Istanbul Foodlovers — Restaurant in North Brunswick Township

Tl:dr; Was super excited to try this place out, and I was left incredibly disappointed.

Like the above statement says, I was really excited to try this place out, especially after hearing so much about Turkish food. From Google Maps reviews, to the restaurant's website, I was pretty stoked.

The first sign that things weren't as they seemed was the "Order Online" feature on their website. I wanted to order takeout for both me and my father, and decided that ordering online would make the process a lot easier.

I tried about four or five times - I can't remember. Pick what I wanted, select "Takeout" in order options, enter my personal information - repeat what I thought was essentially ad infinitum, because they simply would not accept the order. On the website, when you order online, there's a little tool that says the restaurant needs to accept the order so that it can give the customer the "most precise delivery/take-out time," or something or other. I don't care enough to remember exactly what it said. So, because they never actually accepted the order, I just called instead.

About thirty or so minutes later, I arrived at the restaurant. Everything seemed alright - was not too busy, but the place itself looked great. Cool-looking decorations on the wall, good seating options - it didn't look too bad. I paid for my food, and stood back to wait for it all to come out of the kitchen.

And that's when I looked left towards the waiting area, and noticed something absolutely disgusting. In the waiting area was a sole raised cushion, presumably for people to sit on as they were waiting to be seated or whatever, and upon it were about... four or five flies, really big, just... lounging. On the seat. Disgusting. And then, I noticed there were about three or four other flies flying around. Getting closer to me. Near the little bakery showcase they had under the counter.

At that point, those few observations had really colored my opinion of this place. To the point that I am now wasting about five to ten minutes of my time to write up this absolutely glowing review. But, "what about the food?" you may ask. "Everyone said the food was alright, and that's the most important part!"

Well, the food wasn't horrible. But it wasn't good either. Far from it. I ordered an Adana Kebab sandwich for myself, and a Doner (Gyro) sandwich for my father, as well as a side order of fries. And, Jesus Christ alive, those two sandwiches were some of the most bland things we had ever tried out. The meat had no taste, the vegetables piqued my brain into thinking about about Taco Bell rather than Turkey (wrong T, guys), and I found myself putting a few fries between the folds of the wrap to give it a little more taste - to no avail. The fries were essentially cardboard, so now I've got an aluminum container full of cardboard. I never thought I'd say those words. I might feed them to the birds outside, but they may not even accept the peace-offering.

So yeah, I'm very disappointed. I don't think I'll ever return. No...

I am so glad we found this local restaurant.

Driving up I was a bit apprehensive. It's situated in a somewhat dingy strip mall right off of Rt 1 South. Parking lot was mostly full and handicap parking was very limited. (None in front of the restaurant and only 1 or 2 spaces both full at the other end of the strip).

Inside decor is nice. It needs some repairs, some torn wall paper, but overall very clean and decent quality furniture.

Staff was extremely attentive and made good recommendations, even advising my wife that while the veggie shish was good she should try the Veci Guvec (Turkish dish made of vegetables and baked in a clay pot).

We started with some fresh made hummus and the cheese rolls. My wife really like the hummus it was a bit too creamy for my taste. We both loved the cheese rolls. They are a simple dish of feta cheese wrapped in phillo dough cooked so that the dough is crispy and the cheese melts. They were out of this world and worth the trip on their own. When we ordered those our waitress indicated those were one of her favorites. (Always a good sign when the staff eats the food)

For entree there were far too many good things to chose from. Fortunately for me they have combo plates. I ordered a combo of chicken shish and Lamb chops. The chicken shish was out of this world. I kept savoring the wonderful spices. The lamb chops were mixed. They were slightly more done than I like, just a bit fatty and one of the two was under spiced. Overall the meal was very good to excellent.

My wife LOVED her entree (the Veci Guvec). Both dishes were served with a small container of mint yougurt sauce. Not my cup of tea but my wife thought it was fantastic and took mine :)

They also had fresh made lemonade that was fantastic.

By dessert we were too full to eat amy more but elected to take home a container of 12 of their Baklava. Simply put it was the best baklava I've ever had. It was crispy and gooey at the same time with a wonderful flavor.

If you are in the area don't hesitate to try...

Went to dinner on 10/26. Was not very busy, so absolutely fantastic customer service. Our server was attentive to our needs, friendly, and working very hard. A few more tables did come while we were sitting and it may have been short staffed but our host/server was on top of it all!

I ordered Iskender for me (my favorite dish to get at any Turkish restaurant) and it was 10/10. Sizzling hot when it came to the table, meat was piled high and the bread was made fresh and in house. Also the perfect amount of yogurt was provided. My partner ordered the mixed grill and it was equally as perfect!! His favorites was the adana kofte, perfectly cooked as well!

I made the mistake and filled up on all the bread that I couldn’t finish my Iskender after a few bites and my server was concerned I didn’t like my food and offered to make something else. I declined as it was all perfect, only flaw here is that my stomach is the size of a pebble😞.

We were gifted sütlaç (rice pudding) to bring home and I enjoyed myself a little dessert before bed and that was also delicious!! I ate the whole thing!

I want to take the time to really point out to the owners if they see this how wonderful our host/server was. Despite running around all night, he did it all with a smile on his face!! Even when I overheard another customer making a snarky/rude comment, your employee replied with grace, respectfully and with a smile on his face. Very admirable!! As someone who formerly worked in the food industry, I know how difficult and overwhelming it can be. I wish the employees and owner success with your business and future endeavors.

We made sure to tell this young man when we were paying how his hard work did not go unnoticed. Although he was perfect in my opinion, he did let us know that he is trying his best as some staff were unable to work that night. We’re all human, it happens. I’ll happily wait as long as it takes for service like this!!

I hope to be back in the area again in the future and try more...