Topdeck Cave Restaurant

Legit Turkish food at reasonable prices. Loved the intimate ambience & décor of this restaurant built within a cave.
Make reservations prior or do an early walk-​in… It’s an extremely popular spot & I did see some people get denied a walk-​in because they were booked out for the night.

The best restaurant I have been to in Cappadocia. Great service and awesome food. The cave-​like ambience is nice.

Tucked in an alleyway, Topdeck is a cozy little cave restaurant, fitting for goreme. They have two types of tables– normal tables and ones where you can sit on the floor. The floor’s definitely where it’s at, allowing for maximum cuddle while eating potential. This was our first proper dinner in Turkey and it didn’t disappoint. We started with the meze platter for two, which gave us a nice introduction to an array of cheese, meats, hummus, and other little appetizers. We also ordered the beef and the lamb special, both which were nice and homey stews. My boyfriend was also impressed with the rice, which has now convinced us that we need to step up our rice game. Feeling daring, I ordered the ravi (also called lion’s milk), which is a traditional Turkish drink. I can’t say I would order it again, but the native cappadocian wine that my boyfriend ordered was quite good.

This place is probably the most exotic restaurant Ive ever had. The food is good. We ordered chicken borek, daily soup and lamb dish. Wine here was good. At least I like it. We tried raki. It was strong. Double shot is enough for me. The price was fair. We ordered a soup, a borek, a main dish, wine, double raki, rice pudding and Turkish tea. It was about 100 TL. The service was great. They gave us a sample raki and explain why it is called loin milk. The decoration and environment is fantastic. I would say this restaurant is a must go here in cappaducia. You better make a reservation in high tourism season.

Beautiful restaurant. We liked sitting on the floor. Prices were good! Service was nice. Honestly, food was good, but didn’t live up to the hype. Not many options for main courses. Tasty, but not somewhere to run to.

Really nice restaurant! Staff and super friendly staff.
We tried an appetizer plate as well as the lamb stew. Everything we had was well made and tasty. Especially liked one of the eggplant appetizers. The stew was also very good– might have liked a little more broth for dipping bread but I’m not picking.
Loved the service and the tastefully decorated interior.

After being in Istanbul for few days of amazing good food, I arrived at Topdeck cave with high expectation. At least I was looking for homey feeling dish that are reasonably priced.
The walk from my hotel (Kelebek) to Topdeck is easy and fun — you get to see other cave hotels and you have to find where the restaurant is amidst the alleys.
As I arrived at the restaurant, I saw the price of the food has been changed by a few liras. The lamb special is now 38 lira and a glass of wine is 10 – 14 lira. Sadly the lamb special of the day was four very small chunks of lamb with potato located next to small portion of rice. Nothing about the dish was very special. In fact you can find similar dish in Istanbul for 3−4x cheaper with better larger portion. Perhaps I was rather sad as I was expecting to have full Lamb shank for the price. After the dinner, I left home wishing for McDonald which doesn’t exist in goreme. In addition most restaurants are very far; so Topdeck cave basically can monopolize the market with a good marketing technique.
In the end, it’s all about cost value benefit for customer. Which sadly translated to ²⁄₅ star.

Amazing food! Great family owned restaurant with impeccable service and ambiance! Must try if in town

Made this stop for our only dinner in Goreme and we are very happy we did. Topdeck is the top rated restaurant in Goreme and it is not difficult to see why.
We had a bit of a hard time finding this place at first so make sure to ask directions from your hotel. When you enter into this cave, which was a former stable, you will notice about six tables and four floor tables with cushion seats. The food here is pre-​prepared with four main course options (including vegetarian.) Everything is delicious, but my husband really raved about the lamb dish. I would also definitely recommend trying the meze platter, which is prepared daily, as we got to sample many great tastes from Turkey in one platter. The prices here are very reasonable on everything, and the cozy atmosphere makes you feel like you are entering someone’s home, not a restaurant.
Definitely stop by if you are in Goreme!

Found this gem through Unilocal.We popped in around 10PM to make a dinner reservation for the next night. They were already booked up, but managed to squeeze us in.
I ordered the lamb shank, and it was one of the best meals I had while in Turkey. Absolutely amazing! Great flavor, the lamb fell right off, and a huge portion. My boyfriend ordered the dinner mezze platter. So. Much. Food. Great variety in the platter!
We then ended with baklava and ice cream, which was pretty solid. We walked out satisfied and absolutely stuffed. Staff was great, very friendly, and they speak pretty good English. Highly recommend stopping by and making a reservation!

Topdeck is a small restaurant run by a friendly family. It’s easy to enjoy the excellent food and cozy atmosphere inside the carved out room. The staff all speaks perfect English. In the past week, we’ve gone there 3 times.
The menu is pretty simple, with a selection of starters (the meze platters and soup of the day are my favorite).
The mains basically come down to choosing a meat (or vegetarian) and asking how it is prepared that day. It seems like each meat has an option or two. My favorite is the lamb stew.
Since the restaurant is small and popular, it’s highly advised to make reservations. Dinner only.

