Troy Mezze Lounge and Bar

INEDIBLE.
This is the absolute worst meal I’ve had in the 15 years I’ve lived in Raleigh. The chicken clay pot was a tiny dish filled with what tasted like freezer section garbage and topped with cheap grocery store parmesan. $ 12. The «special Troy tea» that advertised mint, cinnamon and ginger tasted like the pre-​made Lipton that you buy at a gas station. Another $ 2. All but 2 bites (one to taste the other to make sure it was as gross as I originally thought) was left uneaten. It was so disgusting I completely lost my appetite, so we walked home with nearly empty stomachs. Oh yeah, we also overheard the one front-​of-​the-​house person being rude to someone placing an order over the phone. I can only speculate how this place has managed to stay open for 5 years — it’s not the food. PS — The food pics posted in other reviews is NOT what I got — my meal had definitely been frozen.

Troy Mezze In City Market/​Downtown Raleigh gets a 10+ from us!
We had not been there or even heard of it, until our friend told us he plays in the Jazz Band every Thursday night! So, we had to go and see what he had been telling us about this lovely place! The food was fabulous! I had the Lamb Kabob and my Fiancée had the Chicken Kabob.
Both were outstanding. The plate came with fresh shredded lettuce with a light vinagarette, fresh shredded carrots and a side of white rice. All simply delicious. We had baklava and Turkish coffee for dessert-​both excellent. The menu was a delightful mixture of many interesting Turkish dishes. All made fresh daily. The owner Arif Denk is on hand each day to insure you have a wonderful experience! I definitely recommend the food and atmosphere of Troy Mezze. Even though it is downtown and near everything, it is far enough away from the craziness of Fayetteville Street, Wilmington and Salisbury.
I recommend Thursday nights from 7−9pm when the City Market Jazz Band performs. It is a fun relaxing evening. They are great!

My favorite place to dance and eat, with the best lamb and rice around! Great wine selection too, and beautiful atmosphere, with warm and friendly vibe.

Don’t come here for great service BUT do come for good food! The shrimp apricot is awesome, ask for some pita to dip in the honey apricot walnut sauce mmmmm! The Mezza platter is a great appetizer to share, be warned the tabouli is high octane garlic

Stopped in here with the girlfriend for a quick lunch after veggiefest in Raleigh. We both liked the atmosphere and the secluded seating near the front. We split the lunch Troy Mezze platter which comes with humus, Baba Ghanaouj, stuffed grape leaves, haydari, spinach tarator, tabulleh, pilaki, spicy tapas, and lentil patties although now that I’m thinking of it I think they may have forgotten the lentil patties. We also split the lamb clay pot to go along with the platter. The lamb was definitely the highlight, with tender lamb and a fresh medley of veggies that you can distinctly taste in each bite. My girlfriend wasn’t too impressed with the flavors, but I was happy with the freshness of all the food and the good service.

Came here on 4^th July, was planning initially to go elsewhere but the wait time was too long. Troy Mezze was completely empty the entire time we were there. The owner’s son was sitting in a corner playing video games and his mom came out to yell at him occasionally. There was no music on, which made it feel even more empty. My wife had a vegetarian platter with 9 small appetizer size dishes — it was so fresh and definitely worth come coming back for, very fresh. I had the lamb pide which was pretty good too, a little dry perhaps. Drinks were cheap. The ambiance is nice and cozy. Want to come back here and hoping it won’t be all empty next time. Good to know there is a solid Turkish restaurant in downtown!

Place looks ok, floor make the place look like a cheap restaurant.
Food is meeeh.
This is not authentic Turkish cuisine, it’s no different than mediocre mediterranean restaurant.
Flavor in kabobs are not Turkish, salad that comes with it is just greens, again not authentic. No bread with main course.
I only came here because the meat was halal. I don’t think I would come again but it’s good to know that this place is here.

The lentil soup is fantastic. I ask them to make it spicy and it’s great. Same with the chicken orzo soup. Great place to sit on an evening at the bar. Open space. Also have hookah for those who want that. Turkish coffee is pretty banging too !

Terrible. Food was… meh…service was slim. They had a total of 6 tables working and they were in the weeds. We sat on the patio thinking we would enjoy a nice evening, but they had a cover band playing across the street. If you like interesting people watching, this is your place. Too bad because it’s a decent location.

Bland and overcooked lamb with an obvious lack of seasoning. Live jazz is nice and decent service but overall a poor interpretation of a cusine famed for it delights. Would not visit again.

Finally was downtown and able to try out this place. Best Turkish food since I came to Raleigh. Had the apricot shrimp appetizer, lamb clay pot and my wife had the Kofka and it was awesome and GF.
Most of the menu is GF since the food is made traditionally. Awesome flavors and really nice laid back owner/​operator.

Me and my wife visited troy and I had the baked salmon, she had the shrimp .This is our first time having turkish food .And we both loved our meals and the entertainment was amazing .We’re from alabama and when we come back to NC this will be our first stop …

Came here on a Friday around 6:30 pm. Great little restaurant in City Market. We were seated right away. Nice ambiance of Turkish culture and music was in good taste for dining. Server Gil was very friendly and attentive. He offered to get me more sauce without me asking and kept our water filled. The lentil soup was seasoned well and puréed. Mild flavor. The kofta was enough for two! Four large patties of meat seasoned well with some lettuce and shredded carrots. Lots of gluten free and vegetarian options! Wine and beer list available. Pleasant restaurant with good quality food.

