Yummy food! I think Turkuaz is the best Turkish restaurant in town now. The food is fresh and has great taste. The only thing I didn't like was the little salad that came before the main entree, it was pretty bland. Pides are large and not too greasy. The dough tastes perfect and the sucuk sausage is mild and not spicy. That dough though... the perfect texture! The traditional style floor seating area was super cute and filled with lots of pillows. I would say it was comfortable. Not many parking spots, but plenty of paid parking nearby. Easy to get to by bus or on foot from campus. Average prices. Owner was nice and offered us free tea. read more

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Outstanding Turkish restaurant in Bloomington. Food is excellent and the service top notch

The food is amazing! So so so so good and authentic. Their pieds are to die far, and so is their baba ganoush. 10/10 recommend!!!!!!

1. Cozy restaurant 2. Fresh and healthy dishes 3. The flat bread is very good 4. Black tea is flavorful 5. The rice is superb 6. Last and most important: friendly owner, chef, and staff. read more

This place was a wonderful experience! My husband and I had never been and were looking for something different and not a chain. The staff was very friendly and accommodating. The restaurant is small but beautifully decorated and clean. The food was amazing, portions were nice and the price was great. Will absolutely be back when in Bloomington next. read more

Everything was so good! Our server was so very polite and helpful. Food was absolutely delicious and the sitting area is so comfy it makes you want to nap after eating. You definitely feel the authenticity in the dishes and the culture. Absolutely worth a visit! We will be back. read more

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Would give this restaurant eight or nine stars if I could! This unassuming little restaurant on the corner of Third and Lincoln Streets absolutely blew us away last night. Everything that could have gone wrong on my partner's birthday, earlier in July, went wrong, so we ended up postponing his birthday dinner. We were in Bloomington, and I suggested we stop here. I'm glad we did. We started out with baba ganousz. I make this dish as part of my Easter mezze, and I like the version at Turkuaz better: it's a little "sharper" than mine (they probably use more garlic than I do, and I think I'm going to start doing that). My partner had a pide: think a burrito with a slit down the middle where you add ground meat, vegetables, cheese, spices and some yogurt. It's *very* good. My favorite meat is lamb. Well prepared, lamb is spectacular -- it's fork tender and melts in your mouth. Badly prepared, and you can tack it to the bottom of your shoes and your soles should be good for another three years. We both got red lentil soup, which was a very pleasant surprise over lentil soups we've had here in the States. The red lentil soup at Turkuaz has much more depth of flavor than American lentil soups, with a peppery "heat" that gradually builds in the back of your mouth as you eat. If you like spicy food, you're going to love this! I had lamb chops, and it was one of the three best lamb dishes I've ever eaten. One was in the now-defunct Star Canyon in Austin; the other was at a little restaurant in San Francisco (is there even such a thing as bad food in San Francisco?). The lamb is marinated in onion juice, which gives an added depth of flavor but interestingly, the onion juice does not overpower the lamb. It is quick seared, leaving the inside almost hot, but still pink. The result is fork-tender and melts in your mouth. I ate slowly to savor this. The cabbage salad is somewhat like our slaw: the texture is about the same, but the salad is nowhere near as sweet as our slaw, and leaves a very pleasant mouth-feel. Absolutely loved the coban salad, with tomato, cucumber and parsley; and the kisir, which has bulgar wheat, red pepper and parsley. Middle Eastern food, in general, uses much more fresh parsley than American food. Fresh parsley in food is just amazing; and fresh parsley makes fabulous salads. We finished up with baklava. The goal with baklava is to have layers of crispy filo pastry between layers of honey and crushed walnuts. It is spectacularly difficult to pull off. The baklava was a little "soggy", but what it had in sogginess was more than made up with the decadent, buttery flavor. We will definitely be coming back. read more

TLDR; a little expensive, not the best quality during off times/between lunch and dinner, cool seating. My partner and I came here for a late lunch (around 3:00) and were given the choice of where to sit, so we chose the cool traditional carpeted floor seating. You can't wear shoes, which makes sense and I'm fine with, but if you're not into that you'd probably rather sit at a regular table. I can only personally speak for the flavor of the baba ghanouj that I had, but I wasn't very impressed. I have had a lot of baba ghanouj in my life, and this tasted like straight up tahini with no other flavors behind it. I wish there would have been more garlic or lemon juice, or perhaps some smoked paprika--just a little something to spice it all up. The puffy pastry-like thing it was served on had nice texture! My partner got a spicy beef and cheese pide, and had a similar complaint--there wasn't much flavor behind anything, just kind of bland. Overall, not terrible, but if you're looking for Turkish food I would suggest going to Anatolia instead. read more

