Lokma — Restaurant in San Francisco

My partner and I had an amazing breakfast/brunch experience here. We've been in SF for a week, eating our way through every ethnic offering the city has provided; Argentine breakfast, Thai lunch, German dinner, sushi, dumplings, pastries, rolls, coffee and tea in every way we could get it. Hands down, Lokma provided the best meal experience. We split the Turkish Breakfast (for 2), and added a side of Greek yogurt pancake. Had a cup of Turkish coffee each and then switched to drip coffee for the last 2-3 cups of the meal. The Turkish Breakfast included cold olives in oil covered in spices that were so expressive the flavors stunned me after a single taste. It was an intense flavor combination remarking of rosemary, tart olive, maybe paprika, something with a light touch of smoke and joy coming together like a burst of light in a dark room. That's one offering; the Turkish Breakfast included about 6 other things, all forming elements of a symphony of taste, color and smell that you could play with the virtuosity of a musician - or with the childish enthusiasm of wild abandon, which was my preference. I mixed blushing red tangy roasted red pepper hummus-like substance with sharp and salty bright white ricotta on a warm pita slice. I had fresh cucumber slices that snapped of cool mint with a lean dark dried meat that dissolved in my mouth. The clotted cream and honey we ate with dueling coffee spoons, alternating between bites of soft pancake with rich berry compote.

Bring the adventurous, the bold, the lovers of spice and the fans of flavor. Bring the bards of morning smiles and the taciturn souls lurching towards their first hit of caffeine to reanimate their bodies; Turkish coffee is a bitter and dark treat that crackles life into you from the first sip, and for those in the mood provides a bitter crunch if you sip to the dregs at the bottom of the cup.

Leave home anyone afraid to cook with salt, or maybe try to convince them that life begins at the intersection of flavors that can't be named.

Of every meal we've had, this is the only one I'd want to repeat on a regular basis. And this is the only one I'd have paid twice as much for and considered...

We were searching for turkish food, unfortunately, it has nothing to do with turkish food. When we asked they said, it is a fusion turkish food. We still went for order hoping that it will be close,. When food arrived total disappointment, food was bad quality , cold and taste terrible and certainly not turkish nor fusion turkish cuisine. They have couple of name of turkish meals but when we ordered them like mante that suppose to be turkish , it was terrible taste. I also ordered grilled chicken that is awesome in Turkey, here it turned out to be grill chicken salad and bad quality over super bad cold rice that later gave us upset stomach . We also ordered the turkish lamb chops, totally unrelated and was sugary. We ordered big menu and lost the whole160 dollars worth of food. On top of all this , the host was extremely rude and brought the check with +20% gratuity. I went and spoke to him about our experience nicely and told him that we will pay for 166$ food but please remove the gratuity, he refused and said it is a place policy. I said we pay even more if we were satisfied but we are totally unsatisfied. The guy was rude enough to reduce it to 15% and said this is it regardless of your satisfaction and walk away . In conclusion, we paid the amount he requested because we didn't want to ruin our vacation time at New year eve in San Francisco with stupid arguments with greedy bad business that are trying to get advantage of people passing through city and eager to eat their favourite cuisines. We do not recommend this place for turkish food nor fusion turksih food. This is low quality 10 indoor tables and few outdoor tables , small restaurant that offers drink and food of no identity. TOTAL loss of...

This has been a disappointing dining experience, to say the least...

We arrived a few minutes earlier than our reservation and were told to wait standing outside. Then, people without a reservation were asked to be seated before us and there were empty tables outside. When asked if they'd sit us, they said they're waiting for a specific table to leave so that we can sit. Weird, but OK, we said. However, it was past our reservation time and we are still standing there, while there's an empty table. When we were finally seated, what followed was an overpriced disappointment...

As a Turkish person, I find it disrespectful to the Turkish cuisine to call this a Turkish restaurant. The food is not authentic Turkish food at all. We tried the following dishes:

Manti: This is store-bought - I'm sure of it. I'd recognize that filling taste of store manti anytime anywhere! You're paying almost $30 for half a package of $10 store manti. Calamari: Good luck finding the plastic-like calamari - very poorly cooked. You're just paying for a small plate of couscous with tomato paste. The spread: very small portions of blandness with a pita on the side. We were asked by the waiter if we wanted more pita. To our disappointment, this was a tactic to add items to our bill. They make it seem like it's on the house and charge without letting the customer know. No place that calls itself a Turkish restaurant charges for bread, and if you do that, you should let customers know.

Overall, this is a bad version of authentic Turkish food and bad customer service. This was my first time dining here, but my partner had recommended. He was also shocked by the whole experience and thought this place must have changed owners or...