Café Noir — Restaurant in Tel-Aviv

TL;DR Good food and great value for your money, and good service.

We got there on a friday night to celebrate a birthday. had to order a table 2 weeks in advance.

Finding a parking place in this area is always an expensive nightmare but luckily we found the last parking slot in the closest parking lot (30 nis per hour) If you can - don't come with the car.

The restaurant is small and narrow and it is a bit dark maybe for the atmosphere but I would prefer more light. It was full but still not too crowded and noisy to hurt your dining experience.

We got a table for 6 in the middle and the menus were already on the table. Our waiter was really nice and responsive and definitely added to the experience.

We ordered: drinks: cocktails, beer and a glass of chablis that was really good.

Appetizers: Charred Eggplant: really nice liket the flavors combination. Tuna Crostini:  excellent, it feels like it explodes in your mouth. Mediterranean Ceviche: nice Chicken liver pate: good

Mains: Pork Chop Schnitzel: was good with nice french fries. Veal Schnitzel: was excellent with good mashed potato. Gnocchi in tomato butter:  was really good. Seafood Pasta: was made perfectly with an excellent seafood flavor. Salmon Fillet: was a really good slice that was made perfectly and fitted really well with the  eggplant cream and yogurt.

For dessert we had the Lemon cream with Meringue - it was really nice and very light if you like sour taste.

We also got on the house chasers since we were celebrating a birthday and our waiter was really nice :)

All around it came out as 200 nis per person including tip that is really good...

We arrived at this restaurant 10 minutes early for our reservation. Waiting patiently while a couple of Israelis before us who did quite obviously did not have a reservation were seated - at this point there were a plethora of empty tables at the restaurant. To my surprise the front desk said we could not be seated as "our table was still occupied". My Hebrew is not up to pointing out there were plenty of empty tables at this point and we had been waking around TA all day and, frankly, we were both sufficiently tired not to argue at this point or to walk out out at this blatant discourtesy. We were conveyed to the bar and told we would be told when our table was ready. At our appointed reservation time, we had not been called. I went to reservation desk, prepared at this point to challenge the front desk. The restaurant was now filling up but there were still empty tables. The front desk, seeing my somewhat less than pleased stance, then conveyed us to a table that had been empty all the time we had been seated the bar. This attitude ruined our restaurant experience. The food was good, the service OK. I will not speculate as the motivation behind this rudeness towards non-Hebrew speaking tourists (although this is not our first experience of this attitude in this sector). Having said that this morning we had a brilliant and welcoming experience in Delicatessen (more fulsome review to come). While Israel's burgeoning tech sector may supplant, in time, tourist revenue, this is still a risky game to play. I am still seething at this disdain for my hard earned money. In the words of the imminent Eurovision contest Cafe Noir...

So, I tried to book a table around 18:00, but the closest spot app offered me was around 20:30. I thought I'd just order a schnitzel for takeout. So I did, the ratings of the restaurant were high enough, so I thought it was still worth it.

When me and my wife arrived, we realized there were plenty of free tables, like a dozen. I asked the waiter if we could eat the dish we ordered here, at the table. She said okay, if I will go and pick it up myself. No prob, I went and picked it up.

Here we are, at the entrance table, that is free for an hour and a half (for the context, as Noir brags about being booked 24/7). And then I notice her. The manager or hostess. And the look. No, it was THE LOOK. She was openly staring at me with a disgusted facial expression as I was unpacking my stuff. I thought okay, thats rude, what's your problem? So incompetent.

I was going through the menu, planning to order something else, when the other girl came and told us we can't eat inside what we've order for takeout, and we could eat outside (gee, thanks, boss). Wow, what a fail. There are thousands of ways to deal with a situation like that and you blew it, you chose the worst.

I wasn't in the mood to argue, didn't want to see that face again even for a second, so I gladly left.

Now to the food) it was average at best. If you like thin schnitzels, you would probably enjoy it, but in comparison to other establishments it bleak and plain. Fries were also kaha kaha. But Cole slow was just straight bad. Ta dah.

Never coming back to this fastfood...