{"id":359437,"date":"2026-07-03T02:28:42","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T02:28:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/359437\/"},"modified":"2026-07-03T02:28:42","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T02:28:42","slug":"longtime-houston-restaurant-announces-last-day-after-29-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/359437\/","title":{"rendered":"Longtime Houston restaurant announces last day after 29 years"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brothers Zubeyir and Mesut Dundar, who own Istanbul Grill at 5613 Morningside Dr., revealed in early June on social media<\/a> that the shop would be closing in July. They said “lease circumstances” beyond their control led them to shut down the restaurant after a nearly 30-year run.\u00a0In a\u00a0follow-up post<\/a> about a week later, they wrote that they were “moved beyond words” by “the love, the memories, and the support” shared since their announcement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The response to Istanbul Grill & Deli’s closure announcement has stretched beyond social media. The Dundars told Chron Istanbul Grill has seen a steady stream of customers hoping to visit one last time before it closes\u2014nearly tripling the amount of food the staff has prepared over the past four weeks.<\/p>\n

Zubeyir Dundar told\u00a0Chron one longtime customer drove nearly 55 miles to the restaurant after hearing the news. He said it brought him to tears when he sat down with her.<\/p>\n

“It’s heartbreaking,” Zubeyir said.”I try to hold my emotion, but people are crying and I’m crying. I know it’s going to be tough, but it’s OK. This is not just a business. You share so many things with the people.”<\/p>\n

Zubeyir\u00a0and Mesut\u00a0opened Istanbul Grill in 1998, billing itself as the “first and most authentic” Turkish restaurant in Houston. And while the restaurant may be closing, it may not be the end for the Dundar family’s business. When asked about the possibility of reopening, Dilan, Zubeyir’s daughter, told Chron she and the rest of the family remain hopeful. But it will take some time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“We own the restaurant. We don’t own the building and the decision wasn’t made on the timeline we would have liked and there’s a power imbalance that we were kind of at the mercy of,” Dilan said. “Opening a restaurant isn’t an overnight decision\u2026it requires a lot of effort.”<\/p>\n

Leading up to its last day, the Dundars have also set up a “Staff Appreciation & Support Fund” GoFundMe with all proceeds going toward supporting staff and their families, including employees who have been working there for decades.<\/p>\n

Dilan was 2 years old when Istanbul Grill & Deli opened. Today, she helps her father with the restaurant’s operations and communications. She said the family will likely offer a limited menu during the restaurant’s final week and is planning to do something celebratory before its closure.<\/p>\n

“I think there’s so much gratitude, and it’s also exhausting,” Dilan said. “Right now it’s so loud and busy and big and emotional. After the 19th, I think the silence is going to be jarring.”<\/p>\n

Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to reflect Istanbul Grill & Deli is closing July 19. Zubeyir Dundar’s name has been corrected throughout the piece.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brothers Zubeyir and Mesut Dundar, who own Istanbul Grill at 5613 Morningside Dr., revealed in early June on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":359438,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[1703,1704,56,58,57],"class_list":["post-359437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-chronfood","tag-chronstaff","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=359437"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359437\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/359438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=359437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=359437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=359437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}