SULTAN SOMATI & THE TABLE OF SULTAN (FİNE DİNİNG RESTAURANT) — Restaurant in Karatay

A tourist trap if you want to get the best experience possible and here's why:

First of all, the restaurant's atmosphere was good enough. Felt like it was highly orientalized with a little bit of westernization, it doesn't feel like an authentic Anatolian dine-in but is still pretty good if you consider the experience as standalone. I say these as a Turk, so I think at least my opinions are somewhat valuable within this aspect.

The service was not the best but still good enough. The servicemen come at your table and tell you the history and cultural significance of the food and syrup delivered. We were satisfied with the explanations but please note that they were not in depth if that is what you are loking for, they were more like explanations of 1 or 2 sentences. What we are dissatisfied is that when we wanted to ask further questions about the food, the servicemen usually just ignored or did not hear us. I think they should be more careful about this, and if they do not have enough waiters, they could try to hire more as I'd bet they are making bank with these incredibly high prices.

The food, oh the food. It has incredible potential but is not capitalized on by the restaurant, here's why: you will not be able to taste anything although they are doing a good job of combining different tastes and smells. We were really hyped up coming into this place, thinking we'd taste something really different and have once in a lifetime experience, but we were gravely let down by the restaurant. While eating most of the food, you get an income of taste and senses while all of a sudden it stops without getting to the peak. All of a sudden, the taste disappears. The combination of taste, is pretty solid but does it really matter if you cannot get it at all? We have no idea what this stemmed from, so we did what a normal person would do and asked the restaurant owner. We were replied with, "since a lot of tourists come here, we do not use much salt, you can try to add some yourself". At first this seemed like a reasonable explanation but later I came to the conclusion that it was nonsense.

As someone who studies in Canada and knows the western culture pretty well, I bet even better than the restaurant owner, western culture has a lot more salt on their food than us Anatolians'. It'd be non-sense if they came in and complained about the salt, because they'd be craving for more! This is the same case with eastern societies, they use a lot of salt as well! I think they came up with this excuse, thinking we may not have much information on what people from other cultures would like. Anyway, we tried putting in some salt but for most of us, it didn't change anything! We just got the taste of the salt and any other aroma would disappear even under the circumstance of minimal salt! I think they are incredibly incompetent in amplifying tastes so much so that you' think you were eating salt only if you used a small pinch. For this amount of taste, the price was rather high at 800₺ per person, about 24$, I think it'd be better around probably 17$ or 20$ at best for the taste that you'd get.

Overall, the restaurant was pretty lackluster, we were hyped up coming in, but were really let down. The restaurant's atmosphere was good enough, not really authentic, service was ok at best but not bad, and food were nothing to look forward to. This restaurant has a large potential but chooses not to use it for some reason, I guess they prefer being a tourist trap for Europeans who only know small aspects of the oriental culture and accept them in face value without being well-versed in details. Restaurants and business like this one are one of the main reasons why tourism in Turkey is not ever improving but repeating the same story every...

Aşırı değil aşşşşırı güzeldi. Biz eşimle gittik ve 2 kişilik tadım menüsü aldık. Öncelikle sirkencübin şerbeti geliyor. Sirkeyi sevdiren bir tarif diyebilirim. Biz evimizde de denemeyi düşünüyoruz. Sonra meze olarak pazı otlu yoğurt, küflü peynir, jalapeno biberi ve tuzlu tereyağı geldi ki tereyağı çok güzeldi. Çorba olarak 4 çeşit çorba geliyor. Yani menüdeki bütün çorbalar geliyor (çeşmi nigar ç., tandır ç., tutmaç ç. ve bamya çorbası). Çorbalardan sadece çeşmi nigar çorbası düz mercimek çorbası gibi geldi bana, mısır unu tadını alamadım bir Karadenizli olarak. Diğer 3 çorba da kendi içinde ayrı ayrı güzeldi bence. Salatalarla aramın pek iyi olmamasına rağmen salataya bayıldım. Yediğimiz salata gül yapraklı marul salatasıydı. Ekşi ve tatlı uyumu aşırı iyidi. Ara sıcak olarak üç çeşit kalye geldi. Patlıcan, biber ve fasulye kalyeleri. Onlar da güzeldi ama şimdiye kadar belirttiğim gibi aşırı değildiler bence. Ana yemek olarak 4 çeşit yemek geliyor. Sütlü kahveli et, 12’li tava kebabı, hassaten lokma ve güveçte et tiridi. Ama biz ana yemeklerden biri de Selçuklu mutfağına ait olsun diye rica edince isteğimiz doğrultusunda hassaten lokma yerine elmalı dana biryan rica ettik, sağolsun kabul ettiler. Tek tek değerlendirecek olursam sütlü kahveli et içlerinde en eh işte diyebileceğim yemekti. Aslında kötü değil asla ama diğerleri o kadar güzel ki o yanlarında sönük kalıyor bence. 12’li tava kebabının sosu aşırı iyidi, elmalı dana biryan benim favorim, güveçte et tiridi de eşimin favorisi oldu. Tatlı olarak 3 çeşit tatlı geliyor. Yine menüdeki tatlıların hepsi (dondurma hariç). Antep fıstıklı kaymaklı firuzeden kaymak tadı alamadım. Tahinli cevizli kabak tatlısı güzeldi, içlerindeki favorim oydu. Ballı güllü badem helvasını pek sevmedim bildiğimiz un helvasıydı bence. Şerbetlerden de bütün şerbetler geliyor yemek sırasında (reyhan, gül, demirhindi ve nar). Şerbetlerle aram yorum yapacak kadar iyi değildir ama tatlarının hafif olması kısmını beğendim ben. Eşim de mesela özellikle nar şerbetinde nar tadının daha yoğun gelmesini istediğini belirtti. Genel olarak değerlendirecek olursam etlerle ilgili olumsuz hiçbir söz diyemem. Ama 2 kişilik tadım menüsünde kişi başı fiyat 1190 lirayken porsiyonların daha fazla olmasını beklerdim çünkü şerbetle şişiyor insan. Bunun dışında olumsuz bir yorumum yok tavsiye ederim. Ama tadım menüsünü değil. Gerçi biz eşimle normal insanlar gibi yemediğimiz için de doymuyor olabiliriz. Kısacası ikinci kez gitmek istediğinizde fikir sahibi olabilmek adına tadım menüsü...

I had an outstanding experience at Sultan Somati! From the moment I walked in, the atmosphere was warm and inviting, with elegant decorations

The service was impeccable—our server was attentive and knowledgeable, without ever being intrusive, and every recommendation they gave was spot on.

The food was the true highlight. Each dish was beautifully presented and bursting with flavor. I especially loved their salads.The sample şerbet was also unforgettable. Portions were generous, and everything tasted incredibly fresh.

To top it off, the restaurant offers beautiful candles as a gift which really made the experience feel special.

Overall, this is a place I would wholeheartedly recommend to anyone looking for authentic, and memorable dining. I’ll definitely be coming...