TopDeck was a little hard to find, but we were glad we did.
We stumbled across it and had to make a reservation for the next day (not too many tables, so reservations are required, especially due to the popularity).
We decided to try a few mezzes and I ordered the lamb special and my wife the vegetarian plate. Food was very good, especially the mezzes.
Overall it was a very nice experience and the restaurant was very cozy.
Note: They do not take credit cards.

Gracias a las opiniones de viajeros decidimos ir a cenar a topdeck cave! Q gran experiencia! Hicimos como aconsejan, fuimos a las 5 para reservar y ya tenían ocupados
Los turnos de la noche Asique cenamos a las 1830! Para los veggies les recomiendo de entrada los feta envueltos en masa filo y de plato principal el plato vegetariano! Lo pedimos medio spicy y estaba muy muy sabroso! De postre les recomiendo para cerrar la cena bien turca los baklavas con helado! Todo acompañado del vino Capadocia que es riquisimo!!! Altamente recomendable! El lugar es hermoso y la familia q atiende súper Amorosos y serviciales! Hablan perfecto inglés! No dejes de visitar este lugar! Vale la pena su precio! Lleva efectivo!

We saw this restaurant on Unilocal,of course and went there. First for lunch, and then for dinner.
One correction about their open hours: 5 pm, so no lunch! (Low season maybe?)
At night, we arrived around 8 pm. We were in 6 and the place was full (it is a small place), so if you are in a bigger group, I’d recommend a reservation.
The waiter is very attentive and brought us a couple of extra glasses of wine! All the staff speaks english very well.
The place is beautiful, the food is cozy, good.
The menu has the right quantity of choices, nothing too complicated!

Dinner at TopDeck had to be our best meal in Turkey! And I only have Mustafa & a friend to thank for that.
I got in touch with Mustafa via their FB page, since that seemed to be the most convenient way to make a reservation at TopDeck. And he was super responsive. I had to change reservations thrice before settling down on one. And by the time I changed the reservation the last time, I feared he was going to ask us to not come! :)
Topdeck is a family owned business, within a very small space and with a small kitchen that not only churns out fantastic meals, but also is spanking clean! And you will notice that as you walk in. Being a small place, they tend to only take reservations and meal prep accordingly. So, be sure to make a reservation well in advance, if you wish to eat here.
Service was instant after being seated. Infact, a bit too fast since we barely scanned the menu. They have multiple size options for the mezze platter. For our party of four, we were recommended to order a medium mezze, which was about 9 types of cold mezze (all vegetarian). And this in conjunction with our mains (4 mains for 4 people) was sufficient enough. The mains vary by day. So, be sure to find out what the chef’s special is :) And whatever it is, get it. Because it’s going to be awesome.
The mezze platter was very tasty. Everything from the eggplant to the fava beans to the tabouleh. The bread that it came with was freshly baked and very soft. Slurrp.
We ordered the veggie and beef mains (Sactava) and well, they didn’t stand a chance. We inhaled them because they were that delicious. The rice pilaf that came along with was buttery and cooked to perfection. I feared that the mains were going to be some form of kebab or borek or some such and I am glad it was not!
We were recommended a wine to pair with the meal and that is when we discovered Cappadocian wine as well. The pairing was slightly heavy bodied, but well worth it. Be sure to inquire about pairings, lest you end up with something you do not like.
Service was excellent. Be on the lookout for the skinny guy with the beard. He seemed extremely knowledgeable about the food and the quantities to order. The girl with the pseudo South African accent is also really sweet.
It is a little on the expensive side. But compared to all the restaurants in Goreme that serve average food, it is worth spending that 100TL at TopDeck.
I highly recommend.

Best food I had in Turkey. The mezze was delicious and the beef mains was awesome. It’s quite a small place, recommend reserving earlier. The staff are amazing and everything is made in front of you. While waiting I looked at the kitchen and it was squeaky clean…

