Lucy Pera — Restaurant in Beyoğlu

We spent our first dinner in Istanbul here and got absolutely scammed. I never write reviews on here but our experience rightfully deserves one.

Upon finishing our meal we were told we had to pay in cash only, and our bill was 4700 lira for our group of 3 people.

They explained to me the machine had not been working all day. Luckily, we were quick to think and pressed them, since it is unacceptable that the machine had not worked all day, and we were not told this before sitting down, nor was there any sign saying cash only.

We were able to negotiate our bill down to 4000 lira in cash, which even then is extremely expensive considering we ordered one plate of food to share, one hummus, and one round of drinks (nonalcoholic) for 3 people. It turns out that any food they give you without asking is not free (we were charged 2 portions of vegetables we did not ask for, and 1 portion of bread we also did not ask for).

Please do not offer me a complimentary meal here as you have with other guests that have had similar experiences, as I would not eat here again even if it was free.

Thank you Lucy Pera, we learned 2 valuable lessons from eating here which we took going forward:

Always ask if you can pay with card or if it is cash only. Always ask if unsolicited food being placed down at the table is free or if it costs extra.

Those 2 rules saved us from getting scammed...

Was walking around the area looking for Turkish breakfast for one person when I saw Biran and the Turkish breakfast spread for 2 people at the entrance. I asked him if they could make it for 1 and he gave me a few options.

I believe I ordered the “Hot breakfast” for 1 (TRY 395). It was soooo filling that I wish I had a second stomach to finish everything. The halloumi cheese and Turkish sausages were my favourite - so delicious and flavourful but not overly oily either.

I also got a Turkish coffee and tea on the side making the total around TRY 484.

The ambience is perfect - very aesthetically pleasing, a nicely covered area for when the sun is too hot and also provides a cool breeze.

I’m so glad Biran was there when I was checking out the menu. He was the reason why I decided to eat there in the first place. He was so kind and accommodating the whole time and answered my questions about Türkiye, the food I was eating, etc.

Overall, delicious food and amazing customer service....

If this review helps even one person on deciding between coming to this place or somewhere else, then sharing my experience will be worth it. Do not eat here. In a city where there is an abundance of delicious food and reasonable prices, this place is NOT it. The food is extremely overpriced, and tourists especially will get scammed by getting unsolicited food brought to their table and later getting charged for it. Our group also got told at the end that we could only pay in cash and were told to go to the atm to get cash out without any warning. Don’t trust all of these five star reviews as most of them seem to be from local guides or paid reviewers. There are much better restaurants in Istanbul, please don’t go here in my...