Venya Bistro
וניה ביסטרו
Restaurant · Mediterranean · Seafood · Fish · Meat · ₪₪₪ · No kosher certificate
A bistro on the edge of the port in Haifa's lower city, with seafood, handmade pasta and meat from a wood-fired taboon
Venya Bistro opened at the start of 2014 on Sha'ar Palmer, the street by Haifa port in the lower city that mako's critic described that year as a home of noisy sailors' taverns since the British Mandate, and Haaretz wrote that it was named after the Russian writer Venedikt Yerofeyev. Walla named its founders as Shahar Sivan and Ori Alon. Around the end of 2018 chef Michael Gartofsky, who trained at Le Cordon Bleu in London and is a partner in Chicchetti in Tel Aviv, joined it as chef and partner, and Colbo named him and Dani Segal as its owners in 2021. The restaurant says its cooking draws on the Mediterranean, from the south of France to the Palestinian cooking of Wadi Nisnas, with fresh seafood and olive oil from the slopes of the Carmel, that its menu has vegetarian and vegan dishes, and that the specials change every week. Its menu runs from focaccia and scallops in the shell to cauliflower tabbouleh, crab gnocchi, handmade pici, a whole sea bass and prime rib from the wood-fired taboon, and cannoli, with cocktails and wines from the Galilee and abroad. Walla described an open kitchen facing a long bar; outside, the tables stand on the street, with what the restaurant calls a view of the sea and the ships at anchor. Venichka, a private room beside the restaurant, takes about 20 guests, and the restaurant takes private events of up to about 80 and hosts cultural, art and food events. The Carmelit's Downtown station is about 260 m away. In July 2026 ynet put it among the ten best restaurants outside Tel Aviv, as one of the places that marked Haifa's culinary awakening about a decade earlier.
What happens here
- Saturdays, 13:00 to 16:00
- Saturday lunch
Saturday is the only day it opens at midday: it closes at 16:00 and opens again for dinner at 18:30, by its Google listing and its booking page on Ontopo.
- Every week
- New specials
The specials change every week, the restaurant says. On the menu its website showed in September 2026 they were a summer risotto with bacon, corn and parmesan fondue, hand-chopped beef tartare on brioche, shrimps in the pan with bruschetta, al pastor tacos with pulled duck, crisp courgette flowers and okra on the plancha.
As published on venya-bistro.co.il, read 2026-09-30.
At a glance
- Shabbat
- Open Saturday 13:00-16:00, 18:30-23:30
- Kosher
- No certificate
- Diet
- Mediterranean, seafood, fish, meat
- Prices
- ₪₪₪ of ₪₪₪
- Seating
- Outdoor seating
- Wheelchair
- No statement
- Own website
- Active on Instagram
- Facebook page
- Open on Friday
- Vegan options
Photos
On its Facebook
For illustration: the town and the trade, not Venya Bistro itself. Its own pictures: 1,463 posts on Instagram
Opening hours
Checking the clock in Israel
| Sunday to Wednesday | 18:30-23:30 |
|---|---|
| Thursday | 18:00-23:30 |
| Friday | 17:00-23:30 |
| Saturday | 13:00-16:00, 18:30-23:30 |
| Sukkot | 26 September to 2 October |
| Simchat Torah | 3 Octoberfrom Friday evening |
Venya Bistro has not published holiday hours. Call before you go. Sukkot: the dates and times
Candle lighting 6:04 PMShabbat ends 6:59 PM
As published on Google, read 2026-09-30. All Shabbat times
Sources disagree on these hours
These are the hours on its Google listing, as Wanderlog copies it. Its booking page on Ontopo, which its website links, shows the same evenings from Sunday to Wednesday and the same Saturday lunch and dinner for the week from 30 September 2026, which falls in Sukkot, with Thursday until 22:00, Friday from 17:30 to 23:45 and Saturday dinner until 22:45. Its website gives other hours in the footer of every page and on a contact page last changed in January 2018: closed on Sunday, Monday to Friday 18:00 to midnight and Saturday 12:00 to midnight. d.co.il gives Monday to Wednesday 18:30 to 23:00, Thursday 18:00 to 23:00 and Friday and Saturday 12:00 to 16:00 and 18:00 to 23:00, with no hours for Sunday.
Location
1 Sha'ar Palmer Street, Haifa3303139
- Train: Haifa Center HaShmona0.4 km from the door, straight line
- Bus: Nearest stop 137 mlines 1, 2, 5א
- Parking: OpenStreetMap maps two paid car parks close by: an unnamed one about 80 m to the north and the municipal car park about 150 m to the south-east.
