Salepepe Tokyo Style Pizza — Restaurant in Kadıköy

Let’s get straight into it. The pizzas are “good” at best. Why only “good” and not exceptional as the hype suggests? The whole operation is flawed, and it takes away from the experience, reducing the joy of eating good food.

First of all, two pizza makers, two portable Gozney ovens, extremely slow service, and a long queue. We waited 45-50 minutes on the sidewalk—not for a great indoor dining experience, but for these two hardworking people to prepare the dough, add toppings, cook the food, take orders, prepare takeaway boxes, take payments, give drinks, clean tables, and handle the rest of the basic restaurant work. They need a third person immediately to handle the queue, payments, questions, etc. And they need a third oven or the infrastructure to support a proper pizza oven to cook at least three pizzas at the same time. Because all the good intentions and effort, along with the preparation, are getting lost in the process of rushing and being the cool and chill pizzeria.

You sit on bar stools and eat at a counter, which offers a good view of how your food is prepared. It would be even better if they had a third person to ease the workload, as mentioned before.

We ordered one margherita, for reference, and one pepperoni—a guilty pleasure mistake. On another note, I haven’t seen 5-6 salt shakers on a counter in a long time. I mean, really? Do your customers require that much salt? Or is that a big sign you can’t season your food properly? That was the first and biggest question in my mind.

Then I saw the pizzaiolo salt the bottom of his oven before sliding in the pizza. I know the practice and its benefits, but on a portable oven, the accumulated salt showed itself on the bottom of our pizzas—a terrible salt crust on the bottom, plus the extra sprinkled salt on the toppings before the pizza goes into the oven, and then the salt shakers on the counter? Really? Are you that bad at balancing one of the most important ingredients in pizza?

I have to say, their margherita, if made with properly salted dough, would be a really good pizza. The tomato sauce is nice and fresh, and the portions of toppings are fulfilling, but to me, as it is, the pizza is flawed. The pepperoni was meh—the overpowering garlic and salt of the pepperoni, along with the salt from the crust, was just mehhhh. Like I said, it was my mistake to order it.

Anyway, I won’t wait in line for 45 minutes again—no way, especially not when they serve two customers four pizzas while you’re still standing in line. They should have basic rules, like serving one pizza per person when there’s a queue, and separating the takeaway line from the sit-in customers. I hate eating in a rush (no one forced me to) while watching others eat at a snail’s pace, as if they’re enjoying a four-hour tasting menu. I always feel pressured to eat quickly and move on at places like this. The pressure of people waiting outside is a burden for me, but maybe that’s just me. Anyway, I wouldn’t suggest waiting in line either; go in with lower expectations. Don’t get me wrong, the pizza is good, despite some bad practices, but just good. It would be fine to walk in, get it in 15 minutes tops, enjoy it, and get on with your day—that would be acceptable. But everything else takes away...

We finally got to try this amazing local pizza spot of our beautiful Kadıköy. I unfortunately forgot to take some pics but man those pizzas were insane. Surely among the best pizzas that I had in İstanbul (born n raised speaking here) The ingredients are just top quality. The dough is extremely well fermented and fluffy on the inside, crispy on the outside. We tried Patato and Veggie as suggested. Both are insane. The guy who runs the shop is super helpful and honest when it comes to suggesting from the menu. Prices are just above the level of dominos or little ceasars but the quality is INCOMPARABLE. So for that price tag that quality is just surreal. Overall a 10/10 experience, if you don't mind the limited seating on the place.

Ellerinize sağlık, fiyat performansta üstünüze bir yer tanımıyorum. İlk kez geldim, bir daha mutlaka geleceğim en kısa sürede. Denemek konusunda hiç tereddütünüz olmasın yiyebileceğiniz en kaliteli pizzalardan birini...

A pizza is not much more than a pide. Some dough with a bit of stuff on top (not very much in this case). So how is it possible that a small 'pizza' costs well over 500 lira? It would have to be amazing ... and sure, the oversalted oil bath I had was amazing ... amazingly below average. Add that it's not made in a pizza oven (the dough burns from the flames while the ingredients just get warm), and the pizza is pushed (not stretched) by hand into a strange bowl shape (to better hold the oil I guess). The staff didn't seem very happy, they spent more time on their mobiles than worrying about work. They took a couple of minutes to photograph my pizza before serving it. Priorities I guess! Not exactly a glamourous shop fitout either. Wouldn't go again. So expensive for what you get. Do yourself a favour and get a good pide anywhere nearby for...