a neighborhood fave... so much that we held our son's baptism brunch here. service can be off at times but the food will keep me coming back. pass on the falafel but most other apps are delicious - especially the complimentary carrot-yogurt dip with the AMAZING bread. salads are nicely prepared - chopped and easy to eat. decent wine selection as well! read more

After feeling rather jaded regarding my general dining experiences, I went out on a limb and tried finding something new totally at random with the internet at my disposal. Turquoise caught my eye, and given that I had not been in the Roscoe area of Chicago in a long time, I thought I would give it a shot and have my usual partner in crime join me so we could really assess the food. As we arrived a bit late for lunch, I assumed it would be very quiet, but saw a few tables occupied (always a good sign that business is active). I must also note it's a really charming place; a bit on the small side, though I do appreciate more intimate spaces, plus wood interiors always put me in a good mood. Our waitress greeted us in a timely manner and was very polite and patient while taking our orders, especially since we needed a bit of time to decide. I'm still a bit new to trying Turkish food (let alone Turkish-Italian), but I went ahead with their creamy lentil soup to start and Imam Bayildi (pan-roasted stuffed eggplant) while my accomplice had the beef kebap. Verdict: From start to finish, it exceeded my expectations and then some. It's very rare for me to say, but I had not had such great food in a very long time. First of all, the lentil soup was perfectly blended; there's no trace of a stray lentil skin in there anywhere, plus the balance of cream and vegetables with a dash of curry-like spice makes for a very warm, gratifying appetizer. The Imam Bayildi consists of several expertly stuffed Indian eggplants served with a side of pilaf, and it's to die for; roasted garlic, tomatoes and peppers embolden the eggplant and pairs well with the rice. Whether you appreciate your vegetables or not, this is an entree anyone can delight in... ...and if you're a total carnivore, the beef kebab is just as good- perhaps even better (I can't possibly make up my mind)! You get expertly-cooked meat that retains its juice and flavor. In my opinion, this even rivals some of the best fillet mignon I've had in the past, and it's only $10 at lunch with pilaf and a side of vegetables included. How about that? Bottom line: the food had such an effect on the both of us that we took another order of both to take home with us. Aside from being too full to try dessert, I had no regrets about the whole experience. I shall be back! Bonus: I forgot to mention you are given a basket of in house baked bread when you are seated, plus you also get a free small glass of black tea at the end of your meal. read more

I was forewarned in "Check, Please" ( and, in the reviews) concerning the bread. Still, I ate too much of it because it is yummy,especially with the tomato+ bulgur paste. By the time I was served the entree, I had room for only a few bites. I had the remainder of it along with my appetizers bagged to go, so that I can enjoy my desert at the restaurant. Excellent meal, thank you ! read more

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Great food, great service - came here for special occasion dinner. Carrot dip and homemade bread was so good. read more

Turquoise Restaurant - Stuffed eggplant - Turkish Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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Their freshly baked bread is everything!!! Everything we ordered was amazing!! Can't wait to go back! Our server was really sweet and recommended some dishes as well! Such a pleasant experience! Highly recommend! read more

Turquoise Restaurant - Iskender! So so amazing!!! - Turkish Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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I was expecting better quality. The food was terrible and the service worse. The food was tasteless, lacked condiments and flavor. There was only one waiter for an entire room full of people. We were told that there was not bread and food that was ordered by different tables were brought to us on three different occasions. read more

Great food, I had the Sultan's Delight and it was delicious. Amazing housemade bread and carrot dip and great drinks too- the Turkish Old Fashioned is awesome. read more

Excellent lamb shank and lamb chops. Live music and superb service made for a wonderful evening.

This was my first time at Turquoise but my boyfriend and his family have been coming here for years. I can see why. The staff is incredibly hospitable and attentive. Ambiance is really nice -- we had live violin music playing for our Friday night dinner. Food was really good. We got the turquoise salad and the adona kabob, but what really knocked it out of the park for us was the bread. I love turkish bread and they brought more out for us midway through. Good house wine and overall vibes. read more

We loved this restaurant!! We ordered the mezze platter and the chicken kebab( melted in our mouth) Our wait staff Kadir and William were so kind and attentive despite it being a busy Friday night. We will be back for sure. read more

