Turkish ebru paintings, silk carpets, handmade glassware — Bosphorous Turkish Cuisine’s Wesley Chapel location doesn’t look like a strip-mall restaurant, even though it sits at The Shops at Wiregrass next to Brighton Collectibles.
The menu runs deep into dishes rarely found elsewhere in Pasco County: lavas (hollow bread) and babaganoush to start, moussaka and slow-braised lamb — one of the kitchen’s most-ordered dishes — for the main course, and pistachio baklava or Turkish pineapple delight to finish. Vegetarian and gluten-free options run throughout the menu, not just as an afterthought section. This is the restaurant’s seventh location and its first in Pasco County, part of a chain that’s been running since 2004, when it opened in Winter Park under owners Doved and Tammy Sexter.
For a shopping center anchored mostly by national chains, Bosphorous stands out simply by being something genuinely different — there isn’t another sit-down Turkish restaurant in Wesley Chapel, or anywhere else in Pasco County, to compare it to.
As of this writing, the Wesley Chapel location runs a daily happy hour from 3 to 6pm with drinks half off — worth timing a visit around if you’re there early.
Good to know: Bosphorous Turkish Cuisine, 28330 Paseo Drive, Unit 105, The Shops at Wiregrass, Wesley Chapel, FL 33543. (727) 634-3006. Open Sunday–Thursday 3–9pm, Friday–Saturday 3–10pm. Dine-in and online ordering both available.