This is easily the best restaurant in Istanbul. Similar to other reviewers, I was also getting…read moretired of eating Turkish food. We'd been in the country for 5 months at a geology field camp and had been eating essentially different variations of the same meal every single day. Don't get me started on breakfast. I can appreciate Turkish food, I can, but coming here made the whole trip worth it. This is probably the only meal I would ever consider an actual experience. We casually walk into the owner's house, up past the third floor where the kitchen is, and then into the fourth floor where the main seating area is. If you don't like cats I wouldn't bother coming, because they are the waitstaff and are very happy to greet you immediately. We sit down and cool off before he informs us that the terrace is shaded and that we should go up there before we start placing our orders. Amazing view with fantastic breezes to cool you off. He begins telling you about his life, his trips through Italy, everything that's going on in Turkey, how life has changed and even showed us his amazing meteorite once he learned we were geologists. Anyways, we ordered a squash/zucchini dish, and he returned with a green bean and something I couldn't even begin to describe. Everything had such wonderful depths of flavor. I ended up ordering the Spaghetti Bolognese and my girlfriend got the Alfredo (asked to be Americanized with chicken in it). I'm not joking when I tell you that these were the most filling and satisfying dishes we'd had over the last month. So much flavor and they really energized us when we finally got done with them. You've heard that people have had tears from having such good food, or being deprived for so long of something they love, well that was exactly us. I never knew that olive oil could taste so amazing. If we do come back to Turkey at some point, no matter where in the country we go, I will absolutely be making a stop by here again. Without a doubt. Thank you very much for the amazing time and amazing food

Don't be fooled by the entrance or the dark steep stairwell! The food is fresh, authentic, and…read moreamazing and the owner is incredibly friendly. I suggest sitting at the very top of the building and enjoying the views!! Oh and the cats are so cute and friendly :)

Great service and a really good pizza. Chill place to hang out and relax. Ask for the spicy olive…read moreoil.

Great little spot for a lunch. Nice ambiance / interior decorating. The staff was friendly speaking…read morebroken English but enough that we made it work. The pizza was really good. They took credit cards. I would recommend and will eat here if in the area again.

We came across this place when looking to satisfy a craving for some Italian food. Great…read morerestaurant! Will definitely come back!

Amazing Italian Food and great service !…read more We are vegetarian and ordered the Pizza Bianca and the Rossi. Both the pizzas were delicious, some of the best we have eaten. Paired with really good Wines as well. Would highly recommend this place. The icing on the cake was the outstanding Tiramisu for dessert. Definitely worth a visit while in Istanbul

We were craving Italian and it was hard to decide between another nearby place, which seemed very…read morenice as well, but I had walked by this place a few times and it was always busy, which made me think, perhaps it tasted better. But it was hard to tell because a lot of people are outside, having drinks and smoking and chilling and eating pizza. We learned from previous meals that eating outside means you'll be exposed to smokers so we ate inside and NO smokers & much more quiet and the food was extremely delicious. So glad to have come here! Our servers were friendly and cordial and spoke excellent English. We had two carbonaras and one special pasta with the muscles and lemon, but it was creamy somehow it was so extra delicious, I had a Pinot Grigio with that and it was the perfect meal for the last day in Turkey. I highly recommend going to this place and also trying the Caprese salad here which they add pomegranate seeds too. The mozzarella was super fresh and bright with the pomegranate and fresh tomato and basil. We also added a Panna cotta at the end just for a sweet bite and that too was excellent, very friendly staff. Give Paps a try if u are missing pasta while traveling.

Hello. Tired of eating Turkish cuisine yet? If so, head on over to the new city via the tram, get…read moreoff at the stop for the tower and walk on over, about 10 minutes to Paps. It's all Italian! Paps is a tiny place..as in 10 tables, in the size of a shoebox. They have outside tables too. I strongly recommend reservations if it is after 6 pm to eat. We were fortunate that the weather was cold and despite it being 7 we walked right in. Pouring rain will do that. Onto the food. With my dietary restrictions I made sure to have a piece of paper translated into Turkish so there was no confusion. Do this if you have any restrictions. I went with their spaghetti with clams, which I had them remove the fish roe ahead of time. They did this. This dish is under their specials. It was good, but the clams were tiny and without a seafood fork to remove the meat, a challenge. A couple were closed..never eat those. Serving size was good. I ate only half. The spouse had the spinach fettuccine with sage butter and parmarsean cheese flakes. She said it was good, but very creamy. She ate most of it. The bread options are yuck. The best is the tiny breadsticks you would see back in the day. The spouse opened with a salad as an appetizer and liked it. I demurred. Pricing wasn't outrageous, and since I pay with a credit card, you will always get a far better exchange rate than what the restaurants will pitch.

