Schnitzel Ayala

Restaurant · ₪ · Netanya religious council, meat

10 Israel Zangwill Street, Netanya market, Netanya

A schnitzel counter on the edge of the Netanya market, named after its founder Ayala, that fries chicken in a batter of flour and egg and serves it in a fresh baguette, a pita or on a plate

Schnitzel Ayala is a schnitzel counter on Israel Zangwill Street, on the edge of the Netanya market, and the press counts it among the market's institutions: mako called it in 2023 one of the best-known in Netanya and the area, working for decades from exactly the same spot, and Maariv's Nir Kipnis called it in April 2025 perhaps the market's most famous food stand. Globes told its story in 2002. Ayala Ohayon, tired of working as a cook in a Netanya hotel, opened a workers' snack bar for schnitzels in the market in 1973, in no more than four square metres; her husband fried and she served the stallholders and mechanics who queued at noon. In 1995, when the parents retired, her youngest son Eli opened a schnitzel restaurant called Schnitzel Ayala in Netanya's industrial zone, and by 2002 it had grown into a chain of six branches. Today the press names Haim as the man behind the market counter: ynet wrote in January 2025 that he owns it and that Ayala is a relative of his, mako calls him Haim Buya and ynet Haim Yadayim, and in 2025 Maariv's critic was served by Eli, Ayala's son. ynet put the counter's age at 35 years. The schnitzels are chicken in a batter of flour and egg rather than breadcrumbs, served in a baguette, which ynet says is baked at a nearby bakery, in a pita or on a plate, with pickled lemon, chirshi, white cabbage, hummus and tahini, and the press singles out the slices of aubergine fried in batter that come on the side. ynet counted two dishes on the menu in 2025, a baguette or a pita, and mako wrote in 2023 that the menu also had shakshuka, an omelette and a mixed grill. Maariv's critic paid 60 shekels for a baguette packed with several schnitzels, with chips, fried aubergine, a can of cola and a small pickle bar. ynet described a kitchen that works like a production line and a queue that is always there, and named it in January 2025 among the tastiest schnitzels in Israel; mako put it among Israel's 30 best schnitzels in 2023. It is kosher, meat, under the Netanya religious council, and the guide HaShulchan gives its hours as 08:00 to 17:00 from Sunday to Thursday and 08:00 to 15:00 on Friday. The religious council's list gives its address as number 10 on the street, and the press as number 12.