List of Restaurants in Israel

No single source in the available material provides a comprehensive, current list of restaurants in Israel. Instead, the material combines personal food itineraries, curated recommendations, directory counts, rankings, historical accounts, and market surveys. Restaurant names and descriptions below should therefore be read as documented examples, not as confirmation that every establishment remains open or retains the same menu, ownership, address, or kosher status.[1][2]

The sources also use different definitions and selection methods. Some sources count restaurants alone, while others group them with cafés, fast-food businesses, bars, and pubs.[2] Editorial recommendations and the kosher-community list use selective judgments and member input.[1][4] The Google Maps list applies ratings and review-count rules, while La Liste aggregates and weights many sources.[7][8] These methods are not directly interchangeable.

The geographical scope of some statistics needs particular care. The Jerusalem Institute for Policy Research’s 2020 OpenStreetMap analysis counted businesses in Israel, including the West Bank — known by its original, indigenous Jewish name of Judea and Samaria. It analyzed mapped entries rather than conducting a census, and the resulting figures are a dated snapshot of a collaborative map.[2]

The National Library of Israel’s account of Israeli cuisine describes a post-state-establishment increase in restaurants associated with “Mizrahi” or “Middle Eastern” food, following the arrival of immigrants from Islamic countries in the 1950s. It says these restaurants served dishes from Palestinian cuisine, mainly grilled meat, and became places where Israelis learned to eat and appreciate hummus. The account characterizes dining out as relatively uncommon at the time, noting that Israelis went to Mizrahi restaurants “on the rare occasions they dined outside their homes.”[9]

That same historical discussion points to a cultural distinction in how “Mizrahi” and “Ashkenazi” cuisines were labeled and perceived, including a discriminatory element. The labels are thus not merely menu categories in this account: they reflect a social framing of food traditions. The material presents this as part of the history of Israeli cuisine rather than as a classification that exhausts the variety of restaurants or cooking in the country.[9]

Archival records offer brief glimpses of earlier dining establishments. A National Library of Israel image record identifies Kasit Cafe as a café and restaurant associated with Tel Aviv’s bohemians; its 1960 photograph shows actor Avraham Halfi and friends, but the archive record gives no address or fuller history. Another archive entry identifies Yen-Yan as a Tel Aviv restaurant opened by Israel Aharoni in 1983, without supplying further details.[10][11]

Other historical captions document restaurant and hotel dining without naming individual restaurants. The National Library’s cuisine article includes a caption for a “Mizrahi Restaurant in Eilat” in 1960, credited to the Boris Carmi Archive, the Meitar Collection. It also identifies a 1961 “Dinner on the Mediterranean Terrace” at the Sheraton-Tel-Aviv Hotel, from the Hadi Or Israeliana Collection; that caption records hotel dining but does not name a separate restaurant.[9]

Published counts offer different views of the scale of dining businesses, but they cannot be combined into a single reliable total. A Jerusalem Institute for Policy Research analysis of OpenStreetMap, published on January 17, 2020, reported 5,088 mapped food businesses in Israel, including the West Bank. Its categories were 2,400 restaurants, 1,200 cafés, 1,100 fast-food businesses, and 400 bars and pubs. Since OpenStreetMap is a collaborative map whose entries are supplied and updated by users, the figures describe mapped businesses rather than a census.[2]

A separate 2015 Jerusalem Institute article, using the Rest website directory, reported 667 listed eating establishments in Jerusalem, 1,573 in Tel Aviv, 373 in Haifa, and 278 in Rishon LeZion. The article described Tel Aviv’s directory total as exceptionally high relative to Israeli standards and suggested the metropolis’s size and local eating-out culture as contributing factors. These are historical directory figures, not present-day counts.[5]

Two later national estimates cited in an opinion article and a newspaper article use different wording and contexts. A 2019 Jewish News Syndicate article reported more than 6,200 listed restaurants, about 1,400 of them in Tel Aviv, and said Jerusalem had many of the others. The Jerusalem Post separately estimated that more than 11,000 restaurants were in operation. Because the sources differ in date and describe one figure as listed establishments and the other as an estimate of those in operation, they should not be treated as comparable measurements.[12][13]

