Vegan-friendly, Lacto, Ovo, Turkish, International, Beer/Wine
Just ok
Posted on 02 / 26 / 2013I went there twice. First day food was bland, next day it was way better. Service was very polite.
Reviews
First Review by sarahsvati
''Best dinner in Istanbul...''
Posted on 01 / 08 / 2013In your beautiful restaurant we had our best dinner in Istanbul. Thanx for everything.
We will come again when we are back in istanbul.
The food was excellent,
The service very friendly,
The ambience is cozy..
à nouveau pour discuter...
Pros: excellent food, friendly staff, cozy ambienceGood enough place
Posted on 01 / 07 / 2013Lived nearby in the fall of 2011 and visited often. Food was okay but a but boring and dry sometimes.
Pros: Wifi, Location, Alcohol
not very good food..
Posted on 01 / 01 / 2013i was really excited to eat vegan in istanbul ! my bf and me ordered to different kinds of burger and it was disappointing cause there was no sauce with it, very very dry meal and not really tasty. we didnt order a dessert after that. staff was really friendly and the place is really cute but i would not go there anymore.
Pros: friendly staff, cute placeCons: food was not good
such a lovely place
Posted on 10 / 27 / 2012Parsifal was the best place to be in Istanbul for a vegan menu.
We loved the atmosphere there and the dishes were great. Especially we loved the vegan brownie and a vegan cappuccino (we couldn't find another place which could serve soy-milk).
The staff was more then friendly and they are animal rights activists also. We found a fur-free-propaganda at the toilet :)
We couldn't order tofu or other faked "meat", like saitan or something. But I think it's not common in Turkey. Anyway the meal was nice and tasty.
Cons: no tofu options
Points for effort but not great
Posted on 09 / 16 / 2012Very disorganised. We got what was supposed to be a starter with the main course, whilst still eating the other starter. A drink arrived with the bill as if it had been completely forgotten to that point.
Veggie food looked much nicer than vegan. There were few vegan choices and some items listed as vegan were not - e.g. one had honey in. I was brought non vegan mayo with fries which was removed when I asked if it was vegan. So always double check.
A bit tricky to find. Disappointing as we were hoping for so much more.
Cons: Disorganised, Limited vegan choices, Needed to check food really was vegan.
Tasteless and expensive, but the place was nice
Posted on 08 / 09 / 2012The food was tasteless and watery, and crazy expensive. We had four different dishes and only the bread and French fries were OK thanks to ketchup. If the surrounding had not been nice and we had not been able to film there, it would have been a total bummer.
Pros: Nice place, Friendly staff, Good locationCons: Watery food, Expensive, Tasteless
Really great spot!
Posted on 05 / 04 / 2012In our stay in Istanbul, my friend and I visited this place five times.
Most of the menu is vegetarian but they do have quite a few vegan options including a delicious vegan brownie for dessert! Their tahini spinach pastry dish is fantastic, as well as the roasted vegetable dish which is skewered veggies roasted with an amazing tomato sauce and rice. They always serve bread and a herbed olive oil with dinner.
The atmosphere is really nice, cute space. The staff weren't overly nice but they were still fantastic! Our non-veg friend came with us and really enjoyed her dinner. I would definitely recommend anyone to go there.
Delicious!
Posted on 03 / 29 / 2012Last week, we vistited this wonderful city and we went to Taksim just for having dinner at this restaurant, which we found via Happy Cow: It was definitely worth it -- very delicious! The service was very friendly, the atmosphere in the restaurant is elegant and very pleasant (with some nice artsy-fartsy fitments).
BTW: The Google Maps place marker given by happyCow is wrong -- OpenStreetMap shows the right place: http://www.openstreetmap.org/?mlat=41.03632&mlon=28.982463&zoom=18&layers=M
veggie classy
Posted on 01 / 17 / 2012Good food, nice atmosphere and kind service. The atmosphere was like an old Parisienne cafe'. Prices were "ok".
Pros: food, locationA vegetarian oasis!
