Constantine's Ark Restaurant & Cafe — Restaurant in Fatih

For a well rated restaurant like this, I was surprised with the outcome that happened with our first ever visit.

The evening seemed very promising, as they got by our table very fast, and the customer service was very pleasing at the time. We took some time to order our food on their tablet menu's, thinking we'll enjoying the whole experience, but since that everything went sideways.

We understand that we are foreigners from another country and that communication is important, but we didn't seem to manage to do just that with one of our waiters. To be clear, the waiter that served us first was very pleasant with his service and he knew English well.. but for some reason they made a non-english speaking waiter take our order at the end, which wasn't the problem at first at all! We thought we managed to order our food and some drinks. And yes, the drinks in fact came right away, we ordered Rakija that was too strong, where the waiter asked if we wanted some water, which at first was very nice.. But the aftermath, not so much. He ended up outting the water in our drinks ti make it "lighter"? We were very confused, but that wasn't the main issue after all...

Waiting for our food too long, that was the issues! When our first waiter came by to ask if we ordered, we of course said yes because we thought the non-english speaker understood us after all, but no he didn't. After we said, that we don't want to wait anymore and don't want to order, the waiters became very arrogant and frustrated at us. As if we're in fault here. We were just simply wanting to eat and enjoy our evening. After saying no to ordering food, again, we asked for a receipt where thet charged us for two shots or Rakija and a bottle of water, 550TL. We were shocked. We indeed did pay the bill, there wasn't any other way, but to be so insulted by us for your own mistakes was so disappointing.

To be reminded, this is just our experience. But we won't be coming back...

Selam won our hearts.

We came out of Topkapi and were looking for another recommended restaurant. We were lost, as usual, when we walked in front of Constantine’s Ark Restaurant and Selam, one of staff member, invited us to have food at their restaurant. We politely declined and kept on walking, still lost. Selam very kindly came after us and asked us which place we were looking for. He opened his own mobile and started guiding us to the right place. At this point we realized that this guy is special and so should be going to their restaurant. We decided to have the lunch at Constantine's Ark.

And boy, we were not disappointed at all. Amazing food, one of the best lamb dish (Lavash kebab on tile) we had in Istanbul. We also had couple tasty pedas. One of us is allergic to beef and getting a tasty lamb dish in Turkey was challenging. But we got there in the end with this place with this restaurant. Turkish coffee was perfect as was its presentation. Desserts (San Sebastian cheese cake and Kramer) and even the just the add on pistachio ice cream was one of the best that we have had.

The atmosphere, decoration, as if you are sitting in an actual wooden ship, great music.

The best of all was Selam and rest of the team who were very friendly, warm and helpful. We had an extra bread order that came a bit late and 2-3 people, including the restaurant manager (or owner) not sure came and apologized for the...

I do not recommend this restaurant! Very bad service! I had to get up to ask for a simple salt. As a tourist I was treated very badly in this place. A restaurant located in a tourist spot full of hotels around it. I asked if they accepted euros before eating and they said yes. When I went to pay in cash (euro) they didn't have any change to give me. A man who I believe to be the manager said he would give me change in lira, I didn't accept it because I'm leaving Turkey tomorrow. He was stupid and rude to me, saying he didn't have change and wouldn't try to change it anywhere else. Luckily, the hotel I was staying in was located on this street and the receptionist helped me by exchanging notes. The man accompanied me to the hotel as if I were a criminal. The food is not bad, the quantity could be better. But if I could, I would vomit, given the indigestion from the...