Talbiye — Restaurant in Jerusalem

Upscale place with good food, but horrible, just HORRIBLE service. I've been going there for years, and the last few times I went there, something changed. Their service became awful and unfitting of the level of the food or the prices. Last time, it took us 30 minutes to place our order, the waitress kept going to check things but forgot half of our questions. Also didn't understand the concept of sensitivities to foods, as if dishes cannot be altered at all. The worst was still to come when my girlfriend ordered steak and we had all already finished our food before she got it. According to the waitress the kitchen staff went on a break!! When she finally got her steak it was rare. We sent it back and got it back still rare, so we sent it back a second time. All this time we got no apology or even attention from the manager. He just didn't care. A normal place would've checked to see if everything's okay, offered a free dessert or even not charge for the steak that took forever. Even the small details were wrong - no steak knife for people who ordered a steak, when we ordered coffee we had to actively ask for sugar, in the meantime the coffee got cold. The food was good, but the experience was extremely bad, and the staff was the most unprofessional I've seen, including the manager who didn't seem to care about anything. Every time I visit there something goes wrong, but this is the second time it was this bad. I will not be going back, and I recommend you don't either, unless you're looking for a terrible and...

TL;DR Great food in a small but very nice place

It's located on the street level of the Jerusalem theater. It took us some time to find it since the google maps announced we were there when we stood on the theater plaza which is the restaurant roof.

The place is small with just a few tables but it offers a nice warm  space to dine in, not crowded or noisy so you can enjoy the excellent food that is served there. We got a table of 8 for a late lunch and took all you can eat/drink when they just get several firsts and mains out of the menu and you can order more of what you like.

We liked them all. The food was really good there, the wine was also good and with good company it turned out to be a perfect event.

We got Appetizers: Polenta Green salad Za'atar coated calamari Asparagus Tomatoes in garlic Shrimps Pate en croute Some mushroom dish

Mains: Beef cuts Risotto Sous vide chicken breast Some other but I don't remember

Desserts: Lemon cake Almond cake Ice cream

Everything was really good. I especially liked Pate en croute Beef cuts Lemon cake

Price was really good for the food we got.

Parking is hard to find on the surrounding streets - we had to park a few min walk that is less present in the Jerusalem winter even with the hot sangria we got on...

Such a big deal and unnecessary pose for a mediocre restaurant. To start off, we booked a place a few days in advance and that day got a call to push our table half an hour later. When we arrived we still had to wait for almost another half an hour. When we were finally shown to our table we saw that it was a table that was free all along. Speaking of outdoor seating, it's small flimsy tables and folding chairs on the sidewalk. Not a garden or a patio - a literal sidewalk next to a road.

Service was also very lacking. Maybe our waiter was new or something but he came back to us three times so we would remind him what we ordered. In addition, forgot to ask us how done we would like the steak, what the sides are, etc.

The food was... Standard. Putting aside the fact that multiple items on the menu were unavailable or subbed, the menu itself was fairly bland. The dished when they arrived were surprisingly small and anemic. I'd expect such small dishes to at least have fancy plating but no.

Overall I was extremely disappointed. This is a restaurant for a 200₪...