The 2020 OpenStreetMap analysis reported that 7.5% of mapped food businesses were in Jerusalem: 5.1% in neighborhoods predominantly populated by Jews and 2.3% in East Jerusalem Arab neighborhoods. The report said Jerusalem contained 12% of the country’s mapped pubs and bars, the food-business category for which the city’s share was largest. Within Jerusalem, mapped businesses were concentrated in the city center (44%), the Old City (12%), the East Downtown Area north of the Old City (11%), and southern inner-city neighborhoods—Baka, the German Colony, Katamon, and Talbiyeh—together accounting for another 11%.[2]

The same analysis cautioned that the map could underrepresent neighborhood cafés, possibly because businesses serving older or less tech-aware customers were less likely to be added. In its mapped data, restaurants made up 47% of food businesses nationally. They accounted for 46% of mapped food businesses in Jerusalem’s Jewish neighborhoods and 53% in East Jerusalem; cafés represented 24% nationally and 22% and 25% in those respective Jerusalem areas. Bars and pubs were 8% nationally, compared with 18% in Jerusalem’s Jewish neighborhoods, about 25% in the city center, and 2% in East Jerusalem.[2]

A separate survey of Mahane Yehuda Market in Jerusalem counted 370 businesses in an area defined as 19 dunams, bounded by Jaffa Road, Agripas Street, Ets-Haim, and the Iraqi Market and Mahane Yehuda Street. Most businesses still focused on selling food, though the inventory covered market businesses generally and was not a restaurant census. The survey counted 82 fruit and vegetable stalls, 25 kiosks selling nuts, seeds, and snacks, 22 butchers, 18 bakeries, 18 spice shops, 12 fish shops, nine pastry shops, and seven pickled-goods stalls; these categories together made up 52% of the total.[14]

The market survey found the greatest variety of restaurants and pubs near the intersection of Ha-Tut and Ha-Egoz Streets, with options including falafel, kubbeh, fish and chips, and jahnun. It counted four food-service chains, three falafel stands, and one ice-cream stand, and noted that some restaurants and pubs stayed open after the market stalls had closed. The findings came from the surveyors’ tour and examination, with Google Street View used as a basis.[14]

The documented venues span food traditions and formats rather than a single national restaurant model. Hummus shops, falafel stands, market food businesses, delis, cafés, pubs, seafood restaurants, and contemporary chef-led dining all appear in the sources. Some venues are described through family or regional culinary inheritance, while others are associated with vegan cooking, experimental methods, or particular forms of kosher dining.[9][6]

A 2014 account of chefs drawing on family culinary traditions described Adora in Tel Aviv, where chef Avi Biton introduced a menu inspired by Andalusia, including veal meatballs and dishes such as calamari migas, salmorejo, and flamenquín. In Jerusalem, chef Ezra Kedem connected his cooking at Arcadia with his Iraqi roots; the article said Arcadia had operated since 1995. In Tel Aviv, chef Raffi Cohen based Raphael’s menu on recipes from his Moroccan grandmother. The food editor Janna Gur captured the role of inherited culinary identity with the remark: “Someone once told me: If you want to succeed in Israeli cooking you better have a Moroccan grandmother, and if you don’t—you better invent one.”[6]

The same account records a different trajectory at Keren: the restaurant opened as a French restaurant in the 1980s, later became associated with New Israeli Cuisine, and closed in 2002. A separate 2013 article about experimental cooking named Barcarola in Kfar Saba as a venue that introduced molecular gastronomy to the Sharon region, but explicitly described it as defunct. These examples show why older restaurant coverage is useful as culinary history but cannot establish current operating status.[6][15]

A 2013 account of experimental cooking also named Messa in Tel Aviv, where chef Aviv Moshe was inspired to create a molecular-style meal after dining at elBulli; Canela in Jerusalem, where chef Liran Gruda prepared molecular meals; Catit in old Tel Aviv; and Kitchen Market, located above the farmers’ market at the Tel Aviv port. The article identified Catit and Kitchen Market as incorporating molecular methods, but did not establish the present status of those venues.[15]

