Kara Lounge Restaurant — Restaurant in Beyoğlu

so happy to find african dining in istanbul. the food tasted like a home cooked meal. so flavorful and a clean and trendy atmosphere. they deserve more business! hope to return before my trip back home.

update: okay, i had to come back and update my review. i wanted to avoid writing this because i believe Black businesses deserve to thrive especially in communities where they’re underrepresented but i also have to be honest so that they can improve in areas that lack.

the food was great as i mentioned before so my partner went back the next day to pick up some food because we wanted to have it again. the quality of service or lack there of is quite disappointing. the first day we went, we waited quite long for the food to arrive to the table but we quickly got over that. afterwards, we weren’t served or asked how everything was or if we needed anything. the person who i am assuming is the owner sat with her back turned to us, chatting to someone who seemed like an employee as well as on the phone so it was quite difficult to get her attention if we needed something. she was completely preoccupied and unattentive which was kind of a turn off. the next day, we tried calling to place an order for pick up to no avail so my partner ends up walking over. during pick up, my partner arrives there to the same woman who told her to come back in 30min which was confusing because the order could have just been taken rather than have to walk back home or wait around. luckily, we’re not staying too far away but it would have been really unfortunate if we were coming from far for this food to then be told to wait and not even invited inside. it took over an hour before the food was ready and by that point the woman had already left and the cook as well as the other employee were involved.

the above statements are not to bash the business but to share our experience with hopes that the quality of service improves...

The absolute worse African food we have had. That is saying a lot considering I have spent years in Africa.

We ordered the Jallow Rice and Soupe Kandia. We asked the waitress if the food was Turkish African or authentic African and if it was Spicy - typical of West African cuisine which the cooks were.

The Soupe Kandia was the worse, we couldn’t even determine what some of the stuff inside it was - it looked like parts of the animal that are typically discarded and not cooked. My son actually wrapped up a part in tissue because he couldn’t eat his food while looking at it. There was excessive palm oil as it was the predominant flavor - unlike typical West African cuisine we have eaten.

Both dishes were completely bland and when we asked for west African pepper sauce - usually a staple in West African restaurants - we were told it was finished. That was after we were notified 10 minutes after our initial order of Yassa Tray, the main meal we ordered at the outset, was finished.

To add insult to injury there was a 104 Lira Tip automatically factored into our bill. We ordered ar 1PM and there was only one other table of patrons at the time.

Do yourself a favor and avoid this place - I’m skeptical of the 250+ rating this place had with 4 stars being doctored because the food wasn’t even...

My friend, who I took to an African restaurant for the first time, called this a small paradise in Istanbul 😍. And yes, indeed. As you may read on my profile, when I review, I only leave 5 star reviews. This is one of the two I left in Istanbul. The other is for Bosphorus spa.

The space is so clean, so clean. The choice of warm blue 🔵, white 🤍 and other soft colors gives it a very calming presence 😊💟. The choice of music was African of course, very nice upbeat African pop.

We were attended to by Knife, a young, artistic Ivorian woman studying as a film maker in Istanbul. Shout out to her, and shout out to Mr. Amadou Diallo, one of the other people working here.

We shared the fish 🐟 pastels, which were fire, the tieb with fish (Senegal's national dish) and the lamb dibi. All were tasty and well seasoned in the way you'd expect West African food to be! 😏.

The menu features a mix of popular West African dishes. The food is tasty 😋/flavorful, and the ambiance...