Istanbul By Night: Dining Out In A Turkish Way

A very good experience, our guide was excellent. The places were we visit was very familiar and the food spectacular.

A must do for any first time visitors. We got to try a variety of various food and drinks. Our guide Furlan gave a lot of isight into the history of these dishes and drinks. Very grateful for the experience. Thank you.

This was an awesome introduction to Istiklal street and the general Taksim area. There was plenty of food and fun cultural tidbits sprinkled in. The tour guide was a local resident and very knowledge about the area and the history. You truly got to have an authentic and local experience of Istanbul.

Very enjoyable experience. Lutfallah, the guide, was excellent. Learned a lot about the culture. Highly recommend.

A thoroughly enjoyable experience with a very knowledgeable guide. Lots to eat and drink. Enjoyed learning a little of the social history of this amazing city.

I highly recommend this tour, the guide was incredibly knowledgeable and we ate incredible food the entire time. We were stuffed by the end of the tour. This is one of the best ways to see Istanbul.

Ilker was our tour guide on this foodie tour. We originally were supposed to have 11 people in our group, but this went down to only 3 people as others could not make the tour for extraneous reasons. While 3 people might not seem like much, it make the food tasting experience much more intimate and personal. We had great lamb kebab with lavash. Ilker did a great job showing us how to drink Raki, and included some customs on how to drink in a group of people. We also went to a Turkish delight vendor, and then to a more musical restaurant. We had musicians join our table after we had some great red and white wines. The music and food here was really nice. We visited a baklava vendor as well, which felt very personal as we were the only people inside the small dessert vendor shop. The baklava was great quality, and we also purchased more to take home. Lastly, we visited a coffee/tea place were some people were playing backgammon. The night wounded down and our bellies were full of delicious food. Ilker did an amazing job explaining everything, including some history of such foods as well as complementing flavours. Bravo!

Atahan was a fantastic guide! He was knowledgeable about the city, knew all the best food spots, and was very fun to hang out with. He made the tour feel more like hanging out with a local friend than a tour guide. This tour is a great way to get to know the city on a more local level, and have great food while you’re doing it!

The guide picked us up and then we did the food tour by walk. The food was okay and the portion is generous. You really do feel very very full at the end of the tour. Worth a try if you will like to try local food introduced by a local guide

Only one on tour, food was terrible, the tour guide was awkward & 35 minutes late. Big disappointment

was told i would be picked up out the front of my hotel at 6:15, i waited until just before 7, i emailed them, i tried to call but as it was Friday night there was no answer! i not only didn't get a chance to go on the tour but it also didn't allow me to book anything else for than night and it ended up being a wasted night in Istanbul the next day they emailed back and said they were there, which was just a lie! i have emailed and asked for a refund as i paid for a service i did not receive! i have tried to work this out with them directly but they have not responded to my last 3 emails they have ignored me and dont even have the decency to respond an absolute disgrace of a company and they are criminals as they have stolen my money!!!!!! DO NOT BOOK THESE CRIMINALS !!!!!

The people I met were awesome it was like we had known each other for ages. The tour guide was the best, he was very knowledgeable about history and culture and took us to the best places for food. All the food we ate was really good, we really experienced real Turkish culture through food and it was great having it at night. Istanbul never sleeps!

We made it clear we needed a pick up from the airport. We were stranded and never picked up. Will be requesting a refund when i get home. Dont trust them, they send emails, ignore your responses and the take your money.

I was the only person on the tour, which was a shame because part of the attraction for me was to meet and share the experience with other travellers. Having said that, my guide was friendly and pretty knowledgable about Turkish culture. I quickly realised that all we did was walk around the busiest street in Istanbul, stopping periodically to have mostly very basic starters. No hummus, no tatsiki, no kebab, no kunefe, no lentil soup, no shisha, etc. The whole thing was incredibly rushed; it started at 7pm and I was back in my hotel, full of bread, tea, and coffee, by 10pm. I don’t think I was unreasonable in my expectations. This tour pretty much turned out to be a waste of an evening. I can’t imagine the food I ate came to more than 100TL. The one highlight was the Kokoreç. And when the highlight of a food tour is a £5 greasy kebab from an all night kebab house, alarm bells should sound. Not only should you avoid this tour, I really think they should stop advertising it. Thankfully I had a few more nights to explore the wide variety of Turkish cuisine. If I had only had 1 or 2 nights, this would have ruined my trip. Sorry to my guide for the bad review. She was nice, but I have to be honest for the sake of other travellers.

