Istanbul Grill & Bar
Istanbul Grill & Bar
Takes Reservations: Yes
Delivery: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Happy Hour: Yes
Has TV: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
5 reviews
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First thing I have to say is that when I was picking up the food this was the nicest host and staff I've ever in countered. They must have ask offered me a free beverage like ten times and my son also. The hostess complimented my son and they were just nice. I think ask the people inside the place looked pleased with the food and service also.
Then I came home with the food and everything was still hot fresh. The meat wad ask juicy not dry. We ordered both mixed grills platters. Perfect portions taste and quality.
The baklava wad the best I ever had not to sweet.
This wad probably the best Turkish I ever had.
We will be back.
I have been here several times. It is a great place to go. I love the house red wine. I always have the chicken shish Kebab which is always tender and not dry. The waiters are very friendly and helpful with the choices. One night that I was there, there was a belly dancer. For a small town turkish restaurant, it has made its mark.
Found this place on yelp, as I wanted to take my friend from Cedarhurst somewhere different..
We were impressed!
The warm pita and dips accompanied my fruity sangria, the falafel was super tasty, not oily. The saganaki was not so great, It was mainly diced tomatoes topped with cheese. I'm not sure if they used special cheese or just mozzarella, but it was just eh, cheese and tomatoes..
The mains were excellent. I had shepherds salad with chicken kebab. My only complaint was that they could have added a little more chicken, but it was really good. My husband had the kofte kebab (ground lamb and beef) which was also not greasy, lightly seasoned, and just fresh tasting. My friend had the lamb kebab, she made me try it and it was very good. I don't eat lamb but this was not gamey at all. Almost reminded me of beef. It too was not heavily seasoned, so it was very fresh and healthy. The kebabs came with a ton of red onions and red cabbage. I'd suggest if your not into onions you request something else as there are a lot of onions… We got the pistachio baklava for dessert, made in house. Delicious also. Our waiter, Adrian was friendly and attentive. The restaurant itself is very clean and spacious. Seems like a nice place to have a party. Even though parking was difficult, I will definitely be back!
We came here on Valentines day for a nice dinner. We arrived on time for our reservation and the valet parking was a nice touch. Once we were seated our waiter quickly took our drink and food order and we were served complimentary pita and tzatziki.
The belly dancing performance was a nice touch to the beginning of the evening, we laughed and giggled as we playfully made fun of ourselves dancing with the pretty young belly dancer. Guys make sure your wife/significant other or yourself does not have too much to drink while dancing, memories last a lifetime, photos posted on the internet of you making a fool of yourself last forever!
After my near perfect "10" belly dance performance, our Spinach roll appetizers arrived, they were ok but I was disappointed in our entrée, we ordered "The Istanbul special" which consisted of grilled chicken and shrimp kabob, skirt type of steak, rice, tomato and side salad. The flavors were delicious, but the dish was luke warm which gave me the impression they were made ahead of time in anticipation for the Valentines day crowd, but it didn't appear to be all that busy that night since there were still many unoccupied tables open on the floor.
We also ordered the "octopus casserole" which was pretty good, the octopus was super tender and the sauce and mozzarella cheese mixed in was delicious, but the portion sizes on both dishes were average when compared to other Mediterranean restaurants in the local area.
Our waiter was very nice and helpful, when you could find him. They seemed to be understaffed that night and we had to ask another server for our check. It was actually one of the managers who saw we were finished with our meals and no one came to clean off our tables.
Overall the food was OK and I would give them another shot to get it right. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt, since it was Valentine's day night it could have impacted the overall service and overall food quality.
Visit Date: August 14, 2014
This is my 500th yelp review!!! (Now that I've had a mini celebration…onto the review!)
I came in here on my dinner break because they were finally open at 4 PM. It's a Mediterranean restaurant which is awesome because I miss the Mediterranean restaurant that used to be here.
I was the only one in the restaurant during my visit and at first the staff seemed surprised to be serving one person instead of a party of two or more. Eventually they sat me down at one of the tables in front of the window. The windows are the same as they did when this place was formerly mermaid. They are big giant glass windows looking out onto Broadway. So while you're dining you get a pleasant view of the traffic of Hewlett, and many people can see you chowing down and stuffing your face but it's still nice.
Since I was the only one in the joint, the staff was very attentive. Everyone kept asking me how everything was. They also got my food order in and out very fast so I can stuff my face and get back to work.
I ordered the cheese pie, spinach pie, and the spagnati appetizers and they bought out a slice of warm pita bread with yogurt sauce and a Mediterranean red sauce. The spinach pie was great, flaky phylo, dough freshly made, fresh spinach. The cheese pie was interesting it tasted very minty & herby, it was different but still good. The spagnati was awesome, a small casserole of melted mozzarella cheese and tomatoes. I should have saved all the pita bread for the spagnati. I ate almost everything except a small part of the spagnati.
They also played middle eastern music in the background of the restaurant.
I would definitely be back here again, it has my vote for one of the better places in the five towns that I've tried.