Istanbul Grill & Bakery is a hidden gem located inside Apna Bazaar! I come specifically for the lahmacun, and it's hands down the best I've had. It's always made fresh, comes out hot from the oven, and has the perfect crispy crust with flavorful toppings. The service is fast, and the place is always busy--which tells you everything you need to know about the quality. If you're looking for authentic, fresh Turkish food, don't skip the lahmacun. I'll definitely keep coming back! read more

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Shawarma for me wife and I - absolutely fantastic! Service was fast and the food was outstanding! Came back after shopping in the store and enjoyed Turkish coffees and dessert - again - well worth it! read more

Great place to grab your kebab and baklava. I grabbed an Iskender kebab to go and it was delicious! read more

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Located in the Apna Bazar mall off of beach boulevard, this gem is a must try spot. There were so many halal dishes and deserts to choose from. There is a dine in option with an open seating area which is family friendly . The staff was very informative and friendly . The shawarma dish was made to order with generous portions and a tasty salad to cleanse the palate. read more

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This is hands down some of the best middle eastern food I've ever had. The meat was tender and salted to perfection, the pickled veggies were amazing. The homemade hummus and toum was on point. The bread was also fresh. I can't wait to come back this food made my day. The baklava was also some of the best I've ever had. This place is an absolute hidden gem. read more

Istanbul Grill and Bakery - Beef Shawarma bowl - Bakeries Near Me - Jacksonville, Florida

Nestled in a food court next to a middle eastern supermarket, Istanbul grill and bakery has a wide selection of Turkish eats. We ordered a plate of grilled meats to share, along with some sujuk pide, knafeh, and baklava. while the grilled meat platter was decent, the pide, baklava, and knafeh were not great. Certainly did not compare to the quality we've had in Turkish restaurants in bigger cities. When you sit down at the tables in the food court, servers come and take your order. The service was slow and honestly not very good, I would've much preferred to have ordered and picked up my own food from the counter. read more

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The food was excellent and the servings were of good portions. Since my friend was new to Turkish food. The waitress recommended that we share a mixed grill plate, and a falafel and hummus appetizer. She was very helpful and her recommendations turned out to be the perfect order. The gyro shaved meat was tasty and tender. The chicken shish and lamb Adana kebabs were also spiced really well and tender and juicy... not dry The hummus was creamy and the falafel was slightly crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. The desserts I tried were delicious too. My favorite was the chocolate cream and hazelnut pistachio roll. I also liked the pomegranate roll. From what I could see and smell, the cafe was very clean. the actual restaurant is located inside the mall of Apana Bazaar read more

Istanbul Grill and Bakery - Bakeries Near Me - Jacksonville, Florida

The place smells gross and unclean before you even walk in. The food.... Meh. Not what you would expect from what looks like it should be authentic. The community not very welcoming if you don't look like them. Stay away... don't recommend at all read more

I ordered it though Uber eats and got the mix grill and everything was good! Tender and flavorful. I especially liked the chicken! It came with rice and a salad. I also got the bread on the side and that was also good. I did get the yogurt drink but it wasn't delivered. read more

Istanbul Grill and Bakery - The Mix Grill Plate with bread - Bakeries Near Me - Jacksonville, Florida

A cool venue! Shoutout to our local community heroes! We were invited by my new friend Sara (Sadie) and she was very confident about the venue, because her Turkish husband recommended it to her. So it is always good to see the patrons of a culture cuisine visiting the venue that cooks the food authentically. It validates the food in my opinion. And I was right in this choice. The food was authentic. I ate at two Turkish restaurants back in Maryland and this venue was on point. It was convenient, polite service, great follow-up in the dining room area, and very knowledgeable about the dishes that we were eating. I hope to come back soon and try even more! I also want to go through their awesome store and buy some good groceries and snacks. It is like a one stop shop. I am blessed to have been able to enjoy this first visit with loved ones. read more

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Think Deli style set up and some in-house seating offside but the dessert display is by far the most distracting along with their extensive overhead menu. Hot plates, pizza, Turkish delights and more! I'm almost positive there is well over 100 items on the menu. This establishment is tucked in the Aapna Bazar building off Beach blvd. right by the Beach Blvd Flea. There is also a euro-asian grocery in the same building. Staff were friendly and helpful. Food was prepped to order and the baklava selection sold by the pound! I was amazed! Eveything ordered was top tier and made me wish I had ordered more. Will visit again to try other desserts. I believe they cater too if you wanted to order in bulk. read more

