38 Best Restaurants in The Turquoise Coast, Turkey

Located next to a 19th-century Ottoman house at the edge of the harbor, Smiley's has been an open secret among Turquoise Coast yachters since 1987. Relax in the fresh air beneath vines, flags, and fishing nets, and enjoy a reasonably priced and generously portioned meal of some of the best kebabs and seafood in Kaş, as well as some of its friendliest service. Try the Greek-style grilled calamari and brightly flavorful mezes (the reasonably priced mixed-meze plate is a good deal; make sure the roasted eggplant in garlicky yogurt is included). Head downstairs to see the restored Lycian cistern.

This restaurant in the Finike marina is famed for lamb and lambs' liver, but it serves a full menu, including fish and meze. There is a pleasant garden shaded by plane trees and acacias. Everything here is so fresh that the chef refuses to add anything but olive oil and salt to flavor his meats and grilled chicken, and he doesn't need to.

A down-to-earth, traditional Turkish restaurant in often tourist-oriented Kalkan, Ata is (as the name suggests) known for its tender, flavorful kebabs, which come in medium- and large-portion sizes. The menu also includes pide (Turkish flatbread) cooked in a wood oven and the classic array of mezes, salads, and hot starters. The casual seating is on a patio overlooking the main road into town.

The adventurous menu at this harbor-front eatery includes excellent pasta, salmon en croûte, stuffed sea bass with bacon, extra-large steaks, and occasionally wild boar shot in the mountains. The restaurant caters predominantly to the well-heeled British ex-pat crowd (hence the rather ambitious prices), and offers a nightly happy hour and a legendary party on New Year's Eve. All the desserts are made on site.

It's worth calling ahead to reserve a table right by the water.

This Antakya-style meyhane draws a lively crowd of diners with its atmospheric setting and delicious local cuisine. Tables are arrayed in the courtyard (avlu) and on overlooking balconies in a restored mansion, making the place feel like one big dinner party. If you don’t fill up on meze like hummus, mütebbel (eggplant dip with tahini), olive salad with sour pomegranate molasses, or atom (yogurt laced with spicy peppers), there are kebabs and other grilled meats aplenty—and crispy candied pumpkin with tahini and walnuts for dessert.

A casual but stylish courtyard restaurant serving delightful Turkish dishes in a quiet garden setting, Bahçe is just opposite the 4th-century-BC Lycian sarcophagus known as the King's Tomb. The starters are very famous—especially tasty options are grated carrot with yogurt, mashed walnut, cold spinach, fish balls, and arnavut ciğeri (fried liver prepared with chopped nuts). The same family runs a restaurant opposite (Demeti by Bahçe Balık) that has lots of fresh seafood on offer.

This relaxed restaurant on a side street in the town center serves fish, seafood, and meze and is popular with locals, who prefer fresh, unfussy fare to a river view. Its small dining room would be utterly austere were it not for the decorative tile accents; most seating is outside, at tables decked out in a classic Mediterranean blue-and-white color scheme. There’s no menu, so ask the prices before ordering, especially for fish.

This relaxed restaurant by the harbor has a “back to basics” approach focusing on fresh fish, seafood, and a well-stocked counter of mostly vegetarian meze made daily. Service is solicitous and the atmosphere serene (if sometimes intruded on in the later hours when the nearby bars crank up the volume).

A hospitable spot for a quick bite on your way to or from the beach and ruins, this simple, open-air eatery offers a wide range of gözleme, a type of Turkish crepe, including those with less-common fillings like eggplant and cheese or chicken with walnuts, as well as sweet options for dessert. You can also get egg dishes, meatballs, chicken kebabs, and other standard fare.

Nestled in the backstreets of the old city's bazaar near the clock tower, Ciğerci Memet Usta serves up some of the best kebabs in Adana, the country's reigning center for grilled meat. Try the speciality ciğer (grilled liver), the eponymous Adana kebab, or the homemade şalgam (spicy pickled black carrot juice).

This tiny upscale restaurant run by German-Turkish owners blends European style, atmosphere, and creativity with local ingredients and flavors. The result is a refined, low-key environment, with well-made food that provides an interesting variation on typical Turkish cuisine like zucchini flowers stuffed with local fish instead of the usual rice.

This is an ideal lunch spot, with a terrace shaded by bougainvillea and grapevines and traditional Turkish meats prepared using a brass-hooded charcoal brazier. The menu is exceptionally vegetarian friendly, with 20 meatless meze (starters), many concocted from local wild herbs. The vibe is tranquil, laid-back, and friendly, with beer and rakı (a Turkish liquor) on the menu, along with homemade lemonade.

Serving up tasty home-cooking in a contemporary setting, this friendly, good-value option near Hadrian's Gate has a small menu focused on meatballs and other grills, traditional Antalya-style bean salad, and meat- or potato-filled mantı (dumplings). Don’t be put off by the entry through a narrow passageway: it opens up into a pleasant café-style dining area that's bright, airy, and filled with plants.

A homey little spot offering home-style fare, this is a good place to have a satisfying and inexpensive meal before or after embarking on excursions from the nearby minibus stop and riverside docks. Choose from a daily selection of meze behind the counter or a heartier traditional dish like panfried meat with peppers and onions. In the evening, there’s more of a mini-meyhane vibe, with beer and rakı available, at its handful of tables, mostly outside.

