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The Bahai terraces descending Mount Carmel towards Haifa bay

Haifa · Where to eat

Where to eat in Haifa

Haifa is one of the two Israeli cities where public buses run on Shabbat, and its restaurants keep the same week: not one kitchen on this page publishes a kashrut certificate.

Rade Šaptović / Unsplash

Trading on Ben Gurion Avenue since

1997

Fattoush, which its own site calls the oldest culinary institution on the avenue, in a stone house below the terraces.

A workers' restaurant since

1962

Maayan Habira on Natanzon Street, converted from a Polish immigrant's sausage workshop and still run by the family.

Tips became wages on

1 Jan 2019

The National Labour Court ruled in March 2018 that restaurant tips are salary, with pension, income tax and national insurance attached.

Picks here with a published kashrut certificate

None

No operator page checked for this guide claims one. The single chain that publishes a kosher branch list files its Haifa branch outside it.

Haifa eats in bands stacked up a mountain, and they are not interchangeable. At sea level, Ha-Namal Street and the old banking quarter behind it hold the newest and most ambitious kitchens, several of them run by Arab chefs cooking Galilean and Mediterranean food in front of open passes. One tier up, Ben Gurion Avenue runs from the port to the foot of the Bahai terraces through the old Templer colony, and it is where visitors eat: stone houses, pavement tables, and a sightline straight up the lit gardens after dark. Above that sits Hadar, where Masada Street keeps the cheap end of the city's cafe life. Higher still, along the Carmel ridge, are the hotels, the views and very few restaurants.

The thing most first-time visitors get wrong is the week. In Jerusalem a certified kitchen stops serving before sundown on Friday and stays shut until the Sabbath has gone out. In Haifa that mostly does not happen, because most of the city's restaurants are not certified in the first place. Every operator page checked for this guide is silent on kashrut, with one exception, and the exception says no. Anyone who keeps kosher has to plan around that rather than assume it away, and anyone who does not will find Friday night the easiest meal of the week to book here.

What follows is eleven places, best first, running from an Eastern European tavern that has been feeding dockers on Natanzon Street since 1962 to a port dining room whose chef trained in Michelin-starred kitchens in Sweden. Where an operator publishes its hours, its booking system or its kashrut, that is quoted from its own page and linked. Where nothing is published, the entry says so rather than filling the gap.

11 places to eat

The places to eat worth the trip in Haifa

Our pick and why, then everything the listing knows, with the date it was pulled.

  1. 01

    Fattoush

    Breakfast below the Bahai terraces

    Fattoush has been on Ben Gurion Avenue since 1997, in an old stone house it calls the oldest culinary institution on the avenue, and it works as a gallery and a music room as much as a restaurant. The kitchen is Mediterranean built out of Arab cooking, and the service worth planning around is breakfast, which the restaurant publishes as 08:30 to 13:00 every day of the week. Pavement tables look straight up the terraces, which is why the same room fills again at dusk. Private rooms take parties of twelve to thirty-four, and tables are booked through OnTopo. Nothing on the site claims a kashrut certificate.

    Known for:
    Breakfast, served 08:30 to 13:00 daily, Mediterranean cooking drawn from Arab tradition

    Reservations through OnTopo. Worth booking for a terrace-facing table at dusk, and necessary for the private rooms.

    “Excellent food, drinks, and service, in a beautiful German Colony setting.”
    A reviewer, quoted by Google under the listing.
    4.46,850 ratings

    85% of raters gave four or five stars.

    Google Maps, retrieved . Ratings move; this one is a snapshot, not a live figure.

    Address
    David Ben Gurion Ave 38, Haifa
    Kitchen
    Restaurant, Book store, Coffee shop
    Price band
    ₪₪ Moderate

    Hours as listed

    Opening hours as published on Google Maps
    Sun-Wed08:30-23:00
    Thu-Fri08:30-23:30
    Sat08:30-23:00
    Map, hours and reviews

  2. 02

    LUX Haifa

    The one expensive dinner, on the port

    Lux opened at 13 Ha-Namal in 2018 and is the most formal room in the lower city. Its own site sets out the case: chef Alaa Musa started in kitchens at fifteen and trained in Michelin-starred restaurants in Sweden before opening here with Ahmad Asdi, and the cooking is seasonal Mediterranean built from what the sea and the land send that week. Lunch and dinner menus are published separately, and since the restaurant opens at noon seven days a week, midday is the cheaper way into it. Booking runs through OnTopo or by telephone. No kashrut claim appears anywhere on the site.

    Known for:
    Seasonal Mediterranean cooking from local sea and land produce, Separately published lunch and dinner menus

    Book through OnTopo or by phone, and well ahead for Thursday to Saturday evenings.