We ordered my mom's birthday cake from here and OMG. It was one of the best cakes we have had in a while. It wasn't two sweet, had at least three types of cream, layer of biscotti crumbs in between one layer, strawberries.... Service was great, we were treated with respect, the offered a slice of cake for free to sample before you buy the whole thing and it was not a very expensive cake. It was somewhere in the $45 range. Will defiantly be ordering future cakes from here. Highly recommended read more

The food is all we have talked about since we have gone. The desserts and bread!!! It's not a sit down place but they have tables it's more of a take home place but we keep coming back!! read more

The food was more ch more flavorful when it was APNA. Now it lacks salt. I ordered a sampler which was $24 & a side of falafel for $8 which was burnt! The salad that came with the sampler was u dressed, no salt on anything, I'm very disappointed. Such a shame as I loved the old APNA! Maybe they need to go back to that menu..... read more

Gyro plate was delicious and the cake was too! Service was great and fast! Very clean dining area! read more

Istanbul Grill and Bakery - Beef/lamb gyro plate - Bakeries Near Me - Jacksonville, Florida

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Horrible customer service! I was headed to pick up a mobile order around 30 minutes before closing and struggled to find the restaurant. I called the establishment and a worker picked up saying, " Can you JUST wait a sec?" I then replied stating, "No, I'm trying to find the store" the worker then hangs up the call. I call 3 more times and each time I was sent to voicemail. I then asked a local where this company is located and he pointed to the shop "Apna Bazar" and said the establishment is one of the shops in this food court. I then arrive 2 minutes before closing and I expressed my concerns and disappointment about no one picking up the phone for a customer's concern. The worker continues to ignore my presence and begins to turn off their TVs; as if she assumed I was planning to place an order, meanwhile my food sits on a wet, cold, sticky counter. Mind you, it was completely empty inside! This left me with more confusion to the fact that the worker refused to listen or even pick up a call! I then expressed my frustration to the worker and two other workers came to the front stating they were unaware about any calls. Will explaining my frustration, one of the worker's grabs the online order front the counter and aggressively shoves the order in my face, I then reach to grab it and she yanks it back, then tells me to "have some manners." As if I wasn't disrespected, ignored, and humiliated customer waiting for assistance from the workers. She then shoves it into my arms and the order fell to the ground... I was so distraught, I ended up leaving without my order all because horrible customer service. What a waste of time! I ended up canceling the order because of such an avoidable mishap. It would've took a few seconds just to hear out why a customer is calling before closing but I guess ignoring customers was an easier decision for a restaurant that don't value their customers! This small, rented out, food court restaurant can never get a penny out of me with that horrible customer service. AVOID THIS STINKY PLACE! read more

Wow! This was an adventure bite place we tried around 10 months ago. Being clueless about this type of cuisine, I asked what I should order. She recommended the chicken shish. We've gone back numerous times since & my fiancé always sticks with the shish. I'm more of an "I want to try everything" person. We brought my son twice now. He got some sort of wrap that had tiziki in it (I can't remember the name) & I got the lamb adana that had the perfect amount of spice & it was out of this world. The atmosphere is so unique. It is how I would describe as a very clean bazar. It's so nice to dive into and experience this wonderful culture. read more

I catered a dinner from Istanbul Grill and bakery last night. The food was incredibly delicious and well presented. Will definitely order again! read more

This is a crowded place , likely happening. We ordered the hummus lavash and ezme. The lavash is a large bread soft n fresh really warm and went well with the hummus and ezme. I had the combo mini meat platter which consisted of skewers of chicken beef and lamb kabobs. This is good for atleast 2 people but was more for me, than planed . Meat was well done and flavorful and the rice basmati soft and well cooked. We also ordered the beyti which is lamb Adana with a pita wrap and rice. And the vegetarian dish was a vegetable medley in a tomatoish base curry , with carrots, radish tomato and was flavorful. Seating was ok , can walk in causal , good for kids and family type casual restaurant read more

Definitely had way better Shawarma !!! .. very salty meat and lettuce, tomato onion sources were not offered.

OMG, how have I lived in Jax for 5 yrs. and just now found this place???!!! I'm so glad I have! I will be here weekly, for sure. The food is outstanding! It's authentic & extremely well priced. Everyone is SO friendly! The desserts looked amazing. I will def be trying the baklava cheesecake next visit (prob today!) My breakfast pide was perfect. It was too big to eat in one sitting. There are only a handful of places in jax I've found pides, so I was thrilled to find a variety made here. And, the huge grocery store in the same building was a wonderful surprise! Don't sleep on this place!! Seriously. If you like Arabic and/or Indian food run, don't walk here. They are open everyday 10am-10pm!! YAY!!!! Totally FIVE STARS!!!!! read more

Istanbul Grill and Bakery - Breakfast pide. YUMMY!!!! And, huge! - Bakeries Near Me - Jacksonville, Florida