Turkuaz Cafe - Baba Ganouj - Turkish Near Me - Bloomington, Indiana

I love the hummus platter but the chicken was a tough cut of meat. Not sure if it was that night or the type of chicken they buy. I had a good experience here though! read more

No doubt, the BEST Turkish food in Northern America!! (And the Tiramisu, though not traditionally what one would expect on the menu, is also the best I've ever tasted!!) read more

Turkuaz Cafe is probably one of the first restaurants my husband brought me to when I first arrived in America and it was a great introduction to this city. The food is always good, especially their kebabs. And the owners are very pleasant and endearing. The atmosphere is fantastic. During the height of shutdowns, I remember passing by Turkuaz many times and praying that they would stay in business. I am so pleased to see that they are still going strong. Many more years to them! (Of course I am also hoping to avail of their 15% Valentine's Day coupon. Teehee.) read more

We had a lovely dinner at Turkuaz Cafe in Bloomington! The decor inside is lovely, and you can choose to sit on a carpet on the floor if you like. The food was not the best Turkish/Middle Eastern/Mediterranean I've had, but was very good overall. We started with the eggplant croquette appetizer ($6). The croquettes were tasty with a nice sauce, but VERY small -- quite a poor value compared to the other menu options. We also shared a large pide (like a football shaped pizza or flatbread with toppings/fillings in the middle) with cheese and egg ($13). It was delicious, with fresh and flavorful ingredients, but wasn't especially interesting, and might have benefited from some additional seasoning. There are plenty of vegetarian pide options, making this restaurant a good choice for mixed groups of carnivores/omnivores/vegetarians. The pide came with a tasty cup of lentil soup, and a little plate with three salads. I wouldn't order the salads on their own, but the soup was good. The pide and appetizer together were large enough to split and leave full. One of the parts of the meal I enjoyed most was the glass of ayran ($2) I had with it. It's a thin, very salty yogurt drink that's popular in Turkey and Armenia, and I hadn't had any since I used to live near Little Armenia in LA. The ayran here was great! read more

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Authentic Turkish food. Highly recommend. To the owner, it's a little hot inside, please add AC, we love your food.

Amazing restaurant!!! The food is absolutely delicious Must have is the walnut baklava!!! read more

The food was good, but the server was pushy. It ruined the experience. As we ordered our dinner he tried to push other items on us, which continued throughout the entire evening. Even the kids in our group had the same experience when they ordered dessert. At one point, he was in the middle of explaining the menu and he completely walked away from us to deliver an order to another table. He didn't explain, but just walked away. It was frustrating, uncomfortable & unnecessary. read more

In my 4 years living in Bloomington, Turkquaz has maintained it's spot as my #1 restaurant in town. I honestly think it probably is one of the best Turkish restaurants in Indiana (not that Indiana has great food diversity) I regular Turquaz on about a biweekly basis. I love their Pides (essentially a canoe of pizza - uhm... Yum!) they always manage to last me two meals despite the fact I always go for the smaller size. This might be because they provide free appetizers - a trio of salads and delicious red lentil soup. Recently I've been ordering the fish pide, which I highly recommend. It's made with tilapia which blew my mind, as I expected something more basic like whitefish (way to use good fish!). The atmosphere in Turkuaz is one of my favorite parts. They even have a pillow area on the floor where you can choose to eat. Service is always great at this restaurant, I swear I had the same amazing server for a year of service there. Gotta respect an establishment that can retain quality help. I recommend anyone looking for a place to get a great lunch or equally fantastic (and affordable) dinner try out Turkuaz. read more

Turkuaz Cafe - Pillow seat area in Turquaz - Turkish Near Me - Bloomington, Indiana

My wife and I really liked this place. I had chicken Sis Kebob, and my wife had a Pides. You get a tasty lentil soup and salad with the meal. The brown rice with the Sis Kebob was maybe the best rice i have ever had. Outstanding. I could eaten a plate of just the rice. The chicken was moist and tasty. My wife really liked her Pides. I tried hers and it was good. I had never heard of Pides, but it reminds me of a really good flatbread with whatever cheese, meat or veggie toppings you like. The prices were very reasonable also. Lastly, I would like to say the service was excellent. Server was informative and very nice. The owner/chef came out to the tables to check on us and how we liked our meals. He was a very nice guy and we could tell he genuinely cared about the experience the customers had in his restaurant. We will be back. read more

Super delish! Get the Turkish coffee and make sure to save room for dessert because they are ALL amazing. Pides are a great place to start if you are new to Turkish food- easy crowd pleaser. I love the red lentil soup and the little salad they serve with all of the entrees as much as I love the food. Sooooo goood! read more

one of my favorites in Bloomington great food, great service, absolutely worth the wait read more

