Cafe Istanbul Easton — Restaurant in Columbus

Located at the Easton Towne Center, between other restaurants on a strip. Plenty of parking across the street. Parking on side streets but are limited. Looking from the outside, you wouldn't think anything super special, just a nice and simple restaurant. First time at this delightful establishment. My brother and I thought to give it a try. OMG! Once you walk inside, it is beautifully set up. Not too fancy but not at all blah either. Very clean! I was impressed! Tablecloth covered tables. Chandeliers above. Wonderfully decorated but not over the top. Good for family dinners, business lunches and dinners, small to Large but not huge parties. Delightful for wedding receptions, engagement or retirement parties, and more! Older children friendly. I would not recommend toddlers and infants. However, they are welcomed. Perfect for one person, couple of friends, or for a romantic date night. Full service bar with an awesome bartender that knows how to prepare a cocktail! Very friendly staff! Our server, Ismail, was exceptional, pleasant, attentive, friendly, professional, knowledgeable, and just simply AWESOME! I wish all servers were that way lol. Even "Karens" wouldnt find anything to complain about lol 😆 The menu offers many Mediterranean dishes. Turkish cuisine from Istanbul. Fantabulously scrumpdeliliciously phenomenal yumminess served here! The food ordered, the presentation was beautiful. The grilled lamb chops (my favorite) were melt in your mouth delicious. Fresh lamb cooked to order. The okra and lamb stew... OMG goodness! The large sampler platter (vegetarian) was to die for! I wanted to order one of each off the menu! I'm not a dessert person but had to try their custard. Delicious! Ordered Turkish coffee and tea, couldn't decide so ordered both. I would order both again! The next visit (soon!), I will have to try the whole fried fish, Branzino. Would I recommend this establishment to others? Absofreakinlutely! You will not be disappointed. Bon appetite and...

We were so excited to try Café Istanbul while visiting Ohio because we’ve heard so many great things about the food and to be fair, the food itself was excellent. Everything we ordered was flavorful and beautifully prepared. Unfortunately, the service completely ruined the experience for us.

From the start, our waiter approached the table with no greeting, no eye contact, and the first thing he said was, “Do you have any questions?” no introduction, no friendliness. I had planned to ask him for recommendations, but his tone and lack of hospitality completely threw me off.

We placed our orders, including an appetizer. He just said “Okay” and left. He didn’t return until he dropped off all of our food at once appetizer and main dishes together. While serving, he asked where we were from. When my husband answered, he replied, “Yeah, I can tell.” This was uncalled for and made things even more uncomfortable. After that, he disappeared.

There was no checking on us, no offer for drinks, no attempt to make the experience better. When we finished, we waited and waited to pay, making eye contact with him multiple times while he walked around chatting with other tables. My husband had to get up and find someone else just to pay. Only then did the waiter come over, drop off boxes without a word, and leave.

The table next to us had an amazing experience with their waitress she was warm, friendly, and attentive. So it’s not the restaurant overall; it’s the person serving us. This level of attitude and lack of professionalism should not exist in customer service.

No matter how good the food was, the experience left such a bad taste that I would never return. Service matters just as much as the food, and this was a huge...

This was one of my favorite places. However, my recent visit was not that good. I'll elaborate.

a) Flies in the restaurant. How can you have flies in the restaurant? One should have a fly trapper or at least clean the restaurant so that you don't have these flies. Imagine you eating something you see a fly in front of you.

b) Bad/Stale food. The Falafel plate was undercooked. I could see the stuff still in liquid state. Now, I asked it to be replaced with properly cooked falafel, what I got was burnt food. I could even say anything after that. The falafel tasted bitter. The veggie platter that I took was bad as well. It kind of tasted stale. The Baba Ganoush was good.

c) Gratuity. I have always tipped generously even if the food is bad because it there are people who work there, arrange, serve, cook us food. However, I noticed something here. They are charging us a 25% gratuity before hand. I did not see this mentioned any where, neither in the menu nor did anyone mention this. I am unhappy about this because the server is not going to get this as it goes directly to the owner's account.

d) The full of attitude server. There were three people whom I encountered that day. The lady at the front desk, very courteous. She ensured I get a seat. The gentleman who was serving us water. He was very polite. Finally, the person who was serving us food. Well he did not care anything, neither was he courteous nor was he welcoming. He didn't even say his name, he did not tell us about any specials or if we should try something new.

I would again say, this was one of my favorite places. I have been here multiple times, starting from farewell parties to meeting clients. This was a five star place, well something...