Bosphorus Istanbul Cafe — Restaurant in Indianapolis

Right in the heart of Indianapolis, this cozy comforting place surprises you with delicious mouth watering Turkish delights. You would come out satisfied with every single bite. The place is good for a group of 4 or even 2 when either you want to take your tastebuds to a Mediterranean trip or just have intimate conversations over food. We were around 9 people when we went and were a little bit cramped for room, but once the appetizers and drinks start coming in, you forget about the rest.

We tried almost all items from the menu starting with my favorite Ayran.. a yogurt drink, kind of prepping myself and my guts for the food I’m about to demolish.

Then came a string of appetizers with soft and textured Hummus, Tzatziki, some Dolmas my another favorite, all of this is in the Appetizer combo, ooh but of course some falafel too.

Then came our main course for lunch.. we had 4 vegetarians on the table and rest were meat eaters. The table favorite was Chicken Adana Kebab, my personal favorite was Shish Kebab, we had Beef Mediterranean and Lamb Mediterranean and by now with all the sharing of food across the table we lost track of which meat i was eating.

We ended the lunch with Baklavas and now i regret not having the Turksih Kahve or Çay.

I forgot to take pictures of the food, but the one we took was a group photo hence not posting it here for privacy reasons.

The only minor issue is the place is small and needs some expansion. But hands down best Mediterranean food i had...

The restaurant inside is gorgeous and looks like you’re stepping into Istanbul. I spent 3 weeks in Turkey recently and was excited to try a Turkish place here at home. But we were extremely disappointed, the kebab was ok but a little dry. The sides they served, plain bagged lettuce you can buy at Kroger, plain white rice, and plain carrots and zucchini was all extremely disappointing and had literally no flavor! This was NOTHING like what I had when I was in Turkey. The food I had in Turkey was so flavorful and this was not. I dont think I had a carrot or a zucchini the entire time I was there, that might have been ok though if it had ANY seasonings. The whole meal was flavorless and not at all worth the $20 they charge for it. I will not be coming back. The only thing that tasted the same was the little bread slices they served. Don’t waste your money here!

Edit: Thanks to the owners for a nice response. I didn’t include everything in my review. Our waiter was not very friendly which is why I gave a 3 for service. We walked in at 4:30 on a Saturday and the place was empty, his first words were “Do you have a reservation” and when we said no he seemed snotty. He was cold and only checked on us once. We had an appetizer called borek, I did not have this in Turkey so I have no idea if it was authentic or not but it was the best part of the meal. It was pretty good. I will only give you another chance if its free, because I work hard for my money and don’t want to waste it on...

The food was so good I forgot to take photos. We started with a Turkish coffee, tea and beer (when in… Turkey) all very good. Then we ordered the appetizer sampler with 5 different dips, each one was packed with its own unique flavor, my favorite was the baba ganush and tabouli, others liked the pepper delight, and eggplant salsa, I also though the hummus was different than other hummus and had a more fresh citrus taste. We added on the Borek, which stuffed with melted feta and spinach. We could have filled up here but decided to sample the entrees too and we were not disappointed. The beef stuffed eggplant was perfect and the yogurt sauce drizzle added additional burst of flavor. We also feasted on the beef Mediterranean which melded the flavors from the peppers, onion, garlic and mushrooms perfectly I also enjoyed that the rice soaked up flavor from the sauce. Each entree was served with a salad that had a zesty, light Mediterranean dressing (insert chef kissing finger image). We also enjoyed Doner and Beyti Kofte at the table and both of those were extremely flavorful and filling! The prices were as expected and the portions were generous. We will definitely be back and try more of their soulful dishes. Thank you for a scrumptious lunch engrossed in the Turkish atmosphere! Oh and save room for dessert, we recommend the baklava and tiramisu! I also read somewhere their food and sourced food is halal (I didn’t verify this, but wanted to add as there are few...