes (I feel this to be a rookie move, it is crucial that front house staff understands and has tried all items on the menu so they can give you the best instruction on how to navigate their menu). I ended up ordering two starters, a main and tea. The menu was pricey, not uncommon for the Kuruçeşme area. In total I paid 500TL with water and service charge included. But the area in addition to service charge doesn’t completely encapsulate the full brunt of a 500TL charge for one person. My guess is the prices are also increased due to the restaurant’s proximity to the Mandarin Oriental and also tourist heavy Ortaköy. I wouldn’t say this restaurant can be constituted as a tourist trap but does it cater to the foreign pallet? I would say yes.

In regards to food quality, the içli köfte was enjoyable, 70TL worth of joy? One can debate. It was boiled, not deep fried which made the meat mixture inside stand out. Personally the meat inside was lacking a bit of spice, but to each his own. The hummus was tasty, average, what you would expect if you were to order such a dish. Was it worth its 170TL price point? With the addition of the pastırma it was bound to be a bit pricier than what one would expect. Now on to the Han kebab, the meat was tasty, succulent and fatty, but it wasn’t anything that I haven’t had already at any neighborhood kebab shop. So could you really say the 220TL price point was a payment on my overall restaurant experience? I cannot say. Sadly the rest of the kebab platter was meager to say the least; tomato was warmed not chard, the peppers were small (not that size should matter here) and lacked in crunch. And the flat bread layered on top was cold, not grilled, and were of a tortilla-like texture making the dish overall feel cheap. Sadly this plate, (although being the most expensive) seemed the least worth it, which truly bummed out the whole experience (which is ironic cause you are paying so much for said experience).

I again want to reiterate the importance of the staff knowing the menu. It is critical that (especially for a restaurant catering to the foreign crowd) that all front house staff have some understanding of the menu and are able to give recommendations or guidance on what to order, or even what appetizer pairs with what main dish. I constantly questioned the staff for recommendations of how to navigate their menu to understand how much to order and what to pick as one person, as to not over order. An efficient answer was not given. The only coherent one I received was vague and obviously quite pricey, which would then result in over-ordering. This should be fixed, it can impact restaurant traffic substantially.

Would I return here again? If a friend really begged me to. But of my own accord for a casual bite to eat? No. Maybe not even for a special occasion where there is room to splurge. I find that there is no need for one to pay this highly for this amount of food, a markup justified by the “experience of it all” when I feel that said experience can be attained anywhere else with less of a dent in...

Look, I have read the reviews before and the Arabic one had a trend, which is placing orders on the bill that never been served, which happened with me, almost 1000 TL was added to the bill with false orders. They removed one, then I force them to remove the other, also other problem doubling orders for example We ordered 2 steaks and we told them one side dish is vegetable, the other is French fries they brought both fr fries, OK, no problem, then Guess what they brought other French fries, which is the side dishes. And the other one they say we ordered it extra which we did not so we had to pay for 2 extra FF They make you pay for service per person then at the end you pay 20% tax!!! With the above do not tip.

Now to the food, superb delicious, but expensive, Ambience is great but cats are their so if good service it deserves !

Over all, with the current managment it is a lost business. After correcting the bill , 4 persons no deserts costs 6765TL, am surprised how reviewers wrote 200+TL, it is 1500+TL if am going to pay this much then why bother my self with dishonest staff, will go somewhere else. Sorry but this is the truth. By the way, the staff is also under trained. E.g he was moving my glass almost from the top, no professional waiter...

Yesterday we were there with a group of friends and we really liked it. The place has a nice sea-view in Kurucesme and very well-decorated with comfy chairs. The chef cook personally took care of us and offered us a nice variety of their tasty starters. Also their organic starter coctail was delicious. We had "Adana Kebap" as the main dish and it was really good too. All staff were kind and genial. We are grateful to headwaiter Mr. Ibrahim who is one of best in Istanbul with his attitude and courtesy. Food: 9/10 Service: 10/10 Environment:...