Istanbul Sofra

Tried sofran mixed platter. Awesome combination of lamb and chicken. Don’t forget to try baklava. Best of best baklava I have ever tried and got take away for desert

Excellent food, presentation and service at a quite reasonable price! What more is there to be said?

I had been trying to plan dinner with friends for weeks (if not months), and we decided to finally make something happen on a date that conveniently coincided with Pittsburgh Restaurant Week. We both live east of the city, and our friends suggested that we check out Istanbul Sofra’s $ 26.16 multi-​course dinner menu.
The best way to describe the appearance of the restaurant is… eccentric. I feel like someone collected a bunch of super cliché «Turkish» decorations and made absolutely zero interior decorating edits when putting the restaurant together. My initial reaction when seeing the restaurant was oh-​my-​what-​have-​I-​gotten-​myself-​into. Thankfully, the décor in no way reflected my experience of the food and service of the restaurant.
The service was very prompt and attentive. English is likely a second language to our waitress, but she did her best to describe the menu options and answer our questions. The restaurant manager or owner — not sure who he was — also checked on us toward the end of the meal, which is a service that I always appreciate.
The food was really delicious. The four of us ordered four different cold appetizers (included in our Restaurant Week prix fixe dinner) Hummus, Dolma (Stuffed Grape Leaves), Haydari, and Baba Ghanoush. All four were very tasty and quickly attacked by the four of us. My personal favorite was the Haydari (yogurt with chopped walnuts, garlic, and dried mint), and I just couldn’t stop hoarding pita to eat with this dish. For my entrée, I ordered the Lamb & Chicken Shish Kebab. The dish was huge, and I only made it through eating my kebabs, leaving some of my rice and a good portion of my salad and side of vegetables. Everything was very flavorful and well-​seasoned — definitely an entrée I would order again. Finally, for dessert, I ordered the simple Baklava, which I had been craving for some reason that week. It was a solid, tasty selection, but the rest of the table was more adventurous. My husband ordered the milk pudding, which I thought was similar to a Spanish Flan, and our friend Jason was the only one who bravely ordered the Restaurant Week special Tavuk Göğsü, a milk pudding made with chicken meat. The pudding in this dish was a bit more savory and every other bite or so had a small piece of boiled chicken inside. It was odd — but not bad.
I recommend looking past the goofy décor and trying this restaurant — I think you’ll like it!

Came here last night for restaurant week. Honestly, you could not go to a better place for taste and value for restaurant week! Istanbul Sofra never fails to impress me with their food, but more notably, their service. By far I have received the best customer service here than any other restaurant in Pittsburgh. The manager is always checking on tables and the staff has always been friendly in my experience. Please, do yourself a favor and go for traditional Turkish fare and amazing customer service!

Amazing food! Friendly staff. Chicken mixed grill platter is a must try. If you like spicy food, ask for grilled jalapeños on the side.

We were there tonight to celebrate our wedding anniversary. Food was great, friendly staff and the owner made us feel very welcome. If you like your food spicy like I do then request some grilled jalapeños they were yum with my Lamb chops. Tea was fantastic and the baklava was fresh, perfect to end the night with.

The ambience in this restaurant is quite nice… and the waiters were courteous. The food was only average overall.

The gentleman that runs this restaurant is wonderful. I’ve been to Istanbul Sofra before and loved it, but tonight I went for the prix fixe menu for Restaurant Week. I had dolmas to start, salmon for my main, a free glass of very sweet red wine, and Turkish tea. All delicious, especially the lemony salmon. Even their included pita is lovely and warm!
For desert, I was excited to try the special: a Turkish milk pudding with chicken breast. Yes, you read correctly. It was not my favorite, mostly texturally. But I like to take risks and try everything once! I was chatting with the owner and he noticed I had only taken a few bites and asked me about it. Just conversationally I said it wasn’t my favorite but I was interested in its history. He then immediately ordered me a serving of baklava on the house. I. Love. Baklava. I basically told him I didn’t like his desert and he gave me my favorite. I love him.
I’d probably come back just for my favorite restaurateur even if the food was mediocre, honestly. That level of service is hard to find. Luckily for me I love the food, too!

Solid Mediterranean fare at a fair price. We love the chicken, beef, and fish dishes. Good spices and well-​cooked. The lamb looks good too, but we haven’t tried it yet. The appetizers and salads are great too. Each entrée is lots of food to eat!
The service is always excellent. A showcase of Turkish hospitality.
The interior is adorable, and the outside seating is a relaxing option in the warm weather.

We went on Saturday night,
The place was busy and cozy, We had the traditional Turkish food.
Authentic food
Excellent service
Cozy

Wonderful! It’s a great BYOB place for a nice dinner. Bring a bottle of wine or craft brew, a special someone or group of friends for an excellent time with good food and a lovely evening.
I had the lamb chops cooked medium and they were fantastically tender and juicy. Enjoy!

Taste distinctive cooking
Excellent service workers
Very clean restaurant and bathroom

Had a very hospitable turkish waiter who let us make substitutions on the app platter. Owner stopped by to welcome us, nice and charming man. Happy with the service.
The food tasted pretty authentic, appetizer platter was flawless and the spinach borek probably the best I had in u.s. because it wasn’t full of oil or thick phyllo.
Hunkar begendi on the specials menu — one of my favorites! Quite well made.
Iskender was slightly dry and tasted slightly off to me but the sauce, bread and yogurt were great; still decent.
You’d have to wander off to upper nj /​NYC or farther west to find much better turkish food.

Great place! The atmosphere is lovely, waiters are friendly, and the manager is very welcoming. We really enjoyed our meal here. We ordered the hot and cold appetizer plates, a daily special, lamb dish, and Turkish coffee. Everything was excellent… very flavorful with a lovely combination of spices. We now live in Kansas and we just can’t get the quality of Turkish food that we received here. Excellent menu, great prices, and a fun evening out.