<p>This was a great introduction to Turkish cuisine and culture. My wife and I were the only ones signed up for the tour and our guide, John, did a great job of acquainting us with the Taksim Square and Istakal Street areas of Istanbul. The food and drink was wonderful starting with an introduction to Raki. We had a wide variety of dishes in 6 different locations. The owners of the cafes were very friendly and willing to share ideas on what we should order. John was quite willing to answer our questions about Turkish life and culture. This was our first full night in Turkey and it really helped prepare us for the two weeks that were to follow.</p>

<p>A great and fun way to experience the food magic and nightlife in Taksim. Our guide, Ilker Akin is amazing! And I had the best hummus Ive had in recent memory. Highly recommended.</p>

<p>AMAZING TRIP! Waring - do NOT eat the day of as you will get sooo much food on this tour. It was INCREDIBLE and we will definitely do similar trips in the future. We went to places we would NEVER have known about without a local guide. I highly recommend the tripe soup as well: Ha ha ha. The kids thought this was the best tour they had ever done!!!</p>

<p>I was fortunate to be the only person on the tour and it was not cancelled. The tour guide was outstanding!</p>

<p>Great walking tour and so much fun walking around Taksim square and made every stop to try some local food where people usually go . Tour guide made sure we are okay and still enjoying the food tour. I would highly recommend this tour and make sure you go with an empty stomach before the tour starts.</p>

<p>The reviews were all so excellent, we were expecting a great tour! The guide was a very unenthused and insisted on cancelling places described on the itinerary. THE TOUR LASTED 2 HOURS ON FOOT. THE GUIDE HIMSELF GOT TIPSY. LEFT THE TOUR HUNGRY. NO LIVE MUSIC.</p> <p>-We did not go to the bakery at all. There was no minivan, we were on foot. Covered a 2 KM radius at best.<br/> -When we went to the kebab place, we did not get to grill the kebabs on our own as promised! instead, we were normally given ONE very average tasting kebab each. <br/> -We did not go to the soup place either, and requested the guide to take us to a dessert place instead. He did not know of any dessert places in the neighbourhood! He finally after several requests called his friends to see if there was a place nearby.<br/> -We went to the mezze place and were given 4 plates- one with a plain cut melon, one with 3 pieces of tomatoes and cucumber, one hummus, and one rice roll. No local delicacy at all.<br/> - There was no live music or dancing. <br/> - We went to a dessert place close by, again very average. We had tried better food on our own before!<br/> - We came home by 10 pm!! the tour lasted 2 HOURS. The guide himself got drunk!! He told us stories about how he is angry with politics in Turkey, instead of any history about the town. </p> <p>ABSOLUTELY WOULD NOT SUGGEST. I have taken food tours world over Venice, Florence, London, NYC this was my life's worst experience with a food walk.</p>

<p>GREAT Guide! Love visiting different restaurants and learning about the history of food and drink in the region. Small group was perfect for a lovely December evening in Istanbul.</p>

<p>Obviously, go hungry. This is an amazing tour and you will really get to places you would not go on your own, and have some delicious food. Serhat the tour guide was fantastic. Highly recommend.</p>

<p>We took many tours in Istanbul and this one was our favorite and most memorable one. All other tours were great in showing us all the touristy places in Istanbul, but this one showed us the places where locals go to eat and hang out. Our local guide was awesome and became a good friend of ours.</p>

<p>Great tour. Guide was so lovely made the whole experience fantastic</p>

<p>Great way to walk around Istanbul in the evening and try a few hidden gems.</p>

<p>Highly recommended! My tour guide Hamide was very friendly and so accommodating. She's also very knowledgeable about Istabul culture and food. She brought me to many off-the-beaten path places and eateries, frequented mostly by locals. I really enjoyed this tour and am glad I booked this.</p>

<p>The tour was fun and delicious, but as part of the description it promised live music and to last until around 11 pm. There was no live music and I was back at my hotel room by just after 10 pm. I feel like the tour was cut short after one of the other people on the tour gave some constructive feedback regarding the tour that the tour guide didn't like.</p>

<p>Potentially our favorite thing we did in Istanbul! We felt like locals and went to some great places that only locals would know about. Great experience and our tour guide was extremely knowledgable and very pleasant! Would most definitely tell anyone to do this!</p>

<p>A great way to become comfortable with Istanbul right away!</p>

<p>This tour was great. The guide was really pleasant and knew his stuff. Got to try many different food establishments. Great night out. Would highly recommend.</p>

