Mahzen Restaurant

So first, a quick word about Cicek Pasaji in general. It's a magical place where really you can get good food from anywhere, and the prices are relatively the same from one place to another.

For us, though, we had an amazing experience at Mahzen. It started with talking to one of the friendly servers there named Sermet, who invited us to eat but did so in a way that wasn't pushy or imposing on us. Maybe for this fact alone, we obliged him.

He instantly gave us some recommendations of what types of fish and other dishes to order, and all his recommendations were spot on. We have a few cold mezeler to start, with the garlic yogurt being our favorite. Then we had some fried Bonito because, according to Sermet, September is the month for bonito. We rounded the meal off with Karides Guvec (a spicy shrimp and cheese casserole) and Kokorec (grilled sheep intestines.. for adventurous eaters only) and left with happy bellies.

Our experience here at Mahzen was a hands down no brainer both because of the food and Sermet, and we'd hope others are able to enjoy similar experiences like we did.