    “Amazing food, cool ambience and a fantastic service!”
    A reviewer, quoted by Google under the listing.
    4.64,167 ratings

    90% of raters gave four or five stars.

    Google Maps, retrieved . Ratings move; this one is a snapshot, not a live figure.

    Address
    Ha-Namal St 13, Haifa, 3303113
    Kitchen
    Restaurant
    Price band
    ₪₪₪ Expensive

    Hours as listed

    Opening hours as published on Google Maps
    Sun-Sat12:00-23:00
    Map, hours and reviews

  3. 03

    Raseef 33

    Galilean cooking at an open kitchen

    Raseef 33 describes itself as a modern Arab food bar and cooks Galilean food from produce bought that day, calling its kitchen a culinary melting pot of the city. You sit in front of an open pass at the port end of Ha'atzma'ut, entered from Ha-Namal Street, and watch the whole thing happen. The published hours carry a trap: the kitchen closes daily between 17:00 and 18:00, with service from 18:00 Sunday to Wednesday and from 13:00 Thursday to Saturday. Book through Tabit. The site makes no kashrut claim.

    Known for:
    Modern Galilean cooking from daily market produce, Open-kitchen sharing plates

    Tabit takes the bookings. Do not arrive between five and six, when the kitchen is shut.

    “Great food, cool atmosphere and fantastic service”
    A reviewer, quoted by Google under the listing.
    4.71,696 ratings

    92% of raters gave four or five stars.

    Google Maps, retrieved . Ratings move; this one is a snapshot, not a live figure.

    Address
    Ha-Namal St 33, Haifa, 3303132
    Kitchen
    Fine Dining

    Hours as listed

    Opening hours as published on Google Maps
    Sun13:00-22:30
    MonClosed
    Tue-Wed13:00-22:30
    Thu-Sat13:00-23:30
    Map, hours and reviews

  4. 04

    Maayan Habira

    The lunch Haifa keeps for itself

    Ynet's survey of the city's oldest restaurants called this the institution most identified with Haifa's character, and one of the last Eastern European Jewish taverns left in the country. It began as a sausage workshop opened by Nachum Meir, who came from Poland out of a family of butchers, and became a workers' restaurant on Natanzon Street in 1962, feeding dockers and carters after their shifts; the same family still runs it. The food is chopped liver, kishke, kreplach, pickled herring, brisket and smoked meat, with kostitza, ribs smoked in a salt crust, as the plate people come for. Ynet recorded it closing at five most days and running until ten on Thursday and Friday, so treat it as a lunch rather than a late dinner and check before a late arrival. Neither the restaurant nor the reporting about it states a kashrut position.

    Known for:
    Kostitza, ribs smoked in a salt crust, Chopped liver, Kishke and kreplach, Pickled herring and smoked meats
    “The vibe was excellent, food was tasty, and the services were welcoming!”
    A reviewer, quoted by Google under the listing.
    4.64,323 ratings

    91% of raters gave four or five stars.

    Google Maps, retrieved . Ratings move; this one is a snapshot, not a live figure.

    Address
    Natanzon St 4, Haifa
    Kitchen
    Restaurant
    Price band
    ₪₪ Moderate

    Hours as listed

    Opening hours as published on Google Maps
    Sun-Fri10:00-17:00
    SatClosed
    Map, hours and reviews

  5. 05

    CRUDO

    Northern Italian small plates by the water

    Crudo is Alaa Musa's second room on Ha-Namal, two doors from Lux, and it describes itself as a tribute to northern Italian cooking built from refined ingredients. The format is small plates meant for sharing, with local turns on the classics: the arancini come on a freekeh base with herbs, parmesan and pea cream. There is a taboon bar, a drinks bar and pavement seating on Port Street, and a private gallery upstairs that takes eight to eighteen people on a menu agreed in advance. Open from noon to 23:00 seven days a week, booking through OnTopo or by telephone, and no kashrut claim on the site.

    Known for:
    Arancini on freekeh with herbs, parmesan and pea cream, Northern Italian small plates for sharing, Taboon bar breads

    OnTopo or telephone. The upstairs gallery, for eight to eighteen, needs its menu agreed beforehand.

    “Great food, good service, decent prices for the quality of meals.”
    A reviewer, quoted by Google under the listing.
    4.61,997 ratings

    91% of raters gave four or five stars.

    Google Maps, retrieved . Ratings move; this one is a snapshot, not a live figure.

