Update: after visiting some other restaurants and having much better breakfast feast for closer to $300-350 TL, I had to update this review to 2 stars. This breakfast at Mesai is clearly just gouging tourists. Original: Dropped by for breakfast this morning and really enjoyed the food. It’s a bit pricey (600 lira which converted to about $50 and change CAD), but a beautiful room and nice food served buffet style. For the price I would have liked some better hot food options as well; no eggs, halloumi or sujuk sausage.

Our first day at this restaurant was on Saturday and they were fully booked. We managed to get a seat in their breakfast area which was quiet and good. Service was good, food was good and even staffs were good especially girls. They had a smile on face and friendly. Things went totally downhill from the second day. Let me breakdown each and every bit in a separate section: Reservation: It's a good idea to book the table in advance especially on weekend. They get quite busy from hotel people and even outside people. We booked our table in advance for 3 days as we stayed in their hotel. They changed our table everyday which was good at least we get a different view and experience. Views: This place is well located and their restaurant is on the 2nd floor which gives a good view of the city. Ambience and atmosphere is good in night time. We can easily see 2-3 mosques lit up during night and it's surroundings which makes a romantic dinner location. Food: We didn't try their starter. So can't say anything about starter. We tried their main dishes which was good especially their lamb. Lamb was soft , juicy and properly cooked. Quality of main dishes was good and portion was sufficient. However I didn't see any vegetarian dishes in their menu. It would have been nice to have some vegetables as a side dish. Cons: 1. They add 10% service charge on the bill and it's fixed which I find it weird. Service charge should be optional and it depends upon the customer whether they want to pay or not. There isn't much information regarding service charge. It came as a surprise to us. The service they provided wasn't extraordinary very standard. See below comment on why. 2. Being a classy restaurant they should provide a printed menu. But here it's all about scanning QR code and sitting looking at your mobiles.. 3. Waiters are unfriendly and unwelcoming. Waiters made no effort to talk to us whilst we dinned, no interaction, not much of a friendly smile either considering we ate there more than once. Still we pay service charge which is not justifiable. 4. We were told that there is a dress code to the restaurant no shorts or trainers. However the waiters and manager were wearing trainers. This to us was double standards. 5. There should be a smoking area and a non smoking area regardless of the restaurant been open top. I find it unpleasant to be seat next to someone who's smoking around me. Not only the smell but it's makes you feel sick especially with not much air floating around. My hair and clothes smelt very bad on our last night. Overall, once you are paying a higher amount for food and service. Customer do expect good service and friendly staff.

We were there late September 2021 for a large company dinner. Mesai is located on a rooftop a nice boutique hotel overlooking Marmara, Galata Bridge and Istanbul's historical peninsula. Nice variety of cold and hot mezzes... Lamb Shish Kabab was sinfully awesome :). Happy and friendly staff and servers. My hat goes off to the chef. Highly recommended and I look forward to coming back here again...

Being a hotel guest it was a natural choice for me to choose this restaurant for dine in (breakfast, lunch and room service). But even if i wasn’t a guest i would’ve chosen this restaurant not only for the splendid views of Istanbul but also because of the delicious food and my favorite cuisine and meals, the roka salatesi and pizza funghi :)) their breakfast has the biggest selection and their menu offers great dishes, the staff is awesome, thanks to Halit and Zehra for the wonderful service, it was a great dining experience ❤️