With delicious food, a heated front patio and beautiful interior, this place is great. There are people off all ages, and the place has character. The service is friendly and attentive. We got the mixed grill and the salmon and scallop were wonderful (so were the chicken and beef.) Don't skip the baklava--so good. I can't believe it took this long for to check out this restaurant. We'll be we back! read more

Rudy was our server and was amazingly lovely! He had great recommendations and was patient and had a great presence at the table: he definitely elevated our experience. Adorable patio sidewalk seating and very conscious of the Covid regulations. Highly recommend! read more

We made a reservation and it was completely disregarded. Ended up waiting 20+ minutes for a table and the first one they offered us was in the basement room. It had no ventilation whatsoever. the floors were vibrating under your feet too from the kitchen. It was also uncomfortably hot in there. The food was very heavily salted. Would not come here again. read more

I have been wanting to try this place for forever, and I finally did tonight. And all I can say is Thank god I did. I wish I would have done it sooner. The food was incredible. We had the Lentil Soup, lamb Kabob, and Su Borek. All three are just tries! We have a vegetarian and meat eater in the house and we were both impressed. Everything was delicious. I can't wait to come back when everything is open to enjoy at the restaurant. read more

Terrific restaurant that's halal! Lamb chops were delicious! The staff was incredibly hospitable. Would definitely recommend

We were so disappointed in the service we received. It was soooo slow, the table next to us got their apps, entrees and was finishing up with dessert by the time we got out dinner!! We weren't even sure who our server was since he never came back to check on us, we had to ask a couple of servers who weren't even our waiter for water ect. I also ordered squid ink pasta and was brought normal linguini instead and told they no I'm squid ink pasta... Would have been nice to know that before I ordered!!!! The food was mediocre. My husband got a Turkish dish and it looked like it's been sitting for a while, it probably tasted better when it was still fresh. read more

I recently saw Turquoise featured on the show "Check please" and I was excited to check it out. I had a very enjoyable experience, but was not completely blown away. -The place is very inviting, located in the heart of Roscoe Village with a welcoming storefront entrance and warm and convivial atmosphere inside. -The hostess seemed a bit confused and couldn't find our reservation, which is always frustrating. -We waited at the bar before our table was ready. The bartender was very nice and introduced us to the Turkish aperitif, raki, which we really enjoyed. It's kind of like a Turkish ouzo and was a great way to whet our palate. -We did finally get seated at a comfortable table in the back. -Our waitress was informative and attentive. -Fresh-baked bread was delicious and served with a tasty carrot-based dip. -Patlican salatisi (eggplant dip) and su boregi (like a feta lasagna) were interesting appetizers--good, but I wish they had a little more flavor. -Doner was delicious. -Adana kebap was decent, but the meat could have used a little more of a sear on it. I did feel we got a good value for our money--definitely generous portions. It overall was a nice dinner experience and I would definitely go back. I am glad to have an authentic Turkish option on my Chicago restaurant list. read more

Thanks for making our quarantine Easter absolutely delicious! We had the Lamb chops and the lamb kebabs. The lamb chops were perfectly cooked as well as the roasted vegetables that came with it. The veggies were the perfect combo too; mushrooms, bok choy, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, and Brussels sprouts! I felt like I was having a healthy Easter all though I put some au jus on the veggies as well as the lamb thanks Turquoise for a great Easter dinner! read more