Came here with a couple friends for dinner seeing that this place got such glowing reviews. The atmosphere here is pretty nice. They have plenty of seating for groups and even on a Saturday night, it wasn’t too busy. Between the three of us, we ordered a Chicken Adana, Iskender Kebab, Manti entrees to share along with Turkish coffee and Ayran. As for the food, I wasn’t too impressed considering the price that we paid for all three. Personally, I found the chicken seasoning to be just average … nothing too special, probably cooked in a manner that I could probably replicate at home. I also found the tomato sauce in the Manti to be way too salty … too much salt that overpowered even the flour in the Turkish dumplings contained in the dish. The lamb in the Iskender Kebab to be also pretty average … a little on the dry side and having the same tomato sauce complimenting it that has the same problem as I mentioned earlier. As for the beverages, the Turkish coffee was pretty bitter but definitely on the strong side (though not as bitter as coffee made black) and the yogurt in the Ayran was overly milky …
One of the friends who came with me also was recently in Turkey and had tried all these dishes in the homeland. He also mentioned that the entrees weren’t very authentic, especially when compared with similar counterparts back in Turkey.
In short, quite the average joint for Turkish food. I was a little disappointed, but I also understand how hard it can be to have food here replicate the real deal.

I been here a couple of times, I really like Turkish cuisine and that’s a good restaurant to try. Absolutely beautiful and cozy setting. The food is really good, fresh, and rich of flavor, good portions and fair prices. The only thing I have something to say about, is the kunafa, a classic dessert, which I found too pricey ($ 8) for a small size, but on the other hand they served us Turkish tea for free which we really appreciated.

I got here before the rest of my party, so as I was waiting, I read the newspaper articles of the owner and the restaurant they had hung up. Got me excited for my meal and I was right to be. Service was great right off the bat, and the restaurant has a colorful, welcoming interior. The kofte that I ordered was fantastic. Usually the problem I have with kofte is that it is overcooked. However, the five pieces of kofte I had here were very tender and seasoned really well. Highly recommend! However, boyfriend’s lamb shank (which was a special that day) was just okay and tasted like it was just microwaved before being served. Although it was only $ 16, it came in a really small portion. Next time, he’ll probably just go for the lamb chops.
Taste | 4
Atmosphere | 3.5
Presentation | 3
Service | 4
OVERALL | 3.5

I did enjoy my experience here though I came in a little suspicious since a lot of reviews were from those who do not review on a regular basis– but they were right!
My favorite dish was Mixed Cold Appetizers– we opted for the small combinations, and next time I go, I will get the large! I think it came with the Hummus, Spicy Ezme Salad, Mixed Eggplant, Piyaz, and the Baba Ghanoush. We also got the Eggplant Spread separately because a friend loved it so much the last time we were there. All the pieces were refreshing, I would love to make a meal out of the mixed appetizers alone!
We also got a Falafel Platter and the Lamb Mix Grill. I would say that the falafels were my least favorite– they were a little tough and dry. The Lamb Mix Grill was very good– some preparations better than others (loved the Kofte, but pretty disappointed in the Lamb Chops).
Overall, it was a nice experience with friendly service. I would love to go back and try all of the cold appetizers!

A little over 4 Stars.
Beautifully decorated restaurant, the red embroidered tablecloths, cloth embroidered menus, small mosaic pictures on the walls, the rugs, evil eyes, Turkish music, Turkish lamps and decorations, add to the appeal of this place. It feels small, and cozy.
This place only has lamb, chicken, shrimp, or salmon kebabs by the way. No beef at all.
The cold cubed fried eggplant appetizer was delicious. It was topped with a tomato sauce with a little garlic. Some of the pita was soft and warm, and some rather hard and crispy.
The mixed chicken plate was pretty good. The cubes of chicken, ground chicken patties were on top of a bed of long grained rice. There was half a grilled green pepper, shredded iceberg lettuce, red lettuce strips, a few halves of cherry tomatoes, and tzaziki sauce to pour over the chicken.
The salgam was a very tart, salty drink of reddish-​purple color. Must be an acquired taste.
Service was excellent.
The rice pudding was thick, very creamy, very sweet with firm grains of rice. There was the faintest sprinkle of cinnamon on top. The more I ate, the more I liked it.

First time at a Turkish restaurant– I have only moved to Pittsburgh for a year– and I am kind of bitter of not having any authentic Persian food living in a larger American city… Anyway ventured here with my girlfriend to try and get as close to my natural cultural base of food as possible.
The restaurant has a pleasant ambience with covered outdoor area and and inner air conditioning-​the manager was very pleasant coming out greeting us and trying to get to know us on a personal level. Told us about the loyalty program, and how you could win a free trip for two to Istanbul!!!- to me the most important thing about a restaurant is not what it currently is but what it’s trying to be– I definitely got the idea that they were constantly trying to encourage feedback and communication with customers and improve.
The restaurant was clean– it was apparent they did a lot to give it the motto «2 hours until Istanbul» the tables were covered with Turkish rug tapestry and menus were covered with it too– reminded me of Persian designs a lot!
We got the inza salad and baba ganoush which tasted pretty good, the bread was fluffy and delicious! For an entrée we split the lamb kabob plate– it was not insanely plentiful in rice but it put the two of us at a good place! We left satisfied with our meal– the meats on the plate were spectacular! Juicy tender and cooked to perfection!!! My favorite were the kufta and adona kebab!!!
It got busy so it took them a little while to come and wrap up our experience, but no rush we were having a good time.
To wrap it up we had the baklava and black tea (another Persian similarity) — absolutely perfect ending to a delightful dining experience. Loved it here– will return!