, — Restaurant in Istanbul

Do not go to Galata Fish House. Tourists be warned!!!!

They scammed us for the price and charged us $455 for something we did not order- a plate of grilled fish, salad and cold appetizer. Our tour guide brought us here saying it’s his friend’s business and is a reasonable price.

They brought us the menu and pointed to a picture of a grilled fish and said that’s what they recommend. When we try to dwell and look at the menu, they whisked the menu away and then brought a display of cold appetizers asking what we would like. Not much was explained and we told the server we weren’t very hungry. He kept pushing us to choose so we picked an octopus and he says he’ll bring back. Later, he brings us a whole tray of cold appetizers we didn’t order and a salad we never ordered before bringing a grilled fish we never agreed on. He spoke zero English other than just butting out one or two words in English and we spoke zero Turkish so we assumed.

Then they started rushing us for a bill. When it was time for the bill, they added a few more things like sodas we didn’t order, on top of everything else we didn’t order.

They kept asking we tip them in cash in USD or Euro and when we told them we don’t have any cash (prior to starting our tour, we had asked the tour company if we need to get some cash in advance, the staff reassured it’s not necessary). We asked the restaurant if we could just add 20% tip to the total bill and they said they can do this and they never showed us the bill long enough for us to examine it. They flashed it in front of our eyes and we gave them the credit card. We examined the bill once they brought it back for us to sign after they charged our credit card and when we saw the bill, we realized something was very wrong.

We were charged $455 for a grilled fish on our bank statement, we thought surely, there must have been a misunderstanding and went to go ask in a civilized manner. When they insisted that’s what we ordered and how it’s our fault for not checking the menu and the price, and kept asking us to sign the bill, we realized we got scammed and we demanded to cancel our bill and they kept saying that’s what we ordered when we did not. When we refused to sign the bill and how that was more than 20% tip, they offered to give us our tip back in cash, in Lira and tried to scam us second time by giving us the amount that is not even close to the tip we got charged for. We pushed back firmly and said we are calling our bank to dispute the charge.

We walked away without signing the bill and called the bank to dispute the charge and our tour guide said he called the police. I’m honestly confused if he’s in on this whole scam operation since he said it was his friend’s business and he asked for our routing number so he could reimburse us and at this point we were done and we refused and asked him to just bring us back to the airport promptly. We signed up for this tour company at Istanbul Airport thinking it is a legitimate business, and vetted since they had a booth inside the airport. It was called Trusted Tour and when we went back for a refund we caught that they advertise Galata Fish House in their brochure. When we checked our bank statement, the bill from the restaurant comes through under ‘Buta Turizm’ instead of Galata Fish House and the tour company (Trusted Tour) under ‘Hasimoglu Organizasyon’.

Tourists, do not support this business as they’re dishonest and take advantage of tourists. If it’s too late to correct and you’re like us, innocent trusting tourists who realize you git scammed, you might not get the proper tour of Istanbul but you’ll get your money bank. Call your bank and claim the charges as fraud and you’ll be credited back as that’s what we did after this terrible ambush of...

SCAM! Please read my review carefully before entering this place!

I ordered an UBER Taxi to go to a specific restaurant. The driver messaged me asked if I have a reservation at said restaurant. I replied with no and he said he's going to make a reservation for me. My first mistake was to think it was out of pure kindness and hospitality. He then proceeded to stop midway just to bring us to a different restaurant. I was perplexed and said it's not the restaurant I wanted to go! So they tried to market their restaurant as very good and if it doesn't taste good we don't have to pay. All in all they were really pushy. We decided to stay since it was our first day in Istanbul and we were starving at that point. (Our second mistake) The Google page says it's mediocre price and has high ratings which must be fake! The prices were extremely high, they charged 2.900 lira for 1kg of sea bass. They also bring out a platter of appetizers that you can choose from, of course without price. They were also really fast with opening a bottle of water and pouring it in our glasses as we barely sat down, making it harder for us to leave! They gave us the menu AFTER they poured the water and prepared everything. At the end they even charged something which is declared as 'tax'. I asked why what that is about and the waiter said it's 15% tip for the staff. It was not declared anywhere in the beginning. I don't mind giving a appropriate tip, I just don't like if I get scammed into it. All in all we payed 6.000 Lira for 1.2kg sea bass (it was good tho) and a grilled meat platter you couldn't even chew! It's not really the staffs fault, the young boys were really nice and just doing their job. The owner and the taxi driver are the real scammers! The whole experience just felt like scam and I'm 100% sure it was!

P.s. I can see the owner is commenting on people's bad reviews claiming they weren't at his restaurant. But I can confirm it is 100% this GALATA FISH...

Buta Tourism Istanbul and Galata Fish House is an organization of criminals. They are well connected with Taxi drivers baiting their passengers. They have a way with words that will trap you in thoughts of proving yourself that you are worth to enjoy your travel. These drivers instill fear too, it felt like a trap when they stop at the bridge call someone on the phone and won't take your money for the payment of a trip until you waited for the waitress or waiter who will pick you up. Next thing you know, you are led to a restaurant under the bridge and face with so-called fresh seafood. Unlike other respectable and global restaurants with Michelin star, restaurants under Galata bridge doesn't show first the menu with prices except they show you their appetizer and so-called fresh seafood without mentioning their price or ingredients in the recipe that may lead to fatal allergies. It was mind blowing how they use psychology at their utmost scamming action. After 1 hour of making you feel like under a probe of microscope while eating, you will be presented with a bill 100x worth it's value. You could have eaten the same recipe with 700 Turkish Lira of Sea food and not 20,000 Turkish Lira. By the way you will be the only one dining there or if a passerby tourist ask, they will just smirk and go on walk away. This was really suspicious but it was my first time and is the last time. This tour operator is a scam. From taxi to Galata bridge restaurants and the bill will be charge not by the restaurant but by a tour operator. Very...