Hayvore

I stumbled at this restaurant looking for local soup. Plenty of selection, nice location in istiklal. Don’t be surprised if you are paying more than your expected bill, they charge for service fee.

Super friendly service and very good food. We had a selection of multiple small dishes and all were good, the highlight was the fish. In a quiet side street away from the noise of the main street.

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!)

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!

Three days in Instanbul and I had my best family meal in this cozy restaurant. Ambient is really basic but you feel welcomed. Real Turkish cousine cooked in family style with fresh ingredients. Prices really reasonable. I definitely recommend especially if you have kids and look for quick and variety of options. Great place.

I knew this place by recommendation online, looking for something more authentic. A very nice person met us in front of it, and we saw a lot of locals eating inside. We chose 2 eggplants and a soup. It was tasty, not incredible but good. Finally I asked for the bill. In it each eggplant was like 500 Lira (10€) 😂 so in total we spent 1500 Lira (30€) on this gold eggplant 15 min lunch. Globally no worries, I knew about the local culture and everything, but will never come back.

This is Black Sea cuisine. Yusef, I believe is the owner was very kind. We walked in because the fish, Sea Bream, looked really good but we wanted to find our other options in the area. We thankfully went back here because it was the best fish we had on the trip. The anchovy rice is exceptional as well. Don’t forget to order the rice pudding with ground walnuts.

The problem is not the food here. It's the arrogance of some of the staff and the way you feel cheated when they bring you the bill. But then again, why are you looking to eat so near Istiklal street? First of, you get a menu price and an online menu price which you're encouraged to visit on every table you end up. Whichever price is higher is what they'll charge you + 10% service fee. If you ask to keep the receipt, you get the stink eye from the waiter as it becomes clear you're about to unravel the jig, and there's gonna be no extra tip for them. So no matter how good the food may be (e.g. the fish soup), or how michelin guide recommended, you'll have trouble fighting off the taste of them trying to scam you. Such a shame!

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.