Istanbul Grill — Restaurant in Stockport

This restaurant is definitely an underrated spot for Turkish food in Manchester. It offers warm service with a delicious variety of foods that cover every aspect of the Mediterranean cuisine, leaving you spoilt for choice.

The starters that came with turkish bread, hummus and cacik were pleasant. The bread was akin to focaccia, with a light, airy and soft texture. Their hummus was smooth with a slight tang that proved just as delicious as the cacik dish, both a lovely start to the meal.

Their slow cooked lamb shank, on a bed of mash potato, with the lamb’s own gravy was satisfying, much different to the other lamb shank dishes I have tried. The gravy had a slight sweetness to it but the lamb was tender, the portion of mashed potato making it very satiating.

The mixed chargrill (karisik) was also another dish with generous portions of lamb chops, kofte kebab, lamb fillets and a herb marinated chicken fillet - with rice & salad garnish. The mix of different grilled meat made it an exciting dining experience.

Both the pan fried sea bass fillet on a bed of light creamy garlic tossed spinach, garden vegetables and potato, and grilled chicken fillet topped with a garlic creamy mushroom sauce served with rice had mellow tastes. The portions were modest yet enjoyable, not leaving too heavy a burden on the stomach.

Staff members were very kind and hospitable, the restaurant had a lovely ambiance which only elevated the dining experience further.

Overall, the food and service at this restaurant warranted another visit, or two, or three. You can explore all facets of the Mediterranean with a refreshing and satisfying...

Typical example of low quality food but nice looking restaurant.

We visited here tonight ordered two starter and two main dish, one of which is mixed grill. All grills are on the bland side, lack of flavor and pretty bad cooked (dry meat, nearly cold). HOWEVER what makes me rate 1 star is the chicken thigh served in the mixed grill used OUT OF DATE chicken. The inside of meat clearly smells stink-ish and as regular chicken eater we knew for sure that was the smell of chick gone bad. After consideration we decided to tell one of the waitor (seem to be the manager because dressed differently). We were then SHOCKED about the response we got. Firstly without smelling the problematic chicken, he started LOUDLY explaining already, saying the meat was marinated and it was the smell of herb, and the same meat was served to all other customers onsite. After smelling the chicken as we requested, although clearly giving an odd expression on face (honesly we all knew that chicken was not right), he INSISTED the chicken was OK and instead it was the smell of herb.

We know serving a foreign cuisine requires some modification of authentic flavour to meet local taste, but the grill served here is far from delicious. Plus the bad chicken served to us, unfortunately it was a very very disappointed...

What an anti-climax to say the least!

I’ve past this place many times and it always looks busy so plus all the good reviews, we thought we’d give it a go for a family Sunday outing... Couldn’t have been more wrong. They sat us down at the table, we then waited 10mins for a menu, in the end we gave up and asked for one! The waiter asked us if we wanted the children’s food to come with our starters, yes that’s great we said. The children were nearly finished when we once again gave up waiting and asked where our starters were, only to be told they had forgotten them (the restaurant had only 5-6 tables with people eating so it wasn’t like they were busy)! Both the starter and mains came and yes there was nothing wrong with them, but having been to Turkey several times and eating in many Turkish/Kurdish and Lebanese style restaurants over the years, the food was nothing to write home about 5/6 out of 10 at best!

I’m happy to praise good food and good service but it baffles me how this place has got such good reviews. We shall certainly not be returning, and will continue to stick with Yara Restaurant over the road which is much better all...