Çiya Sofrası — Restaurant in Kadıköy

Went to the wrong Ciya Sofrasi

The reviews here don’t tell you: there are 3 Ciya restaurants with different menus: kebab, regional food, and mixed menu. So make sure you come to the right one if you’re after particular menu

We wanted to eat regional food, and mistakenly went to the mixed menu place. The host/waiter didn’t even explain what’s in store and the difference between the 3 places. He just handed us over the kebab menu. We ordered thinking how strange it was that the menu that we read was vastly different to our expectations (media coverages mentioned about regional food over the counter being the specialty). But we thought maybe there was some sort of change in menu and went along

When all of our food had arrived, as we sat outdoor and observed our surrounding we saw the signage for the other ‘original’ Ciya. We asked this to the waiter and he explained half-heartedly about the 3 different restaurants and the different menus. He could’ve explained this before we placed our order. We asked all food in our table to be taken away, paid the bill, and get up to move to the other Ciya that we intended to go in the first place

It was to our surprise when we sat down at the other Ciya that apparently the Ciya that we came from actually had the same regional food menu! This other waiter was surprised that we don’t know about this fact seeing that the Ciya we came from “had a couple of English-speaking waiters”. Well, the English-speaking host/waiter just never bothered to explain the existence of the regional food in the mixed menu place to us. Didn’t even seem interested in engaging and serving us, which was very different experience to the regional food sofrasi where there was a very fluent gentleman patiently taking time to explain every single dish over the counter to us and other diners

In total we paid 2400TRY between the two restaurants: the items from the kebab restaurant that went to trash bin (uneaten soup, pide, and kebab), and two smallish mixed plates from the original sofrasi that we finished. We really hate wasting food but there’s just no way we can finish everything and with the fact that we’re after specific experience we had to prioritize what we should eat that night. We finished our plates and took off after settling the bill at the sofrasi restaurant without having even being offered customary cay as service was generally haphazard despite the host being wonderful

Wholeheartedly agree with other reviews: you can have better option in the area, and the mix up ended up being the worst experience that day we visited Kadikoy. Absolutely regretted inserting this restaurant...

Went here with recommendations from the concierge of our hotel, our tour guide and various guidebooks that the wife read. First comment: This place is on the Asian side and our hotel is on the European side. That required a ferry ride. I recommend that you get the Istanbul Card if you are going to use public transport (like the ferry to Kadakoy). They did not accept cash and our credit cards didn't work. They also didn't have a machine that sold the cards. Some guy put us on his card (for a nice profit) but hey, we were on the boat. Second comment: Make sure you have some sort of ID on you. On the ferry, the cops came through and checked IDs. We leave the passports in the hotel, so you can feel the cold sweat forming on my neck. However, both the wife and I had our California driver's licenses and they worked (Hey, I saw Midnight Run and don't want to see a Turkish gray bar hotel from the inside). I guess even the cops do some California dreaming.

Back to the review. There are three Ciya restaurants, all within spitting distance. Two are right across the street from one another. We went to the third one, just one restaurant down. We sat outside even though that is the smoking section.

Menu was in English with pretty good descriptions (even though poppy seed in the title turned into poopy seed in the description).

We both started with red lentil soup. It was great. Not spicy but with a full tomato flavor. Highly recommended. Wife ordered Kofte, two big meatballs with onions and seasonings and lightly fried. Wife's mother used to make this so she had to try it. Not as good as mama's but worth ordering (is any restaurant dish ever as good as mama's?). I had the spicy lamb kebab. Comes with onions, fried tomato and pepper on pita. It was very good, not what I would call spicy, more peppery. Tasty and filling. Another recommended dish.

Overall, we recommend this place for a lunch while walking through the narrow streets filled with restaurants and shops uphill...

I was dissatisfied with the service and quality of the Siya Safrasi restaurant and left it with the feeling that it was a scam. The target customer of the restaurant is a tourist who will not come here more than once.

At the entrance to the restaurant, we were met by a cook who told us in good English about the dishes and how to order them. The dishes are already cooked and they are at the entrance, that is, they are not prepared specifically for visitors. We ordered 2 half portions of rice and half a portion of the Turkish dish Seftali Galyesi. We planned to order more if we liked the quality of the food, despite the fact that the dishes had no prices and the menu itself was also nowhere to be found, and we were not offered it.

The portions were very small, the service was fleeting and incomprehensible. Twice we asked to remove water bottles from the table and then bread, which we did not order, and that was not a compliment. When I asked several times "I didn't order this, is it free?", I didn't get a clear answer Yes or No, I also want to note that the waiters didn't understand us, or pretended not to understand us. They removed it from the table only when the manager came up.

The food tasted ordinary, the place itself with the service is not worth it and spoils the impression of the evening. We paid 600 liras for two very small children's rice bowls and a small snack plate of a local dish (all plates had a diameter of about 7 cm) and two tea.

This place was mentioned in the chief show on Netflix, after which the quality of food, service and prices deteriorated a lot, and this place habitually remained in printed guidebooks. I do not recommend visiting this place, in Kadıköy there are better restaurants with local cuisine, where visitors will...