    Address
    Ha-Namal St 15, Haifa, 3303115
    Kitchen
    Italian

    Hours as listed

    Opening hours as published on Google Maps
    Sun-Sat12:00-23:00
    Map, hours and reviews

  6. 06

    Ein ElWadi Restaurant

    Lebanese home cooking beside the wadi

    Ynet picked out Ein ElWadi as one of the Arab restaurants in Israel worth knowing, in a restored Ottoman building near the old Wadi Nisnas market with an ancient water cistern in the basement that the family uses for private events. The cooking is Lebanese and Galilean: fattoush, a spiced chickpea dip, kibbeh, maklouba, siniyya, shawarma, hummus and grills, with knafeh to finish. It is a small family room rather than a scene, and the reason to walk out of the German Colony for it is that the version of these dishes here is the one people in the neighbourhood eat. Nothing published states a kashrut position.

    Known for:
    Mujaddara, Maklouba, Siniyya, Lebanese kibbeh, Knafeh
    “Great food in intimate atmosphere, highly recommended”
    A reviewer, quoted by Google under the listing.
    4.61,338 ratings

    91% of raters gave four or five stars.

    Google Maps, retrieved . Ratings move; this one is a snapshot, not a live figure.

    Address
    Ha'atzma'ut Rd 140, Haifa
    Kitchen
    Restaurant
    Price band
    ₪₪ Moderate

    Hours as listed

    Opening hours as published on Google Maps
    Sun-Thu12:00-20:00
    Fri12:00-22:00
    Sat12:00-19:00
    Map, hours and reviews

  7. 07

    Shtroudl

    An Arab breakfast in a Templer house

    Shtroudl occupies a Templer building of about a hundred and fifty years standing at the foot of the Bahai Gardens, and the kitchen describes its own method as traditional Arab cooking done with modern technique, keeping the original ingredients and the familiar flavours. Breakfast is the thing it is known for, presented as an old-fashioned Arab spread rather than the standard Israeli plate of eggs and salads; Ynet's guide to the city's Arab restaurants singles out the same meal, taken in the garden among fruit trees. The room splits into several seating zones, some looking over the city and some deliberately tucked away, with a separate events space upstairs. Reservations go through OnTopo, delivery through Wolt, and the site makes no kashrut claim.

    Known for:
    Arab breakfast spread, Traditional Arab dishes cooked with modern technique

    OnTopo. Weekend breakfast on the avenue is the busiest service of the week.

    “Plenty of delicious food, friendly service, and great atmosphere.”
    A reviewer, quoted by Google under the listing.
    4.34,186 ratings

    81% of raters gave four or five stars.

    Google Maps, retrieved . Ratings move; this one is a snapshot, not a live figure.

    Address
    David Ben Gurion Ave 39, Haifa
    Kitchen
    Mediterranean, Chophouse restaurant
    Price band
    ₪₪ Moderate

    Hours as listed

    Opening hours as published on Google Maps
    Sun-Sat09:00-23:30
    Map, hours and reviews

  8. 08

    Caffe Naima

    Coffee taken seriously, before anything else

    Naima roasts its own coffee in Wadi Salib and pours it at a cafe on Derekh Yafo, between the port and the wadi, which makes it the most useful early stop in the lower city. Alongside the coffee there is matcha, brewing equipment, published brew guides and a wholesale side that supplies other kitchens. The cafe's own posted hours are 07:00 to 19:00 Sunday to Thursday, 07:00 to 17:00 on Friday and 09:00 to 17:00 on Saturday, which is worth knowing in a country where Saturday morning coffee is not a given. The roastery keeps shorter hours and is a different address. No kashrut claim is published.

    Known for:
    Own-roasted specialty coffee, Matcha, Retail beans and brewing equipment
    “Good coffee, friendly staff, nice vibe and design!”
    A reviewer, quoted by Google under the listing.
    4.7735 ratings

    92% of raters gave four or five stars.

    Google Maps, retrieved . Ratings move; this one is a snapshot, not a live figure.

    Address
    Derekh Yafo 49, Haifa
    Kitchen
    Cafe
    Price band
    ₪₪ Moderate

    Hours as listed

    Opening hours as published on Google Maps
    Sun-Thu07:00-19:00
    Fri07:00-17:00
    Sat09:00-17:00
    Map, hours and reviews

  9. 09

    Elika Artbar Cafe

    The cheap lunch on Hadar's bohemian street

    Elika is the anchor of Masada Street, the graffiti-covered strip in Hadar where Haifa's artists, students and long-lunch crowd sit outside under a large tree. Time Out describes stuffed laffa, sandwiches and Middle Eastern plates including aubergine with tahini brought to the table in the skillet with bread, plus mint tea and knafeh, at the cheapest end of the city's price range. The room doubles as a small gallery and the music runs to jazz and ethnic rather than pop, which sets the pace of the place. It is self-service, and it is the clearest example on this page of somewhere a visitor would only find on purpose. No kashrut claim is published.

    Known for:
    Stuffed laffa, Aubergine with tahini served in the skillet, Knafeh, Mint tea
    “Cool huge tree outside , self service, good music”
    A reviewer, quoted by Google under the listing.
    4.4654 ratings

    85% of raters gave four or five stars.

