Seven Hills - Étlap

I love hummus I 've had hummus in probably 10 countries, and hundreds of restaurants, and I 've made my own hummus, so this is coming with some gravitas: this is the worst hummus I 've ever eaten in my life. But how can you mess up mashed chickpeas? First, you undercook them, can them, and then finally mix them with PEANUT BUTTER. And then you provide some nice room temperature baguette (yes, sliced baguette) to dip in this chickpea textured peanut butter. Then you dump the cheapest unfiltered olive oil over the top that money can hardly buy. I think this hummus will be my strongest memory of İstanbul.

Beautiful rooftop terrace with gorgeous view of the Bosphorus, Blue Mosque, Agia Sophia. The service is friendly and speedy. For appetizer we chose the octopus salad, that came with pickled veggies the octopus was tender and pleasure to eat. We ordered a local fish, market price cooked on clay pot with veggies. The meat was tender and falling off the bone. The sauce was tasty and tangy. Hubby had wine which he enjoyed and I stuck with apple and regular black tea, all of which were delicious. The waiter surprised us with complimentary dessert, which consisted of juicy sweet pumpkin topped with kaymak and pistachios!! This is a popular place for Instagram selfies, but luckily the cold kept ppl...

There is good view of the Hagia Sophia and Blue Mosque here, so naturally, it is full of tourists. In fact, they even have a sign out front that says you can take selfies here with the Hagia Sophia and Blue Mosque. The restaurant has a terrace level and a rooftop level. It's very hard to get service because there are lots of tourists and some of them are confused about anything from the menu to where to sit to why they cannot have a table reserved for others. The waitstaff is partially to blame, as they are not the best at giving instructions. For example, the first waitstaff told me I can sit at a table in the rooftop, but then a second one told me I can only sit at a table on the terrace (...