Exceptionally bad service, despite good food, will not return again. We made a reservation for 15 people on a Saturday evening for a post-wedding celebration with our immediate families and it was embarrassingly bad. My in-laws had asked us to pick a restaurant as they were coming from out of town and would like to host this celebratory dinner with me and my husband and my family from Malaysia. My family follows strict zabiha dietary restrictions but my in-laws are sensitive to spices and not so familiar with ethnic foods. My husband and I chose Turquoise cafe because we love Turkish food and thought it offered a comfortable middle ground compromise. The menu looked delicious, and upon showing it to my in laws, my mother in law had it in her mind to have the lemon chicken and creme brulee (her favorite). We made the reservations one month out in advance. On the day of, we didn't realize there was a street festival and the restaurant was SUPER busy. They ushered us to the basement (dungeon). The basement room was dodgy, hot and next to the kitchen. Not at all the "upscale fine dining" experience as advertised. But we could have overlooked that, given we had our own private space. Upon sitting down our server did not introduce himself, and was aggressively pushing family style menu onto us because he said the kitchen was busy and they would not be able to bring our food out simultaneously if we had ordered individually, and plus we would each have to order a minimum of one entree each. He did not explain what the family style menu would entail. He just said he was not able to give us "good service" (a joke for later) unless we ordered the family style menu that included appetizers, entrees and dessert. We relented and agreed. Mother in law ordered her lemon chicken separately. Server then disappeared without offering us a drink menu or refilled our water for over twenty minutes. We were stuck in the basement dungeon with nothing to do, as a couple of people handed us bread and dips and appetizers. We had copious amounts of appetizers, no drinks, nobody offered more water, nobody was down there in the basement it was hot. I later saw a busboy run out of the kitchen and asked him to call the server. Server arrived and I asked for the drink menu. He then went up to get the drink menu and took our drink orders. Then he disappears again for 15 minutes. We were told the entrees had 5 different meats so we did not want to stuff ourselves with appetizers so we waited and stared at our appetizers for another 15 minutes. I then excused myself, went upstairs and looked for the manager. I told this lady that nobody had refilled our water or checked on us and told her we had waited a long time for our food. She then asked, did we want to stay for our entrees. I should have said NO. Was she really serious in kicking us out? I didn't want to embarrass my in-laws so I said yes we are staying and we would like to have our appetizers packed up and cleared from the tables and have our waters refilled. She then sent two people to pack up the food. Some time later, our entrees arrived. They were delicious. But our server disappeared again. I had to go upstairs again to call him to ask for them to clear our entrees and bring dessert. Dessert time: Server said dessert was an assortment of turkish dessert with no description whatsoever. My in law family was not familiar with this, mother in law wanted creme brulee, so did my sisters and nieces. He said there was a lot of dessert but failed to mention that the creme brulee was a large sharable pot, so we ended up ordering 5 creme brulees. When they arrived, we said, that was too much and he pretty much blamed us for not listening to his warning. His warning was not at all descriptive of the amount of creme brulee, because he made reference to the turkish dessert platter only. TWO HOURS into dinner in the dungeon, we asked for them to clear the table and hand us the check. I went upstairs to talk to the manager who had gone home. I went to the Bordeaux room looking for the manager, a man took my phone number and name and told me he would notify the manager to give me a call the next day (has not happened). As I was doing this, my husband was ushering our party upstairs and calling ubers, and we accidentally left a wedding card with money in it on the table. That night, I wrote an email to the restaurant about the card. The next morning (Sunday) I received a call about the email and the girl was very sorry about not finding it. She (her name was Susan) told me she would give me a call if she found it. I asked her to notify the manager that I called and that I was expecting her to call me back. She assured me she was going to have the manager call me when she gets in at 5pm. It is now 48 hours past, and I have not received a phone call or email. It was mortifying and embarrassing dining experience. Would not recommend. Sorrynotsorry. read more

Still my favorite restaurant in the city! I go there roughly once a week! The food is incredible no matter what you get and the staff is so friendly read more

Food was good, but the place was so loud we could hardly think..much less talk. We and other diners complained but the wait staff was rude and indifferent Stay away from thus place u less you are drunk and want to shout to your dinner psrtner(s) read more

Excellent food, excellent appetizers with fresh home made bread they bring to you once seated, and excellent ambience. However I have to give them 3 stars due to the fact they have very unfriendly waitresses and waiters!!! Very non-personable I don't think they even crake a smile. If you hate your job, find a new one!!! 3 stars for excellent food, if you had more of in upbeat team you would have received an additional 2. Recommendations: Chicken kabob Sea food salad Fried calamari (out of this world) Lentil soup Lahmuchun (large thin bread with meat and vegetables) And last but not least mixed grill plate (very shareable) read more

I LOVE THIS PLACE!! There's nothing better than a family-owned, authentic restaurant. This Turkish restaurant has lived up to my satisfaction every single time. I've been here several times now and ordered SO MANY different things. When you sit down, they give you a complimentary dish of the most AMAZING, warm bread and carrot type dip. It's DELICIOUS. I've also ordered the Turkish feta salad, and it's SO good. My go to entree is the lamb doner kebab platter. The first time I went, they gave us a complimentary dessert pudding to go. They are so so nice here and the service is fantastic. This is definitely one of my go to places for a lot of great food at an inexpensive price. read more

