Ali Ocakbaşı – Karaköy

Absolutely hands down fabulous with awesome food and wonderful service! Ask to sit at the grill for a divine culinary experience and some wonderful grilling tips from Ibrahim. It’s off the beaten path which adds to the intrigue and is not inundated with tourists. Service is impeccable and the wait staff is very helpful and friendly. The grill master (Ibrahim) grills every single kebab dish to perfection– not one item was anything but excellent! Great wine selection that goes well with the food. If you like kebabs the way kebabs should be, this is the place to go to in Istanbul.

This place was not obvious to find at all. But since other reviewers mentioned that, we kept looking and found it on one of the side streets that looked like an ally. The only indication you’ll find is a wall sign on the left of the door and a little standing sign at the bottom of a staircase. Don’t be deceived by the look of the building and keep climbing up those stairs even if it looks deserted and creepy. You won’t regret it!
Service was great, food too, and I loved the view. All the appetizers were amazing and the kebap were tasty too.
The only negative thing I could say about this place is that it took a little while to get the check. But that might be because our server wasn’t told by the busboys that we didn’t want to stick around for tea or dessert.

Ali Ocakbasi is one of the well known Turkish grill restaurants in town. It’s located close to Galata bridge which you could have the perfect view of it sitting in the restaurant. It’s really good food if you’re into Turkish traditional kebap and its versions. In summer time, it would have been great to have a terrace. It’s very unfortunate that you need to sit inside and look at this beautiful view thru the window.

A little hard to find if you are not familiar with the area, but it is defiantly worth it!
We had a small family reunion in Istanbul — and that requires of course a special celebration. I read about Ali Ocakbasi in an urban guide magazine and did therefore not know much about the place — however, it turned out to be everything I expected and more!
The place have such a beautiful view over the golden horn, but sadly there were no available tables with a direct view. So we go a second row table with an almost perfect view…
For starters they have a small choice of meze, our waiter came to our table explaining what the different starters was and his recommendations. We ended up choosing 5 different kinds all served with freshly baked bread. Afterwards we chose our main course. We decided on sharing different stuff, so we could try as much as possible. We ended up with 4 different grilled meat. The grill is placed inside the restaurant and the taste of the meat was unbelievable good!
I will defiantly recommend this place to everyone who visit Istanbul!
They have a beautiful roof-​top terries, with an amazing view, however it is only open during summer (beginning of may).
The only reason why I do not give this place 5 stars, is due to, when we ordered the bill — they were very eager to get us out of there which was a bit annoying.

This place is great… you just have to find it first! Tourists: I recommend a google map :) Love the ambiance — fully refined and yet down to earth — why can’t this place be in Washington DC?!
I went for a lunch and couldn’t have been more pleased. The mixed kebabs, the mezzes and desserts were all made with care and attention. And the view was brilliant! I would highly recommend having dinner then going to their rooftop bar. Prices were average — a little more than a street side vendor, but for the view and quality of food — a deal.
RECOMMEND!