Hi Mina, I just wanted to thank you again for the cake. It was beautiful, the flavors were wonderful, and everyone enjoyed it! Thank you. read more

Istanbul Grill and Bakery - Birthday Larger Cake - Bakeries Near Me - Jacksonville, Florida

Awful service! We ordered chicken shawarma to go and got beef/lamb instead (I'm not even sure). After calling them to complain, they hung up. Second attempt they were saying nonsense- refusing their fault, refusing to refund, then they accepted, ask to bring food and they will decide refund or no. 0 rating, never again. read more

We went in to Apna Bazar to shop and try the food at Istanbul. Everything was spotless. The people are so friendly. The food was unreal. I think we're going to be regulars there now read more

Super dry gyro and chicken. The chicken gyro was ready in 5 mins which means it was old. Bad service. I had to keep going to the front desk to ask for someone to take my dine in order. The one star is for the the ok desserts. read more

Hamachi was good but Mevlana was very bad and made me sick. I had to throw it away. I don't recommend the place very highly

Always excellent food and desserts here! Employees are friendly and happy to answer questions regarding the menu and bakery items! The food court is clean with plenty of seating. read more

Istanbul Grill and Bakery - Beef and Lamb Beef Gyro Plate - Bakeries Near Me - Jacksonville, Florida

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Place is solid and does lots of business so the food is fresh. Good spot for Mediterranean food

I picked out different styles of baklava and they all came out really tasty. Will definitely comeback to try out more delicious desserts!

We ordered a couple of Lahmacun for lunch and it was delicious . First time ever that I've had this or any dish from Istanbul We visited the bakery after and we were provided with several samples. Ended up with several bakery items, a pistachio baklava and a regular one. A bun of some sort, not sure of name, but it was very tasty. Not too sweet. A visit to the grocery store was also interesting. It was great experience and I recommend everyone trying. read more

Amazing food! Very authentic! Good value too! The service was also excellent. We will be back for sure whenever we are in the area.

Istanbul just now NEW Count your fingers when and if you ever shake the owners hand (Yousef) he is a crook and lacks restaurant service ethics. He doesn't respect his customers nor admits his mistakes. They messed up a $300 order for a family party order and instead what we thought when we got home with the order and opened it to serve we realized they might have giving us someone else's order containing 6 scuwers and our order was for supposed to be 36 scuwers . When we returned immediately back to the restaurant instead of apologizing and making things right he called us liars...that made me mad and Will never return to this place. read more

Food taste is not good compare with other Mediterranean places near by. Will not go there again

Let's start by saying, I'm not very familiar with this type of food. My fiancé would never eat this type of food without my curious nature nudging him to do so. Holy wow! I asked the lady helping us to tell me what her favorite chicken dish was & so we tried the chicken shish. The chicken was amazing! Perfectly tender & juicy. The flavors were next level good. My fiancé is the 1 with a sweet tooth & they satisfied those cravings 150% (we have leftover sweets). The baklava is my favorite. This place looked so fun. There is a little area to enjoy your meal & a nice mural of downtown jax on the wall. I honestly can't wait to go back & try more adventure bites with our kids! read more

Everything was good until i see the Hispanic guy who cut the gyro literally used his bare hand to pick the gyro with no glove or nothing to put it in the sandwich it was very disgusting i just throw it away i was in a hurry but that was very disgusting to use your bare hand no glove or tong not happy i will never go there again read more

Food was delicious. Service was great (super nice waitress, knowledgeable, friendly and very pleasant to talk to). Loved the ambiance. I will definitely go back! Thank you! read more

I bought couple of cakes for Valentine's Day. One for my family and a small one for my friend. The cake was by far the best cake I had in US. From now on this will be my designated cake place. The cakes were light, filled with fruits and creams, very moist, chocolaty on top. Absolutely delicious. I also got pasties-simits and meat burek. These were also extremely good. The lady was super friendly and answered tons of questions I had. It is a casual place. Highly recommend them! read more

As far as I am aware, this is the only restaurant in Jax that actually has carved gyro/shawarma meat. They do a good job and its ready quickly if you order ahead. The chicken Gyro is on point even if you have to order the garlic sauce separately. Also, the hummus is some of the best in town. The only thing I haven't loved was the falafel. Also, I have some constructive criticism: Please Please Please, label or describe the desserts. There is a huge selection of delicious looking cakes and pastries, and absolutely no signage, description, or prices anywhere; and its too busy for me to ask the cashier to describe the dozens of choices to pick from. read more

The food is great , especially the cakes , recommend it 10/10!! The Adana plate is very tasty and I couldn't find it no where else!