    Google Maps, retrieved . Ratings move; this one is a snapshot, not a live figure.

    Address
    Masada St 24, Haifa
    Kitchen
    Cafe, Breakfast restaurant
    Price band
    ₪ Inexpensive

    Hours as listed

    Opening hours as published on Google Maps
    Sun-Sat07:00-01:00
    Map, hours and reviews

  10. 10

    Zafririm 1

    Dinner without leaving the Carmel ridge

    Zafririm 1 was opened in 2012 by a group of Haifa residents who wanted to change how the city ate and drank, and it has held its corner of the Carmel entertainment district since. The kitchen works with aged meats and fresh fish; the bar runs a cocktail programme and a wine list of Israeli and imported bottles kept and poured by a preservation machine, which is how a serious list survives on a ridge where trade is uneven midweek. It opens daily from noon until the last customer leaves. For anyone staying in the Carmel hotels, it is the alternative to going down the mountain for dinner and finding a way back up. No kashrut claim appears on the site.

    Known for:
    Aged cuts of meat, Fresh fish, Cocktails and wines by the glass from a preservation machine

    Bookings online or by phone. Worth doing at weekends, when the ridge fills up.

    “Food was excellent, nice atmosphere, but the service was outstanding.”
    A reviewer, quoted by Google under the listing.
    4.53,773 ratings

    89% of raters gave four or five stars.

    Google Maps, retrieved . Ratings move; this one is a snapshot, not a live figure.

    Address
    Zafriream St 1, Haifa
    Kitchen
    Restaurant, Bar, Bistro
    Price band
    ₪₪ Moderate

    Hours as listed

    Opening hours as published on Google Maps
    Sun-Sat12:00-00:00
    Map, hours and reviews

  11. 11

    VIVINO Haifa

    Family Italian, with the kashrut stated

    Vivino is a national Italian chain and its Haifa branch sits near Elizabeth Square on the Carmel, away from the port entirely. It earns its place here for one reason above the pizza and pasta: it is the only venue in this guide whose kashrut is documented rather than unknown. The chain's own website splits its restaurants into two lists, one headed as its kosher restaurants, covering Ashdod, Beersheba, Netivot and Petah Tikva, and a second list of everywhere else, in which Haifa appears. If you are eating with children on the ridge and do not need a certificate, it is a straightforward answer; if you do need one, this is the page that tells you to look elsewhere.

    Kashrut:
    Not kosher
    Known for:
    Pizza and pasta, Family menus
    “Great food, good service, and a nice, cool atmosphere.”
    A reviewer, quoted by Google under the listing.
    4.68,873 ratings

    91% of raters gave four or five stars.

    Google Maps, retrieved . Ratings move; this one is a snapshot, not a live figure.

    Address
    Elizabeth Squre, 1, Haifa
    Kitchen
    Italian, Restaurant
    Price band
    ₪₪ Moderate

    Hours as listed

    Opening hours as published on Google Maps
    Sun-Sat12:00-23:00
    Map, hours and reviews

The food

The everyday cooking is Levantine, and the port's best kitchens say so

Wadi Nisnas, the Arab market quarter climbing between the German Colony and Hadar, is where the city's baseline food lives: hummus counters, falafel stands, bakeries and knafeh trays, trading hardest in the morning. Ynet's 2017 guide to the Arab restaurants worth knowing put two Haifa addresses in it, one a hummus house that had been trading for close to fifty years in a decorated historic khan, the other a Lebanese kitchen in a restored Ottoman building with an old water cistern in the basement. Both are in or beside the wadi, and both are a short walk from the tourist end of Ben Gurion Avenue.

The repertoire is Levantine rather than generically Israeli. Fattoush and other bread salads, mujaddara of lentils and rice under fried onion, maklouba turned out of the pot, siniyya baked under tahini, kibbeh in several forms, grilled meat, and knafeh at the end. Mezze arrive before anything is ordered and are usually part of the price. Portions are built for sharing, which is the single most useful thing to know before ordering: two people who each order a main course in an Arab kitchen in Haifa will not finish the table.

Laid over that is the food the port brought. Ynet's survey of the city's oldest restaurants found a Romanian steakhouse trading since 1948, fish houses run by the same families into a third generation, a pub from 1979, and what it called one of the last Eastern European Jewish taverns in the country, still serving chopped liver, pickled herring, brisket and smoked meat on Natanzon Street. None of it is fashionable and most of it is cheap. It is also the part of Haifa's eating that no other Israeli city has in quite this form.

