Hayvore

Absolutely blown away by this hidden gem in Istanbul! A friend recommended it, and I’m so glad they did — hands down one of the best meals I’ve had in Turkey. The cuisine has a delicious northern twist that sets it apart from anything else in the city. Every dish was bursting with flavor, clearly made with care and love. The staff were incredibly warm and welcoming, making the whole experience feel like visiting family. You must try this place if you’re in Istanbul — unforgettable food and hospitality!

Definitely my favourite restaurant in Istanbul. It’s a simple place with no frills, but the food is some of the best I had in my week in Istanbul. I particularly loved the stuffed aubergine, meatballs and pickled beans. I would eat here all the time if I lived here! Lovely people as well, and well located just off the main Ishkitlal St. Oh and the best rice pudding I had too (and I had a few!)

It’s different than what other places are offering. Fish soup to beans soup and pulav to veggies all of them are simply amazing. I believe the prices are way too high as compared to other similar restaurants but the taste justifies this. I am coming back again whenever I am visiting Teksim. PS - you can ask them to remove the service charges though I decided to pay them.

I was here several years ago and it was great place with tasty food, affordable prices and wonderful atmosphere. It was always full of people. I came here several times and each time was happy. Now the prices are just insane. And as a result almost no customers anymore. Come and see yourself it's always empty. Simple kofte costs you 420 liras! They also include a service fee on top of that. You can find better prices in literally every other locanta or have a dinner in a good restaurant for the same price. I would never return here again and never recommend it to anyone.

The five stars is for the food only. Particularly enjoyed the mısır ekmeği, one of the best corn breads I’ve ever had. Didn’t like the service, found the waiters to be hostile both times I ate here. Edit 04/2025: More than three years later observe staff behind the counter remain cold and indifferent and have a superiority complex. More importantly, prices have skyrocketed and are not justified. Food may still be good, but they do not deserve five stars. This place is now a tourist trap.

Solo dinned. As I entered, the staff helped me understand the concept where you order from the counter. He was able to explain each item in English and let me know the cost was different for each item. From reading other reviews I was prepared for a pricier dinner - that was my experience as well. I ordered: 1) anchovy rice 2) chickpeas 3) beans This was too much food for me, so I'd say 1-2 items is sufficient per person. The anchovy rice was amazing and I highly recommend. The chickpeas were also nice in a tomato sauce. The beans were nothing special but still tasty. They do bring a water bottle and bread without asking and add this on to your bill. I am sure you can have them remove it from your bill or just tell them you don't want these when they are brought to your table. My total bill was ~800 THY. It's pricey, but a nice experience.

Food is good in this lokanta (self service) but prices are expensive. Also prices are not indicated upfront before ordering. You have to tell the staff what you want based on what’s available behind the counter and they will serve you accordingly. Water and bread served automatically at your table will be added to the bill.

Great traditional Black Sea cuisine with homemade quality, kind owners, reasonable prices. As a solo traveller, I loved that I could try a variety of dishes without ordering too much food. This is a great place to find fish and vegetable dishes. You order first at the counter before sitting down—don’t expect tableside service, it’s simply not that kind of restaurant and that’s OK. (Pro tip: you can order half portions!) Don’t miss their sutlac (rice pudding) for dessert, my favorite in the city!

Fish soup - 4.5 stars My favourite! The fish inside was a little overcooked but the soup was incredibly flavourful. Whole grilled fish - 2.5 stars Too dry and overcooked although the flavour is decent. Cheese pide/pizza with egg added on top - 4 stars Hard to go wrong! Delicious. It's a specialty of a particular region - I forget which. White beans - 3 stars Nothing special. Small portion of rice topped with fish - 2.5 stars This tasted too fishy for me. I'd come back for that fish soup! As well as that cheese and egg pide and to try other dishes.

If you want a break from the traditional kebabs and meat, this place is tucked away off of Istiklal St. and seems to serve a lot of local people. They make everything in big batches and have it up at the front behind glass, so you can just point to whatever you want without having to try to bridge the language barrier. You can also see what everything looks like prior to ordering, which is always helpful. The dishes that were highlights to me were the following: - Chicken and Kale soup: Had really good flavor and they were not skimpy on the vegetables. - Beans: Really delicious and well cooked. Not mushy, and they were very flavorful. - Dolma: Plumper and thicker than most; the rice inside was also flavored and it was one of the best dolmas I've had. We also ordered the grilled fish, which I found to be just okay. The taste was a bit too fishy for me, and you had to pick around all the little bones. It was good, but not something I'd come back and reorder again. They also gave us some bread and complimentary salad which was nice. Pretty inexpensive and a nice taste of food from the Black Sea. The food was also on the lighter side, which was good since all I've been doing is eating since I got to Turkey, so it was nice to have something a bit healthier for a change. For 5 people, we paid around 100 Turkish lira for our meal. I'd recommend coming here if you want a change of pace from what you normally get at all the other Turkish restaurants and want to try new dishes at a good price.