© OpenStreetMap contributors · Distances from OpenStreetMap, read 2026-09-30.
Reviews
- Google4.42313 ratings · As quoted by wanderlog.com, read 2026-09-30Read on Google
- Tripadvisor4.2326 ratings · As quoted by wanderlog.com, read 2026-09-30Read on Tripadvisor
Israel.com copies no review. Read them where they were written, and write yours there.
Questions
About Venya Bistro
- Open on ShabbatOn Saturday it is open 13:00-16:00, 18:30-23:30.
- 2,639 public ratingsAcross Google, Tripadvisor, each linked below with the day we read it.
- 0.4 km from Haifa Center HaShmona stationBus stops within 485 m: כרמלית, המגינים/ככר ההגנה, תחנת רכבת חיפה מרכז השמונה, קריית הממשלה/העצמאות, שיבת ציון/רובין, המגינים/הבנקים, קרית הממשלה/פל ים, קרית הממשלה.
- Its own website and social pagesThe menu and the news come from the business itself, not from a directory.
- Price band ₪₪₪Time Out's page for it, from January 2018, puts it at 3 of 4 on price, with 265 shekels for two starters, two main dishes and two drinks. On the menu its website shows, last changed in August 2025, the small plates cost 22 to 38 shekels, the starters 62 to 78, the pastas 98 to 110, the main dishes 110 to 138, with the prime rib at 67 per 100 g, and the desserts 56 to 66. ynet printed a range of 28 to 138 shekels in July 2026.
Instagram8,296 followersFacebookvenya-bistro.co.il
Venya Bistro is a restaurant at 1 Sha'ar Palmer Street in Haifa, in the Haifa District. Behind it: chef and co-owner Michael Gartofsky and co-owner Dani Segal.
It publishes its menu on venya-bistro.co.il; 17 of its dishes are listed below with their prices, as read on 30 September 2026.
Hours, as listed on Google on 30 September 2026: Sunday to Wednesday 18:30 to 23:30, Thursday 18:00 to 23:30, Friday 17:00 to 23:30, Saturday 13:00 to 16:00 and 18:30 to 23:30.
The nearest railway station is Haifa Center HaShmona, 0.4 km away. The nearest bus stops are כרמלית (137 m), המגינים/ככר ההגנה (272 m), תחנת רכבת חיפה מרכז השמונה (319 m). OpenStreetMap maps two paid car parks close by: an unnamed one about 80 m to the north and the municipal car park about 150 m to the south-east.
No kosher certificate was found. It is not among the 509 businesses on the Haifa religious council's list of kosher businesses, read on 29 September 2026, under its name, its company's name or its address; its own pages show no certificate, its menu has pork, shellfish and meat served with cream, and it opens on Friday evening and on Saturday. mako in 2022 and 2024, ynet in 2024 and Walla in 2014 call it not kosher. We found no published accessibility statement, so call ahead if step-free access matters to you.
No page of the restaurant names the company that runs it. The Companies Registrar lists וניה ביסטרו בע"מ (Venya Bistrot Ltd), company number 514960889, an active private company incorporated on 19 August 2013 and registered at 1 Sha'ar Palmer Street, Haifa, the restaurant's own address, whose last annual report was for 2025. b144 lists the restaurant under the same company name. Haifa does not publish its business licence register online, so the licence could not be checked.
מסעדת וניה ביסטרו ממוקמת על שפת הנמל בעיר התחתית של חיפה, עם נוף לים מצד אחד, ולרחש העירוני הגועש מצד שני. בין אוניות עוגנות לרכבות חולפות לרחובות העיר התחתית הקסומות, הקצב המשתנה של הסביבה מאפשר לעצור לארוחה ערב טובה, לשבת לקרוא ספר בחוץ על בירה קרה ואוכל קל בין ערביים, או להמשיך אל תוך הלילה עם מבחר מנות מגוון ומשקאות שמחים ותוססים.The public registers a directory should check and usually does not. A blank is reported as a blank.
