Balat Sahil Restaurant

A jewel. We tried the fresh sea bass, boiled and served with a lemon sauce. The cold meze options were amazing, we especially loved the green beans and lemon anchovies! Pair your meal with a nice beer or rakı and enjoy a beautiful atmosphere… established 1939!! Ferruh our server was fenomenal, he gave us the best recommendations and was so very kind!

ASK for prices BEFORE you order. 100% ask for prices before you order. We made the mistake not to ask and were horrified when 2 small portion mains (1 fish with a side)4 tiny starters.,4 soft drinks. Was hit with a bill for over €150. Go ten minutes down the road to the ferry area and eat the better tasting and larger portions for about €15. The food was nice but not great. Not worth the price.

One of the best meze restaurants I have been for years. They prepare mezes according to season. For instance; Sardines was in the season and they made a great meze out of it; very fresh, simple and delicious. Likewise red pepper meze was very well balanced between spicy and freshness of yogurt. Lakerda was one of the bests i had in my life. Tripe stew mezes was very surprising; Its a very sharp savory taste that goes very well with your drink. In most of the meze restaurants, vegetable mezes are just ignored and they are not prepared delicately where as in this restaurant, I had amazingly fresh and delicious ones. I wish they had better desserts, only one or two options and they were not as good as mezes. The waiters are very hard working and always checking for your need. The decoration is very old which is fine to reflect the old authentic style, but to reach up to the terrace you need to take three floors of stairs; no elevator. I am very much looking forward to visit again.

It was outstanding seafood dishes and nice view from Istanbul. Especially fish soup

The freshest most tender sea bass in white sauce! Outstanding! Ferruh, our server, was gracious and expert in guiding us in our selections of appetizer spreads and main. Highly highly recommend!

We were thrilled to end up here after searching for the right place to eat on our first night in Istanbul. Ferruh took such great care of us and the food was…amazing! I recommend highly the sea bass, the green peppers and the stuffed onions.

Ferruh was our host for an extraordinary fresh and delicious meal

Delicious food, very authentic atmosphere and attentive staff. The mezze and the fish were very tasty. Watch out because you will probably be overcharged as a tourist (the owner will probably reply here and say that it’s what we ordered, but it’s hard to believe that locals pay 3.500 Turkish lira every night for two beers, 5 mezzes and one large fish).