Istanbul Grill & Bar

love love love this place
Went for the first time with girl friends this past Saturday night
I would give them 5 stars alone just for the service. Our waiter Adrian was a complete doll– sassy, professional, and had us laughing the entire night. Since it was our first visit, he offered us complimentary drinks, dessert, and apps. He definitely knows how to keep his customers coming back for more.
We had the lamb chops (cooked perfectly and wasn’t gamey at all), hummus, falafel, lamb kebabs, house steak, and baklava– everything was delicious. Not one thing we sampled was bad.
I can’t believe I’ve driven by this place so many times and haven’t given it a try. I’m so glad we did. They definitely have a repeat customer in my friends and myself.
Love!

Excellent Turkish restaurant. We were six people for dinner. We all shared the combination appetizer platter and a large salad. I had the Branzino, delicious. Everyone at the table enjoyed their dish. Everything was tasty and fresh. Service was excellent. Great place!

Excellent! Had dinner with my husband and parents and the food was very good. We had the shepherds salad, humus, tarama, haydari, baba ganoush, Bronzino and lamb. Full bar, homemade sangria and the desserts were delicious. The service was also very good the people who run the place are very nice. They were advertising belly dancing on saturday nights too which we want to check out. We would definitely go back. I highly recommend it.

I come here at least once a month and as always the food is probably the best Turkish food on Long Island. I recommend the chicken shish kabob and the assorted cold appetizer. The food is always fresh. The service is good. The waiters are very friendly and efficient. I highly recommend this restaurant to everybody!

Istanbul was a revelation. One of the best meals I’ve had anywhere in a long time. As others have noted, the hostess and the wait staff were incredibly warm and attentive. And the owner came over to chat. The food was delicious and authentic. And the prices quite reasonable for this level of quality, service and atmosphere. I only wish Istanbul had a location near me. Go there!

We were in the area and used Unilocal to find a restaurant. I have to say the menu had a great selection and the food was superb. But what impressed me the most was the incredible service. Our waiter Adrian was attentive, warm and friendly. We couldn’t decide which wine so he let us taste two different ones. The house Turkish wine was excellent. All and all a fabulous dining experience.

Stopped in for a quick bite and so glad I did!
Customer service was impeccable.
Also order the lentil soup it’s a must! It’s Definitely not your ordinary lentil soup. It was puréed and had a creamy texture to it.
Also I have to mention that baklava was on the house and wow! It’s made the authentic way, layered with honey.

Great food. Excellent service. Ordered the manti and wife ordered octopus salad. Both great choices. Service was fast and very attentive. The baklava was amazing. A must go to for Turkish if you are in 5 towns. Enjoy the apps and entrees. Will not be disappointed!

First thing I have to say is that when I was picking up the food this was the nicest host and staff I’ve ever in countered. They must have ask offered me a free beverage like ten times and my son also. The hostess complimented my son and they were just nice. I think ask the people inside the place looked pleased with the food and service also.
Then I came home with the food and everything was still hot fresh. The meat wad ask juicy not dry. We ordered both mixed grills platters. Perfect portions taste and quality.
The baklava wad the best I ever had not to sweet.
This wad probably the best Turkish I ever had.
We will be back.

The food was great can’t wait to go back soon I’m going to try the Spanish pie looks good

This place definitely deserves a five star, great service and great food !! I ordered the Istanbul Mixed Grill which comes with pretty much all of their specialties — Lamb chops, Adana, Gyro and Chicken kabobs. It’s quite a huge meal so bring an appetite or run a marathon before !! The owner who happens to own two other Turkish restaurants in NY knows a thing or two about hospitality and was very helpful in suggesting things of the menu and making sure I was taken care of even though I was the only guy at the bar, and yes it has a full bar, nothing like pairing good imported lagers (Efes) with authentic Turkish cuisine, they have a good selection of wines as well. Overall, this place has my vote !

No longer worth the phone call for delivery or the gas to get there.
The young gal Christine who announced her college degree on the phone as she called me «honey» four times… Should go get a degree in human relations.

As I was scouring around the internet for something new to eat, I came across the Istanbul Grill & Bar. Being a fan of Turkish cuisine, I decided to give it a try after reading some favorable reviews on Unilocal.
I simply ordered the mixed grill, which consisted of shrimp, chicken, and steak over rice.
I was happy with my meal. The chicken was light but filling, the steak was cooked fairly well, and the shrimp was good. The rice and grilled veggies that came on the side were also a nice touch, as were the sauces (spicy tomato based and a white herb based one). The warm pita went well with the dinner as well.
I recommend this place as a good addition the the Hewlett area dining community.
I will be a returning customer.