- Kosher certificate
- No kosher certificate was found. It is not among the 509 businesses on the Haifa religious council's list of kosher businesses, read on 29 September 2026, under its name, its company's name or its address; its own pages show no certificate, its menu has pork, shellfish and meat served with cream, and it opens on Friday evening and on Saturday. mako in 2022 and 2024, ynet in 2024 and Walla in 2014 call it not kosher. shirathayam.m-datit.org.il2026-09-30
- Accessibility statement
- Its website carries an accessibility toolbar but no accessibility statement, and none of the pages read says whether the entrance and the toilets are step-free. venya-bistro.co.il2026-09-30
- Companies Registrar
- No page of the restaurant names the company that runs it. The Companies Registrar lists וניה ביסטרו בע"מ (Venya Bistrot Ltd), company number 514960889, an active private company incorporated on 19 August 2013 and registered at 1 Sha'ar Palmer Street, Haifa, the restaurant's own address, whose last annual report was for 2025. b144 lists the restaurant under the same company name. data.gov.il2026-09-30
- Municipal business licence
- The Haifa municipality publishes no register of licensed businesses: its business-licensing pages have processes and forms only, its list of registered databases names a business-licensing database that is not published, the only businesses dataset on its open-data portal covers the Sammy Ofer stadium complex, and data.gov.il has no such register for Haifa. haifa.muni.il2026-09-30
Nothing on this page was written from memory. Each row names the page a fact was read from and the day it was read. Review text and photographs stay with the people who wrote and took them; the page links to them and copies nothing.
| Field | Value | Source | Read on | Use |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | וניה ביסטרו / Venya Bistro | venya-bistro.co.il | Fact, shown | |
| Address | 1 Sha'ar Palmer Street | venya-bistro.co.il | Fact, shown | |
| Coordinates | 32.819814, 35.000207 (its Google listing's pin, as Wanderlog copies it) | wanderlog.com | Fact, shown | |
| Phone | 04-671-6272 | venya-bistro.co.il | Fact, shown | |
| Phone | private events 054-627-3660 | venya-bistro.co.il | Fact, shown | |
| Website | venya-bistro.co.il | venya-bistro.co.il | Fact, shown | |
| Table bookings | ontopo.co.il | venya-bistro.co.il | Linked, not copied | |
| Logo | Its own icon, from venya-bistro.co.il | venya-bistro.co.il | Quoted, attributed | |
| Opening hours | Sunday to Wednesday 18:30 to 23:30, Thursday 18:00 to 23:30, Friday 17:00 to 23:30, Saturday 13:00 to 16:00 and 18:30 to 23:30 | wanderlog.com | Fact, shown | |
| What happens here | Saturday lunch; New specials | venya-bistro.co.il | Fact, shown | |
| Google rating | 4.4 from 2313 ratings, as quoted by wanderlog.com | google.com | Fact, shown | |
| Google review text | Belongs to the reviewers | google.com | Linked, not copied | |
| Tripadvisor rating | 4.2 from 326 ratings, as quoted by wanderlog.com | tripadvisor.com | Fact, shown | |
| Tripadvisor review text | Belongs to the reviewers | tripadvisor.com | Linked, not copied | |
| Price band | ₪₪₪ | timeout.com | Fact, shown | |
| Menu | 17 items with prices | venya-bistro.co.il | Fact, shown | |
| Kosher certificate | None published | shirathayam.m-datit.org.il | Fact, shown | |
| Accessibility | No published statement found | venya-bistro.co.il | Fact, shown | |
| Parking | OpenStreetMap maps two paid car parks close by: an unnamed one about 80 m to the north and the municipal car park about 150 m to the south-east. | openstreetmap.org | Fact, shown | |
| Train and bus | Haifa Center HaShmona 0.4 km; כרמלית 137 m; המגינים/ככר ההגנה 272 m; תחנת רכבת חיפה מרכז השמונה 319 m; קריית הממשלה/העצמאות 349 m; שיבת ציון/רובין 357 m; המגינים/הבנקים 410 m; קרית הממשלה/פל ים 434 m; קרית הממשלה 485 m | openstreetmap.org | Fact, shown | |
| Delivery apps | Not on Wolt or 10bis | Our own check | Fact, shown | |
| Companies Registrar | No page of the restaurant names the company that runs it. The Companies Registrar lists וניה ביסטרו בע"מ (Venya Bistrot Ltd), company number 514960889, an active private company incorporated on 19 August 2013 and registered at 1 Sha'ar Palmer Street, Haifa, the restaurant's own address, whose last annual report was for 2025. b144 lists the restaurant under the same company name. | data.gov.il | Fact, shown | |
| Business licence | The Haifa municipality publishes no register of licensed businesses: its business-licensing pages have processes and forms only, its list of registered databases names a business-licensing database that is not published, the only businesses dataset on its open-data portal covers the Sammy Ofer stadium complex, and data.gov.il has no such register for Haifa. | haifa.muni.il | Fact, shown | |
| The owners' own words | Quoted from venya-bistro.co.il | venya-bistro.co.il | Quoted, attributed | |
| Photographs | 3 licensed | instagram.com | Linked, not copied |
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Last read: 30 September 2026. A person reads every message.
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