Lumi Restaurant

Excellent service and traditional Turkish cuisine. The lamb shank was soooo tender but the side of whipped potatoes and vegetables were tv-dinner like...disappointing bc the lamb was perfect. The traditional Turkish dish with yogurts and pistachios reminded me of a Turkish enchiladas. And they were so good, with a nice grilled flavor!We sat outside on a lovely fall evening. Located on Nicollet mall so parking is pretty tough.

Beautiful downtown restaurant with a very large and international menu that includes dishes from India, China, France, Turkey, Italy and many other countries as well as pizza, burgers and fried chicken. Since I'm always a bit skeptical that a restaurant can do so many cuisines well, we stuck to the Turkish foods since the owners are Turkish. The mezze /assortment of dips was amazing. A hot pita-style bread that is puffed like a pillow was brought out alongside a plate of 6 different cold dips including a smoky eggplant dip, a roasted red pepper hummus, a carrot dip, a beet dip and a yogurt dip. All were very tasty. The halloumi cheese was served warm, which was nice but needed more salt and a spicier honey. The hot Turkish dishes were generally good. Over two visits, I tried the lumi special kabob, which was a kabob rolled in a thin pita and cut into slices and served with a dipping sauce, which was good though a little dry for stuck. My friend got a beef casserole that had amazing flavor - my favorite of all the dishes we tried. The kabob platter was flavorful but a little small for the price and some of the meats were a tad dry. The hunkar begendi was odd. Though I love eggplant, it was a bit slimy, and the meat and mozzarella didn't work well with it, resulting in a somewhat sweaty locker room smell and taste. I returned that dish. For desserts, the basque cheesecake was very good, and the rice pudding was pretty good as well. A good downtown spot for some diverse food and large groups. They also have a nice rooftop bar that serves very basic drinks.

Walking in, I was very skeptical of this place. The decor is a bit haphazard. I'm not entirely sure what time they were going for. But the food was delicious.We started with the dip sample (Mezze) and it was amazing. Quite frankly, I could've ordered that as the entire meal just for myself.I was pleased to see they had a number of vegetarian and vegan options. I ended up, ordering the vegetarian kebabs, which were delightful. Often when I order that type of dish, it is very blah, but these were well seasoned and company with delicious rice. My friends I'll order the meat dishes. I can't review them because I didn't taste them, but they were all very happy. I would definitely return to this restaurant.

Lumi describes themselves as serving Turkish and international cuisine, so I decided to try one of their Turkish specialties as I love Turkish cuisine. Their version of an Adana Kebab was...well, I guess it was an *attempt* by a mid-west city of Scandinavian folks to produce Turkish cuisine.Their Adana Kebab itself was pretty good - it lacked much seasoning, but it was a well formed and well grilled skewer of lamb/beef. However, the slaw and side of vegetables was laughable. The slaw was unseasoned, undressed shredded cabbage - like a bag of Dole slaw mix from the grocery store was dumped on the plate. And the side of "sautéed" vegetables were...not sautéed. They looked like a $0.33 smattering of frozen vegetables that were briefly steamed and lightly salted.The ambiance of the place is pretty great - even on a Monday night the outdoor patio and indoor restaurant was pretty full and lively. Unfortunately, the service at the bar was really poor. For instance, I sat for an uncomfortably long time before being acknowledged, my server forgot to bring the "puffy bread" I requested, and after taking my water glass to refill it...never brought me a refill. I also didn't appreciate their undisclosed fee of $1.05 for paying by credit card.The menu sounds enticing, but with so many dining options in Minneapolis, I don't think I will return.

The decor was beautiful. The location is close to lot of things so it was convenient. Server was nice but it was on the slower side. The food was very bland . Rice had no seasoning not even salt. Pickled cabbage was good but was given tiny portion. Chicken kabab was so bland , beef was bland sauce was bland . Portions are tiny . The sauce they gave tasted like mayo no flavor at all . Overall price was not worth the meal we had today. Food was fresh so that's a positive. Also one of us had chicken tiki masala and it was decent. But if you want good Turkish food look somewhere else

Best food I have had since visiting Minneapolis!! The service is superb, the atmosphere is just elegance with a touch of casual. I love the outdoor seating area, which is lush and green and well lit. I'm sure in the winter it is different haha. The food is perfection! I had the beef stroganoff and it was OMG delish! My son had a dish I cannot pronounce but it was like a mashed eggplant with beef on top, super duper good!! I wish I can eat here daily! But I'm back in Florida only dreaming lol if you're in town, stop by, and enjoy the amazing service by beautiful girls with the best customer service every

Great place and great ambience!Went there on a Christmas Day for dinner with friends ! Had a great time!

Restaurant had good reviews on yelp and close walking distance from Hyatt where I was for a conference. I ordered Meze as my lunch. Most items on it including baba ghanoush were not authentic Mediterranean versions. Falafel was extremely salty. Only good thing was the Pita bread served. None of the burgers on menu were available. Not sure if it is a temporary thing or...Server seemed new and provided adequate service at best.

We came here on a Monday evening. The patio was bustling but there were many empty tables indoors. Their menu is very extensive with dishes across several cuisines. However they said they were a Turkish restaurant so I stuck with the classic Mediterranean items.My lentil soup was delicious with the right amount of butter. Even though the menu said it was made with red lentils, the soup was yellow. My cold mezze plate was all dips and they all tasted great. The problem though was that they didn't give me bread with the platter. When I asked for bread to accompany the dips they had to bake me a piece which took another 5-10 minutes. I don't know why it wasn't intuitive to bring it out at the same time.Service was overall slow which hurt the rating. The waiter was nice but didn't know anything about the alcohol menu since the restaurant only recently got their alcohol license.

Why do I need to enter 85 characters in order for you to accept my saying yes to recommending this good restaurant??