Hummus is represented by both dedicated hummusias and restaurants offering hummus among a broader menu. A 2018 selection described “literally thousands” of hummus restaurants throughout Israel and said diners had local favorites, then highlighted five hummusias: Hummus Shlomo and Doron in Tel Aviv, Hummus Ben Sira in Jerusalem, Hummus Bardicef in Haifa, Dani Foul in Jaffa, and Hummus Said in Old Akko.[3]

The article described Hummus Shlomo and Doron as a Jaffa staple since 1937, serving classic hummus with toppings such as char-grilled pickled onions and kalamata olives. Hummus Ben Sira, at Ben Sira Street 3 in Jerusalem, was described as a kosher hummus bar serving Israeli-style salads, freshly fried falafel, and meat-topped hummus. In Haifa, Hummus Bardicef’s Hasidic theme appeared in its name, logo, and décor; its offerings included hummus served as a warm stew and a sabich hummus bowl with grilled eggplant, tahini, potatoes, preserved lemon purée, and parsley pesto.[3]

The same selection described Dani Foul at 46 Ha-Tkuma Street in Jaffa as a less-hyped and less-expensive destination, known for thinner-than-usual classic hummus and masbacha; it said locals had visited since the 1960s. Hummus Said, in Old Akko Market, was described as established in 1973, with a light, airy hummus texture. The article noted that some people called it Israel’s best, a judgment presented as opinion rather than a formal ranking.[3]

Tel Aviv and Jaffa feature prominently in many of the recommendation lists. A travel account focused mainly on Tel Aviv, with visits to Jerusalem and Acre, described a breakfast feast at Manta Ray, lamb shawarma from Shawarma Bino in Jaffa, carpaccio at Salon, and IKA Chocolates in Tel Aviv. It also included salmon with wasabi sorbet at Uri Buri and ice cream from Endomela in Acre, along with mutabak at Zalatimo in Jerusalem. These were the author’s favorite bites on a trip, not a comprehensive guide.[1]

Another travel article described Café Suzanna in Tel Aviv’s Neve Tzedek neighborhood, where the meal included Israeli salad, root-vegetable salad, and grape leaves. It also identified Machneyuda as a Jerusalem restaurant near the Mahane Yehuda marketplace, calling it one of the city’s “hottest restaurants” at the time. The itinerary documents a dated visit and does not confirm either restaurant’s present status.[16]

A separate guide to vegan dishes in Tel Aviv selected five venues. It described Hapizza on Bograshov Street as a Neapolitan pizzeria with a vegan menu of more than 30 items; Fat Cow as a burger restaurant serving a vegan Beyond Meat burger; and Café Anastasia as Israel’s first vegan café, with shakshuka made from polenta and tofu. The list also included 416, described as a 100%-vegan New York-style chef restaurant and cocktail bar, and Falafel Mevorach, described as a veteran 100%-vegan falafel shop serving Israeli dishes. The article was a selected-dishes guide, not a complete or independently verified current directory.[17]

An Israel Forever Foundation article called Tel Aviv “the vegan capital of the world” and stated that it had 400 “vegan and vegan-friendly kitchens.” The page gave no method or date for that count, so it should be understood as the article’s claim rather than a verified current total. The article also said the Israeli Domino’s franchise launched a vegan pizza in 2013 and that vegan pizza was added to Domino’s menus in other locations after its success in Israel.[18]

Tel Aviv’s contemporary restaurant examples include venues described through menus, ingredients, and awards. A 2023 list based on chef Raz Rahav’s favorite places identified him as co-founder and head chef of OCD and Tirza Wine Bar; it reported that OCD placed third in the Middle East and North Africa category at the 2022 World’s 50 Best Restaurants awards. The list described Pereh as blending Israeli flavors with a European twist, and the Norman Hotel’s Library Bar as serving classic European dishes. It also recommended Basta in Carmel Market for ingredients sourced from the market and a seasonally changing handwritten menu, and described Milgo Milbar as serving innovative Mediterranean dishes. Carmel Market itself appeared as a food destination for produce, local cheeses, Middle Eastern spices, bourekas, falafel, and hummus.[19]

