6 of the tastiest Turkish restaurants in Vienna

Their wood charcoal oven is their pride and glory at Diwan Holzkohlegrill, as the name suggests.

You can go for any one of Diwans’ three locations and you’ll get delicious Turkish dishes, with a modern twist added to them.

Their Favoriten (10th district) location is a funky-looking place, with (fake) cowhide booth seat covers and mighty big industrial lights hanging from the ceiling. The design of the place is really well thought through and original.

Diwan specializes in a charcoal grill, and we gotta say, they really do make a mean Sofeli (a spicy minced lamb and veal skewer). It’s served up with toasted bread, yogurt, and a homemade tomato sauce. Their list of dishes being cooked up on the grill is extensive, including lamb chops to lamb skewers, to a very tasty Iskender (döner kebab prepared from thinly cut grilled lamb, topped with hot tomato sauce over pita bread). They’ve also got a mixed meat plate in the mix – ‘Diwan’s Mosaik.’

After our mains, we went for the ‘Paree,’ which is a Semolina dessert, with a honey-sugar syrup poured over the time, and served with a dollop of Maraş ice cream.  If you haven’t had the luck to try Maraş in Turkey yet, you’ve got to order this. But please, if you ever have the chance, try it in Turkey, as the whole experience of buying it from a traditional ice cream vendor is what makes it so special.

What is very unique about this restaurant is their fun twist on the traditional Turkish starter Mezze dishes. Even though original Mezze is * insert chefs kiss noise* their “Humpa”(Hummus topped with Pastirma, which is a kind of beef jerky) and their “Kuttl” soup (or in Turkish İşkembe Çorbası, which is essentially a tripe soup) tastes just like in modern restaurants in Izmir (Google map it). This really won Diwan extra points in our Turkish cuisine-loving hearts.

Located at the busy market of the 16th district, Brunnemarkt, Lokanta Oase may not seem spectacular, but looks are deceiving in this instance.

Sitting in their Schanigarten and sipping a tea whilst listening to the white noise of the market is, as the name promises, a real mind-calming oasis.

Thanks to their extensive menu of large portion dishes, nobody will leave this place hungry.

The folks behind Oase have been serving up home-cooked Turkish meals since 1989.

From Adana Kebab to their special Oase Köfte, they have pretty much all the Turkish goodness you could want from a place doing things traditionally, and all of it is attached to very fair prices.

We imagine taking the stranger you meet the night before at Yppenplatz for a Menemen ( Turkish-Vegetable Omelet) breakfast after a night of…ummm… talking.

You probably don’t know this place if you’re not Turkish, or a big-time fan of the Turkish kitchen, however, you certainly should check this place out.

If you are more about getting your mouths on (somehow that sounds, wrong, but moving along) some tasty traditional Turkish food, and less about a fine and fancy dining experience, Sentepe is your go-to for a quick bite.

Located in Bergasse, it’s intimate in size and atmosphere and acts as a little escape from the busy streets.

The owner, Ahmet Sentepe, is a forever smiling, hospitable, and kind guy always ready to recommend what dish you should go for. He’ll also join you for a glass of Çay if you start a conversation with him. He’s just that sort of guy. 

You can really tell he loves what he does and that’s probably a big part of how this small and charming place found its way into our hearts and onto this list.

They’ve also got a quality Turkish breakfast on offer, like their Sucuk omelet.

Otherwise, the menu is made up of small mouth grabs, like Döner or falafel sandwiches, selected Mezze bites, and a daily changing lunch menu.

This place may not have a charcoal grill or a big fancy menu, but it makes up for it with piles of Turkish charm.

Damak is located in the 10th District and has been the go-to breakfast spot for Vienna-based Turks for quite some time now. Even though we do agree that their breakfast menu is phenomenal, that’s not the only reason why it made it into this list.

There is also their famous Etli Ekmek ( minced meat on a very thin crispy bread ) and their various Pide variations (Pide is the Turkish take on pizza). It’s topped with various toppings like minced meat, cheese, eggs, spinach. What makes a Pide good is that the bottom is crispy and the toppings plentiful. Nobody likes a – auf guad Wienerisch – “letschad” Pide.

Accompanied with the salty yoghurt drink, Ayran or a Çay, whatever you opt for in the menu here, it will go down a treat.

They also have THE perfect dessert to finish off the meal – Sütlaç. It’s the Turkish equivalent to Milchreis, and while most milk rice is nothing special, this milk rice is some top-tier milk rice.

Their ambience here is uncomplicated.  They have the sink-in-and-relax seats perfect for after-meal food comas’. We almost took a nap after finishing off our meal, but the waiter brought us back to life with some freshly brewed Turkish coffee.

We’re sure you’ve heard of the famous Berliner Döner stand in Vienna’s 7th district as it’s often the answer when somebody asks where the best Döner in the city can be munched on.

But did you know that there is a whole restaurant located right next to the stand by the same crowd?

The Berliner Restaurant & Grill is, as you would suspect, all about what they cook up on their big sizzling grill, which is also responsible for making this place smell glorious. Meanwhile, they also pile up a quality Turkish-style Mezze.

The ambiance reminds us of hipster Turkish places in Ankara.

It’s not very traditional in the sense of Turkish food BUT it has impressive twists and turns on the traditional dishes, and their homemade Ayran will make you wonder how you drank the store bought variety before.

Also, this place is good value. Exhibit A: their daily changing lunch menu is at a low 7.50–8.50 €.

Kent is THE place everyone recommends when talking about Turkish cuisine in Vienna.

Expanded to 6 locations, they have established a name for themselves amongst Vienna’s restaurant scene over the years. We visited their location in the 20th District.

We started our journey through their kitchen with their tasty classic Mercemek, Çorba (lentil soup) that tasted like a Babaanne (grandma from the father’s side of the family) had freshly cooked it up.

Since this place has an impressive selection of vegetarian Turkish dishes, we focused on those. This is just one of the things that make Kent stand apart as not many Turkish places in Vienna offer much in the way of vegetarian options, even though the cuisine consists of plenty amazing meat-free, and even vegan, dishes.

For the main course, we ordered the Imam Baydali (eggplant stuffed with vegetables) and the Sebzeli Yemek (vegetable stew served with rice), and both were phenomenal.

Besides the veggie dishes, Kent also prides itself on the meat dishes it cooks up on the grill, including all the varieties of Kebabs people visit Turkish restaurants for.

For dessert, we shared their Künefe (Turkish sweet cheese dish) and almost jumped out of our seats to kiss the cook, but shyly decided to just leave our number on the table instead (if you’re reading this you lovely cook, please call us…).

The setting is wrapped by deep blue painted walls and golden detailing, emiting a homely feeling with a Turkish touch.

You can come as you are here. We went on a Friday afternoon and the place was PACKED, so it was a little noisy, but once we started on the food, nothing else mattered.

Good to know… they also have a popular breakfast buffet happening from 7am each morning.