My new Turkish friends took me here three times in a week. I think it must have been a particular favorite of theirs as the other restaurants we used within Izmir itself were equally good. Maybe the location of this restaurant was better for them, it’s on the highway out of Izmir about 10 minutes from Konak towards Cesme. It has its own car park, so maybe that feature clinched it. The standard recommendation is always "eat where the locals eat" so I suppose if you're following that maxim, the Naci Usta is the place to eat.
The location of this restaurant was superb, set in between the coastal highway and the sea; most of the tables were outside in an open grassy dining area.
The food was excellent. We had fish (which you chose for yourself from the counter) or a Turkish barbecued meat dish. The quality could not have been better. If only I could remember what they were called. In typical Turkish fashion, the almost continual supply of starters and salads begins shortly after you are seated and precedes the main course by at least an hour. This enables diners to make the most of the relaxing surroundings as the sun goes down. Our starters included tomato, mint and onion salad, various breads, a hummus-type dish and aubergine in various tasty guises. My hosts were treating me, so I can only guess at the price, but I'm told Izmir is much cheaper than Istanbul.
Turks are not big on desserts, so we tended to round off our meal either with a Turkish coffee (my own favorite) or a tea, which my Turkish hosts tended to take black and sweet.
The only negative point, more for my fellow diners than for me, was the specter of the Greek football team overcoming tournament favorites the Czech Republic live on the large outdoor TV screen while we ate one night. I happened to be out there at the tail end of Euro 2004. Worse, of course, was to follow on Sunday, as they ended up winning the final with Portugal. A national day of mourning followed ...