La Vaca Loca — Restaurant in Herzliya

TL;DR: It's expensive, the food wasn't worth the price, the atmosphere was severely lacking and they tried to overcharge us.

We wanted to celebrate my Mom's birthday in this Restaurant and it was the first and last time we'll go there.

Let's start off with the way you reserve your table: You book it online, need to leave your credit card info and have to go through a questionnaire after that. This wouldn't bug me so much, if the restaurant was worth it, but, it wasn't.

Following this, there was a miscommunication when we placed our order and my mom got the wrong order. I'd say both sides in this case are to blame, as I'm sure the waitress repeated the order at the table, but we apparently only heard what we wanted. I'll give them the 2nd star in service as the manager did end up getting my mom the dish she wanted.

My dad wanted to order a certain dish, but the waitress convinced him to take another, claiming the meat he will get is softer than the original dish. It was neither softer nor soft at all. I ate the leftover of his dish a day later only to realize that 90% of what he had (he barely touched it when we were there) was gristle on the bone. There was barely any meat on this.

Then when it came time to pay, they added both the dish my dad ended up ordering AND the one he wanted to order. Thankfully, we checked the bill before handing over our credit cards.

The rest of the food was... eh. Nothing to write home about (though definitely worth writing a review about). The prices were honestly ridiculous.

As for the atmosphere... When we got there, the restaurant was pretty empty, which was nice. Later on it filled up (good for them), but what really ruined the atmosphere is the band that came on... I believe it was supposed to be Jazz, but the "singer" was basically like a kid with a fisher price stereo and mic... just blubbering away while people tried to...

Excellent food and service. I have eaten here twice and the quality of the food, the promptness and quality of the service, and the general atmosphere are excellent. I have eaten at Don Julio in Buenos Aires, which if you know Argentinian steakhouses is supposed to be the best. This place is honestly better.

We had a few appetizers both times that were all tasty, but the sauteed mushrooms stood out. The bread and oil spread for the table is excellent. The Mediterranean take on the chimichurri sauce was a universal group pleaser. The wine list has a quality depth of Israeli wines at reasonable prices. Our group had both steak and lamp chops for the main course. The meat was all very tender and cooked to the requested temperatures (medium-rare to medium depending on who ordered). Both times the restaurants brought out some other side dishes to try on the house (can't say if that's always the case though). They let us try a new bone marrow dish they are bringing out. Spread on the meat it added an additional flavor pop.

We never did desert because we were always so full by the end of the main. That didn't stop the host from offering a quick after dinner shot however!

Highly recommend. I've already been back, but I'll...

IThe food here is actually very good, but unfortunately, the terrible service and outright disrespect from the owner/manager completely ruined our experience.

From the start, we were treated unfairly—while every other couple got spacious tables, we were crammed into a tiny, uncomfortable one, despite plenty of open larger tables. When we politely asked to switch, we were dismissed without a second thought.

The waiter at least tried to be nice, but the overall service was slow and unprofessional. The real problem? The manager, who was shockingly rude when we voiced our concerns. Instead of fixing the situation, he was defensive, dismissive, and downright hostile.

At the end of the day, no matter how good the food is, if management has no respect for its customers, it’s not worth it. There are plenty of great restaurants where you can enjoy a meal and be treated with basic courtesy....