Hacı Abdullah

I was staying up at the Intercontinental, a hotel known for unrivaled service and for being the backdrop of most of the footage from the Taksim square demonstrations. When I asked about a local place for dinner, the concierge immediately mentioned Haci Abdullah, either meaning they get a nice kickback and/​or it’s awesome.
Can’t confirm anything about financial transactions, but I can confirm that I wasn’t at all disappointed with the meal. The place might have been a little touristy, but it wasn’t smotheringly touristy like a lot of places right on Istiklal can be. As other reviews mention, the service here isn’t exactly warm and friendly, but they’re efficient and accommodating.
I got the dolma and a great, spicy lamb dish, but they certainly don’t lack for options here, so explore and try new things!
Food: ⁴⁄₅
Value: ⁴⁄₅
Service: ³⁄₅
Atmosphere: ⁴⁄₅

This place easily defines what Turkish fine dining is about. You go in and get seated and then pick from the various choices of dishes the cook has prepared. You can then pair your choice with cacik (cucumber salad) or ezme (spicey salad of peppers) or some other side item. They also have excellent desserts.
The waitstaff can be a bit taciturn, but they know their business.

Just wonderful. Great ambiance, right off the the famous Istiklal Street in new town. Definitely let the server recommend some dishes. Or walk back and check out many of the dishes in the kitchen. We did the 3 meat Haci Abdullah sampler with an eggplant appetizer. It was FANTASTIC!

We have loved all the amazing restaurants and delicious food in Turkey since we’ve been visiting for a week and this one was probably the worst. The food was okay and we agree with previous reviewer, pricier than I thought the experience warranted.
The service was not good. Then they add a service charge — this is the only place that has done this automatically.
Just disappointing over all and I’m sorry to have wasted a meal here because I look forward to every opportunity to eat in Istanbul!

This is not only a restaurant, this is an institution! Temple of majestic Turkish cuisine. Whole idea is to devotion to old school Turkish food.
When ever I see the over sized royal overcoats in Dolmabahce palace of Ottoman Empires; I imagine sultans had been fed with these dishes for generations. And this is how sultans get so large is size. That is my pure imagination.
The food is fantastic across the board. The entrée, main dishes, deserts are all great.
This is another place I always end up ordering more than I can take.
You will easily recognize that its almost always packed with tourist, the staff is fluent in English. Dont worry, you are not in tourist trap.
I have tried different veggie dishes; fantastic.
You should try stewed fruit after meal, its not as heavy as other Turkish deserts. And its another speciality of the house.
One missing item on the menu; they dont serve alcohol.
Another missing item; there is no view. Its all in-​door. So you have enjoy your food well:)

This is by far the best otantic Turkish food you can have in Istanbul. Keep in mind, you can order half or even less than half portions if you can get a waiter who speaks English. Easier if you speak Turkish:))) it doeasn’t matter what u order, they will all be excellent. But do ask what’s seasonal that time. No alcohol here…

Hacı Abdullah keeps its excellence with 400 different Ottoman dishes and since 1888. Amongst all, the lamb casserole with yoghurt, lamb’s shank thick tomato sauce and lamb in tandori are favorite choices. The lamb is brought from Thrace, veal from Biga, thyme from Siirt, chilli pepper from Antep, butter from Urfa and olive oil is brought from Edremit. Another importance of this place is their home made hundreds of different jams, compotes and pickles.

The food was not bad, but the prices were really outrageous when compared to other places we ate at, where we enjoyed the meal far more. For example, a main of manisa kebabı (a lamb and vegetable stew with a pancake), which was served without the pancake because they were out (they did ask if we wanted to change the order) cost 26 lira, whereas in other restaurants we paid about half that for a main dish, and enjoyed the food more.
The restaurant has quite a lot of staff, and seems to pride itself on delivering your food almost immediately. Our food was on the table in less than five minutes after ordering.
In addition to the manisa kebabı we tried tavuk fırın (chicken stewed in tomato), şerbet (a very sweet drink), and haşaş (poppyseed and pistachio cake in syrup). None of it really caught our interest. When the price is taken into consideration, I would advise skipping this restaurant in favor of a less prestigious restaurant.