Istanbul Hawai'i

Delicious! Great vegetarian and gluten free options (I hope they try to make gluten free pita in the future!). Professional and friendly staff. Sit outside for a nice breeze.

Once we got in and seated...(ahh Honolulu...make your reservations as far in advance as possible, as this is where all the people come) our mouths and stomachs had a fantastic experience. Getting seated was tough...the website has the language "If a reservation is not available at your preferred time, we do save seating for walk-ins. Please give us a call or email to us, when you can not make a reservation via OpenTable We will do our best to accommodate you & your guests." That made us feel good when we couldn't make a reservation, but when we called the person we spoke with was very discouraging, telling us they were all booked up, an eventually telling us she could make a late reservation at "the counter" where "no one would want to sit." So either you do accommodate walk-ins, or you don't...if you do, you shouldn't overbook your restaurant and allow for people to walk in even if it will be a long wait to accommodate. Anyhoo...we got seated eventually, and from that point on, even at the counter where "no one would want to sit" we loved everything. I had the Evil Eye Cocktail which is bourbon based with some date and other flavors. Took several sips for the unique flavors of this cocktail to come through over the initial "standard old fashioned" flavors but once it did it was great. There are many, many vegetarian options here (gluten free too) which are clearly labeled on their menu, making us feel quite welcome. We shared the Meze Platter which featured most of the items from the chilled maze section, plus pita and more. The babaganush was uniquely foamy and delicious. It's nice that restaurants are embracing vegetarian "meats" such as "Impossible" to create authentic tasting versions of dishes that we wouldn't normally get to it. In this case it was the Vegan Izmir Kofte which featured well flavored Impossible "meat". The rice it was served on was great, and the tahini it came with was unique, almost sweet and lovely to dip the “meat” in. We also shared the Tahini Chocolate Custard with Turkish Pistachio Delight for dessert. The toppings were phenomenal. I wanted so much more of the Turkish pistachio delight, and sesame candy too! The custard it self was rich not so sweet and thick and probably the least interesting part of the dish. If we were able to come again we'd get more of their house made Turkish delight which also come in rose and pomegranate flavors. Yum! Mediterranean food isn't often at the top of the list of what I want to eat, but when it is, it should be exactly the food they serve here...even if you have to sit at the counter.