The newest layer is on Ha-Namal Street, where the lower city stopped being a place people passed through. Chef Alaa Musa, who by his own account started at fifteen and trained in Michelin-starred restaurants in Sweden, opened Lux there in 2018 with Ahmad Asdi and later Crudo a few doors down. Raseef 33, round the corner, calls itself a modern Arab food bar and cooks Galilean food from produce bought the same day. Three of the city's most ambitious kitchens now sit within a couple of minutes' walk of each other, and all three are Arab-run.

Kashrut

Friday night is the easy meal in Haifa, and that is unusual

How much of Israel shuts on Shabbat is decided street by street rather than nationally. The Israel Democracy Institute's account of the status quo is blunt about the mechanism: the Municipalities Ordinance lets each local authority regulate the opening and closing of shops, restaurants, cafes, bars, cinemas and theatres, weighing the claims of religious tradition as it sees fit, and most municipalities have used that power to restrict business on Shabbat. Haifa is also one of the two cities the institute names, with Eilat, where public buses run on Saturday at all. The practical effect for a visitor is that you can both get to dinner and eat it.

So the pattern that governs Jerusalem does not govern here. A certified kitchen must close for Shabbat to keep its certificate, which is why Friday night in a kosher city means hotel dining rooms or nothing. Almost nothing on this page is certified, so almost nothing on this page shuts. Fattoush publishes 08:30 to 23:00 seven days a week. Lux publishes midday to 23:00 seven days a week. Caffe Naima publishes 09:00 to 17:00 on Saturday for its cafe on Derekh Yafo. Friday and Saturday are, if anything, the fullest nights of the week in the lower city.

For anyone who keeps kosher this cuts the other way, and it is worth being exact about what is and is not known. Eight of the eleven venues here have an operator website. Seven of those make no kashrut claim at all, in either direction, which is not the same as saying they are not kosher: it means nothing is published. The eighth, Vivino, is a national Italian chain that sorts its own branches into a kosher list and a second list on its own site, and Haifa sits in the second. The other three picks are documented through the press rather than through a site of their own, and nothing published about them addresses kashrut either. Certified kitchens do exist in Haifa, mainly attached to hotels and shopping centres, but none of them surfaced in the Google Maps snapshot this page is drawn from.

The rule of thumb, in Haifa more than anywhere else in Israel, is to look at the door rather than at a listing. A kashrut certificate is a dated paper document displayed on the premises, it names the certifying authority, and it expires. If it matters to your meal, read it before you sit down.

Practicalities

Booking, tipping, water and the salads you did not order

Booking is done through two Israeli platforms rather than by email. Fattoush, Shtroudl, Lux and Crudo all send reservations to OnTopo; Raseef 33 uses Tabit; Lux and Crudo also publish direct telephone numbers, and smaller places take a WhatsApp message. Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings on Ha-Namal Street are the ones that need a table booked in advance. A Tuesday lunch almost never does, which is the argument for eating the expensive rooms at midday: Lux and Crudo both open at noon, and Lux publishes a separate lunch menu.

Money is simpler than it looks. Tax is inside the menu price, so the figure on the card is the figure on the bill, and there is no separate service charge to decode in most rooms. Tips are added by the diner on top and they are not a formality: since 1 January 2019, following a National Labour Court ruling of March 2018, restaurant tips in Israel count as salary, carrying income tax, pension and national insurance, whether they were handed over in cash or run through the till. Ask whether a tip can go on the card before you pay, because not every till is set up for it.

Two habits of the table catch people out. Tap water is safe and free, and asking for it is unremarkable; bottled water is a paid extra and will be brought if you do not specify. And in any Arab kitchen the salads arrive before you have ordered anything, in numbers, and they are part of the meal rather than an upsell. Order fewer main courses than instinct suggests and add later if the table is still hungry.

One local timing quirk is worth writing down. Raseef 33 publishes a daily gap in which the kitchen is shut between 17:00 and 18:00, service running from 18:00 Sunday to Wednesday and from 13:00 Thursday to Saturday. Half past five is therefore the one hour of the day when the port's best-known open kitchen is cold.

Geography

Three eating streets, and a mountain between them

The lower city, around Ha-Namal Street, HaBankim and Natanzon, is the interesting half of Haifa's eating and the least likely to be found by accident. Lux, Crudo and Raseef 33 are within a short walk of one another and of the railway station; Maayan Habira is a few streets inland; Caffe Naima's roastery is up in Wadi Salib above them. Nothing here has a view of the gardens, which is precisely why the rooms are full of people who live in the city.

Ben Gurion Avenue, in the German Colony, is the other pole. Fattoush and Shtroudl sit almost opposite each other in old stone houses of the Templer colony, Shtroudl's about a hundred and fifty years old by its own account, both with pavement tables, both open early enough for breakfast, and both looking straight up the axis to the shrine. It is the most photographed place to eat in northern Israel and it is priced accordingly, though not outrageously so.