We tried this on a whim one night because I read some great reviews on Yelp. It was wonderful!! My fiancé didn't want to take his work boots off, so we didn't sit on the floor mats. Our server went through the entire menu with us explaining how each food was prepared and it was so informative! Every dish we ordered was amazing 10/10! read more

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What an amazing experience. We took a group tonight to Turkuaz for dinner. 10 of us sat on the floor in the front and had a wonderful experience The service, food, atmosphere were all incredible. I would highly recommend this amazing restaurant. read more

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Food is okay, was missing flavor (had to add some salt). One of the servers was not very hospitable and didn't seem like she was enjoying her work here, which spoils the experience for the guests. Example: She told us that the kitchen has closed and you cannot order deserts, and later another server asked us if we wanted any desert. Which means she wasn't aware that the baklava doesn't need the kitchen to be open. Ambience is nice and food needs more flavor, also, get better servers! read more

This place was amazing. The dining room is super casual (which was perfect, since we were in gym clothes) and I loved how you took off your shoes upon entering and sat on pillows on the floor. We split the Sarma appetizer and spinach, chicken, and cheese Pide. The Sarma (stuffed grape leaves) were delicious and very hearty. If I were alone I probably would have been full after these alone. The Pide was SO GOOD. It is essentially a flatbread-ish thing (forgive my description) that was full of flavor, even though the one we chose was so simple. I have been thinking about it since we left. The staff was friendly and helpful, the owner even came out to make sure we enjoyed our experience. Next time I come to Bloomington I will definitely visit again! read more

We came at 2:45pm, right before they close at 3pm. We were afraid they will turned us away but we actually got seated very quickly. We chose to sit on the floor with nice carpets and pillows, very cozy and comfy. We got the lamb in the clay pot and the combo pita bread. Both were tasty and large portion. Will definitely come back again. read more

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Compulsive ! This restaurant gives me a good impression of Turkish food ! Muca is very fantastic, also love their lamb and other dishes. They served a soup (looks red or orange )for every customer, I don't know the name but the soup is very good ! ! Good for group dine together ! read more

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The Princessa pide was the best flavor of the pides I tasted during my visit. At $7, the price was right, too. The meal came complete with a fresh salad on a plate and a savory bowl of hot soup. The small pide was manageable for one hungry person. I'm guessing a large would easily fill up two people. The group I was with sat on the low tables on rugs. It made for a cool setting (just like they eat in Turkey, right?), but if I were to come back I would definitely opt for one of the booths for a more comfortable experience. read more

Just ok. I've had Turkish food at other places and unfortunately the Turkuaz Cafe was not what I was expecting as far as flavors. Their Turkish coffee and ambiance were good. It's a good place to stop for a bite, but not what I was expecting when it comes to great Turkish food. read more

Turkuaz Cafe - Turkish Near Me - Bloomington, Indiana

I really really really liked this place. I've been to our 2 Turkish restaurants around Indy and they are both good, but Turkuaz took it up a notch. It felt very authentic in there and once the food arrived...it cemented my belief that I was in turkey. Everything from the salad and little accouterments they give you to the meal was delicious. I came here with several people and got to try quite a few things. The only thing no one ordered was the sandwich type entree they have called Pide or something like that so I can rate that. Everything else however, was top notch! Coming back for sure!!! read more

Fab-u-Lus!!! Fantastic service! And the food...is delicious. After biting into the rack of lamb, I moaned with delight. So, so great!

I know it's very common for people to give 5 stars to just any restaurant they slightly like but this place truly deserves the 5 star rating. This is a relaxed atmosphere Turkish/Mid-Eastern restaurant that nails every aspect of their meals. The hummus and their bread is amazing for an appetizer. For the main course their kabobs are tremendous, once again get bread. And the Turkish tea along with some Tiramisu or Coffee Cake is perfect for dessert. If you're in the area try this place! Even if you don't typically like foreign food you need to try it, you won't be disappointed! read more

Turkuaz Cafe - The carpet and pillow area. Always try to sit here, very comfy and relaxing! - Turkish Near Me - Bloomington, Indiana

Red lentil soup was good, 3 salad was good, and the chicken and spinach pides was good. The Turkish coffee was not that great though, I've had better. Staff was friendly. Prices were decent. read more