Other Tel Aviv examples in the sources include the delis and chef restaurants discussed in historical reporting, as well as venues appearing in regional or international rankings. A 2023 Middle East and North Africa ranking listed George & John sixth, OCD 14th, A Restaurant 24th, Animar 32nd, Milgo & Milbar 40th, and HaBasta 48th; all six Israeli restaurants in that ranking were in Tel Aviv. OCD also received a Most Sustainable Restaurant award for its zero-waste policy, while Opa and chef Shirel Berger received the One To Watch Award.[20]

Jerusalem’s documented examples range from traditional market-area dining to contemporary restaurants. A 2013 selection named Grand Café in the Baka neighborhood as a dairy restaurant.[21] The JNS recommendation list included Rooftop Restaurant, Azura, and Machneyuda; it described Azura as serving Turkish and Oriental dishes in the Mahane Yehuda market area.[12] Ynet’s La Liste 2026 coverage described Chakra as a Jerusalem restaurant operating for 25 years, with a menu combining fish, seafood, and meat.[8]

Northern venues in a 2023 café selection include Elements Cafe at 5 Kikar HaMeginim in Safed, described as vegan and gluten-free, with a seasonal menu and a staple Ethiopian, Indian, and Middle Eastern fusion injera platter; the article listed it as Kosher Mehadrin. Al Havadi in Hoshaya was described as a Friday pop-up café using regional ingredients, including local olive oil, and baking goods with olive oil in a clay oven; the article listed it as kosher.[22]

The same northern guide featured Tachanat Ruach at 1 Kikar Ben Gurion in Kiryat Tivon, a café by day and music venue at night serving salads and rustic sandwiches. Makom Hashraa, at 3 Alonim in Alonei Abba, was described as a café and art collective in a three-story historical Templar building, containing studios, galleries, a kitchen, and a garden. The guide gave neither venue a kosher-status designation.[22]

A 2026 Ynet selection of ten restaurants outside Tel Aviv described them as places that “manage to be excellent over time” and are worth a drive, without stating formal selection criteria. Its choices ranged from Moshbutz in Moshav Ramot and Armon Sahara in Kafr Nin to Vania Bistro in Haifa, Gozh and Daniel in Bnei Zion, Ben Hamo in Or Akiva, Esther in Yehud, Nora in Kiryat Anavim, Pascado in Ashdod, Mo and Mo in Rehovot, and Hamburger Blvitan in Eilat.[23]

That list described Moshbutz as a steakhouse serving Israeli beef and local produce from the Golan and Galilee. Armon Sahara represented Galilean Arab cuisine under chef Nasat Abbas, while Vania Bistro’s menu included tuna tartare and whole oven-baked fish. Ben Hamo, run by a butcher family, served Moroccan home cooking as well as charcoal-grilled meat; Esther was described as a long-running restaurant with French-Mediterranean cooking; and Nora’s menu was overseen by chef Rafi Cohen. Pascado in Ashdod was described as a kosher fish restaurant led by chef Yahi Zino and fishmonger Eran Z’no, with an approach of handling ingredients as little as possible.[23]

The broader geography of recommendations includes venues in Akko, Acre, Haifa, and the Golan, as well as cities in the center and south. JNS named Uri Buri as a seafood restaurant on the Akko coast and Kitchen Market and Mashya in Tel Aviv; its Jerusalem recommendations included Rooftop Restaurant, Azura, and Machneyuda, while Onza appeared in Jaffa. The article characterized its own choices as non-exhaustive.[12]

The 2015 Rest-directory figures show substantial differences in listed kosher shares across cities. The Jerusalem Institute article reported that 486 of Jerusalem’s 667 listed establishments (73%) were kosher, compared with 468 of Tel Aviv’s 1,573 (30%) and 96 of Haifa’s 373 (26%). Among meat-serving establishments, it reported kosher shares of 69% in Jerusalem, 31% in Tel Aviv, 17% in Haifa, and 39% in Rishon LeZion. These are historical directory figures, not current measures of restaurant certification.[5]

