Musafir Restaurant-Indian Restaurant Est. 2004 — Restaurant in Beyoğlu

One word - AWFUL. And that's without even tasting the food! My wife and I have so far had a wonderful time in Istanbul with our 10 month old son. Being from Britain, we fancied a curry for dinner last night and came across Musafir whilst searching online. Menu looked expensive but we thought we'd still give it a go.

We walked up to a near empty restaurant with my son in his pushchair. Just as I had lifted the pushchair up the doorsteps, a waiter (who I later identified as Rana) opened the door and said we will have to wait outside for 10-15 minutes because they were cleaning. There was no visible cleaning activity going on so quite exactly what they were cleaning, I don't know. Nonetheless, we were made to wait.

And after the cleaning had finished, he came out and tried to seat us outside!? We had to explain to him that we would like to be seated inside as the evening was a bit chilly, we had a baby with us, and he was due for a nap in his pushchair. Apparently, the waiter didn't notice we had a baby with us. We were eventually allowed in to the restaurant where not one other customer could be seen. At this point, the waiter started to insist that we leave the pushchair outside because the pushchair would be blocking off seats on adjacent tables. Even after explaining why we can't leave the pushchair outside, I found it remarkable that he couldn't see an entirely empty restaurant for any other unfortunate customer to be seated. I pointed out that the restaurant isn't exactly heaving but he was still being difficult about the pushchair.

Not having made a good impression on us, we decided to leave. The waiter was unapologetic. All throughout, his attitude just stank and he acted as though he was doing us a favour. This is the most unwelcoming experience we've had since being in Istanbul.

I really can't...

Its a melting pot. A meeting point, A katta in a typically Indian lingo. So here goes our story...

My husband and I were in Turkey for 10 days in November. The love for travelling and delectable food runs in our veins. First 5 days were good, excited to taste new Turkish cuisines, local food and drinks, coffees, tea etc. But on the 6th day our mind, tongue & heart were searching for an Indian food. Simple dal chawal would have sufficed our need and hunger.

First 6 days we were in other cities of Turkey and from 7th day onwards we were in Istanbul. The happening city. Luckily we were staying in Taksim Square & our reception staff gave us the direction to this Indian restaurant, Not the name of this restaurant but just a rough direction. We had just returned from Cappadocia and terribly hungry but we decided to eat only in an Indian restaurant. So we walked and walked, searching for this restaurant. Few wrong rights & few correct lefts landed us to this place.. We ordered for a simple dal tadka, jeera rice, naan & mutter paneer. The moment we received it we jumped over it like a hungry fox, our hearts were going Ummmm!!! And the taste was surreal. Second day we had to visit Uludag mountain in Bursa. Our only aim was to rush back and visit the same restaurant to relish their Chicken Biryani. And so was the third day. Over these three days we met Indians, felt like home, laughed, shared memories even though we were to return in next 2 days but meeting a fellow Indian was like hitting a jackpot & definitely the Indian cuisine & spices has its wonders too..

Musafir as its name suggests, it touches the soul'

Lovely food, heart-warming staff & a...

As a Desi, I'm embarrassed by this restaurant, one of the very few Desi restaurants in this Taksim area. The food was horrendous- I couldn't even finish eating it. I placed an order for samosa chaat off the menu as they had aloo chole chaat, but they couldn't oblige. That's okay, I understand as it was off the menu. The order of vegetable samosa that arrived at my table was stale. The chutney was bland, and the achaar wasn't even achaar but simply small peppers in oil. No tamarind sauce to accompany it either.

The palak paneer tasted like mendhi. I had one bite and couldn't finish the rest. The paneer was terrible.

The chana masala was the saving grace of the entire experience. It was decent comparatively speaking.

The naan I ordered had a small hair in it, so I didn't eat it. I placed the piece of bread with the hair right at the edge of the plate for someone to see, but no one commented.

To their favor, I will say that I was asked why hadn't I eaten the palak paneer. I was in no mood to discuss the gravity of how bad this food was. I just wanted to pay the bill and go. No leftovers to go either, also surprising them.

To add to the disaster of this awful experience, the food is quite expensive. Uncalled for as the quality of food does not match the prices charged.

I'm just saddened by this experience because there aren't any desi restaurants in our immediate area. This is the only one people will go to and think this is what our cuisine...