Babel Cafe & Restaurant

We ordered a large mezze plate to share for 2. It came with 11 different Turkish style appetizers. In my opinion, some flavors were just average, 3 stars. The 4^th star is for the bread, Turkish tea, and friendly staff.
For mezze, I would opt to go elsewhere but other dishes must be worth a try!
Also, this restaurant was pricier than we expected, around 40 lira on an appetizer plate (28 lira) and 2 Turkish teas (5 – 6 lira each).

Just have to write a quickie on this restaurant as we (brother, sister and me) went there a couple of nights ago braving the cold and rain, but licking our lips at the prospect of a 5 star joint, only to be disappointed. The place (ambience) is pleasant, the music (not live that night) was different and enjoyable, the service was good, but sorry to say the food was very mediocre, as was my cocktail (Mojito). My falafel was tasteless and greasy, my brother’s kofte was «unrecognizable in appearance or flavor», and my sister was equally unimpressed (sorry, don’t recall what she had). Maybe they just had a bad night, but I wouldn’t hurry back there!

Love it! Amazing food and ambiance, any person with good taste will fall in love with the décor and the service and of course, the food. Amazing!

Probably the best meal we had in Istanbul! We got there late around 10:30 and they didn’t bat an eye at us asking for food. They have much more than just kebabs, which was great after a lot of variations on the same sort of stuff. I think the best restaurants look like they’re in this area off of Istiklal Cd. There’s lots of these very hip restaurants and cafes that locals seem to love.
We got the meze plate, which had great presentation and was quite tasty. It was nice to be able to try so many appetizers. We liked the eggplant ones the best, which confirmed our constantly ordering those at other restaurants. We also got the turkish ravioli with yogurt sauce and meat pizza kebab thing that’s always a hit. The ravioli are very good and different from what you’ll get most other places, but don’t put all the yogurt in or it’ll be swimming. Overall really good and very fairly priced.
Their cocktails looked amazing, but we didn’t get any. If you go I’d recommend trying one.

Great hidden place with awesome food, atmosphere and staff! Tried it twice in one day :)

So this is one fine place to eat, drink and listen to live music! We went there on a recommendation and were very satisfied with this place! We had a mixed plate and a main dish each. All of them were very tasty. The waitress was very kind and helped us with explaining the dishes and recommending some of them. Later on there was live music, which was also very nice.
All in all a very nice place to hang out in the evening for a meal or only a tea or a beer.
Therefore — despite the not so clean restrooms — still 5 stars!

Great food, great service, great live Turkish music. My husband and I had an awesome experience here on our last night in Istanbul.
If you’re looking for something truly authentic and Turkish, this might not be it. It seemed like more of an ex-​pat tavern, with most of the service staff speaking perfect english and several non-​Turks in attendance. That being said, if you’re looking or something familiar in a foreign place, this is it!
They are very busy and fast paced, so we had to remind them a few times of the mezze we had ordered, but everyone was pleasant and helpful.
We loved our experience here and will absolutely return.

Wow, this place. Atmosphere, food, people… it’s one of my favorites. The choice of music is awesome, spinning an eclectic mix of jazz, blues, rai… anything/​everything that’s good. The food is Turkish home cooking, lots of fresh ingredients, delicious. But the staff really make the place. Down to earth hipsters, warm and welcoming. Good for dinner, lunch or just to hang with a cup of tea.

A quaint, two storied «tavern» with fast, friendly service and a live band playing modern jazz music upstairs. It has a college, casual atmosphere, located in a central part of the Cihangir neighborhood. It’s very lively and nice to be able to seat 7 of us for such a tight space. The food was more familiar and tasted good. Between the 7 of us, we shared the meze plate (a bunch of dips including: hummus, tzatsiki, lentils, baba ganhoush, carrots in sweet yogurt sauce and a red and green pepper dip), a sausage plate, meat filled raviolis in spicy yogurt sauce and eggplants stuffed with rice and spices. It was a lot of food for cheap. There’s wifi, so ask for a password to use it.