a — Restaurant in Tel-Aviv

We visited "a" last Friday for a couples' tasting menu, priced at 390₪ per person. TL;DR: Not a good experience.

Let’s start with the reception. There were three hosts: two managing the reservations and one leading guests to their tables (likely in training). With that many hosts, you'd expect to receive attention as soon as you enter the restaurant. Instead, we had to stand and wait while one host was busy with another couple who had only come to validate their parking, and the other two just stood there watching her.

From there, we were seated at the bar and ordered a bottle of wine. In a chef's restaurant, you expect that your wine glass will be refilled as needed. However, throughout the evening, I had to pour the wine myself, except for the first glasses poured by the sommelier and the last glass, when one of the bartenders noticed me reaching for the bottle in the ice bucket and took the initiative to pour it himself.

The dish presentations were rushed and lacking finesse. On two occasions, the explanations were so hurried that we couldn’t fully appreciate the experience. For one dish, there was a dashi pour-over, but if you wanted to photograph it beforehand, you’d have to be incredibly quick. In another, the server/bartender explained that if we wanted to take a picture, we needed to do so immediately because she had to mix the dish, but she didn’t wait long enough for us to get our phones out before she started mixing.

During the meal, we were accidentally served the same dish twice. We noticed, pointed it out, and they corrected it by taking it away. At the end of the meal, we realized that we were missing one dish listed on the tasting menu. We asked for it, and it was brought to us, but as a result, a bite-sized dish that should have arrived mid-meal was served after the main course(before dessert).

With the main course, there was a side dish choice, but we were not given the opportunity to choose – the decision was made for us. We only realized this after the fact and didn’t request a correction.

Throughout the evening, we sat at the bar, and almost every other couple or group at the bar was offered complimentary alcohol shots. We, however, were not offered even once. With a bill exceeding 1,200₪ (including tip), you’d expect at least one complimentary shot, especially in such a lively and noisy atmosphere.

Toward the end of the meal, the host came by to ask if we had a parking ticket so she could validate it before leaving. Similarly, the server/bartender seemed in a rush to serve us dessert and move on to closing the bar. This led to us needing to ask for the check three times before we finally received it.

As we left, the host had already gone home, and instead of the staff saying goodbye, we were greeted by a pile of napkins in bags.

As for the food, the dishes were undoubtedly tasty and beautifully presented. But that’s all they were – tasty and beautiful. At this level and with a chef of this caliber, you expect unique flavors you can’t find elsewhere. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the case. Many of the flavors could be found in average Japanese restaurants at half the price and with a much more pleasant overall experience.

Sadly, Yuval Ben Neriah doesn’t replicate the experience of Taizu at "a." From my personal experience, the service at Taizu is much better, and the dishes there are more unique.

I believe that if the restaurant employed a professional team working on proper salaries, it could deliver the kind of experience expected from a place of...

We decided to celebrate our birthday here, and we don't completely regret. We had a reservation here a few months ago, for 2. The place was hard to fine (was a bit of a struggle) but the minute we found the place it was wonderful. The place was organized beautifully and the staff was very professional and nice (unfortunately I don't remember our waiters name but he was great!) As the 2 fat (at heart)girls we are, we ordered a lot (as you should in a place like this on your birthday). We ordered 4 types of Bites for each of us - כרית - I still don't know exactly what I had but it was phenomenal. בריוש טונה - it was something special, it reminded me a Fricasse but in a gourmet version of it and way more better (I don't really like Fricasse) 3.נגי טורו טונה - it was really fresh and tasty 4.טאקו יאקי - it was a weird and tasty little bite full of flavor After that we ordered a few starters (5 to be exact) קרפצ'יו - it was a fish carpaccio it wasn't the best dish here, but still very tasty and special in its own way (we definitely didn't leave any of it on the plate) טרטר בקר - it was just a delight. So light and fluffy like a cloud and the cream that came with it was just perfect (I definitely wanted to lick the plate - of course I didn't.. Not this kind of a place) 3.שיפודי דג באש - I loved it, but the thing I loved the most was the tortilla that it was on top of. I don't know how they did it but it made the whole dish for me. כנף בר ים - I've never tried fish wings before so I decided to try, it was for no doubt the only thing I didn't like in the restaurant, it was cooked well, but I didn't like its sauce, it was on the same time too spicy and not spicy or flavored enough. 5.בשר סרטנים ופלפל שחור - all I have to say is WOW. It was everything I hoped for and more.

And for the end of the dinner we ordered 2 main courses that we barely finished because we were so full but definitely finished cause it was a shame not to, they were perfect - ראמפ סטייק - it was the best bone marrow with meat we ever had. Just in the right level of doneness. דג פרפר -this in my opinion was the best dish here, it was just perfect in any way and form. The sauce was perfect and the fish was perfectly made, like butter. I definitely regret not ordering another one. After all the food we were ready for dessert but unfortunately they told us that we need to leave (our time was up) and there is no time for dessert. It was a bit of a bum and ruined our night a little bit. I do think that in a place like this they should have more time per table so you can enjoy the whole experience. But that is not the reason I gave this place 4 stars. That night and the days after both me and my friend had a beautiful time (not really) in bed/bathroom with a bad stomach (food poisoning) we of course let the restaurant know, I didn't like how they handled it so much, at first they said they will look into it and after that they were supposed to send us an email (don't know what it included, never got it). So to summarize I still do recommend this place we both had a wonderful and delicious experience at that night, it did feel like all the food was really fresh (that's why we think it was maybe from the drinks) and I do think I will go back to try again hopefully with no side effects...

Over-rated and left me wondering what all the hype was about... if this were an upcoming chef, opening his first restaurant I'd say "great job, I'll try it again in a few months". But it isn't. So I won't try it again probably. For a place like this, with this kind of pricing, I expected nothing less then top notch food and impeccable service. And this place just doesn't deliver unfortunately. Most of the food was too salty and unbalanced and just not interesting enough... First, the service. Just ok. Taizu, OCD, topolopompo and other top places have great service and at "a" they need to improve. The small bites didn't arrive on time, and they didn't even realize that we didn't get them all when they started serving the starters. They asked once, in a very uninterested way and in the middle of the meal, if everything was ok. No one even bothered to ask us at the end if we liked the food, as if they couldn't care less (I think they really didn't care cause they're booked months in advance and getting great reviews). Had they asked we would have told them what we thought. Then, the food. The bites were ok at best... brioche just ok, too salty and unbalanced, and just strange for a fried dish to be served completely cold (cold fried food is just not a good combination). Truffle bite just ok. The little cushions were ok (good ingredients but nothing exciting or interesting...). The corn ball was surprisingly the best of them all... The lamb tartar was excellent. The tuna spaghetti was good but unbalanced. The fish skewers were good, but also unbalanced. The sweetbread udon was too salty making other flavors impossible to enjoy. The beef and friki was just meh...I've had better steak and much better cooked friki elsewhere. The highlight of the mains was the fish kohlrabi which was delicious. Desserts were mediocre and unfathomable. Chocolate kasha was too sweet and monotonous (at OCD we had their take on the same idea, scrumptious and interesting unlike here). The other chocolate dessert also just mediocre. What were they thinking here? They need new desserts... So taking the pricing into account , this place is even a 2, not a 3... Too bad, cause we really were looking forward to trying the food and were bitterly...