If you hit your limit with kebab consumption, come to this place. They have lots of pasta options,…read moreall of which are delicious and decently sized. The restaurant is conveniently located near the tram stop and across from Hafiz Mustafa, just tucked away in the alley. The interior isn't anything fancy, just very practical. Service was good overall, although it was challenging to flag down our server towards the end.

Esmer Chef was such a wonderful find! We went to a coffee shop next door and decided to stop for a…read morelunch at Esmer Chef. We were instantly drawn to all the pasta drying in the window pasta as the chef was making it right in front of everyone. The reviews are mixed but everything exceeded our expectations: despite being super busy, everyone was so attentive and very kind (special thanks to Kadir who was running around like a super man taking an amazing care of everyone). The food was absolutely delicious - super fresh pasta full of flavors. The portions are huge. Coffee was even better than at the special coffee shop next door. I definitely recommend checking out this place!

While we were staying in a hotel down the street, my wife and I were wanting to find a restaurant…read morewith a menu that included the local fare, but also had received some praise for dishes that were not native to Turkey. We had seen this place while walking back to our hotel, and decided to go to try. We are so glad that we did. While the sign outside read "Beso," the menu, and other signs read "Byzantion" so I'm thinking the first is a shortened form of the second. And it is inside the Glorious Hotel. There's any rate, we ventured in, and soon found ourselves seated in a white table, cloth, covered dining room, with a table, right by the window. We were a little early for the dinner crowd, but a long day of touring had left us hungry early. The menu was, as expected, filled with variety. While my wife opted for the Mediterranean chicken shish, I had spotted penne Arrabiata on the menu, and that is a personal favorite. I gave it a try, and was not disappointed. my wife's chicken was excellent as well. The service was first-rate, and the ambience was very enjoyable. The friendliness of the staff was not unusual for Turkey, but was greatly appreciated. If you are looking for a meal away from your hotel, or just a chance to enjoy some thing beyond Mediterranean cuisine, I would highly recommend this establishment.

First time in Istanbul, and words cannot describe the hospitality of this restaurant. Made…read morereservations online and arrived to Beso earlier with welcoming arms from the owner. Greeted nicely and in front of the restaurant. Fantastic recommendations of food menus and the quality of food is and delicious. The owner and his staff were able to cater to our taste buds and ask the right questions. They also offered tastings of wine pairings to ensure it met our taste and expectations. We ordered the fish platter, the meat platter (specially catered to us) and a fresh shepherds salad. The portions are generous and we enjoyed every bite of it! To end our dinner, they offered us apple tea and baklava, which was a perfect sweet ending. To add to it, this restaurant also offers hooka/shisha so it was perfect on a nice outdoors seating to our evening. They prepared a special flavour which was watermelon and grape and it was perfect. Overall, I would highly recommend this restaurant for any tourists that want an authentic Turkish cuisine. Thank you for making our tummy's full and ending our last night is Istanbul on a sweet note.

Exellent place, delicious pizza, yummy yummy notella calzone. Highly recommended…read more The place is often busy. Better book your table before you go there.

Walking distance from our hotel and we had to try it. We were seated right away. Tables were really…read moresmall and the place seemed crowded to begin with. Had to pay for our own water. The pizza were a bit salty but it go well with the spicy olive oil! Drinks were not amazing but it was good and cute presentation! Over all, a 6 out of 10.

Genuinely the nicest relaxing dinner I've had in a while. Visiting Istanbul and had this…read morereservation the same evening. My plane had landed late and I messaged them asking to move my reservation back an extra hour and they did right away! Most lovely and helpful staff. The manager was also the nicest, came to check on us and even hand served me my dish. My mom enjoyed her pizza and I loved everything about this place

Came here to satisfy my margarita pizza cravings and it did just that - beautifully made marg pizza…read moremade in the clay oven which you can see from the dining area. We sat in the garden seating area and its such an aesthetically pleasing restaurant, we would have def tried other dishes but we came for the marg and left satisfied

Great customer service , Great food! What more can you ask for in a foreign country! Today was the…read morefirst time we tried it and we WILL go back. Just a few steps away from Sirkeci Mansion hotel! Very convenient to our hotel! Make sure to tried the iced coffee and banana split

Soooooooo bad kitchen and bad service and very expensive please don't try to come hereread more