Machneyuda — Restaurant in Jerusalem

We managed to find a place for lunch in machneyuda by sheer luck - someone had canceled, you need to order a month ahead and for a good reason. The restaurant has two entrances and no sign, to be exact a really tiny sign you see only when you are at the door so take the address with you. The spaces are not connected so it's like two small restaurants. We got into the second one and got a place on the bar. The place is really nice, simple design but with a really happy atmosphere with loud music. You can see the open kitchen which is nice.

The bartenders are really friendly and the service is really fastSince we stayed at the Brown hotel that is located just behind the market we could both drink so we got a glass of wine and a cocktail. Both were good.

We took the Tasting menu which gives you several servings with different dishes from the kitchen - they ask you if there are things you don't eat (wife is a vegitarian,  I eat everything and both don't like very spicy food) and then you are at the hands of the kitchen and these are good hands :)

Each serving consists of 3-5 dishes with a nice presentation, excellent taste and nice size.

First serving had: Nablus gate salad:  amazing many different flavors in your mouth. Tuna sashimi:  disappointing the tuna was not very good but the gravy was good. Baked green papers: just that. Ancient Kurdish pastry - really nice for a vegetarian dish. Fish tartar: excellent, really really tasty.

Second serving had: Polenta: really good. Sea food plate-arisa: rally nice and fresh. Some tartar that was amazing. Another salad with nuts and cheese that was very good. Ravioli filled with cornflour that was excellent.

Then we got the meat serving - nice soft slices with a bone next to it and mash potato and mash yam. I asked to have it made some more so they brought a hot pan for me to do it which made a perfect slice

Another dish was a filet with foie gras on top that was perfect!and to make the vegie happy a risotto which was excellent!!.

Then when you think you can't fit anything else in they bring out the desserts. Luckily desserts go to another stomach :). I don't know what was on that tray but it was great!

All around it's a great place with really really good food with surprising combinations and a great value for your money.

Really hard to get there by car and even harder to find parking so use the Jerusalem light train - it's a 2 min walk from the Machne...

Long review but for the price we paid I wanted to be thorough.

We went on August 6, 2023 at 12:30 pm and sat at the bar.

Our server/bartender was great! Friendly, welcoming, explained all the dishes well, I never had an empty cup and always had a clean napkin in front of me.

Atmosphere was nice, I liked the bar set up and how it's an open kitchen and you can see the cooks working.

We chose the tasting menu which our server recommended saying we would get to taste all the flavors of the kitchen.

They started strong with a very flavorful salad, and kurdish pastry. Even the second dish was nice which was another appetizer of roasted corn on the cob (which they called corn ribs) and a kholorabi carpaccio and two fish dishes: one was very small pieces of fish in a flavorful oil, the other was fish eggs with pureed tomatoes and onions in oil with a piece of toast for dipping.

It was all downhill from there. One dish was literally half of grilled cauliflower, and small dish of oily pasta with a small piece of VERY salty tuna on it.

Then there was a bowl with a few overcooked tasteless shrimps and pieces of vegetables with the SAME bread I had earlier with the fish eggs dish.

Then there was a small mason jar of polenta, mushrooms, parmesan and truffle oil which was nice but not mind blowing.

And finally we get a plate of meat with another HUGE piece of cauliflower (why not use potatoes or something different?) The filet mignon was the best thing on the plate. The beef brochette and Tbone were tasteless and tough.

Dessert was just very plain, nothing special at all. A rice pudding, a small piece of fig pie and ice cream and some other dish that was just so unimpressive that I can't remember it. Oh and slices of watermelon. 🙄 The dessert felt like there was no effort put into it at all.

For $300 (CDN) I expect A LOT MORE! I don't mean more food, just more creative and tasty.

As a self-proclaimed foodie and someone who did a professional French cooking course who worked in several nice restaurants in Montreal and the Laurentians (albeit years ago) I personally would not recommend and if you DO want to try it because there seems to be a lot of hype, I say don't go with the tasting menu, just choose a couple of items off the regular menu that sound...

Disappointing and way too expensive for what you get.

Food: We ordered 4 appetizers and 4 entrees. Apps were too small and way too pricy (70-90 shekels for 3-4 bites). Some were good, some were meh. The entrees were embarrassing. Over 100 shekels per dish (some 120+ shekels) for a fairly small dish. We were amazed by how small some dishes were compared to their price (pasta stuffed with Labane - 8 small pieces; one skewer of meat with a small side in another dish). We are not heavy people and never eat large portions, yet we left the restaurant not very full.

Service: Horrible. So many things to improve, where do I start? We were debating over some dishes with the waitress and at some point the waitress literally said ‘Did you make up your mind because I need to get going and serve other tables’. She made us feel like we’re wasting her time and she was very impatient. Her knowledge of some of the dishes was limited. Then, later on when she gathered some of our plates, she was rushing and moving so fast and aggressively that a fork, a knife and a spoon fell on our table and broke my husband’s appetizer’s plate while he still had food in it. Another waitress, when she brought our food, she slammed the plates on the table so hard that a splash of sauce jumped on my friend’s shirt and left spots.

Atmosphere: was fine for a Sunday night, nothing too crazy, didn’t really feel like a ‘party’. Loud music, that’s mainly it.

To summarize: Over hyped. Tons of other restaurants in that same area that offer better value for $. Too pricy, fairly small dishes, some dishes were tasty and the others were very...