Posted on 01 / 16 / 2012Turkey has a lot of vegetarian food. However, if you are used to spice and variety, things get dry pretty quickly (every restaurant in the tourist areas seems to have the same five or six vegetarian dishes). Parsifal had a very extensive menu. They don't make everything well (the stir-fry seemed barely Asian) but there is tremendous variety, good-quality ingredients, and helpful staff. Many of the dishes have egg and/or dairy which the staff will point out. A bit hard to find (it is on a side-street of Istiklal), even with our guide (although to be fair, we might have found it more quickly without the guide...). The atmosphere has a nice vibe and the food is not overpriced. There is another vegetarian restaurant close by, which looked interesting. Overall, worth a meal when on Istiklal street.
Not what I expected
Posted on 12 / 26 / 2011The restaurant is in a prime, easy-to find spot in Taksim and the restaurant is cozy and inviting but the food was lackluster. When I said my original order, the waiter urged me to avoid it and suggested a dish of potato patties filled with soy meat. Such highly processed vegan foods aren't my preference.
Pros: location, cozy, non-vegans would likeCons: fake meat use, oily, not raw-friendly
Not bad, could be a bit better
Posted on 12 / 03 / 2011I've been to Parsifal a number of times now and I usually end up getting the Greek style aubergine which has a very interesting smoky taste to it.
The food is generally good but it some of the menu options seems a bit lacking, e.g. some of the veg. burger options are a bit too small and plain - there could be more garnishes and less salad. Also it would be useful if the restaurant indicated which dishes contained egg and whether the bread served is vegan or contains egg. Some of the vegetarian dishes can be heavy on dairy/yoghurt which is not always obvious from the description on the menu.
Location is very good being less than a 5 minute walk from Taksim square, the ambiance is pretty good and the prices are reasonable/average for Istanbul.
Pros: Location, Only serves vegetarian/vegan food, Some interesting dishesCons: Some menu options a bit bland
Makes you want to eat at a non-vegetarian place
Posted on 11 / 25 / 2011The restaurant provides food without meat - but lacks in taste, diversity and any concept of health mindfulness. The mezzes I had at a meydane last night was much better. Parsifal gives the impression of many choices but is heavy on the cheese and dairy. The soup of the day had a cream base.
My husband had the Parsifal special platter which seemed ok - the dolmas were nice, with or without yoghurt and the veggie burger was good but it seemed deep fried and may have had egg in it.
The vegetable stew bore a close resemblance to upscale airplane food. I regret having eaten it.
If you are in the neighborhood, it is ok but I would not go back. The waiters were really nice and accomodating but don't really speak English very well enough to answer questions.
I wish I had nicer things to say about it.
Pros: friendly waiters, Gluten free breadCons: Not so much English
PARSIFAL ISTANBUL
Posted on 11 / 06 / 2011Very good totally vegan/vegetarian restaurant. The food is simple and very tasty, the place is cosy and familiar. Try the mixed salads and the aubergine Greek style...
Pros: Good food, Nice placeCons: Whtie bread only, The waiter did not speak English
Good food, close to city center
Posted on 08 / 28 / 2011My friends and I often go to Parsifal, and many of my meat-eating friends prefer it to other restaurants. Most of them are addicted to the broccoli and potato gratin. I also recommend the roasted eggplant. The salads are very large and fresh. The menus have both Turkish and English. When I ordered a vegan dish, the waiter checked to see if I was vegan. Hot bread is served with olive oil at the beginning of the meal. Foods come with garnishes and sides, so it is a good value for the money you spend.
It is very close to Taksim square on a side street, right across the street from Zencefil.
The atmosphere is very cozy, and its usually not too crowded. Great music. Good coffee, and they also serve wine and beer.
Best place to eat in Istanbul
Posted on 07 / 31 / 2011Even if I were not a vegetarian, I would love to eat here - the food is simply delicious, the service is personalized and friendly, the restaurant is attractive, and the situation is central and perfect. Go especially for their wonderful dishes with yoghurt and spinach.
Pros: excellent food, freiendly service, no smokingCons: great variety
Bland and Disappointing
Posted on 07 / 14 / 2011On the plus side the vegan options are clearly shown on the menu which is in English, but the food is sadly lacking in any flavour. We visited twice (the second time because the restaurant we wanted to visit was closed), trying the potato pies (quite nice), "Apple style potato wedges" (or chunky chips, quite nice as far as chips go), Greek style vegetables (luke warm sick on a plate), Grilled Vegtables (sloppy luke warm veg with Italian seasoning), and Soya Burgers (bizarrly deep fried mashed potato patties with an uncooked soya mince filling). The staff don't speak English and are uninterested in even faking an interest in serving with a pleasant nature. Avoid if you can.