Turquoise Restaurant - Turkish Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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I hate to say it, but brunch is not good here anymore. They offer a Turkish style breakfast on Sunday mornings for $20 / person. The most recent time we came, they told us that they decreased the portion of food they served but the price was the same. We were given a few weak scrambled egg dishes and it took forever for the food to come out. We have been to brunch here many times before and we're expecting other dishes to come out, but they just stopped coming by our table and finally gave us the check. The service was poor. Not worth $80 for the meal we got for 4 people. I wouldn't recommend Turkish breakfast here anymore. read more

The kitchen chief lady, is well educated about both Turkish and world food, I like the food and the presentation as well, the restaurant staff very professional and attentive, parking is not very difficult and they provide free wi-fi access, my last meal was lentil soup, shepherd salad and famous lamb chops and dessert with Turkish tea, it was perfect dinner, I highly recommend this place and I will repeat read more

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food is exceptional. service is subpar. this place could be a real gem if they could figure out the service.

My family has loved Turquoise for years. The bread alone warrants devotion (but everything else is great, too). But I'm moved to write by the customer service I recently experienced. We ordered delivery, and I specified that I didn't want the yogurt that comes with a lot of dishes. The food came, and the yogurt was there. I wasn't thrilled, but it's not a huge deal, so I scooped the yogurt out of the container and ate everything that wasn't yogurted. I didn't contact the restaurant to complain or ask for a replacement or a discount. Then our buzzer went off. It was a delivery person from the restaurant. They had realized the mistake and sent a replacement, sans yogurt, along with a complementary helping of baklava! I was blown away. The attention to detail to even notice the mistake, along with taking action before hearing from a customer, it's just really impressive. So now I like Turquoise even more. Their food's not only great, they actually care about their customers! read more

I want to start by saying the three stars are for the service and not the food. We were seated in the overflow room (Bordeaux Lounge) but didn't mind because it's a beautiful room. The restaurant was packed which is always great to see as I live in the neighborhood and want to see the local places succeed. Unfortunately, due to it being a busy Friday night, we didn't get great service. Our waiter was running around(poor guy!) and barely had a second to ask us anything. We knew to order drinks each time we saw him run by as we didn't know how long it would take until the next time. We didn't even get the complimentary bread and had to ask for it (which didn't arrive until we got out dinner anyways). Our dinner order took quite a long time to come out. Our waiter just kept saying sorry each time he came over and explained they were very busy. Food was delicious! We had a variety of kabobs and salad. Meat was well seasons and cooked to perfection. Seemed like they didn't want to turn anyone away but seated way too many for the amount of staff they had. I can't wait to try this place again as I'm hoping this was just an off night. Next time hoping to report 5 stars!! Not giving up on you Turquoise:) read more

Got the lamb chops. Server Kayder was so sweet and helped me choose my course! Thank you for a fun girls night!

This is one of our favorite restaurants. The food is delicious! They also have wonderful fresh baked bread. For dinner, we ordered the seafood salad. The calamari is always fresh and never over cooked. My husband had the lamb, which he loves. I had the Ossobuco Short Rib--cooked to tender perfection. We completed our dining experience with baklava and Turkish coffee. I highly recommend making reservations. This is a cozy restaurant and will fill up quickly as a local favorite. I think the size helps them provide great service. The wait staff is always friendly and seem to really enjoy working there. We kiddingly asked our waiter to read our coffee grounds (known as tasseography). He said he didn't really have that talent, but would try for us. He told us we would be taking a trip, and he was right! read more

Amazing food and amazing service! We got the platter and it was so good! Highly recommend the Adana

Great service and delicious food! Got the chicken kabob plate with vegetables and the hummus platter and my husband ordered the rack of lamb. Highly recommend, all dishes were flavorful, fresh and halal read more

Loved this cozy spot in roscoe village! The Turkish pizza was to die for!! Can't wait to go back and try more

In our 'hood so hubs and I went over the weekend. Food is very good and staff is fantastic. Very interested in your good experience. The ONLY thing that made me nuts was that we decided to eat at the bar. Didn't realize that 1/3 of bar is a nonstop bus station, dirty glassware everywhere while we were trying to enjoy our dinner. We both had signature cocktail and appetizers so spent $$ enough not to want to have dirty glassware sitting next to me. Certainly bartenders wash glasses, this was 20+ ... read more

The food is amazing and they have individual bubbles (for 2-6 I believe)for those of you that don't want to eat inside.

