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Dining out along the Aegean coast is a pleasure, especially if you enjoy seafood and fresh produce. There are countless seafood restaurants at all price ranges. A typical meal includes an assortment of hot and cold meze (appetizers), a mixed salad, and the catch of the day, capped off with a Turkish dessert. To make it authentic, accompany your meal with rak? (a spirit similar in taste to oúzo). Some of the more common fish you'll find along the Aegean coast are levrek (sea bass), çipura (sea bream), barbunya (red mullet), and lahos (grouper), as well as tasty smaller fish like sardalya (sardines). Note that most fish restaurants charge per kilogram for whole fish, and the prices often aren't listed; ask before ordering to avoid receiving an unexpectedly large bill at the end of an otherwise pleasant meal. Of course, there are plenty of meat and kebab restaurants around, too, if that’s what you’re craving.
For dessert, try local dondurma (Turkish ice cream, often thickened with orchid root or mastic resin), as well as milk puddings and baklava. It’s often better to avoid hotel restaurants at lunch and dinner—you can frequently find better and less expensive food a short walk away—but luxury and boutique hotels might be an exception as they are often firm favorites on the local restaurant scene. And don’t forget street snacks! In season, you can grab fat local Smyrna figs; a cup of icy, dark berry ?erbet (think of it as Ottoman Gatorade); or a sesame-studded feta-and-tomato sandwich, each for less than a dollar in central ?zmir. Simit, the classic Turkish bagel-like street snack, is called gevrek in the ?zmir region, and often purchased along with a piece of tulum peyniri (goat's milk cheese) and a hard-boiled egg, following an old Sephardic culinary custom.
This Mediterranean restaurant was around (in a different location) long before the rest of Alaçatı's trendy dining options came on the scene, and remains one of the best and most stylish in town. The deliciously inventive food and romantic garden courtyard atmosphere make Agrilia a local favorite. There's a good wine list and some creative cocktails on the menu.
At this waterfront restaurant, you should begin your meal with a selection of meze, like stuffed zucchini flowers, roasted eggplant with tulum cheese, and octopus salad. Then you can let the owner, Cengiz Bey, help you select the best local fish for the grill. Whatever you choose, don't skip dessert: Gaziantep baklava or irmik helvası (traditional warm semolina halvah) served with ice cream.
This outdoor terrace overlooking the waterfront is an ideal spot in Dalyanköy for a splurgy seafood dinner. After meze of kabak çiçeği dolması (stuffed zucchini flowers) and deniz börülcesi (samphire), and a main of tuzda balık (fish baked in salt), try to find room for sakızlı muhallebi, creamy traditional milk pudding flavored with gum mastic.
The peripatetic Turkish-Armenian maestro Garo heads the kitchen at this enduringly popular stone cottage–turned–waterfront restaurant in Türkbükü with a comfy Greek-taverna feel, friendly staff, and an outdoor terrace with blue-and-white checkered tablecloths. If you're not in the mood for seafood and meze, there are spicy Turkish meatballs or a Bodrum specialty, çökertme kebabı (beef strips over fried potatoes with yogurt sauce).
This lovely restaurant on the waterfront specializes not only in fresh fish, seafood, and meze but also serves an excellent summer brunch. Tables are only a few feet from the peaceful waters of the bay, with a truly romantic view of the ancient ruins of Rabbit Island, often with a soft breeze. The waitstaff are cheery and attentive, and though the kitchen has been refurbished almost beyond recognition, it retains a 300-year-old hearth from when it served as the bakery for the surrounding villages.
The owners of Sevilen, one of Turkey’s best-known wine brands, have renovated and opened their family home to visitors as a fine-dining restaurant in a bucolic setting near İzmir airport. Grilled meats are the focus of the menu, which also includes tasty salads and starters—along with Sevilen wine pairings, of course. Summertime meals are served under a 300-year-old plane tree that provides cooling shade on a hot day.
Tables are tucked into a lovely hidden garden in summer and in cooler weather service is in a quaint, Bodrum-style, one-story house. The Mediterranean cuisine includes some local favorites. Alcohol is served.
There are many popular seafood restaurants along the Kordon waterfront in Alsancak, but this one, with indoor and outdoor seating areas and a relaxed feel, is especially busy. It features a good selection of appetizers, including the decadent sütlü karides (shrimp sautéed in butter, then topped with béchamel and mozzarella), as well as the usual seasonal seafood choices.
Deniz means "sea" in Turkish, an appropriate name for this popular, pricey seafood eatery on the Kordon waterfront, whose tables spill out of the ground floor of the İzmir Palas Hotel. It's buzzing with local notables, travelers, and a swanky business crowd, who come to splurge on exceptional fish and meze, including samphire with garlicky yogurt. And it can easily turn into a splurge in terms of price, depending on the number of courses chosen.
Famed for its kebabs and other meat dishes, Denizhan also serves up very good meze and appetizers, including lahmacun (Turkish-style whisper-thin flatbread topped with spices and minced meat) and vegetable dishes such as mustard greens salad. The restaurant has a prime location on the Bodrum waterfront and an extensive wine list.
This unpretentiously upscale waterfront seafood restaurant is a favorite with locals, who spill out from the stone walls and onto the terrace with its lovely view. The menu features excellent meze, including grated zucchini with yogurt and toasted walnuts and grilled eggplant with a punchy white sauce, and fish either simply grilled or cooked with béchamel or tomatoes. Ask when ordering about prices to avoid any unpleasant surprises.
For almost half a century, this popular, no-frills restaurant near the marina has been serving the freshest seafood in town. House specialties include fish soup and octopus with pilaf, and their fried calamari has been voted one of the best versions in Turkey. Reservations recommended.
Tables spill out of the small courtyard into the cobblestone alley at this fish and meze restaurant in central Alaçatı. Innovative house specialties include a delicious dish of octopus cooked with mushrooms, onions, and soy sauce, and for dessert there's often a delicious apple baklava.
This long-standing, family-run fish house overlooks the harbor and is especially noted for a wide selection of Cretan dishes and seafood appetizers that include delectable shrimp cooked in butter, garlic, and seaweed. A local institution with courteous waitstaff, Körfez also serves some meat dishes.
Settle into a lovely, fig-scented garden about 2 km (1 mile) outside town, overlooking citrus trees, the sea, and the ancient city of Myndos and enjoy a meal in these rural surroundings. While the late-risers' breakfast, served until 3 pm daily is a draw, the crowds come for dinner at sunset. Lunch or dinner should begin with the excellent fried calamari; the mantı (Turkish-style ravioli) is homemade.
This waterfront spot in pleasant Şevket Sabancı Park, just outside Turgutreis city center, has grand views of the sea along with a nice selection of Turkish and international dishes (though, perhaps surprisingly given the location, no fish). Alcohol is served and reservations advisable in high season.
Popular with the yachting crowd and holidaymakers from Istanbul, this friendly steak house has live music—jazz, Latin, flamenco, Turkish, and pop—just about every night. The broad menu also includes chicken, fish, and other meat dishes, along with salads and assorted meze. Come for dinner, stay for the dancing.
This always-hopping waterfront bistro draws a local and tourist crowd with its broad Turkish-international menu of pastas, salads, bar snacks, and grilled meats. Some good local wines are available, too.
This seafood and grill restaurant at Çeşme Marina has a menu of international and Turkish dishes, spanning everything from meze to pasta, fajitas, grilled lamb chops, and more. The waterside location is lovely, with views of the castle; the winking lights far across the water are from the Greek island of Chios.
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