Balat Sahil Restaurant

The mezes were flavorful and the service was pleasant. However, half of a Mırlan buğulama was 6,350 TL (about $150), which is very steep for a casual place. Overall, it is a decent experience, but it’s worth being upfront about fish prices, as they can be surprisingly high.

Upon recommendation from our food tour guide, we made our to Balat Sahir. No English menus but Ferrush took excellent care of us. We lost our minds on the selection of meze (who knew the humble green bean could be so elevated) and then again on the steames seabass (selected from the case). Atmosphere is classic warm Turkish nostalgia with photos from a bygone era. Ingredients pure and honored. I want to have 1000 more meals in this room.

Best Kalkan in town by far , steamed with lemon sauce , simply divine , and ferruh was an excellent host , stellar meal & hospitality. A winning combination

Unfortunately, we had a very bad experience at this restaurant. Upon arrival, we were not given a menu, so we had no idea about the prices or available options. The staff simply told us to choose a starter, so we selected starter dishes. Then we were strongly pushed to order a certain type of fish – it was almost forced upon us, without any mention of the price. We assumed it was a regular dish, but when the bill arrived, we were shocked: 11,500 lira for just a few small dishes and a fish that wasn’t even particularly tasty. The quality of the food did not match the price at all. We truly felt misled, and it’s very unprofessional that there was no transparency regarding the menu and pricing. This kind of practice is not hospitable and certainly not fair to customers. I absolutely do not recommend this restaurant.

One of the best plces we ate in our visit in Istanbul. Amazing food, amazing fish and Ferruh was so kind and helped us a lot to understand the menu and suggested very well. Would repeat without any doubt!

Very tasty the dinner,a bit slow and unfortunately they forget some food what we ordered but in the end everything was good!

Very authentic restaurant. Ferruh was absolutely lovely — he walked us through all of the fresh fish in the fridge outside, along with the mezzes and helped us choose the best ones. The fish is incredible fresh — the smoked mackerel (cold) and the grilled were both amazing ! We finished the meal with Ferruh’s recommendation, ekmek kadayıfı, and it was delicious. Would definitely come again and recommend to anyone visiting Istanbul.

Our group of 3 from the UK thoroughly enjoyed our meal. Two local Istanbulllus recommended Sahil, and now we know why. We had a fabulous selection of cold mezzes, the service from owner Farruh was excellent, and we can’t wait to come back!