Istanbul Grille

[Duke]

Has anyone ventured into the Istanbul Grille restaurant across the street from the Avenues Mall on Phillips Hwy yet?  Just wondering if the food was any good, vacationed in Istanbul not too long ago and enjoyed Turkish food. 

[reednavy]

I've heard it was good. Funny that it used to be a Waffle House though.

[Duke]

Yea, that's why I was wondering if it was a legitimate place or just something really good...

[ProjectMaximus]

I've heard it was good. Funny that it used to be a Waffle House though.

And then more recently it was the Avenues Diner.

[David]

I've frequented this place often since it opened last year and although it's been a great alternative to driving to San Marco or Avondale for my favorite hookah lounges, they've had a few incidents which have scared some of my friends and I away.

Identity theft is always a problem when dealing with people handling your transactions at restaurants, but a guy I work with had 400+ dollars charged to his credit card from purchases someone made over in Turkey. I haven’t heard of any other cases of identity theft since then, so it was probably done by an employee that no longer works there.

My biggest concern though: the roaches and bugs. on 3 separate occasions (I stopped eating there after the first incident) i've been there and seen maybe one or two bugs, crawling underneath the deck and up through the cracks in between, but last time was insanely disgusting.

It was last Saturday night, we were sitting inside around 11 pm and had a hookah & some wine. There were only a handful of people there but we witnessed no less than 4 roaches/palmetto bugs within sight any given time. A few of them were flying nearby, coming uncomfortable close to our table.

The server wasn’t even phased when I said we're moving outside because of the roaches. (At least outside I could see them coming)

I'm on the Southside temporarily, so I wanted to make use of this place because of its locale, but when you have the vibe of Casbah and the owners who spoil us at Laylas just a short 10-15 min drive away (both of which are roach-free mind you) it'll be worth the trip to bypass this place.

Seriously Instabul, you serve food. Fix the bug issue! Whatsthamatta with you, anh?!