25 Best Restaurants in The Central and Southern Aegean Coast, Turkey

Summer and winter, the dining room at the Kırkınca Houses Boutique Hotel is the best in town, overlooking the lovely landscape and serving delicious and authentic dishes prepared with oil produced from olives harvested in the garden. You can accompany your meal with wines produced in Şirince, and the sound of mellow live music on Friday and Saturday nights. Among the delicacies on the menu are creamy eggplant soup; şevketi bostanı, a root vegetable cooked with tender pieces of lamb; and delicious homemade pasta, erişte, served in a light cream and almond sauce.

This popular spot overlooking the Selçuk aqueduct is run by a friendly family team—husband, wife, and son—and offers a menu that includes such traditional vegetarian dishes as exemplary stuffed peppers and fried eggplant. It may sometimes take a while for the generous, juicy lamb and chicken kebabs to cook in the small hearth, but it's worth the wait.

Down a quiet, pretty alley just a two-minute stroll from the waterfront, the white, candlelit tables at this seafood restaurant quickly fill with hungry locals. Accompany a heaping plate of fried local calamari (probably the most generous in town) with a tasting plate of up to four vegetable meze with toasted bread, and, if you're still hungry, order grilled fish and (more) rakı.

Travelers craving a change from the usual Turkish fare will be happy to find this establishment right smack in the middle of Pammukale. Catering to the growing number of Asian tourists in the area, it turns out surprisingly authentic versions of mostly Chinese, Taiwanese, and Korean specialties, including noodle dishes, soups, and stir-fries. Service can be slow and there’s not much in the way of decor. No alcohol.

This small and romantic garden restaurant is a highlight of Alaçatı’s dining scene, with chef Ayşe Nur Mıhçı famed for her fresh renditions of Aegean cooking using seasonal, local produce, especially the region’s wealth of wild herbs and greens. There’s no menu, but the staff will help you select from the options on display in the kitchen. Good local wines are available to accompany your meal. Reservations highly recommended.

The Ayasoluk Hotel’s restaurant offers meals in a pleasant dining room and romantic courtyard, both with a bucolic sunset view, and features local and organic ingredients for a light, fresh take on Turkish favorites. It's one of the more intimate and sophisticated dining options in town.

Not far from the clock tower at the entrance of Kemeraltı, this small local favorite has served traditional İskender kebabı (and only İskender kebabı) from the city of Bursa since 1981. The spit-roasted meat is sliced thin and topped with melted butter and tomato sauce. A glass of homemade ayran (salted yogurt drink) is the traditional accompaniment to the meal. Alcohol is not served. Come for lunch or a very early dinner, as they're only open until the meat runs out, usually around 6:30 pm.

Stopping here for pide (Turkish-style pizza or calzones, piled with a variety of ingredients that can include cheese, spinach, meat, or egg) is a highlight of a trip to Ilıca and a great choice for a quick lunch, or even breakfast, though on the pricey side compared to similar fare elsewhere. The menu also includes kebabs, soup, pizza, and traditional Turkish desserts.

This small and colorful eatery serving Greek and Turkish fare is an increasingly rare find in ever more chic Bodrum. Choose from meze like smoked fish or roasted eggplant with tahini sauce, followed by fresh fish, ending perhaps with a cream-topped candied mandarin for dessert. Reservations are recommended.

The Ottoman motifs seem a bit touristy, but the place is done up nicely, in the peaceful, open-air courtyard of an old house, shaded by a towering grapefruit tree. Eski Ev ("old house" in Turkish) serves a wide selection of Turkish meze (appetizers) and main dishes, including some nice choices for vegetarians. The restaurant's specialty is a delicious concoction of lamb, vegetables, and rice, served on a copper dish with its own tiny flame beneath.

By early evening, the white tables spread across the green lawn in front of Gunbatimi are full of customers coming to witness the inspiration for the restaurant's name, "the sunset." To accompany the visual spectacle, the owner and his culinary team cook up the classics of Aegean seafood dishes, with particular pride displayed in the grilled octopus.

Köfte (Turkish-style meatballs) are the mainstay of this popular, no-frills eatery, and you can enjoy them as a sandwich or with a side of piyaz (navy bean salad, with or without onions), homemade bread, and ayran (salted yogurt drink). The only other dish on the menu is çöp şiş, small pieces of skewered grilled lamb. No alcohol served.

This cheery traveler favorite just off Pamukkale’s main square serves up better-than-average grilled meats, güveç (casseroles), and other traditional Turkish dishes (plus international staples like omelets and pasta) on an outdoor patio under a thick canopy of grapevines. Portions are on the small side, but nicely presented. 

This cheery, casual bistro-style restaurant on the ground floor of the Hotel Ilayda is popular with visitors for its broad international menu, ranging from pasta dishes to fajitas to traditional Turkish grills. Prices are reasonable, portions hearty, and alcohol served. 

Settle in under the shady trees and vines covering and cooling this relaxed garden café just off the waterfront, where the eclectic menu includes a wide range of starters (from hummus to orange-infused chicken liver pate), salads, pastas, and mains. Be sure to save room for the dessert of the day. 

Italian-inspired pizzas, pastas, and salads are served alongside traditional Turkish chicken and beef dishes. It's always packed with local families and tourists sitting back at wooden tables filled with the enormous portions. Alcohol is served, and not at a ludicrous markup. There's also a branch in Turgutreis.

A broad, mostly reasonably priced menu of well-executed dishes—both Turkish and international—is offered in a setting that encourages leisurely lingering over a meal. Tables are scattered throughout a peaceful, beautifully landscaped garden with sea views, and there’s a beach, too, if you want to cool off.