Went here for the second time this weekend, and did not regret it! Love this place for a quiet, delicious meal in a very unique and cozy setting.
Came for the first time a few months ago with a group of girls to celebrate my birthday, and the second last week to take my boyfriend here for the first time. Mediterranean style food is pretty much his favorite (and mine!), and he raved about how good it was.
I got the same thing both times — the veggie clay pot — because it was so good the first time. I foresee myself getting it again next time (I will definitely be returning), though I’m sure anything on the menu is great!

My husband and I had a wonderful experience here the other night. We started our meal with the Troy Mezze Platter. Everything on the platter was delicious! I especially enjoyed the Spinach Tarator and the Spicy Tapas. We ordered the veggie clay pot and the Mediterranean Eggplant for our main dishes. The eggplant was amazing! Everything was fresh and full of complex flavors. We really loved it. We finished the evening with baklava and Turkish coffees. The baklava was a bit dry but the Turkish coffee was great. The service was wonderful and the ambiance was comfortable. We will definitely be back!

Fantastic — ordered the lamb clay pot which was spicy yet filling. The vegetables in it were nice and crunchy, and the lamb was not too tough. The chocolate apricot mousse was very rich. I like the warm, intimate atmosphere the most, with the jazz music playing and the earth-​toned décor. The restaurant was not crowded for a Friday which was kind of sad since I would hope a place like this would have more business. Glad I came and would definitely come again.

Lovely spot to people watch and enjoy excellent Turkish food. The lunch platter is great if you can’t decide on a variety of small dishes, and the lamb, falafel and all primary plates/​entrees are spot on delicious.
Wait staff kind and helpful without being overly solicitous. This is my favorite place for Turkish meals.

My review is a tale of two restaurants.
I had the 4^th of July off so I decided to go out since I had Friday off. We saw that Troy Mezze had Turkish food and we thought yea let’s try this. The restaurant definitely had that cool space vibe that most of the Fayetteville street area has. It is definitely a nice space to eat. The décor supported the sense of age and history most of this district has. This night they even had live music which just further supported the really grown up I have made it to be eating here on a Thursday vibe. There was only one waitress but she was doing a very good job of taking care of a fairly full restaurant. We ordered the Troy Mezze platter to start. It was @#% amazing!!! Wow was it good. Every bite of this was better than the last. Every item on this platter was delicious. My wife, who is moderately vegetarian ordered the Mediterranean Eggplant. I HATE eggplant but even I had to say wow this was a really yummy dish. I ordered the Chickpea Chicken Stew. First of all if you go to this restaurant DO NOT order this dish. It is absolutely horrifyingly awful!!! It is basically a can of chickpeas some, not much, seasoning and some frozen chicken strips. I was amazed that the other dishes I had could be so good and this dish be SO bad. The fact that I did not like the dish is one thing. The fact that it was served room temperature was something completely different. I get I might not like everything on their menu but for Christ sake at the least serve it to temp. Here is where my issue begins though. I may have been a little subtle with our server when I asked is this dish supposed to be served room temperature and she basically said I will ask the cook. If you have a restaurant that is asking its’ patrons to fork over $ 30 a head for a meal and you serve them $#!t you owe you patrons a better answer when you are called out on serving them garbage for $ 15 than yea I’ll check on that! That in my mind is just inexcusable. I would add no one at Troy Mezze Lounge answered my question. No one expressed any concern that they had served an inexcusably horrible meal to one of its’ patrons. All restaurants have a bad night but to just not give a crap about it is really not acceptable.
Will I go back I just don’t know. Some of the food is really good but the service/​managements attitude makes it hard to recommend this restaurant.
Atmosphere 5 — This is one of the reasons I like eating out around Fayetteville street. It has that old building charm that can not be beat.
Service 1 — Even short staffed our server was able to do a good job for the most part. The fact that she clearly could not care less about our dining experience did detract a bit from my view of her.
Cost/​Value 3 — Most of the food I had was definitely a good value. Unfortunately one of the dishes was so bad it detracted from my overall opinion,
Food 2.5 — What can I say? Most of what I had was absolutely fabulous. My entre was so bad though it really drug down my opinion of the food.

Stone roads, market-​type stores and shops – it’s like a whole different world in DTR. Troy Mezze is a cozy, quaint restaurant with a tiny patio outside perfect for great weather and people watching. It is the only authentic Turkish restaurant in Raleigh!
My friend and I started with a hot appetizer with herbs and cheese inside a deliciously crispy, buttery fried cannoli-​shaped dough w/​marinara dipping sauce. Sounds simple, right? Tastes GREAT.
They have a whole bunch of options for vegetarians which is fantastic, but everything basically sounds good. I heard about the clay pot they offer, so I ordered the veggie one out of curiosity and excitement because how cool does that sound? «Veggie Clay Pot, please.» Just a disclaimer: don’t get hyped up; it’s tiny and not that exciting. At first glance, I thought it would just taste like a tomato-​based chunky stew, BUT there was something else going on. It’s them Turkish spices. I experienced NEW flavors tonight. My friend even said it kind of reminded him of Morocco when he was there. OH! I tried their Troy iced tea, unsweetened. It was interesting, but I suggest getting it sweetened if you’re into iced tea.
Service could use some work, but everyone is really friendly. We were one of the only people because I forgot others were celebrating St. Patrick’s day tonight… oops?
I want to come back ASAP and try their other food items! Come with an open mind to try some Turkish flavors & everything is reasonably priced, too!

I was lured in by the wonderful aroma but one we received the food all changed. Indeed the shank looked and smelled good but then after diving in it severely lacked flavor. Another problem I had was that the lamb was 50% fat where’s the meat?
The rice was pleasant but average not to rave about. I mixed my rice with the sauce from the lamb and that put the rice back to the top. In fact the rice became the best part of my meal.
The restaurant as a whole was very clean and had a pleasant background of jazz playing. Only wished the music was more Turkish to perhaps set the mood.