Istanbul Cafe

While the decor isn't impressive, don't fret; the restaurant is an oasis of interesting Turkish food.  The appetizer sample plate was decent, and they have a nice rice pudding for dessert, but the most impressive dish was a grilled eggplant with a mined lamb filling -- totally hit the spot!

It's a great alternative to the fairly bland, blah food surrounding it (including upscale places).  Highly recommended.

We came for the Turkish Tea and we stayed for the food. After the first bite of the appetizers I knew I would be a frequent customer of this restaurant. The service was fantastically fast and the servers are very nice and extremely knowledgeable about the menu. I was impressed how quickly I was sold on ordering salmon at a Turkish restaurant but after hearing about the top quality and freshness I was convinced. It was one of the best salmon fillet's I have ever hard and since then I have had a chance to try many other dishes, each one of them I have loved. Definitely go for the appetizer sampler as the ezme, tabouli, and stuffed grape leaves are a must try. This is by far a high quality restaurant with amazingly affordable prices.

I found this place walking around Downtown and through yelp.

Food:  Ordered eggplant puree.  It wasn't too strong of seasoning and kept the egg plant taste. I liked it because it was pretty fresh.
Ordered the doner kebab for dinner - it was a big dish. However, the meat was a bit too dry for my taste. THe last time i had a doner kebab was in Europe. So i was craving for that dish. It was a similar dish except Istanbul cafe served as a platter.  3.5/5

Atmosphere:  It was okay decorated. It had a bit of middle eastern feeling but not completely because I didn't like the teal colors. It felt like i was back in 70s.  When i came in on a wednesday night. It was pretty empty.  Hopefully next time, when i come back it is not dead . 2.5/5

Service:  the waiter was cool. He knew his dishes and very professional.  he was also from gainesville, Fl.  Anyhow, he refilled my water and checked up on me in a timely manner.  I think he was the only waiter of the restaurant at the moment. they only had one  other table. i want to see how the service is when they have a full restaurant.  4/5