Bosphorous Turkish Cuisine - South Tampa — Restaurant in Tampa

The positives: The restaurant is beautiful and the atmosphere is excellent Dante was our server and he was super friendly My wife and I were celebrating our anniversary and they had a card prepared for us and were very sweet I have an allergy and when I let Dante know, the manager came out to talk to me and let me know about all the precautions they were going to take. It felt like they went above and beyond to take care of my allergy The lavas bread, ezme appetizer, and pineapple Turkish delight cake were all really good.

The negatives: The service was pretty slow. Just for my wife and I, it took us about 3 hours from when we sat down to when we left. We didn't get any food to our table for an hour after we sat down. Dante did come by and apologize about the kitchen being backed up But we were seated next to a two top and a four top that both arrived after us and received their food before we did even though we ordered the same thing (sigara boregi and lamb shank) so it was frustrating to see people who arrived and ordered after us get their food first. The bosphorus private label wine is not very good. It felt very cheap and given how much promotion it gets on the table that was very disappointing. We also ordered two glasses of the same Malbec and the two glasses of wine tasted very different. So either one of the glasses we received was not the wine we ordered or they served us a bottle of skunked wine. We thought the lamb shank was pretty bland and when we told Dante he offered to bring us some more of the shank sauce to add some flavor. 15 minutes went by and he walked by again and realized he hadn't brought us the sauce and said he was going to bring it, and then he never brought it. The restaurant was not packed so it was a little frustrating that he forgot about us a couple times.

All in all, my experience with the restaurant is that it's a beautiful atmosphere with a friendly staff, but the service and the food were both disappointing for the price point of...

I love the restaurant, it really looks like I was in Turkey. Music, design of the restaurant, menu and the location was awesome. We ordered shepherd salad, meze, eggplant ezme, İskender döner, lahmacun. Salad was cut up in large chunks and used bell peppers, it was not correct at all, taste wasn’t there at all. Meze was horrible, it was diced tomatoes and walnuts, that is not correct either, it was missing taste and item, very small plate but that is fine. Eggplant dish was not done correctly either. Turkish dinners always comes with some for a bread but not at this place, we ordered lavash, without asking they put butter on it. That is not the way we eat that either. Than we had to wait 55 minutes for next dish. Last items were appetizers and very small. Restaurant didn’t have other customers than us so it wasn’t because they were busy. We asked couple times, when is our order is coming? Anyway, döner comes we were shocked, small plate on the one corner of the plate some form a meat and top of the small pide bread, than lose yogurt on the plate. This is not a İskender döner, lahmacun was a disappointment some bread very oily, pieces of ground meat on the bread, heavy smell. We didn’t even touch the plates. I do not think their cook is Turkish, menu is beautiful that is for sure but when you mess up with this very known easy dishes than I can’t trust the rest. I don’t think any Turk would be satisfied in this restaurant. I understand not being able to do some tastes same but it should not be this much different either especially when there is other Turkish restaurants in Tampa/ largo/ safety harbor could come very close to Turkish dishes and tastes. It was really disappointing, I live close by that area and I was really happy that they open close to my neighborhood. You guys need to ask some Turks about the taste of your food, it would help with...

I had high hopes for Bosphorous in Soho because of my friend’s recommendation, but unfortunately, the food didn't live up to our expectations. The interior was decent and seemed clean, so no complaints there. However, most of the dishes we ordered were disappointing.

I personally had the Bosphorous Branzino ~ I asked for no rice or fries, just salad on the side. The fish itself was cooked well, but the salad was lackluster. It was a mix of thickly sliced red onions, shredded carrots and beets, a few tomatoes, and lettuce (some of which was old and slimy). The dressing was nothing special, and I ended up pushing the wilted greens to a separate plate.

My friend ordered the vegetable sauté and had to send it back ~ it was that bad. She replaced it with falafel, which she barely touched because it was just okay. Another friend ordered the chicken sauté and found it underwhelming. The fried zucchini was overdone, and the bean-heavy entrée lacked flavor, so much so that neither of my friends finished their meals.

The only real highlight was the red lentil soup, which was flavorful. We didn't place our order until around 7:30, and while we expected a bit of a wait, the food took quite a while to arrive. Even stranger, while some of us were still eating, our server came by with the merchant device and started having us pay ~ mid-meal. It felt rushed and odd, especially considering the long wait earlier.

We didn't bother with dessert, and overall, the experience was just below average. I've even heard from some Turkish people that they're not fans of this place, but I still wanted to give it a fair shot. Glad I tried it once, but I won't be back. One and...