We came here on Valentines day for a nice dinner. We arrived on time for our reservation and the valet parking was a nice touch. Once we were seated our waiter quickly took our drink and food order and we were served complimentary pita and tzatziki.
The belly dancing performance was a nice touch to the beginning of the evening, we laughed and giggled as we playfully made fun of ourselves dancing with the pretty young belly dancer. Guys make sure your wife/​significant other or yourself does not have too much to drink while dancing, memories last a lifetime, photos posted on the internet of you making a fool of yourself last forever!
After my near perfect «10» belly dance performance, our Spinach roll appetizers arrived, they were ok but I was disappointed in our entrée, we ordered «The Istanbul special» which consisted of grilled chicken and shrimp kabob, skirt type of steak, rice, tomato and side salad. The flavors were delicious, but the dish was luke warm which gave me the impression they were made ahead of time in anticipation for the Valentines day crowd, but it didn’t appear to be all that busy that night since there were still many unoccupied tables open on the floor.
We also ordered the «octopus casserole» which was pretty good, the octopus was super tender and the sauce and mozzarella cheese mixed in was delicious, but the portion sizes on both dishes were average when compared to other Mediterranean restaurants in the local area.
Our waiter was very nice and helpful, when you could find him. They seemed to be understaffed that night and we had to ask another server for our check. It was actually one of the managers who saw we were finished with our meals and no one came to clean off our tables.
Overall the food was OK and I would give them another shot to get it right. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt, since it was Valentine’s day night it could have impacted the overall service and overall food quality.

Absolutely fantastic. Attentive service. Excellent food. Great value. We definitely return.

Another delicious meal at Istanbul Grill. The place is consistently terrific. The hummus is delicious. Definitely try the Istanbul Special but you can’t go wrong with any dish. Just terrific.

Ordered from here for the first time. I was a bit conflicted with this review because although I feel the food should receive a higher rating than a 3 the service wasn’t so great. I placed a takeout order and everything seemed fine however when I came to pick up the food 30 minutes later my order wasn’t ready and the bartender advised me that they did not have the ingredients to make the salad I ordered so I had to order a different salad which too another 20 minutes to make. That being said I will chalk up the experience as a one time event and will definitely give this place another chance. The food is worth a second chance.
On a side note the Shepard salad was delicious.

Went for dinner tonight with another couple. It was a Saturday night at 7pm and it was busy. Nice bar area, friendly staff.
Service needs improvement, they appeared to be overwhelmed by the Saturday night crowd, but as the night went on it did improve. Both the hostess and waiter clearly made an effort.
Sangria tasted like wine with a few ice cubes. We asked for cut up fruit, they brought us Oranges and Blueberries. Don’t think Sangria is their specialty.
Shepards Salad and Hummus with hot Pitas very good.
Spinach Pie rolled like cigars, I’ve had much better.
Variety of entrees all good.
Baklava for dessert was excellent.
If this place steps up their game, and I hope they do, they will do great in this location. We would go back for sure.

hello there,
Wanted to share my great experience with everyone. We had a great experience at this rest. couple days ago. The food was great shepard salad and octopus salad was amazing. we also tried Maousaka, i think that’s how you spell it :) was very taste. Lots of good flavors combined! I cant wait to go back there again. also try their baklava. We were so full and ended up taking it to home. It was delicious. Great experience over all.

Visit Date: August 14, 2014
This is my 500^th Unilocal review!!! (Now that I’ve had a mini celebration… onto the review!)
I came in here on my dinner break because they were finally open at 4 PM. It’s a Mediterranean restaurant which is awesome because I miss the Mediterranean restaurant that used to be here.
I was the only one in the restaurant during my visit and at first the staff seemed surprised to be serving one person instead of a party of two or more. Eventually they sat me down at one of the tables in front of the window. The windows are the same as they did when this place was formerly mermaid. They are big giant glass windows looking out onto Broadway. So while you’re dining you get a pleasant view of the traffic of Hewlett, and many people can see you chowing down and stuffing your face but it’s still nice.
Since I was the only one in the joint, the staff was very attentive. Everyone kept asking me how everything was. They also got my food order in and out very fast so I can stuff my face and get back to work.
I ordered the cheese pie, spinach pie, and the spagnati appetizers and they bought out a slice of warm pita bread with yogurt sauce and a Mediterranean red sauce. The spinach pie was great, flaky phylo, dough freshly made, fresh spinach. The cheese pie was interesting it tasted very minty & herby, it was different but still good. The spagnati was awesome, a small casserole of melted mozzarella cheese and tomatoes. I should have saved all the pita bread for the spagnati. I ate almost everything except a small part of the spagnati.
They also played middle eastern music in the background of the restaurant.
I would definitely be back here again, it has my vote for one of the better places in the five towns that I’ve tried.