Hadar sits between the two, and Masada Street is its cafe strip: graffiti, second-hand shops, jazz on the speakers and the cheapest sit-down food in this guide. Elika Artbar Cafe is the anchor. The Carmelit climbs from the lower city into Hadar in a few minutes, which is the painless way up, though the funicular does not run through Saturday daytime, so plan the return on foot or by bus.

The Carmel ridge, where most visitors sleep, has the views and almost no cooking. Zafririm 1 has held the ridge since 2012 with aged meat, fish and a serious wine list, and Vivino sits further south near Elizabeth Square for a family dinner that does not involve going down the mountain and back up. For anything else, the honest advice is to descend.

The full list

Every place to eat we found in Haifa

All 37 that Google Maps returned for this area, ranked by rating weighted for how many people rated it, so a five from three people does not outrank a four and a half from three thousand.

Every place to eat in Haifa, from a Google Maps snapshot taken on 2026-08-13
NameKindRatingRatingsPriceWhere
Café LocalCoffee shop4.9242n/aHaifa
Noha Coffee shopRestaurant5.085n/aHaifa
Ma'agan Specialty Coffeeמעגן Specialty CoffeeCafe4.9100n/aHaifa
LaylaRestaurant4.8654n/aHaifa
Samra CaféCoffee shop4.958n/aHaifa
Cafe LumiereCafe4.958n/aHaifa
GourmixCoffee shop4.955n/aHaifa
Raseef 33ראסיף 33Fine Dining4.71,696n/aHaifa
Caffe NaimaCafe4.7735₪₪Haifa
Café Yonקפה יון Café YonCoffee shop4.842n/aHaifa
Sugar & Spice Special CafeCafe4.758n/aHaifa
VIVINO HaifaVIVINO - חיפהItalian4.68,873₪₪Haifa
Maayan HabiraRestaurant4.64,323₪₪Haifa
LUX Haifaלוקס LUX - חיפהRestaurant4.64,167₪₪₪Haifa
CRUDOCRUDO (קרודו)Italian4.61,997n/aHaifa
Ein ElWadi RestaurantRestaurant4.61,338₪₪Haifa
ButterFly CaffeeCafe4.61,201₪₪Haifa
Kashtan CafeCafe4.6386₪₪Haifa
Cafe Al-Karmaקפה אלכרמה قهوة الكرمةCoffee shop5.03n/aHaifa
Tsafon RoastersCoffee shop4.6190n/aHaifa
Chill Meal HaifaFine Dining4.616n/aHaifa
KonaRestaurant4.5237n/aHaifa
Sangria Restaurant TapasSpanish4.5970₪₪Haifa
Zafririm 1Restaurant4.53,773₪₪Haifa
Colony GrillChophouse restaurant4.54,959₪₪Haifa
Eataliano Dalla CostaItalian4.57,418₪₪Haifa
Untitled CaféCoffee shop4.441n/aHaifa
La Cafe RoseBakery4.4225n/aHaifa
Poselsky coffeeCoffee shop4.4287n/aHaifa
Elika Artbar CafeCafe4.4654₪Haifa
FattoushRestaurant4.46,850₪₪Haifa
ShtroudlMediterranean4.34,186₪₪Haifa
Al DiyarRestaurant4.2234₪₪Haifa
Dream NemoDream Nemo - דרים נמוSeafood4.21,650₪₪Haifa
BIRDY SPECIALTY CAFÉ-BAR&KITCHENCafe4.1337n/aHaifa
Kingdom Restaurant & BarRestaurant4.1749₪₪Haifa
Garden RestaurantRestaurant4.12,572₪₪Haifa

Google Maps, retrieved . Ratings and counts move daily and this table does not: it is a snapshot, and it is here so the ranking above can be checked rather than taken on trust. Prices are Google's own price band, not a menu price.

The Bahai terraces descending Mount Carmel towards Haifa bay

Practical

What to know before you go

  • Book Ha-Namal Street for Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings. Those are the full nights in the lower city, and the three best-known kitchens there sit within a couple of hundred metres of one another.
  • Eat the expensive rooms at lunch. Lux and Crudo both open at noon daily and Lux publishes a separate lunch menu, so a midday table costs less than the same cooking after dark.
  • Do not turn up at Raseef 33 at half past five. Its own published hours shut the kitchen between 17:00 and 18:00 every day.
  • In any Arab kitchen, wait before ordering mains. The salads and mezze come unasked and are part of the meal, and two main courses between two people is usually one too many.
  • Ask whether the tip can go on the card before you pay. Tips have counted as taxable salary since 1 January 2019 and are handled differently from till to till.
  • Ask for tap water. It is free and safe, and bottled water will otherwise arrive and be charged for.
  • Use the Carmelit to reach Masada Street from the port, but not on a Saturday daytime, when it does not run. Walking back down from Hadar is easy; walking up is not.
  • Read the certificate on the door if kashrut matters. It is a dated paper document naming the certifying authority, and no listing or aggregator is a substitute for it.