<p>Interesting tour even if we didn't get offered all the promised food. Guide was amusing but consentration was needed to understand his English. The tour finished over an hour earlier than advertised and the food at the second restaurant was disappointly bland.</p>

<p>Guide was articulate in English and while the food portion of the tour was enjoyable, his observations on the cultural and political were more interesting.</p>

<p>A great way to see Istanbul off the beaten path. our guide was so enthusiastic, he made the tour so much fun</p>

<p>Really amazing night and very glad we did this tour! Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and spoke prefect English and it was great that we ended up with a private tour! Would recommend this tour to anyone who wants a taste of the real Turkey.</p>

<p>We really enjoyed the tour. We went to 5 different restaurants and coffee shops over a period of about 2.5 hours. At each stop we ate basically one course of our dinner. The guide provided a good description of the food and the background of the various establishments. The places chosen were off the normal tourist beat so we felt like we were getting an authentic Turkish meal. The only drawback is we did not have a desert stop. Turkey has great deserts, pastries, and ice creams. It would have been a great ending with our coffee and tea.</p>

<p>I ended up getting a private tour with Serhat as my guide. I feel like I truly had an authentic Turkish food experience. Good food alongside locals, in places I never would've stopped on my own. Serhat was very informative and entertaining.</p>

<p>Good way to experience Turkish food. I had a tour guide who was knowledgeable.</p>

<p>It was a wonderful experience in tasting Turkish delicacies and drinks at various cafes in the heart of vibrant Taksim Square. The tour guide was very informative and outgoing. A great way to sample the wonderful foods and drinks of Turkey. My wife and I enjoyed it immensely.</p>

<p>Guide was not good at all, however the food and the local places we visited were very interesting.</p>

<p>This tour really does depend on the types of guests that join you - as they can either make it or break it! Thankfully the group on my food tour had to urgently leave shortly after it had started, leaving me to have an exclusive one-on-one private food tour with my guide. As a result, it was brilliant! The variety food you'll experience along with the various establishments throughout Taksim provides for a great overview of the country's food and culture. With a very informative guide, I was able to sample local delicacies I normally wouldn't eat, along with Turkish beer and authentic coffee! Highly recommend...but book as a group you will have more fun!.</p>

<p>Unfortunately we were disappointed of this food tour. We waited 45 min at the hotel to be picked up and we had to call twice to check if they are really coming. Their excuse was the traffic, but they could have asked us to walk to the meeting point as it was 300 meters from our hotel. Besides this, the guide did not show up at all and we were guided by a guy that could not provide too much information about the food, but he tried his best to cover the absence of his colleague.<br/> Its nice experience to try, but this food tour was not what they promised to deliver.</p>

<p>This was one of the of our whole stay in Istanbul. We had two terrific young male guides with only four Americans on this adventure. The food was excellent and had a full variety...but the tripe soup took some getting used to! WE loved being out amongst the locals and going to the game room complete with the tea drinks was also unforgettable. Thank you for a wonderful experience and one definitely worth every penny!</p>

<p>great Guide<br/> Food not so good<br/> Avoid the seafood i.e. mussels <br/> i suffered the next day</p>

<p>Absolutely loved the tour, excellent food well apart from the tripe soup! our favourite part was playing okey in the men's club, such a non touristy experience.....we searched istanbul until we found a boxed set to take home!</p>

<p>Waited more than 2 hrs no show .<br/> Our time and tours are planned ahead of time .we come from far away to sit around and taken for granted .<br/> Shameful .</p>

<p>Good tour to taste local food at local joints. Our favorite was the tribe soup...it's a little lamby, but with some garlic and chili and vinegar, it's all good...</p>

<p>Absolutely outstanding tour! Would do it again in a heartbeat. Our tour guide was nice and patient with our questions. Save your appetite, there is a great deal of food on this one :)</p>

<p>Much better than expected. The guide was really good and the places visited wher off the tourist route. A good insight into Turkey life after dark.</p>

<p>This was a really fun and interesting tour. I don't remember our guide's name but she was very well-spoken and interesting, and we had a chance to try some truly local foods that I would very likely not have sampled on my own. The tour was well-paced and we visited some truly local restaurants/cafes as well as the famous Cicek Pasaji. It was also interesting walking along Istiklal Street at nighttime and seeing all the foot traffic. This was a great tour and I highly recommend it.</p>