I'm going to Istanbul with my family in about a week or so to celebrate my mother's 50th birthday where we will also be meeting with other friends and family there, in total around 20 of us.
We want to have a visit to a restaurant in Istanbul on the birthday itself and naturally decided to look at some places on Google maps.
After looking through a couple of places we decided on this place (https://maps.app.goo.gl/86iDxzpoCh15rfrp6) as it seemed to have many good reviews and was in the centre.
However, I started to raise suspicions today as I have realised that many of the lower rated reviews mention that it assumed that the reviews had been bought and paid for, as well as the fact that this place had higher reviews than Michelin star restaurants in the same city. As well as this, I started to remember that the reservation process was not easy either and was very strange in general.
I would like to ask if there is a Turkish website where I could look at honest reviews for places as Google doesn't seem trustworthy. I would also appreciate if people could let me know of any places that aren't too expensive in Istanbul that still do quality food. We have some vegetarians/vegans in our group so anywhere that could accommodate this would be appreciated. Thanks for the read.
TLDR: 1st restaurant I reserved probably is a scam, any recommendations for new ones for around 20 people?