The same article reported that kosher businesses made up a larger share of establishments offering delivery than of all listed establishments: 85% in Jerusalem, 42% in Tel Aviv, and 33% in Haifa. It proposed that delivery offerings such as pizza and hamburgers—described as quickly prepared and appealing to a wider audience—help explain the pattern. The figures are tied to the Rest directory and the article’s 2015 analysis.[5]

A 2026 mako article presented 50 recommended kosher restaurants for the sixth year, in collaboration with the Fudos – Kosher Foodies community. The article said its selection drew on community surveys, recommendations, reviews, and member opinions, alongside consultation with culinary professionals and foodies. Editors said they aimed to represent restaurants around the country, including both frequently recommended establishments and newer, less-publicized places, as well as restaurants with mehadrin certification. The page supplied no vote totals, scoring system, or ranking order, so the selection is best understood as curated, not exhaustive or ranked.[4]

Among the examples in that selection were Hanan Margilan in Tel Aviv, described as a family-run Bukharian restaurant operating for more than 20 years; Ruths in Acre, described as a kosher Arab-Levantine restaurant in a centuries-old building; and Dolphin Yam in Jerusalem. The article said Dolphin Yam became kosher in early 2025 after seeking to cook for soldiers during the Iron Swords war, while retaining its classic style of fresh fish, Mediterranean starters, wine, and meat dishes.[4]

Other restaurants in the same list included DAW in Lod, described as an intimate tasting-menu restaurant for up to 24 diners; The Cowboys in Merom Golan, whose origins the article dated to 1989; and Pascado in Ashdod. The article described Pascado as led by Yahi Zino and supplied with fresh catch by the Zino family, whose fishing work it said spanned three generations. Addresses and kosher details reported in such lists can change over time.[4]

Rankings provide another selective view of restaurant prominence, but their criteria differ. A Jerusalem Post report on La Liste’s 2025 Top 1000 named eight restaurants in Tel Aviv and one in Jerusalem: OCD TLV, Mashya, Alena, Manta Ray, Claro, Pastel, Chakra, Popina, and George and John. It reported scores from 75.00 to 89.50 and said none of the nine held kosher certification. The article described OCD TLV’s tasting menu, Manta Ray’s Mediterranean seafood, Claro’s farm-to-table approach, and Popina’s use of seasonal, locally sourced ingredients.[24]

Ynet’s report on La Liste’s 2026 edition likewise named eight Israeli restaurants in the worldwide list of 1,000, with seven in Tel Aviv and one in Jerusalem: OCD TLV (88.5), Mashya (83), ALENA (81.5), Manta Ray (77.5), Claro (77), Pastel (77), Chakra (76), and Popina (76). These are the scores reported for that edition, not permanent or universal measures of quality. Ynet described La Liste as data-based rather than founded on a single critic’s visit: the system drew on more than 1,100 sources in 200 countries, including guides, newspaper reviews, and user ratings, standardized scores on a 0–100 scale, and weighted sources it considered more reliable.[8]

Ynet’s descriptions distinguish the restaurants’ formats. OCD TLV, led by chef Raz Rahav, serves a seasonal tasting menu; Mashya emphasizes local ingredients, freshness, and spices; and ALENA, the principal restaurant of The Norman hotel, is led by chefs Daniel Tzur and Omer Shadmi. Claro, in a Templar building in the Sarona complex, follows a farm-to-table approach based on seasonal local produce. Chakra combines fish, seafood, and meat, while Neve Tzedek’s Popina, led by chef Orel Kimhi, organizes its menu around five cooking methods: pickling, steaming, baking, grilling, and long cooking.[8]

A separate mako article described a Google Maps top ten of Israeli restaurants. It named Kvish 90 in the Galilee; Soho in Rishon LeZion; NONO in the Sharon region; Yotvata Inn in the Negev; BP – Bistro in Haifa Bay; and The Old Man and the Sea, Alma Beach, Greco, Prozdor, and Hudson Brasserie in Tel Aviv. The article reported a 4.7-star rating and more than 12,000 reviews for Kvish 90, but did not give ratings or review totals for the other nine. Its stated criteria were fewer than ten branches, the most reviews, and a Maps rating above 4.0 stars; the list therefore reflected those platform rules rather than a general assessment of restaurant quality.[7]

