★★★★☆ Welcome to fireeater's neighborhood! This is a completely halal Turkish restaurant located in Tenleytown in Northwest DC near the Maryland border. This dining area is airy, bright, spacious, and gleaming (really) with capable of holding probably about 100 moderately well-shodden diners. Street parking can be a little bit tight, but as you drive down 41st Street and pass the restaurant on your right, turn right and find plentiful parking on one of the side streets still recovering from the Burning of Washington during the War of 1812. Bring the 2002 BMW M Roadster in Phoenix Yellow Metallic (1 of 39 ) and park in peace.
The menu serves typical Turkish fare, and like most Turkish restaurants, its entrees range from from $15 to $30. This author tried the Olive Bistro Traditional Breakfast Platter ($23), a large platter with a typical Turkish breakfast of cheese, olives, salami, pastrami, sausages, and their signature bread with jam, honey, Nutella, and butter. If you haven't had a Turkish breakfast before, it's worth a try, though you might have already had each of the components. The freshly-made bread is served hot and keeps the Cheesecake Factory VP of free bread awake at night (the brown bread is now sold in supermarkets). The fried calamari ($12) is made to crispiness perfection and is served with a garlic sauce. The various baklava (price is about ~$1-2 dollar a piece) was a disappointment with its soft texture and off flavor. The Turkish tea ($2 for a small, $3 for a large 16oz) was weak and disappointing in that it did not come with the pot, Turkish style.
Overall, this is an excellent restaurant earning 4/5 stars, but with the impending alcohol, will earn itself massive demerits per protocol, docking 2 stars. In the meantime, keep an eye out for fireeater, who lives across the street and plays Frogger on his way over. Posted on September 25, 2018 |