Rade Šaptović / Unsplash

The figures

Numbers behind this page

Each figure carries the year it belongs to and links the source it came from.

MeasureFigureAs ofSource
Year Fattoush opened on Ben Gurion Avenue19972026fattoush.co.il
Year Maayan Habira became a workers' restaurant on Natanzon Street19622026he.wikipedia.org
Year Lux opened at 13 Ha-Namal Street20182026luxhaifa.co.il
Year Zafririm 1 opened on the Carmel20122026zafririm1.co.il
Saturday hours Caffe Naima publishes for its Derekh Yafo cafe09:00 to 17:002026naima-coffee.com
Date restaurant tips in Israel became wages for tax and pension1 January 20192018timesofisrael.com

The rest of the Haifa guide

Things to do in Haifa →Where to stay in Haifa →Getting to Haifa →The best time to visit Haifa →

Sources and further reading

Every link below was opened and checked when this page was written. Official statements are marked as such: they are the subject's own account, not an independent one.

  1. OfficialFattoushfattoush.co.il
    Fattoush, Haifa: the restaurant's own site

    Trading since 1997 in an old stone building at 38 Ben Gurion, the description of the cooking as Mediterranean drawn from Arab tradition, the 08:30 to 13:00 breakfast, the 08:30 to 23:00 daily hours, the gallery and music programme, OnTopo booking and private rooms for twelve to thirty-four. No kashrut claim appears.

  2. OfficialLuxluxhaifa.co.il
    Lux Haifa

    Chef Alaa Musa, his start at fifteen and training in Michelin-starred restaurants in Sweden, the 2018 opening with Ahmad Asdi at 13 Ha-Namal, the seasonal Mediterranean cooking, daily midday to 23:00 opening, separate lunch and dinner menus, and booking by OnTopo or telephone. No kashrut claim appears.

  3. OfficialRaseef 33raseef33.co.il
    Raseef 33

    The self-description as a modern Arab food bar cooking Galilean food from daily market produce, the open kitchen, the Ha'atzma'ut 33 address entered from Ha-Namal Street, the split Sunday to Wednesday and Thursday to Saturday service with the kitchen shut 17:00 to 18:00, and Tabit booking. No kashrut claim appears.

  4. OfficialCrudocrudohaifa.co.il
    Crudo Haifa

    The northern Italian kitchen and bar at 15 Ha-Namal under chef Alaa Musa, the small-plates format, the arancini on freekeh with herbs, parmesan and pea cream, the taboon bar and street terrace, daily noon to 23:00 opening, OnTopo and telephone booking, and the first-floor gallery for eight to eighteen. No kashrut claim appears.

  5. OfficialShtroudlshtroudl-haifa.co.il
    Shtroudl, German Colony

    The Templer building of about a hundred and fifty years at the foot of the Bahai Gardens, the blend of traditional Arab cooking with modern technique, the Arab breakfast, the separate seating zones and events space, and OnTopo and Wolt links. No kashrut claim appears.

  6. OfficialZafririm 1zafririm1.co.il
    Zafririm 1, Carmel

    Founded in 2012 by a group of Haifa residents, the Carmel entertainment district address, aged meats and fresh fish, the cocktail programme, the Israeli and imported wine list with a preservation and dispensing machine, and daily opening from noon until the last customer. No kashrut claim appears.

  7. OfficialCaffe Naimanaima-coffee.com
    Naima specialty coffee, Haifa

    The cafe at Derekh Yafo 49 and the roastery at Wadi Salib 11, the own-roasted coffee, matcha and equipment, the wholesale side and brew guides, and the published cafe hours of 07:00 to 19:00 Sunday to Thursday, 07:00 to 17:00 Friday and 09:00 to 17:00 Saturday.

  8. OfficialVivinovivino.co.il
    Vivino restaurants: the chain's kosher and non-kosher branch lists

    The chain's own site separates its kosher branches (Ashdod, Beersheba, Netivot and Petah Tikva) from a second list of its other restaurants, which includes Haifa. The only documented kashrut statement found for any venue in this guide.

  9. ReportingYnetynet.co.il
    The mythological restaurants of Haifa

    Ynet's August 2016 survey of the city's oldest restaurants: Maayan Habira described as one of the last Eastern European Jewish taverns in Israel and the institution most identified with the city's character, its early closing on most days and later Thursday and Friday service, alongside a Romanian steakhouse trading since 1948, family fish houses and a pub from 1979.