Eşimin doğum gününü kutlamak için ailecek geldiğimiz Mesai Karaköy fazlasıyla memnun olduğumuz bir deneyim ile ayrıldık. Mezeler, yemekler harika.. Neyi deneyeceğimize karar vermek zaman aldı desem yalan olmaz. 😋 Meze olarak Mesai Peynir Mezesi, Karışık Ot Kavurma, Sıcak olarak Közde Kokoreç ve İçli Köfte ve Koz Biber istedik. Hepsi güzel ancak Közde Kokoreç resmen açık ara farklı, kesinlikle bir tane yetmeyecek şimdiden uyarıyorum. 😃 Main course olarak ben tavsiye üzerine Yağlı Kara Şiş denedim, enfes enfes!!!🧿 Eşim de fıstıklı kebap denedi, o da tam lezzetinde idi. Ali Nazik ve Dana Antrikot da gayet güzel denenebilir lezzetler olarak aklımızda yerini aldı. Mutfak tek kelime muhteşem, tebrikler..👏🏻👏🏻 Bizim masamızla ilgilenen Ömer Bey de gerçekten keyifli bir gece geçirmemizi sağladı. Ona da buradan bir kez daha teşekkür edelim. Müzikler için de ayrı bir paragraf açmak lazım. Gayet güzel tempolu eğlenceli müzikler yapan DJ arkadaşımız da geceden max keyif almamızı sağladı. Kapıda vale servisi de mevcut. Neticede lokasyonu, lezzetleri, servisi, ilgili personeli ile ikinci defa kesinlikle geleceğimiz bir işletme oldu Mesai Karaköy.. Tekrar görüşmek üzere...💥💥

Beautiful view, delicious food and a great service. A Must Do when you are in Istanbul ! Many thanks to the kind team and specially to Mesut for the useful recommandations

We were advised to visit the place after the dinner for the cocktails and we really enjoyed the evening with amazing view and great service. Actually it is possible to come here for breakfast or lunch. The dj was playing great music and the atmosphere was lovely. The place is really recommended to visit

The food, atmosphere and service were amazing. A test reaches and high quality real Turkish cousins. The plates looks fantastic so I missed unfortunately take a photo.

The Mesai restaurant is a rooftop restaurant at the M Gallery Galata Hotel. The food is very good and if you are seated well, you have a view of the sunset across the Golden Horn. The hostess greets you with a smile and the waiters speak English. The lamb chops were cooked to perfection. Be sure to make a reservation as it is a popular place.

We have been in the Galata Hotel for the second time. We have been in the Restaurant like three times a week. The food was always fantastic but the Restaurant staff trys to scam guests with „service charges „ about 250 Lira. They call guests „yabanci“ who are not obviously from turkey. Sad for the name Mesai and the galata Hotel. This is a reason to not come back!!!

Came here for dinner without a reservation, and perhaps we came on a bad night? There was a large wedding party and so understandably the staff were very busy. However after being seated we were pretty much ignored for 10-15 minutes before having to grab the waiters attention. We ordered a few mezes and 2 main courses which were delicious, although after our starters we were asked if we wanted dessert, even though we hadn't had our mains yet.) The waiter really struggled to open our wine, broke the cork but didn't offer a new bottle. Lastly, was very strange that smoking was allowed inside, so have this in mind if you're planning to visit.

Fast and welcoming service. Delicious appetizers... Upper floor with dj music for more vivid dinner&dance night.

Just simply world class, the staff is brilliant especially Enes.. so friendly… even if we could not really communicate due to the language .. he provided amazing friendly service .. the food and cocktails were superb

Beautiful decor, amazing views, great service, delicious Turkish food and amazing cocktails. I was there on a Sunday evening, it was a bit quiet and I wonder why! I had pistachio kebab and pumpkin dessert and it was heavenly. Five stars definitely!

Great service , smiley faces and happy people. Very tasty food and a wonderful decorations

Spent the new year 2024 celebrations here, which didn’t start on a good note. They messed up our reservation and they conveyed this in a severely impolite way. However it seems their staff is not trained in English or service in English - only a few are. Thus things may have been lost in translation. Having said that. This was one of the best meals we had in Istanbul, the food was perfectly prepared and tastes wonderful. The short ribs were tender and with the right amount of fat, the sashimi and artichoke was at good acidity levels which served as a good appetizer. The desert cake was the best - a small Black Forest cake with sour cherries. Breakfast has a good spread of buffet with Turkish local dishes and western. The views are great, especially in the second floor - the roof has wonderful views of the strait and the grand mosques. This was a great view during the NYE celebrations. Atmosphere was great. Overall a five star, but due to the service I give it one star less. For the restaurant, please train your staff better. This is a super hotspot for tourists, your staff better learn better English for service.

