Shila — Restaurant in Tel-Aviv

BEST MEAL IN TEL AVIV

Sitting at the chefs' bar, eating dinner and watching the action, was the best meal we had in Tel Aviv. First, the food: He loved the whole meal, with these items of particular note: the turbot with 1/2 lobster, red tuna carpaccio with campari lemongrass sorbet and pickled seaweed, Tel Aviv mix of seafood and onions on tsatsiki, calamari with swiss chard stew, artichokes, fish ceviche wrapped in avocado with almonds and mint sauce.

Eli, the chef that evening, was great company, essentially hosting us as an audience to the Shila dinner theater! Charming, engaging, and fun to watch, he brought us into the great vibe of the retaurant. With three chefs working simultaneously, one of them being trained that night, we got to watch as they painted plates with sauce, filled avocado with fish tartar, correct seasonings, customize salads, adjust appearances for presentation ... it was really fun and interesting. So, these were not the second choice seats we expected - the experience and Eli himself, really stood out for us in a great way.

Note: Sitting at the chefs' bar isn't for everyone. These were the only seats available to us for the day/time we wanted to eat there. We were told 'if seats open you might be able to switch to a table.' If we ever get back to Shila, however, I'd sit at the chefs' bar again. It was GREAT! But, this is a very busy restaurant, and the chefs' bar, right outside the main kitchen, is like sitting inside a tornado. Servers and staff are running back and forth right behind the seats, it's tightly choreographed chaos. Had we wanted a quiet evening of romance just-us, or if we were nervous types, we would've been disappointed. As mentioned, sitting there was wonderful fun for us.

Visited...

I don't usually leave reviews, but our experience was so terrible I just have to share it.

ATMOSPHERE My husband ordered a spot where we expected to have a relaxing romantic dinner, but for some reason the waitress thought it was a good idea to shove us into a windowless tiny corner, which I - a very tall and skinny person - had to WIGGLE my way in between the chair and the table to fit in (you can imagine what my husband had to go through)

To make matters worse, behind my husband, was sitting a group of 5 loud, and obnoxious drunk American tourists who we asked to be sat away from but were denied.

SERVICE We tipped our waiters 20% out of courtesy, but all 3 of them were extremely unprofessional in their way of describing the courses, giving us recommendations, and accommodating our needs.

FOOD I would've ignored all of the above if at least the food was good... But besides the foccacia and special starter dish of one bite seafoods, we bearly touched our main courses. So much so that even the waiteress was shocked when she arrived to check in on us and said: "what, thats it?"

My husband ordered a steak that was mediocre at best, and I ordered the ravioli dish with seabass and seafood. Besides the fish and shrimp, everything else tasted like what I can only describe as buttered up sea water.

But wait, THERES MORE! After paying for our terrible overpriced experience, we suddenly felt extremely nauseous, and what was supposed to be our special date night ended up with the two of us trying to sleep off the nausea in two different rooms.

IN CONCLUSION Our money was wasted, and our night was ruined. We left the place hungry, sick, and severely...

Shila had been strongly recommended by an Israeli colleague of mine. So I decided to try it on my second night in Tel Aviv.

For starters, we had the Chicken Liver in a blend of spices and with yoghurt. The starter was unbelievably good. Never had such chicken livers ever before. For the main course I had lamb steak while my friend had a risotto. My steak was definitely not bad, but not great as well. I guess the chicken liver dish had increased my expectations for the main course as well. We asked for a small goblet of wine, and it came in the cutest little flask I have seen. The base of the flask wasn't flat, and it kept rotating around on our table, (thankfully) without falling and spilling the wine. Was a nice touch.

This place is by no means cheap. The service is really good and attentive. However, one thing pissed me off. At the end, the bill kind of exceeded our expectations. So we put a service charge which was decent in absolute amounts, but as a percentage, was less than 10% of the bill. The waitress took our card, and then came back and said that the service is not even 10%. We were shocked. Last time I checked, service was completely discretionary. Never before have I been told how much service to put by the waiter/waitress themselves. I was furious. But later on when I came back and read up more about 'Israeli culture', I realized that (a) if you tip less than 10-15% in Israel, the waiter would end up wondering what he/she did wrong, and (b) Israeli people are very forthright when it comes to asking for their 'due'. Oh well.

Gist is : This restaurant is a lovely place, and if you are willing to be a bit loose with your wallet, I would...