Pros: Vegan food, Menu in English, Nice chipsCons: Bland food, Uninterested staff, Hard to find
not bad but we expected more
Posted on 05 / 03 / 2011We were happy that we could at least find a veg restaurant in Istanbul. However after reading all the reviews we had higher expectations. The food was quite tasty, but the taste of salad was plain - it was amazing that in the country that is leading in olive oil production, there was no dressing in the salad :). Menu was in English, but the staff was not speaking English :) :) In spite of these disadvantages we would recommend this place. Vote is 3,5.
Best bread in Istanbul!
Posted on 04 / 23 / 2011This is a fantastic restaurant, warm and welcoming with delicious food, plus it is good value for money. The staff is very friendly and the chef accommodating. We had dinner twice during our week-long stay in Istanbul and the meal was delicious both times. The bread is freshly baked and you are served both corn bread and wheat bread - both are wonderfully soft and melt in your mouth. The decor is simple, but stylish. The main courses are particularly good value - not to mention hearty, wholesome and nutritionally balanced - as, combined with the delicious warm bread, they can be a meal in themselves if you are on a tight budget. If I ever come back to Istanbul, I will definitely return to Parsifal! Keep up the great work!
Nice bistro-type food
Posted on 03 / 16 / 2011We ate here twice. The menu is huge, the food very tasty, the portions generous and the staff quite easy on the eye ;)
Highly recommended!
Cons: not cheap, but it is very central
Stylish
Posted on 02 / 12 / 2011I visited Parsifal in the end of December 2010. A stylish place. My salad tasted "too healthy" so it did not have any special for being tasty.
Pros: good location, stylishCons: a bit expensive
Good food - BUT ...
Posted on 12 / 13 / 2010After having read all the good reviews about this restaurant, I had very high expectations. The food was good, BUT ... it reads "VEGETARIAN & VEGAN" at the shop's sign, and the staff gets their food at McDonald's during lunch break and eat it right in front of the people who try to enjoy their delicious vegan meal. This was a huge disappointment.
Pros: Good food, Prices are okay, Location relatively easy to findCons: Staff eats meat in front of customers
Simply the best in town!
Posted on 07 / 28 / 2010Simply the best restaurant in Istanbul - vegetarian or otherwise.
Cosy, clean, in the heart of Taksim - the heart of Istanbul, with a gorgeous host, Ayfer. This is home-made vegetarian food at its best.
Go and have a meal there - you won't regret it. And it will make you want to go there again, and again, and again.
Pros: Great food, Great ambience, Most welcoming staffCons: None
PARSİFAL'S THE MARVELOUS RESTAURANT
Posted on 05 / 30 / 2010When I was in istanbul, Parsifal become my favorite restaurant.
Meals were very tasty, place was cosy and people of Parsifal were very friendly. In Parsifal I felt myself as at home.
I wish Parsifal was in Rome as well. I asked them if they planned to open Parsifal's branch in Rome.
Thank you Parsifal, thank you Ms Ayfer( Owner of the restaurant).
Great!
Posted on 04 / 14 / 2010This is a restaurant I frequent a few times a month, and I can easily say it is my favorite vegetarian restaurant in Istanbul. The atmosphere in nice and quiet, the servers helpful and the cook goes out of her way to ensure that customers are happy. The menu is completely vegetarian-friendly with about a third of the items being vegan-friendly. If you're in Istanbul, make sure to drop by and try some of the local vegetarian dishes!
Pros: Good atmosphere, Good food, AffordableCons: Could add more vegan dishes
Great Selection, Worth seeking out !
