Sofyalı 9 Restaurant

The atmosphere of this traditional tavern was lovely, the service was kind and fast the food great. It's custom here for the waiter to bring a huge tray full of appetiser (cold meze) to choose from. Strongly suggested. If you are a group of people it's better to book on advance.

Disappointed.. Don’t be tempted by that Michelin achieve they’ve gotten by a mistake.. Hummus as an appetizer was better than main dishes! Chicken şiş was dry, small and meager dish, I guess it was a joke.. Octopus was better but as well as chicken not enough salt. Interesting taste combinations but again, was a little overheated. I would like to visit it one more time but, again, those prices and that level in result.. not worth it at all Small place, we could even touch our neighbors with elbows.. On top of that, expect to see additional ~150 TL for service and water (!) I guess you can spend 772 TL somewhere else with better value

Cozy place with friendly atmosphere. There are different cold starters (humus, pate). Also you can see all cold starters and choose the best options for you. You can taste the turkey national drink, which is called raki. Main dishes include seafood and meat. The seabass is simple without any garnish or sauce

We enjoyed our visit to Sofyali for dinner immensely. We started our with some cold appetisers, the eggplant pure and the hummus, they were both really good but with a highlight on the eggplant. The service of them was quite interesting as they bring them all on a huge tray and you pick from there. We followed with the 2 pastries as hot appetisers, we also wanted to have the lamb sweetbreads but they were not available anymore, we went for the ox cheek. Burg pasties we’re delicious, but they were a bit lacking in filling. For main we shared the eggplant octopus, which was delicious as well, the eggplant had a remarkable toasted taste, and the serving of octopus was very generous, although it was a bit tougher that I espulgo have liked. We had the halva dessert but it was not our cup of tea. Service was quick and very kind. We paid 1600 Lira with tip.

That's authentic Turkish food for me. They have a great selection of hot and cold starters as well as main dishes and sweets. Service is very pleasant. For the cold starters they come along with a tablet of the selection and you can choose.

Friendly, great service, good menu. Great price quality ratio. Restaurant expands through several floors but better reserve

Delicious food -- I recommend the hummus and the meat skewer. The yogurt dips were okay. A little expensive but overall a good meal.

Absolutely stupendous dinner in a great location and quaint ambience! We came here on our first night as a recommendation from the lonely planet. It was the best meal of meze we had in Turkey after traveling in Cappadocia, Ephesus, and Istanbul. The cold meze platter has a wide variety and everything was excellent! Additionally, the warm entrees we tried including fried calamari, eggplant with octopus, and shrimp casserole are excellent. The knafeh (dessert) is the best I have ever had and the fresh fruit platter is a refreshing end to the meal. In addition to the great ambience and amazing food, we had wonderful service with Selman. He was very patient and was able to provide excellent service, accommodating our tastes and speaking great English. In fact we wish all servers we have encountered all over the world were as professional and friendly as him. In addition to the excellent food, his wonderful service was one of the main reasons we chose to return. We highly recommend coming to enjoy a wonderful meal here during your time in Istanbul!

Came here because it was in my Lonely Planet's "Food Lover's Guide to the World." This was the only restaurant I tried from the book, and I don't plan on repeating my mistake twice. First of all, I do have to say that the ambiance and service were impeccable. They brought us a mezze platter and we chose and picked plates off of looks and then proceeded to order our mains. All the food we ordered was very bland and average in my opinion. We had just eaten similar food at Ficcin the night before, so we were very disappointed - not just in the flavor and food, but in the prices as well (nearly double what we'd paid for better food). There were a ton of idle waiters around, so service was a non-issue but this experience reminded me why I shouldn't eat at places recommended by guide books.

This nice small restaurant in Galata is worth a visit. The restaurant stretches over three levels the middle one being the kitchen. The rooms are pretty small though and make you feel comfortable right away. The friendly staff has to climb the narrow stairs every time they serve something but they are still always in a good mood. As in many other Turkish places they offer a great variety of starters that you can choose from right in the beginning. Their assortment was so convincing though that we decided to go with several hot and warm appetizers rather than having two main dishes. They were all delicious. This is also one of the few Anatolian restaurants that serve alcohol.

Great little restaurant featuring excellent and tasty Turkish food. The restaurant is small, but tidy, clean with an excellent and helpful staff. They offer a full variety of mezzes and other options. The zucchini, eggplant, dumplings, kubbat, and kabobs were very good. The pride bread and lahmacun were also a treat. The restaurant is on a small, albeit busy back street walkable from the larger hotels including 4 Seasons and Pera Palace. The also serve liquor which isn't readily available at many local restaurants.

Nice little place where you can try different mezzes with fresh ingredients in a cosy surrounding. Waiters walk with big trays where you can pick the mezzes you want to eat. Mashed eggplant was my favorite! Something to keep in mind: by ordering on the platter, you don't realize how much you're paying, plus they include the tip and they charge the covers so the bill can be surprising.

We took a taxi from our hotel to find this restaurant based on the postive reviews on Yelp (it was also mentioned by our guide book). Unfortunatley, we were disappointed with quality of the food. The mezes were very average, as were the mains. The meal was also over priced relative to the quality of the food. The setting was nice and the service was good, but that doesn't really matter to me if the food isn't up to par. Do yourself a favor and give this place a pass.

A lovely setting and the servers were very helpful, but the food was very average at best. They did not have a huge menu, which is fine if they are making a few things really great. But, my finance and I were both underwhelmed with our meals. It was a little more expensive than the other places we visited as well. More money and not delicious equals no thanks!

Very good restaurant with typical Turkish cuisine. Nice atmosphere and friendly staff.