Black Sea Restaurant — Restaurant in Gem Lake

Such a disappointment. On my birthday, I suggested to my wife that we visit the Black Sea for some Turkish cuisine. It used to be one of my favorite restaurants in St. Paul. We arrived at 7:15. It was open until 8:00. We were sorry to see that they still have not reopened the in-door seating. It's take-out only, even though its website indicates take-out and dine-in. We ordered a couple of combination plates, one with meat, one vegetarian. We were told that we couldn't order the vegetarian combo because they had started cleaning the deep frier, and they use that to cook several of the vegetable sides for the combo plate. They start cleaning the deep frier at 7:30, she said. When we pointed out that it was 7:20, she simply said "sorry." We then asked if we could get some of the vegetable portions of the veggie dish, like spinach, in place of one of the sides in the meat plate. She told us "you'll have to pay extra -- we don't do substitutes." I couldn't help but thinking that if either of the couple who owns the place were present, our experience would. be quite different. But they weren't. Three strikes and you're out. At this point, my wife and I decided to dine out at the Mediterranean Cruise...

After listening to so many of my coworkers rave about this place I finally decided to give it a try. It instantly became one of my favorite restaurants as they have so many options and everything has been excellent, especially when you go beyond the standard gyro. Any time I go with someone for their first time I always suggest one of the combo platters as it’s not just an impressive presentation, but it also allows them to try the various meats to determine what they like best for their next visit. They seem to get a lot of repeat business from others I recognize there now, but I have even seen people that I brought there for their first time now bringing others. That surely makes for a friendly atmosphere as the owner seems to have developed a lot of relationships with his customers over the years. I love to see that as that is how a lot of restaurants used to be as we were growing up, making those our family favorites and this place is now...

I come here every couple of weeks when I'm in the area, the chef, Tolga makes the absolute best food I've ever had, called Iskender. Everything else on the menu looks great, but this stuff is just amazing. It's just a big plate full of chopped pita, meat, and sauces. Every bite is a little bit different, some are more chewy cause there's more pita in that bite, some are more savory with the tomato sauce, some are more mellow with the white sauce, so it's like an adventure for your mouth the entire time you're eating it. Another thing that's great, the first time I came here I ordered an appetizer, something called a mezza plate and an entree, thinking I'm a big guy so that should be an appropriate amount of food, but the portions were much more than I expected, could've easily been two meals. So overall, yes, five stars,...