Istanbul'lu

I love this restaurant. It has such a feel-good air. The Turkish interior is beautiful, the service is wonderful, and the food is delicious. As a tea-lover, I also recommend the Turkish tea here. Oh, and Turkish music is played every so often; sometimes American music is played, but I prefer it when Turkish music is played. It makes one feel as though they are in an ordinary part of Istanbul, where everyday, life is beautiful, and life is life. I just like the ambience here. It's my peaceful, lovely retreat.

Istanbul’lu is a cozy Turkish spot in Somerville that we tried this weekend and enjoyed. The Pohca was great - the dough was perfectly soft & delicious. Another order I loved was the Iskender Doner , which is a classic turkish dish served with doner meat over yogurt, tomato sauce, & crispy pita bread. Lastly, as an eggplant lover I enjoyed the Firinda Patlican. It hits home 😋 I wish I can tell you how the Kunafa is but every time I come here they happen to be out. So I go to Ali Baba in South End 🥲

This review isn’t regarding the food, but rather this restaurants horrible customer service. On their website, they clearly state a delivery option. However, on the day I placed a delivery order they decided not to do delivery that day because of the storm. Instead of calling to let me know that we’re only doing pick up, they let the food sit cold until I called to see what’s going on. i had given a large delivery tip given the storm, so i asked for a refund of the delivery tip. The restaurant told me I needed to go through a third party menu because they couldn’t give me a “cash refund”. When the third party menu tried to get a refund on my behalf, they refused it and told me I needed to drive back to get my delivery tip back in cash, basically waiting until I was far enough away from the restaurant that I couldn’t safely return back given the weather. All in all, the most disappointing customer service experience I’ve had in a long time.

Unfortunately the whole experience is ruined because they charge 20% service fee, which made me go huh, I asked if this is tip they said yes it's included, but I spent 100 dollars and 20 dollars for the service charge and 6.25 for the sales tax so this means that the service fee is not taxed, this is in a sense is theft, when I told them but I want to tip 10 dollars not 20 and then faces turn sour they start yelling and cussing like orcs, I'm Turkish myself but I'm ashamed of the practice they are doing there. Nice place and nice food but run by terrible people. I would say go to another Turkish restaurant you won't miss anything.