Istanbul Kebab House
“The hummus could have used some more spices but they gave us a couple of sauces on the side which were great when you mixed them in.”
“I really enjoy that they have multiple types of bread to enjoy a falafel on.”
“Awesome Greek Salad and grape leaves for the appetizers, the chicken kebab plate entree, and baklava for dessert.”
Istanbul Kebab House
Takes Reservations: Yes
Delivery: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Has TV: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
PokéStop Nearby: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
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Excellent food! Everything was freshly prepared. Lamb shish kabob was perfectly cooked and marinated. Grape leaves tasted homemade as did the boregi.
The restaurant is small but service is very good and kept the flow of tables moving along.
Will definitely be back!
After 10pm in Hell's Kitchen can be slightly harder than you think to find a decent meal (unless you want a burger). Wanted to try something new and this Kebab House has been around a while – plus practically empty on a Saturday night.
Lots of options on the menu so hard to choose just one. Settled on a Lamb Shish Kebab sandwich on turkish bread ($9). Sandwich took about nine minutes to make while I waited in the small hallway for take out. The bread they use in the sandwich is warm, soft, and holds all the ingredients fairly well. The meat is crisp, not as juicy as I'd like though not quite rubbery. One issue is that all the lettuce and condiments detract from the meat of the sandwich, and the sauces provided don't provide much help. Had to add my own hot sauce to give the kick it needed.
For a late night meal, it satisfies. Good for delivery and take out if you have a few minutes.
I've been eating lunch here for nearly five years and have always had consistently good food. It's a small cafe (6 tables) run by a crew of friendly Turkish fellows. While most customers use it for take-out (presumably they take food to their desk and further enjoy extending their work day) I try to find time to sit and enjoy my food.
THE INTERESTING PART OF MY REVIEW CAN BE SKIPPED. IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE RESTAURANT!
Interesting part starts here.
As it turns out, I have a little street cred when it comes to Turkish food. Several years ago, I went to visit my brother who was living in Turkey. I had become disillusioned with my career and decided to quit my job and re-assess my future. I convinced my lady friend (we had been dating long distance for a few months) to join me. We spent two months with backpacks journeying through Turkey, Greece, Yugoslavia (back-in-the-day) and Italy. Four of those eight weeks were spent on Turkish soil.
We saw half the country and probably slept in 10 hotels, homes and campgrounds. Everywhere we went, we saw people transporting carts of fresh tomatoes, onions, peppers, olives, fruit and nuts. The concept of farm-to-table is a way of life for most of Turkey including Istanbul and other large cities. At one point we became quite ill and (probably rightly) assigned the blame to a very tasty lamb sandwich in Adana. In spite of that "life event" I've never avoided this type of food.
Turkey is incredible as a tourist destination. Over those eight weeks and the four we spent crossing the USA, we never found a friendlier culture. My companion had to deal with the fact that answers to her questions were directed to me. A factor that changed merely by going to nearby Greek islands where women were running businesses and shouting at men!
In spite of this "slight nuance", we were confident that we could arrive in the center of a town, leave our backpacks in the middle of the dusty road and return four hours later to find that someone was protecting our goods – of course we never tried it but, it sure seemed that way. On the other hand, when shopping for hand-made carpets, one can find oneself dealing with a professional sales person (ok, sales man) who is more than happy to ask you for three times the price he is willing to accept.
So, I am quite fond of Turkish things – caveat emptor. Interesting part ends here.
END OF THE INTERESTING PART
The bread served with the spreads is amazingly good. The spreads are amazingly good as well. I like the lamb shwarma platter or sandwich. The hot and white sauces are supreme.
Along with the 6 tables, the decor consists of a counter, cash register, small tapestries and a few framed pictures.
Another interesting part. While in Rome, while eating lunch in a much nicer restaurant than Istanbul Kebab House, we were robbed of our money, passports and flight tickets the day before we were due to return to NY. My lady friend became Mrs G shortly after our return to the USA. Still is. Always will.
Unprofessional message I received from the owner, in response to my review:
Hello Zee P
Sorry about late delivery service we will try our best to make you and all our Customers happy please visits us for dine in my name is Umid I will try to give you better service possible
Thank you for your business we love you 🙂
We love you? I don't think so.
Very good and inexpensive. Free dessert with Yelp check-in.
Tiny little place.
Service okay but a bit confused.
Grape leaves were bland. Bread is good. Sigara Boregi hot appetizer was delightful. Chicken kebob was good.
Nice little place to grab turkish food. I was visiting Manhattan and came across this place by accident. To my surprise, they serve the turkish doner sandwiches. Just like what i saw in a documentary from a joint in Berlin. So i HAD to give it a try. Can i say that the portions are huge? I ordered a lamb doner sandwich in turkish bread and a big portion of chicken shawarma. All that for 26$ tips included!!! We had enough food for two days! Its was what we needed for our trip back to Montreal. The menu is quite extensive but all the items seems so good! The person that greeted me was very nice and helpful. The food reminded me of Amir restaurants in Montreal. Opens late too!
I really wanted to like this place. Especially since it almost looks like a hole in the wall place – those are usually the places with the best food. Unfortunately, this was not the case.
I ordered the lamb adonis and the gyro, and both were dry. It tasted like burnt end bits. That, or it tasted like they microwaved the meat a few times before serving it.
Surprisingly, the chicken soup was pretty good. The one item out of everything I ordered, that I didn't expect to be good, actually was. They use real chicken (not canned broth or bouillon cubes) because there are lots of shredded chicken bits at the bottom. So if you're looking for chicken soup, this place is a pretty good option in this area. But if you're looking for good Turkish food, you should probably search elsewhere.
Small little place friendly greeter/waiter. I opted to eat in so I took a seat at one of the 6 tables.
Service was fast and prompt.
Had the lamb and chicken plate (sliced)
Come with salad and rice and bread. And a cucumber sauce and. Hot sauce which the hot was great the cucumber was just ok
The bread was ok a bit dry but ok, salad rice nothing fantastic BUT over all price for what you get its well worth the visit.