I treated three friends to a meal here, spending almost $300. It was supposed to be a special occasion, but the waitstaff started hovering and pressuring us to leave about fifteen minutes after our entrée arrived. Here is my advice to the restaurant: Don't accept an 8 PM reservation if you plan to close at 9:15, which is 45 minutes earlier than your posted closing time. I came to enjoy my food and company, not to scarf food, booze, and pay up quick so you can end a slow night early. If our appetizers reach our table at 8:30, don't be surprised we are not finished with them by 8:40. Food and wine should be served over the shoulder of the diner, so the server does not need to lean his whole torso across the table to reach the glasses/settings of those sitting opposite. Is it really a big deal to offer more bread to accompany a $35 appetizer platter? Do you think people usually eat baba ganoosh plain with a spoon, like iced cream? It is the job of waitstaff, not of diners, to clear appetizer plates and platters to make way for the main course. Perhaps you can clear them before you bring the main course, so we do not need to bus our own table? Don't carry plates with one hand, with your palm across its surface. Someone is going to eat from that. Don't bring a $98 mixed-grill platter at 8:45 PM and start asking if we are done at 9:00. It follows, do not offer a take-out container at 9:05. Do not sell me a second $50 bottle of wine and be frustrated that we are not gulping it down. Certainly, do not return at 9:08 to say that "the kitchen is closing early tonight". I didn't realize that I'm not supposed to enjoy my meal because you want to go home early. I don't say to you, "Oh, I'm sorry, I can only pay two-thirds of the check tonight...." Your server does not need to put on his jacket at 9:15 and stare at us while we finish eating. Your restaurant is open until 10. Live with it. When your diners do accept or ask for a take-home container, it would be appropriate to take the food back to the kitchen to box it for them. At least don't kind of toss a sad styrofoam clamshell onto the table so someone has to scrape the platter with used cutlery. You food is expensive (it would be appropriately priced priced at about 40% less), but your staff acts like it is $12-an-entrée takeout. People willing to spend $80/person on a meal have lots of pretty great options that at least involve fabric tablecloths instead of white paper. The $300 I dropped at your restaurant was a lot of money for me. Instead of a memory of a good meal spent catching up with friends, I think of all the meals I could have had for half as much at a place that did not try to push me to leave fifteen minutes after our food arrived. read more

Nice place, but awful service. Food is expensive and in small portions. We ordered lentil soup which was good, entree was OK, expensive ($28) but very small. It's supposed to be mixed kebab, it came with few veggies and 3 pieces of meat , ridiculous! And servers suck, we were able to place the order after 40 min we came in. I had to ask them to take our orders 4 times, she kept saying - give me a minute! Won't go there again and don't recommend. For kebabs I found my favorite place - Master Grill restaurant on Belmont. read more

Thought I had come here before, but I was mistaken. I would have remembered this place. You enter the restaurant and you will see a beautiful wooden bar at the right and small tables on the left and the back has larger tables. What impressed me the most was how nice the waiters and bartender were to us. We ordered some kebab dinner and also had a huge appetizer of hummus which we devoured with their delicious bread. They were very patient with my friends two year old daughter and even interacted with during our dinner. They surprised us with a free dessert which was very nice...my friend ate it all since I don't eat desserts. Overall very pleasant experience and would be happy coming back except its kinda far from where I live. It is comparable to other really good middle-eastern options in town. read more

Turquoise Restaurant - Turkish Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Phenomenal meal on the patio. Live music made the summer night even better. Server was helpful answering our menu questions and made great recommendations. Grilled calamari appetizer was awesome! Two favorite entrees were Turquoise Mix kabob (chicken kebab, beef kebab, grilled salmon, sea scallop, shrimp) and grilled lamb chops. Both truly exceptional and generous portions- a great value. Will add Turquoise to our shortlist of Chicago favorites. read more

We enjoyed a delicious meal at Turquoise tonight. I had the mixed grill and every protein was grilled to perfection. My favorites were the beef tenderloin, scallop and salmon. My husband's lamb chops were juicy and sat on a mountain of mashed potatoes. The feta salad was definitely big enough to split and also really good. Service was great too. Overall, an A+ experience. read more