Amedros Cafe

Fantastic traditional Turkish cuisine! I had the boiled lamb shank and it was delicious! My friend had Simarsi and was equally happy! Excellent atmosphere with the lovely alley and warm light. Highly recommend.

The most delicious dinner we had in Istanbul! Very friendly and attentive waiter who also patiently taught us several Turkish phrases. Even though we were too full for dessert, the hostess brought us shots of amaretto for free at the end of our meal to send us away with something sweet. Would recommend this place if you are looking for delicious food in the Sultanahmet in an upbeat area with lots of cafes and shops near by.

Das Essen schmeckt gut, und das Personal behandelt die Gäste freundlich und ist zu Scherzen aufgelegt. Wir waren für ein verlängertes Wochenende in Istanbul und insgesamt zwei Mal dort — das spricht eigentlich für die Qualität.
Leider werden die Gäste dort betrogen.
Wir bekamen eine handschriftliche Rechnung, bei der die ausgewiesene Summe leider deutlich höher ausfiel, als richtig gewesen wäre. Ich war schon dabei, die Rechnung nebst Trikgeld zu bezahlen, als meiner Freundin der offensichtliche «Rechenfehler» auffiel. Aus 113 TL wurden schnell 135 TL, was bei nur drei Rechnungsposten leider schnell auffällt. Wir machten den Kellner darauf aufmerksam, der den Rechenfehler allerdings nicht einsehen wollte, und mit uns «mündlich» die Rechnung noch einmal durchging und uns die Richtigkeit bestätigte. Nachdem wir das nicht überzeugend fanden, holte er sein Handy (!) raus, und rechnete nach. Dann entschuldigte er sich mit großen Worten und meinte, die Rechnung sei wirklich zu hoch, aber er habe einen Posten von 39 TL versehentlich als 59 gelesen, was aufgrund der Zahlen überhaupt keinen Sinn macht.
Wir sind dann für uns noch einmal die Rechnung vom ersten Besuch durchgegangen und stellten fest, dass man uns auch zwei Tage zuvor schon beschissen hat, wenn auch nur um 10 TL. Einen Zufall schließen wir daher aus.
Sorry, aber das Essen kann noch so gut sein, Betrug gibt niedrigstmögliche Wertung.

We stayed a few blocks from this restaurant and ended up trying 3 restaurants on this corner. Amedros was the best of the three. Interior was contemporary, service was good and the food was very tasty, though on the expensive side ($ 30 USD/​plate). I had a chicken dish with cream/​honey/​nuts served with mashed potatoes and my husband had a lamb dish with pomegranate sauce. We both enjoyed our meals.

This is a real find. Located in a pedestrian alley just off the tram line up from the Haghia Sophia, it is a cozy place. I had the Ottoman Chicken with pomegranet sauce and cinnamon. Attentive staff without being pushy. You can always tell a claasy restaurant when there are no hawkers trying to get you to come in. This is one of them.

We dithered at the edge of this street, drawn in by the white glow of the lanterns but unable to decide between Amedros Café and Faros Restaurant. One of the heckling wait staff, whose job it is to get as many bodies seated as quickly as possible through any available means, tried an unusual tactic with us: «It’s all the same restaurant,» he said. «Same food. Same prices.» We laughed, moved on and ended up at Anatolian House, next door to Amedros.
Except he was actually being honest. It is one restaurant: Faros, Amedros, Anatolian House and the other two on this block where Unilocal wouldn’t let me check in. Yep: our food came from one kitchen; we were escorted to the same restroom; all night we watched as servers tapped out the same dramatic rhythm on clay pots to break them and set the steaming contents in front of delighted diners.
So, that was a little off-​putting. However, the two stars are still deserved on the basis of food and service. The food was pretty substandard for Istanbul. For appetizers we ordered hummus and shrimp with butter sauce: the hummus was grainy and instead of being properly seasoned with salt and paprika, it was drizzled with overly-​sweet balsamic vinegar and nearly-​clear oil. The shrimp tasted thawed and the mushrooms canned, while there was little butter to speak of.
Meanwhile, my friend ordered a Long Island Iced Tea. This would have been a bold move in this part of the world, except that it was listed on the menu, the five ingredients corresponding to the ones we knew at home. They brought a Collins glass, no ice, that looked suspiciously fruity. It was. My friend pointed them back to the menu and asked for another one, made properly. This time they got it right, but after that he switched to beer. Their raki was good, too, though it’s pretty hard to get wrong!
For some reason we decided to stay a little longer and ordered their mixed meze plate. There was more hummus; some very nice yogurt with dill; two different preparations of eggplant, both delicious; a so-​so red pepper tapenade; and a «Russian Salad» that was basically mixed vegetables in mayonnaise. It was arranged very nicely on a plate with sliced vegetables, and served with some nice bread (chewy outside, fluffy within.)
The fun part came when we got the bill. My friend had ordered a double brandy and they had brought him a single (a shot glass’ worth in a snifter.) He figured they didn’t know what «double» meant and simply ordered another. Later we found out they had charged us for 2 doubles at a total of $ 76 TL. At that point we couldn’t do anything but pay the tab, but we were pretty miffed. So, 2 drinks and 3 appetizers for 4 people came to. .. 275 TL. Way too high for this quality.
Bottom line: you could do so much better in this city. We’re kicking ourselves for getting drawn in by the bright lights!

Très bonne adresse dans ce quartier Sultanahmet ravagé par des restaurants «piège à touriste». Je conseille sans modération.

This is a great café — the food and service are amazing!!! We are in Istanbul for a week and we have been there 3 times already. The bread comes out warm and olives are delicious. It’s also air conditioned inside which is nice for hot days.

Overpriced and average food! The meze platter was delicious and so was the bread which was served warm. 5 stars for the meze but 2.5 for mains. The mains were pretty average. We had the ottoman chicken which came w both rice a saffron mash. the mash was bright yellow but didnt taste of saffron. Both were almost cold compared to the chicken. The pomegranate sauce was nice but after a few bites it all became very bland. we also had the meatballs. it came sizzling hot in a sauce without any sides. was just meatballs with cheddar cheese in lots of sauce. The chicken shish was quite bland and dry despite the little pot of spicy sauce. Drinks were expensive. Service was as other reviews say, attentive but not in your face.
Downside to sitting outside was getting people smoking while you re eating. The inside part is much nicer.

Hat uns sehr gut gefallen. Liegt zwar in einer absoluten touri Gegend, aber das essen war sehr lecker, der Service super und die Atmosphäre klasse. Haben für essen und getraenken zu zweit 65TL bezahlt. Zu empfehlen.

Restaurant mit sehr gutem Preis/​Leistungsverhältnis. Wir waren 2x dort Essen. Unbedingt die überbackenen Auberginen probieren. Lecker.
Der Service ist unaufällig und nie aufdringlich. Hier wurde man auch nicht in das Restaurant «hineingezogen» wie es oft bei anderen Restaurants war.