No trip to Antakya is complete without eating künefe, a rich dessert with thinly soft cheese in between layers of pastry, baked in an oven and topped with sugar syrup. A row of shops selling the local sweet line the road in between the bridge into the old town and the beginning of the Uzun Çarşı. Ferah, in business since 1948, is a deservedly popular favorite.

A few blocks north of the fray, Flash attracts more locals than tourists and survives on word of mouth. It’s known for soups, steaks, kebabs, and meat stews cooked in a clay pot (kiremit); it also makes nice, oven-fired pide and lahmacun (wafer-thin spiced-meat flatbread). Come ravenously hungry, and you may have room for a dessert of künefe, a rich confection of cheese, strands of dough and sugar syrup sprinkled with pistachio.

This long-standing favorite has a panoramic view of the harbor and excellent traditional Turkish fare that's focused on fresh seafood, though meat, chicken, and pasta dishes are also on the menu. If you're lucky, it will have grida (grouper) as a daily special; if not, try the fried squid with tarator sauce—a mixture of yogurt, garlic, lemon, walnuts, olive oil, and bread.

Tour groups often fill this restaurant at dinner for good reason: the food is both delicious and inexpensive, a combination that also makes it popular with locals at lunch. The restaurant also offers a nice, traditional Turkish breakfast. Expect all the usual Turkish dishes, plus local specialties including soups, stews, and börek pastries.

Little-consumed most other places in Turkey, hummus is a mainstay of the Antakya diet, and the old town is full of tiny, no-frills shops serving up little else, often as a filling breakfast. Jolly İbrahim, a hummus “usta” (master), who learned his trade in Lebanon, makes everything from scratch—even grinding the sesame seeds for his own tahini. Orders come with pillowy bread and an array of spicy peppers and pickles.

One of the best of the traditional Turkish lokantas around the church of St. Nicholas, Ipek doesn't look like much, and the waiters can be surly, but excellent meat dishes make this the restaurant of choice for many.

Situated in the heart of Kaleiçi, this meyhane that bears the same name as its neighborhood serves up the best mezes in Antalya, as well as an array of hot appetizers and the freshest seafood. Expect great service in a spacious outdoor atmosphere.

Though the sweeping sea view is the star attraction of this meyhane above the harbor, the service and the food hold their own. Fresh fish, seafood, and meze are the traditional pairings with the rakı and Turkish wines on offer, but the menu include steaks, fajitas, and chicken curry as well.

With a prime spot right on the beach, Karakuş is one of the best places for dinner and drinks in the entire Olympos-Çıralı area. The mezes and oven-fresh flatbread are delightful, and the beachfront scene is serene.

The waves practically lap over your feet at Kekik’s tables on the sand, lending a romantic air to this laid-back restaurant on Datça’s waterfront. Fish, seafood, and mezes are the specialties, including dishes incorporating the famous local almonds as well as wild herbs. Indoor dining is also atmospheric, in a traditional stone house.

In business since 1950, Kervan draws hummus lovers from as far away as Mersin city center to eat its house specialty, served warm with a choice of toppings, including chickpeas and butter, köfte (meatballs), chicken, or cheese–all with spicy peppers and pickles on the side. The only thing on the menu other than hummus at this simple eatery by the çarşı (market) area is the equally delicious fındık lahmacun—miniature flatbreads topped with ground meat cooked in tomatoes and spices.

This homey lokanta is a good-value place to grab a quick bite after visiting the nearby castle. Choose from the daily array of traditional Turkish stewed or sautéed meat and vegetable dishes displayed at the counter, or order a grilled kebab or spit-roasted döner. It’s in the maze of streets below the citadel on the inland side, next to Eski İbrahim Ağa Cami.

An Ölüdeniz institution, this casual restaurant set just back from the seafront at the eastern edge of town serves up hearty fare at reasonable prices. In addition to its crisp, thin-crust pide (flatbread) with a wide variety of toppings—including vegetarian options such as spinach or mushrooms—Kumsal’s large menu encompasses kebabs, pizza, fish, and international dishes. The service is friendly, and there’s an open-air terrace upstairs, away from the heat of the pide oven.

This excellent, straightforward Turkish restaurant is on the western edge of the bazaar and favored by locals for its kebabs, pide (Turkish pizza), and traditional casseroles. It's open all day, morphing from a breakfast joint in the morning to a family restaurant in the afternoon to the perfect place for a late-night snack at 3 am. The same owners also operate the somewhat more upscale Meğri Restaurant in the center of the bazaar.

At the eastern end of the harbor, the Mermerli has decent prices and a broad menu that includes fish, steak, pastas, burgers, Turkish grills, and all-day breakfasts. But the location is its best asset: a spacious, breezy terrace offers excellent views of the sea and the otherworldly looking mountains. It's a good place to eat if you want to relax on Mermerli Beach—the bathing spot is just down the steps, and the restaurant controls access.

Fresh, creative mezes and salads are accompanied by a warm welcome, a good list of high-quality Turkish wines, and a bird’s-eye view over Kaş’s lively central square at this laidback restaurant on a small upstairs terrace. The vegetarian-friendly menu includes culinary combinations you won’t find elsewhere, like börek (savory pastry) stuffed with three kinds of mushrooms, mackerel with fresh ginger, and artichoke with almonds.