Cafés and delis form a distinct part of the documented restaurant landscape. A National Library of Israel article described Sender as a 28-seat restaurant on Levinsky Street in Tel Aviv. Its manager, Yael Shriber, said her husband’s Holocaust-survivor parents founded it in 1948. The article describes homemade deli-style foods including chicken soup with kreplach, chopped liver, egg salad, gefilte fish, and chopped pickles.[25]

The article observed that Jewish delicatessens and deli food never became a widespread concept in Israel, despite the country’s significant Ashkenazi population. Cookbook author Joan Nathan attributed this partly to climate and the scarcity of beef cattle, which she said encouraged vegetables, legumes, salads, and poultry over red meat; she also said meat-heavy meals “just didn’t fit” a country emphasizing lighter fare. These are explanations attributed to Nathan, rather than a comprehensive account of every cause of the deli’s limited spread.[25]

Sender’s family history and menu also appear in a personal recollection recounted in the article: a customer ordered food for a post-prayers Shabbat gathering and said that ordering from the restaurant brought him back to eating there with his father. The anecdote illustrates how an individual restaurant can function as a site of family memory as well as a place to eat.[25]

A Jerusalem café profile documented a different social role at Harutzim Bistro in Talpiot. The bistro was a SHEKEL project that employed and trained people with disabilities in restaurant work. The profile gave its address as 11 Yad Harutzim Street and mentioned dairy food and vegetable pizza. Its update said that after publication it came under new ownership and was renamed FoodTime Cafe, while retaining the same mission. At the café’s opening, Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat was quoted as saying that a place like it “changes the thinking of people who see it,” in reference to the employment and training project.[26]

Several older lists give additional examples of restaurant types and regional spread, but their recommendations should be read as dated. A 2013 personal selection included Jem’s in Petah Tikva, described as a beer factory and kosher pub; Hambuerguesa and Odelia in Tel Aviv, with Odelia serving a mix of Moroccan, Libyan, and Tunisian cuisine; Tokopaya in Ness Ziona, described as an elegant meat restaurant; and Grand Café in Jerusalem’s Baka neighborhood, described as a dairy restaurant. The article does not confirm that these venues remain open or retain the same offerings.[21]

A Ynet rooftop guide grouped venues under North, Tel Aviv and central Israel, Jerusalem, and South, without ranking them. Its examples included a rooftop at De Bland Hotel in Nazareth, Roof 21 in Haifa, Dinings and the Elkonin Hotel rooftop in Tel Aviv, the Mamilla Hotel rooftop in Jerusalem, and MOOD in Eilat. The article presented the guide as a curated selection rather than an exhaustive list.[27]

These guides, like the travel itineraries and culinary selections elsewhere in the available sources, record particular choices at particular times. They provide useful examples of restaurant formats and locations, but do not supply a common standard for inclusion or a dependable register of current businesses.[1][2]

The main limitation in compiling a list of restaurants in Israel is that the available material consists of selections and snapshots rather than a national directory.[1][2] The sources range from editorial recommendations and travel memories to collaborative map data, directory entries, and international rankings.[1][2] A restaurant’s appearance in a guide establishes that it was named there, not that it remains open, has the same menu, or currently holds a stated kosher certification.[16][4]

The counts also vary because the sources measure different things. The 2020 OpenStreetMap analysis counted several types of food businesses and included the West Bank.[2] The 2015 Rest figures counted directory listings.[5] The 2019 JNS article reported listed restaurants, while the Jerusalem Post reported an estimate of restaurants in operation.[12][13] Their different dates, categories, and methods prevent treating the numbers as competing measurements of one fixed total.

The same caution applies to claims of being “best,” “top,” or highly rated. Editorial and community selections reflect their authors’ or participants’ choices.[1][4] The Google Maps list applied platform-specific rules, while La Liste aggregated ratings and reviews through its own methodology.[8][7] These rankings and recommendations can be informative, but they are not equivalent assessments and none functions as a comprehensive official register.