79 Cafe Restaurant — Restaurant in Fatih

This place is definitely with a jaded set of reviews. The food is subpar, the pricing isn't clear unless you are Turkish (and you will only see foreigners eating there)

You walk in hungry and are presented with some food options in a buffet format to pick fromand also a menu. The food options prices aren't very clear. There is a price sheet on the wall. It's in Turkish. Good luck matching it to the presented items since it's in an angle, and hard to translate.

Somehow upon ordering a menu item that had more effort required, and with more meat ended up costing less than a stew option from buffet upon checkout. The Bulgar from the buffet definitely tasted old and should have been refreshed. 3 items led to almost 30 cad bill.

I had double the amount of food at Pratik Self Service earlier in the day that had more than 4x hot food items and 2x cold items with very affordable menu options for a total of 17.50 cad. And the food tasted amazing and fresh.

So in regards to existing reviews - if you are used to sultanahmet prices then this place is around 25% less on average but probably tastes worse. In a hurry, it might do.

If you had experiences at other local self service like Pratik or Imren you will be disappointed and wonder why it felt like a scam.

Service was okay though, overshadowed by the value proposition of this restaurant's...

Forget all those tourist trap restaurants in the Old City. Very close to the Old City, in Laleli, sits a quiet, small yet amazing restaurant. 79 Cafe is amazing. First of all: the food. Fresh, homemade cooked food. Soups, rice, meatballs, stews, meat, deserts. everything is fresh and tasty. As a lot of people go there to eat, from various nationalities, you'll probably have the surprise that at least one of the waiters speaks your language. The soups are great, especially the lentil soup (with a pinch of spicy) and the bean soup. I also tried the meatballs with mashed potatoes, the lamb chop with rice, the beef stew with rice. Each and every time, incredible. Honest food, not fancy food, good prices....

The food is good, but rather average and the prices are not visible when you order. At the end of the meal we had a huge surprise. The cost was approximately 60 euro for 4 soups, 4 mains and 4 small bottles of water. It's extremely expensive for a restaurant where not long ago you would come and eat affordable meals without having to wait very long. Now, they see that you are a tourist, and they do their best to scam you. That's why you'll not see locals here, they know they should avoid this place. If you don't believe me, come and see...