Balikçi Sabahattin, Istanbul

To cut to the chase, after being deliberately misled and practically accused of lying with regard to our order (on top of a catalogue of other aspects of poor service) I told the manager and his waiter that the situation was quite unacceptable and that we would pay for what we had had and then leave. It was only at this time that apologies started to flow, and once they started to flow it was like the floodgates had opened. However, it was too late by then. Why leave it to you have driven your customer to question their own sanity and left his Fiancée, who is celebrating her 30th birthday in tears, to apologise for a ‘mistake’. Neither of us accepted their apologies and we promptly settled for what we had had and exited. I regretted that this whole incident created a bit of a scene in the restaurant and I felt sorry for fellow diners but the situation was quite unbelievable for a restaurant of such reputedly high quality. I have never experienced anything remotely like this in all my travels around the world. I assume that this was formerly a good restaurant, however, Rough Guide and A Hedonist’s Guide may wish to re-evaluate their forthright backing of it. Needless to say I would not recommend the Balıkçı Sabahattin if they treat their customers even a fraction as badly as they treated us. I suspect that this restaurant may have become a victim of its own success, as they have seemingly begun to believe the hype and let standards slip to an alarming extent.

The atmosphere of the restaurant is pleasant and the location is extremely convenient to tourist major sights. The wait staff are efficient. The meze selection was limited. We ordered bonito and blue fish. The bonito was somewhat overcooked. The blue fish was better, but ordinary. While prices are low compared to restaurants in the US at the same level of service and ambiance, they were high relative to other places we have eaten in Turkey. The food is not as good as it is in many less expensive places.

Food is excellent, service very good and good value at approx USD40 per head.

Tucked away a short walk from the Blue Mosque. Very popular, fresh produce, snappy service and a reasonable priced wine list. Worth the vist if you are into authentic experiences and not the usual tourist tat!. The walk there was great, old fashioned wooden turkish bulidings; smell of wood smoke, children playing in the street. Service superb, just really authentic.