Posted on 04 / 08 / 2010Me and my partner spent a few days in Istanbul last week and as usual did a bit of research on Happy Cow beforehand.The 1st time we tried to find Parsifal we were unsucessful as the google map was wrong(also powercut and fire at the top of Iskidal Caddesi added to the confusion)Rough Guide has a clearer map so the next night we found it no problem.The interior is pleasant with some good photos hanging up.The waiter was helpful and attentive, the restaurant was very quiet.The menu had an excellent selection, that made it hard to choose what to get.We had starters and mains.I had a delicious pasta with cheese which was very filling.We ordered a salad with it, which was delicious and very fresh.The bill was really cheap for all the food we got.I would recommend this restaurant for Veggies travelling to Istanbul, its hard to find but the food and service were good.
Pros: huge portions, cheap, Great ServiceCons: hard to find from google map
The best in Istanbul
Posted on 08 / 05 / 2009My girlfriend and I were in Istanbul for a week and ate here most of the time. We tried other restaurants too and though some were good the number of options and variance in the food at Parsifal made it our favorite. The staff is very friendly and proficient enough in English. The food itself was delicious, as was the free olive bread. All in all a great place to eat.
Pros: Vegan options, Friendly staff, Lots of choicesCons: Vegan dishes sometimes contain yoghurt
Good place to chill
Posted on 07 / 24 / 2009It has a big awning with a few tables under it on pleasant Kurabiye Sokak.
Inside it reaches back quite far with yellow walls hung with lots of pictures/ photographs. When I took a look at the pictures they were an odd mix, some showing heritage shots from other parts of the world, others animals.. There is wifi and the general atmosphere is calm and pleasant and is good for chilling.
The menu is fairly extensive with different vegetarian standbys including a couple of Chinese styled dishes such as stir fry.
First I had bread with olive oil. The mustard seed and olive bread was especially good.
I had the artichoke salad which came without the dressing listed on the menu. It was made up largely of iceberg lettuce. Very plain tasting.
They have an enticing list of fresh juices but they were out of most of them except for the basics such as orange. This seemed strange as the fruits were in season. They had plum juice though and it was really yummy.
The food was basic so that it made it definitely expensive at between YTL15-20
Pros: chilled space with wifi, centralCons: food
Çok güzel
Posted on 06 / 21 / 2009I love this little cosy restaurant on one of the side streets of İstiklal. The place is nice and calm and you can realy enjoy your meal. I preferd the burgurs but everyting that I've tasted was cok güzel, as the ruks would say.
Pros: Tasty food, Good price, Nicely decoratedCons: Expencive and small water bottles
Less good than anticipated
Posted on 06 / 11 / 2009After having read the reviews here, we looked really forward to visit this reataurant, but were somewhat disappointed by the taste of the food. It is a relieve to find one place in Istanbul that serves vegetarian food, but in fact the made for us vegetarian options in the non-vegetarian places had much more taste than this one.
Great place
Posted on 03 / 25 / 2009The food is really good, people working there were always extremely kind and happy to see that I am a vegan.
Getting free internet was nice too.
delicious place
Posted on 02 / 24 / 2009the place is a nice homey restaurant with a good selection of vegetarian dishes at good price.
The staff is very kind.
They have three or four vegan dishes, all are delicious and we really enjoy the vegan homemade bread and the salads are simply great!
Nice vegetarian and vegan selection
Posted on 01 / 19 / 2009This restaurant is still called 'Parsifal' and is still 100% vegetarian. I'm not sure what the previous reviewer was talking about.
The menu is written in English and Turkish and about 1/3 of the items are vegan. I recommend trying the more traditional Turkish dishes like chard dolma and veggies baked in a clay pot. Entrees run about 12 TL maximum.
I enjoyed Parsifal. It's a great vegetarian oasis in an often meat-centric Istanbul.
Pros: Yummy, filling bread, Traditional Turkish dishesCons: Can be smoky
New Name
Posted on 06 / 01 / 2007The place has changed it's namee to CORE. They offer about 6 veggie dishes the rest is not veggie at all. The meal I had was the best of all the meals while in Istanbul. They have added entertainment, which was good, you will be charged 20ytl per peson. Recomend Pasta dish and home made veggie burger.
Pros: Good food, Great and helpful service, RecomendedCons: Everyone smokes ALWAYS, Entertainment fee
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The one that's changed to "core" is "nature and peace" not "parsifal".Parsifal is still open and serving vegetarian food.