Turkuaz Cafe - Turkish coffee - Turkish Near Me - Bloomington, Indiana

By far my favorite restaurant in BTown! If you are looking for delectable turkish cuisine in an authentic atmosphere with great service and ambiance for not alot of $$, look no further! This place seriously makes my soul happy! I love the traditional floor seating they have available, if you want to go native, just be sure to remove your shoes. If not there is table/chair seating as well. Their turkish black tea is definitely the cure-all for what ails you! No joke, this stuff will settle an upset stomach, enhance your mood, and/or warm you head to toe! I always get the princesa pide, and the complimentary tomato lentil soup (which there is nothing better for a cold Indiana winter's day) and couscous, cucumber salad get tastebuds prepped! Fair warning, if you are one person, go with the small, because the large pide could seriously feed a small country! The Baba Ganoj is also a must, but again, bring a friend to share, otherwise it's a meal in and of itself. If you, by some miracle, still have room, you gotta get the turkish coffee cake (they make it with fresh coffee grounds!) and if, like me, you are a coffee addict and like "the strong stuff", the turkish coffee is a great accompaniment. Though, caution, it is the real deal, so if you are a decaf or Folgers-type coffee drinker, you may want to ease yourself in and share a tiny cup! There is also a Turkish grocery where the black tea and other authentic turkish sundries are available for purchase, to hold you over until your next Turkuaz experience! read more

We visited this restaurant on our travels to Bloomington and it had some interesting vegetarian choices. They didn't have the falafel gyro, which the server kindly gave a heads up as soon as possible. Good food and good service. read more

This place is incredible. Went there for a late lunch/early dinner on Friday and had a great meal. We started with the Sarma, and it was very tasty, the small salad it's served with was incredible. My date and I split a bottle of wine with our meal. The red lentil soup that comes with the meal is excellent and I could I eat it daily. She had the lamb chops and loved them, I had a chicken and spinach Pide and added tomato. It was a good portion, perfectly cooked, and very tasty. The entire meal was less then 100$ and the server was so thankful for the tip I left him. Would go back anytime and plan to more often. Check this spot out! read more

Great little Turkish place. Lentil soup and salad is great. The hummus tastes so fresh! Friendly owner and waitstaff!

This place is a real find. It's got a great ambience and a well rounded menu. When my husband and I ate here, we made it a point to try several types of items, and each one was special and great. I think I could eat a different pide every day for a month and be happy. If you've never had pide before, it's similar to a cross between a calzone and a pizza. The price is right, and the flavors are excellent. We started with the Potato Koftesi, an interesting fried potato pan cakes dish with yogurt sauce and various sides. We enjoyed it, but it was probably the least favorite item we had in a meal of true standouts. For my main entree I chose the Soujouk (Sausage) Pide, which was stronly flavored with sausage, although it never overpowered. This dish is already haunting me in a good way. It was excellent (although slightly greasy, which is understandable with the sausage). My husband tried the Turkuaz Lamb Kebab, lamb seasoned with tomatoes, onion, and green pepper, and served in a small crock topped with pastry...kind of a Turkish lamb pot pie. The flavor was rich and excellent, a real winner. The side dishes that came with the lamb added to the experience. The couscous was particularly good. The red lentil soup that came with both dishes was similarly well flavored and delicious. We also tried the Turkish coffee, which to our American palates is worth trying but very "earthy." Our waitress did a great job of instructing us to wait before drinking, so that the fine coffee grounds could settle to the bottom. It's still a strong, bitter, gritty drink, but if you've never tried it before it's an experience you shouldn't miss...just be aware that it's obviously an acquired taste. We finished with Turkish Coffee Cake, which has a nice taste and texture, similar to a strong tiramisu. While we were there a group of about 6 young men each ordered a double order of the Rack of Lamb, it looked and smelled delicious. That's next on our list of things to try. My definition of a five star restaurant is one in which I can order many things off of the menu and be assured of a delicious meal. Turkuaz definitely fits that criteria. Bottom line: any lamb dish or pide will rock your world. We passed by this place for years because it looked like a bit of a dive from the outside,,.that's not the experience when you walk inside. Try this place! You won't be sorry. read more

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Have you been to the lunch buffet? Go! I seriously can't get enough of their meatballs in tomato gravy with roasted potatoes. My toddler is obsessed with their red lentil soup. If he's being a picky eater that week I take him in for lunch and he bounces in his seat as his bowl arrives. If you have a special event, they cater! I even catered several servings of tiramisu for Valentine's Day as a special surprise for my husband. He was so excited and ate it all in 36 hours! read more

Turkuaz Cafe - Toddler approved lentil soup. - Turkish Near Me - Bloomington, Indiana

This restaurant is a hidden gem! Everything from the service, to the drinks, to the food was incredible!! I really can't rave enough. I highly recommend this restaurant. read more

I love the ambiance, the floor seating and everything about it! The food is just yummy! The portion is a little small to share. Vegetarians have some good options to choose from. The service is spot on. But why is there Hindi music played ? I thought if there was a middle eastern music it would have gone well with the set up! read more

Super good food! Aside from turkish coffee, I had never had turkish cuisine before. The floor seating is more comfortable than you would think. The food is phenomenal. I really enjoyed everything that came with my meal. It was a super relaxing and enjoyable meal. read more