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Bright Sun

Beyoğlu has many good restaurant areas. What I do is go to one that suits my purposes, wander around checking menus, prices, and the number of busy tables (a good sign), then choose a place to sit.

Taksim Square

Right around Taksim are mostly fast food and light-meal places which suit the needs of the shoppers and strollers who throng here.

İstiklal Caddesi

Old Beyoğlu's principal avenue, now a pedestrian mall, has a variety of eating places, from the long-time favorite Hacı Baba to the brisk, modern, cafeteria-style Borsa Lokantası, where the food is good, the service efficient, menus are in Turkish and English, and prices are clearly marked.

Galatasaray Square

Galatasaray is Istanbul's traditional meyhane (taverna) district, with lots of restaurants and wine bars. More...

Asmalımescit & Sofyalı

Until 2011, the adjoining streets of Asmalımescit Sokak and Sofyalı Sokak, just north of Tünel Square, were two of Istanbul's most popular sidewalk dining locations, but in 2011, so the story goes, the prime minister's motorcade was impeded by the tables sprawling into the public way, and he (a former mayor of Istanbul) ordered the regulations enforced: no tables in the streets.

Asmalımescit still has several restaurants with outside tables on their own property, but the scene on Sofyalı Sokak is a sad one: small restaurants, bistrots and bars that must try to make a go of it with small, if cozy, interior dining rooms.

Tünel Square

The regulations that sank Sofyalı Sokak (see above) seem not to have applied to the Tünel Pasajı, right across the street from the entrance to Istanbul's historic Tünel funicular. In the passage, cafés and restaurants can set out their tables in the open air, embellished with potted plants and trees. It's a great place for a refreshing cup of coffee or tea, or a meal from light to full, inside or out.

Galata Tower

Once a derelict neighborhood, the streets around the Galata Tower have become one of Istanbul's most appealing up-and-coming arts-and-trends districts. Besides several trendy bistrots, there's a Sensus Wine & Cheese Shop next to the Anemon Galata Hotel, selling 350 varieties of Turkish wines and cheeses at moderate prices.

Karaköy

Beneath the Galata Bridge are several dozen fish restaurants and café-bars with waiters who importune you endlessly to sit and sip and spend. Except for the cheap fish sandwich places at the Eminönü end of the bridge, they're not my cup of tea.

But cheap fish meals there are in abundance: beside the small but busy Karaköy Fish Market are several extremely basic restaurants with tables and chairs set out on the shore in the open air, and little griddles where cooks fry up fish fresh from the market. With a salad and a bottle of water or soft drink, you've got a fish lunch at the lowest prices in the city.

Nişantaşı

This upsale shopping and residential neighborhood north of the Hilton Istanbul Hotel is where menus are au courant, food and service are refined, and prices are lofty. For a traditional fine dining experience with muted lighting, smooth professional service, and excellent cuisine, try the Boğaziçi Borsa Restaurant in the Istanbul Convention & Exhibition Center (ICEC; also called the Lütfi Kırdar Congress & Exhibition Center) just north of the Hilton.