So I was very skeptical about this place because it looked like a tourist hot spot based off who reviewed it, and to be honest, all the patrons were tourists. HOWEVER, the for was still authentic and so good that it still got the 5 stars. Yeah, that good.
Ambience is great with an option so sit at a table, sit on pillows on the floor, or even stand/​sit by a fireplace. The décor was also very beautiful and authentic. Bathrooms are readily accessible and very clean.
We went during the off season in late December, so we walked in with no reservation, no problem; but it seems that they usually expect reservations.
Now for the food, the complimentary salad has a thick sweet balsamic reduction. It was nice with a butter green in it; not for everyone.
The fired borek was awesome, we got the lamb, it was chunks of lamb rather than ground. That makes all the difference the yogurt that comes with it is very fresh and compliments well.
The special was a lamb chop with rice pilaf. 5 lamb chops in a thin sauce. VERY tender. Very good.
The star of the show was the lamb stew, Saçtava. So good, it is the first meal in going to replicate when it back to the states. Every table got it. Everyone was pleased.
So much lamb that we repurposed Kalin and Miles song– Love Robbery into Lamb Robbery. It’s going gold in Turkey right meow
We skipped on dessert since this was more than enough food. Though I did try the try the tractional Anise drink, Raki. It’s similar to Uzo.
The bill was 100TL, somewhat more expensive than the locals places. But it could also be the quality of food.
The staff was helpful and polite, spelling the name of the lamb stew dish for me. Incidentally, the do offer cooking lessons which o would do of I had more time.
CASH ONLY!!!
A bit hard to find but it seems that everyone knew where it was

Amazing. The Turkish Meze (appetizer) was perhaps the highlight of the food part of my trip. Authentic, delicious and full of vegetarian options. The beef entrée was cooked perfect and tender. Great wine. Atmosphere is romantic, and staff always friendly. One of the best restaurant around for sure!
Recomend: eggplant everything! (eggplant with sweet tomato sauce, eggplant stuffed with onions and garlic), the chilli/​garlic feta dip is beyond, hummus is exquisite, stuffed grape leaves… Mushroom soup to die for!!! And I didn’t try the deep fried feta roll but it looked great… Wine is good. Main entrees were good! Beef was amazing.
Not sure how else I can express how good this place is… Go! Make a reservation so you don’t miss out on a gem like this!!!

Yep, I’m going to copy all the other reviewers and leave the Topdeck Cave Restaurant a fat five stars.
Between Unilocal and TripAdvisor we concluded Topdeck was the place to try in Goreme, so we walked over only to learn we couldn’t be seated without a reservation. We made one on the spot for the next day, snagging their last opening at 6 pm.
The food was excellent. On the advice of our server, who is also the owner’s daughter (and speaks perfect English due to her parents’ British and South African heritage), we split the dinner plate sized meze platter and the lamb chop entrée. This indeed turned out to be the right amount of food for us, perhaps even a little too much. The meze plate included 13 or 15 different items, all of which were good and some of which were amazing. The eggplant in walnut sauce was a highlight. The lamb chops were basted in a delicious sauce of their own. What I liked about this meal was it contained a good mix of items that were familiar to me as an American (e.g. very smooth, rich hummus) and others that were new discoveries on my first trip to Turkey (e.g. the aforementioned eggplant).
We did decide to indulge in dessert and ordered baklava and ice cream. The baklava was the low point of the meal, only because everything else was so good. The ice cream was even really good.
Oh! And it is worth mentioning that this meal was extremely reasonably priced.
If you’re going to be in Goreme, call ahead and make a reservation at Topdeck. You’ll like it.

I’ve been to different parts of Turkey on my holiday before Goreme, and Topdeck had the best food by far. And this is me carefully researching restaurants for dinner every night on TA — so essentially the best of the best! My pros and cons listed below:
Pros:
— Staff are really friendly, even though they’re fully booked out much in advance and in huge demand. That is really something.
— Almost all the staff speak really good English
— The food is heavenly. You have to try the Meze platter to share. And if you can’t — definitely go for their signature meze dish — the aubergine with walnut sauce
— The chicken main dish we had was one of the best ever — tender meat falling off the bone, and a sauce that was subtly spicy, like jerk chicken
— Prices are very reasonable, given the quality of food and the demand they get
— You get to dine in a real cave restaurant!
Cons:
— You won’t be able to get a table as a walk-​in guest. Make a reservation in advance
— They only have four mains on the menu (chicken, lamb, beef, and veg) cooked to the house style. So if you’re picky about food, this might not be the place to come
— Some tables are low tables, so you’re sitting on comfy cushions on the floor — so if you don’t want one of these tables, as for a normal one
— Slightly hard to find, as it is down a small alleyway! There are signs from the main road
— They will only hold your reservation for 15 minutes before giving to a walk-​in. So be prompt!
Overall definitely worth going. We loved our dinner there so much that we wanted to go back the next night — but it was, alas, fully booked!

We’d like to rate this establishment, Topdeck Restaurant 5 stars.
First please note, without a reservation you can forget about to walk in and to get a table. We had the situation such as like this, we had to pull some local strings in order to get a table, finally!
The appetizer mezz mix is definitely recommended.
Especially recommend lamb with vegetables & beef with veggies… the thing is every meat we bite, was tender to chew, such as this is hard for most of the Turkish restaurants so far we have been to.
Services was family style, the wait staffs were so easy to talk to, and to order local wine that go with their meat is the must!
Over all we were very happy and satisfied with this dinning experience and we are thankful for our luck!