We went here on the recommendation of my friend. and we really liked it. appetizers and meals were very very tasty and fresh. We had an unforgettable evening at Mesai. The food quality was great, the atmosphere and ambiance outstanding. Staff were kind and attentive too. Highly recommended for a modern Turkish Raki dinner. I definitely recommend you try it. thank you for the amazing evening🙏

Amazing food, great views and superb service , must visit place in Karaköy.👍🏼 The food is amazing, really delicious. Best mezze is by far called “Müdür”, this is a special mezze which you will only find here. The menu has a lot of variety both fish and meat dishes. They offer all the mezze’s as gluten free if you tell them you have gluten allergy, which makes this place really unique. I would recommend to order 4-5 mezze for 2 people to share and main dishes. After 9:30pm, Turkish music plays and people start to dance next to their tables. It’s not a nightclub necessarily but it’s an authentic experience to see, since you will most likely find locals. The views are also great and everything inside is super luxurious. Apart from food, music and atmosphere being super nice, service is excellent 👍🏼👏🏼 They are super fast, friendly and caring. The staff will take care of all your needs.

The Food was incredibly delicious. The partial view of the Golden Horn was nice. Even though there were a few tables at 3 p.m. the service was terrible. We had to wait 20 minutes for the wine to arrive. When finally the check came it was ludicrously expensive. I don’t think I will go back again.

We had an unforgettable evening at Mesai. The food quality was great, the atmosphere and ambiance outstanding. Staff were kind and attentive too. Highly recommended for a modern Turkish Raki dinner.

I staying at this hotel for 6 nights and dining at the Mesai Restaurant for three consecutive nights. The food is delicious and I really enjoyed it. Additionally, the staff, particularly Alper who served us, were friendly and always had a smile on their faces. Overall, I highly recommend this restaurant and hotel.

Great food, great service, beautiful restaurant and stunning view. Loved the lambs intestines, chicken wings kebab, and all the various messes. Price is reasonable for such a beautiful place. Would definitely come back.

We had a great time and enjoyed our meal. We were two people and shared starters. They had great taste, only thing is I have no idea why they do it, “they charge per person kuver”. Most place bring complementary and this was not! I wish they let customer that it’s not. So other than it’s a good place to come and eat. For next time, I would prefer to go the different place.

The food is great (really), the view is incredible and the service is kind and fast. However the music is really really loud, you have to shout with someone right in front of you. Also, if you don't smoke, I'm sorry but you will end up passively smoking the whole night and your clothes will all stink as ashtray. Only recommend if you are a smoker looking for a pre party place.

This is a beautiful place with a spectacular view and food is very good. The only issue I can say was that they brought our hot food first which got cold by the time they brought bread. Overall everything was good and we will eat here again.

One of the best places to have high quality appetizers and Turkish music. I loved the atmosphere and ambient with friendly and super helpful staff including Rahman And Osman . Will come back for sure

We stayed at Galata hotel for a hen party and booked Mesai for dinner. The service was amazing and staff were very helpful, always smiling and extremely welcoming. Food was great, a very wide range of options choose from. We were given a table with a beautiful view of Istanbul. Music was a mixture of current Turkish and old school classics. The restaurant atmosphere is classy and high. Thank you for a great service and will highly recommend

Keyifli An'ların yeri olmuş...Mezeler,mutfak, mekan, hizmet ve alkollerde kisaca memnuniyet💯

(Translated by Google) Whether it's the best appetizers I've eaten in a long time, or "kokoreçmi" in ash, whatever we've tried is great. The chief must be congratulated. Other than that, the music is fine. A pleasant business, we will come again. (Original) Uzun süre sonra yediğim en iyi mezelermi desem, ara sıcaklarda ki külde kokoreçmi desem, neyi denediysek harika. Şefi tebrik etmek lazım. Onun dışında müzikler gayet iyi. Keyifli bir işletme, tekrar geleceğiz.

Impressive place and lovely people. They are making people's night memorable.

Disappointing. We booked a table for rooftop. But they gave us a very bad table downstairs.never come back

Beautiful rooftop restaurant at Galata Istanbul Hotel. Stunning views across the Bosphorous and the bustling city of Istanbul. All the historical sites are lit up in different colours, amazing views, fabulous selection of mezze and friendly helpful and well informed staff. Rahman was excellent. A must visit if heading to Istanbul!