Welcome to Villa Bosphorus!
When you arrive at Restaurant Villa Bosphorus, your experience begins already on the street as you start your descend into the charming, historical atmosphere. But you still can’t possibly imagine what a wonderful surprise awaits you in the courtyard, not to mention the restaurant and the view.
Villa Bosphorus is located on the Asian side in the Beylerbeyi district, north of the first bridge (15 Temmuz Şehitler Köprüsü) on the shore of the Bosphorus – more precisely, partially even over the Bosphorus. Between the restaurant and the bridge is located the historic summer home of the sultans, the Beylerbeyi Palace (Beylerbeyi Sarayı), so you can easily combine these two great places to visit. (You can read more about Beylerbeyi Palace from my previous posts.)
The restaurant’s menu mainly consists of fresh fish and shellfish. You can choose from many different atmospheric spaces for enjoying your dinner: a 300-seat VIP Lounge, a fireplace room, a meeting room for hosting company business dinners, an indoor winter garden, and a 400-seat summer garden.
Service and delicacies
In Istanbul, I especially love the Bosphorus Strait, the friendliness and service spirit of the people, and of course the ‘mezes’. (That is, various and delicious small portions of food, which are often eaten as appetizers or in connection with a Rakı evening.)
And this restaurant is exactly all that! The customer service here is the best I have ever experienced. Even when choosing ‘mezes’ we were served by two waiters. The food here is, of course, excellent, and the price level is about the same as in Finnish restaurants. But you need to remember that in today’s world, prices change all the time.
The view and the atmosphere
It’s hard to beat the view and atmosphere of Villa Bosphorus. Two bridges between continents, the Bosphorus Strait and the view from Asia to Europe. Here is the ´blue moment´ of the fading evening:
In the video below, you walk from the terrace to the inside of the restaurant. In this video, the restaurant is unusually almost empty, which is due to the time of our visit, i.e. the aftermath of the corona era and winter. It is good to note that normally in Istanbul there is no empty space in any restaurant. When I was writing this post, our family tried to reserve a table at Villa Bosphorus, and the first available time was two weeks away. So remember to make a reservation in time!
The easiest way to get to Villa Bosphorus is by taxi. If you come from the European side, one possibility is to come first either by ferry or Marmaray local train to Üsküdar on the Asian side and continue from there by taxi. Taxis do not necessarily agree to cross the bridges between Europe and Asia, because crossing the bridges is tolled. On the other hand, remember that both the ferries and the Marmaray local train stop their evening service early, usually before midnight.
Enjoy your evening in the beauty of the Bosphorus: ´Afiyet olsun!´
More information: Villa Bosphorus