One of my favorite meals in Istanbul is this SUPER local lunch spot located in a side street off Ishkatal. I was actually recommended this spot from my guy's aunt who was just visiting Istanbul on an artist retreat and one of her Turkish friend swears by it. Hayvore is a very typical type restaurant in Istanbul - deli style. You get seated, you then go up to a deli case and pick what you want - they serve it out and you eat. It's all fairly cheap and you get so much food. And I'm not talking about cold pasta - I-live-in-NYC deli style food. In this case, the food was magnificent filled with fresh vegetables, tender beef stew, Turkish pastries, etc.. What I loved? The waiter rolling his eyes when I looked at him with a deer in headlights when I had no clue what to do. He was heated he had to tell me what was up in English. Good sign. I ended up with a plate of chickpeas, smoky eggplant, perfectly seasoned kofte (Turkish meatballs), mac & cheese, curried chicken and pickles and every bite was perfection. So simple, but so elegant. Definitely a different level of food - a bit more gourmand and modern than the touristy traditional Turkish spots I've been eating. And I thought about returning the next day as I was so impressed. I wish I had. The meal came out for 2 heaping plates of food to about $20 US. Definitely worth a stop. The place is small, so I'd suggest coming a little after the lunch crowd if you know no Turkish as not to hold up the line with any questions.

Delicious home cooked meal, comport food and great service. Highly recommend it! Came with my family we all got different dishes and tried everything, yummy!

This place was good but overrated. Tripadvisor, wsj, etc all praise this place but I didn't think it was so great. It's very casual: you walk up and pick out several foods then sit down and a waiter brings you to them. I had a whole fish which was decent but not nearly as tasty as the freshly grilled fish you can get right on the water. The grape leaves were probably my favorite thing. They were extremely flavorful. Everything else was good but I didn't love it. The prices are pretty reasonable here as well. I'd probably come back and give it another try.

Tucked in an alley off the busy Istiklal St, it's a nice clean spot for some good seafood. It's pick your own buffet style. You order at the counter. Their fish soup was very good. And the stuffed cabbage leaves - dolmas were delicious. The place gets pretty packed so go early or later to avoid the crowds.

A small, informal restaurant with great food. I would guess if I had a Turkish grandmother, this would be like eating at her house. There is a hot food selection as you walk in, the staff speaks some English (no English menus) and is very helpful: point and order. The food is wonderfully done, hot and very tasty. There's also a Pita (pide) window at the rear, kind of like Turkish pizza, a lot of varieties. Priced reasonably and honestly. A big plus after several major ripoffs at other restaurants.

Select your desired dish from the front and they serve it to you. The waiters speak a bit of English and are happy to let you know what the dishes are. The dishes were ok. Our favourite was the anchovies pancake.

Food here is gorgeous. Freshly prepared and hearty, this home style Black Sea food is some of my favorite Turkish cuisine. The vegetable dishes are perfect. Just off Istiklal it's a great place to stop when you get hungry from walking and shopping. Avoid the fish place next door where the creepy guys who work there constantly hit on the tourist girls. I will definitely be coming again and taking friends and family when they visit me here in Istanbul

In my experience, mixed plates in Istanbul are to be avoided; this is no exception. All of the food is sitting out, lukewarm and hardly special in flavour. It is expensive for what you get and I would recommend sticking to places that specialise in an area of cooking, or at least cook fresh food for you.

Lukewarm, pretty flavourless food. If you must go, the cabbage soup is hearty and could be appreciated after days of eating Kabab.

The food was good but the service team was not the best. They refused to set us outside because a chair will be empty and they guided us to the worst place inside, when we made the first order to try it out the waiter say that's it in a bad way. I don't know the food was great but service team sucks

Really wonderful place. Small, very local feel. The waiter Ramazan was super friendly and don't great English. We didn't know what to order and so we got a little of everything which wasn't a problem at all. Sea Bass and veggie soup to start was incredible. Wanted another 2-3 bowls. For the main course the mousaka, one of the green bean dishes (there were 3), the fish, the beef, and the chickpeas all really stood out but honestly, I just recommend getting a little of everything. I'm sure I'm forgetting something. For dessert we had baklava, this walnut cake thing and rice pudding. The rice pudding and the cake were out of this world. Baklava of course was good but not better then what you get anywhere else in Istanbul. The authentic feel really hit home when this old Turkish man shuffled in. He went behind the counter and came out with a bowl of something clearly off menu and sat down in the corner by himself to eat. Our waiter told us that he was the owner. After finishing his meal he shuffled right back out again. Definitely going back again before we leave.

We love everything about this restaurant. We love to eat local food and this is definitely the best one in Istanbul. We first went there just by walking around and see a full house of local people. Later on we found out this restaurant is also on a local restaurant guide. With all the restaurant choices, we have to go back again because the food is so good. The owner is very friendly and gave us tea, salad, desert for free. Highly highly recommend it.

Some beans, yellow rice and two meatballs for 21 lira, I've paid for better meals in Istanbul for less than half of that. A complete ripoff, this place.