  10. ReportingYnetynet.co.il
    Arab restaurants worth knowing

    Ynet's July 2017 guide, covering Ein ElWadi as a Lebanese kitchen in a restored Ottoman building near the Wadi Nisnas market with a cistern in the basement used for events, its fattoush, kibbeh, maklouba, siniyya and shawarma, plus Shtroudl's garden breakfast in the German Colony and a hummus house of nearly fifty years in a historic khan.

  11. ReportingTime Out Israeltimeout.com
    Elika Art Cafe

    The cafe at 24 Masada Street, the stuffed laffa, sandwiches and Middle Eastern plates including aubergine with tahini served in the skillet, the mint tea and knafeh, the jazz and ethnic music, the gallery, and the placement at the cheapest end of the city's price range.

  12. ReportingThe Times of Israeltimesofisrael.com
    Court rules waiters must pay tax on tips, sparks fears of restaurant price rise

    The National Labour Court ruling of 26 March 2018, effective 1 January 2019, treating restaurant tips as wages carrying pension, income tax and national insurance, whether paid in cash or through the till.

  13. ReferenceHebrew Wikipediahe.wikipedia.org
    Maayan Habira

    Nachum Meir's arrival from Poland from a family of butchers, the sausage workshop converted into a workers' restaurant on Natanzon Street in 1962, the port workers and carters who ate there, the chopped liver, kishke, kreplach and kostitza, and the succession to his son Reuven in 1997.

  14. ReferenceIsrael Democracy Instituteen.idi.org.il
    The Shabbat wars: a guide for the perplexed on the status quo

    The Municipalities Ordinance power for local authorities to regulate the opening and closing of shops, restaurants, cafes, bars, cinemas and theatres on Shabbat, and the statement that Haifa and Eilat are the exceptions where public transport runs.

Where to eat in Haifa: common questions

Are restaurants in Haifa open on Friday night and Saturday?+

Most of them are, which makes Haifa unusual among Israeli cities. A kitchen with a kashrut certificate has to close for Shabbat to keep it, and almost nothing in this guide is certified, so almost nothing shuts. Fattoush publishes 08:30 to 23:00 seven days a week, Lux publishes midday to 23:00 seven days a week, and Caffe Naima publishes 09:00 to 17:00 on Saturday. Check the individual operator page before relying on it, because hours change.

Is there kosher food in Haifa?+

Yes, but not on this page, and that is a finding rather than an oversight. None of the eleven venues here publishes a kashrut certificate: of the eight with an operator site, seven say nothing either way, and the eighth, Vivino, sorts its own branches into a kosher list and a second list and puts Haifa in the second. Certified kitchens do exist in the city, mainly attached to hotels and shopping centres, but none of them appeared in the Google Maps snapshot this guide is drawn from. If kashrut matters, read the dated certificate displayed on the premises.

Where would a local eat rather than a visitor?+

In the lower city and in Hadar, not on Ben Gurion Avenue. Maayan Habira on Natanzon Street has been a workers' restaurant since 1962 and Ynet called it the institution most identified with the city's character. Elika Artbar Cafe on Masada Street is the cheap end of Hadar's cafe life, under a big tree with jazz on the speakers. Neither has a view of the gardens, which is rather the point.

Where do you get breakfast in Haifa?+

On Ben Gurion Avenue, and it runs late into the morning. Fattoush publishes a breakfast service from 08:30 to 13:00 every day, and Shtroudl, almost opposite, is known for an old-fashioned Arab breakfast spread taken in a garden of fruit trees behind a Templer house. For coffee before either opens, Caffe Naima on Derekh Yafo posts a 07:00 start Sunday to Friday.

Do I need to book a table in Haifa?+

For Thursday to Saturday evenings in the lower city, yes. Fattoush, Shtroudl, Lux and Crudo all take reservations through OnTopo, Raseef 33 uses Tabit, and Lux and Crudo publish direct telephone numbers as well. Weekday lunches almost never need booking, which is the argument for eating the expensive rooms at midday.

How much does eating out in Haifa cost, and how does tipping work?+

Tax is inside the menu price, so the number printed on the card is the number on the bill, and most rooms add no service charge. Tips are added by the diner on top and matter more than they look: since 1 January 2019, following a National Labour Court ruling in March 2018, restaurant tips count as salary in Israel and carry income tax, pension and national insurance. Ask before you pay whether the tip can go on the card, because not every till handles it.

What is the food in Haifa actually like?+

Levantine at its base, with an Eastern European layer left by the port. The everyday cooking is Arab: bread salads, mujaddara, maklouba, siniyya, kibbeh, hummus, grilled meat and knafeh, with mezze arriving before you order. Over that sits a much older Jewish immigrant tradition of taverns and steakhouses in the lower city, and above both a newer group of ambitious Arab-run kitchens on Ha-Namal Street cooking Galilean and Italian food.

Is Wadi Nisnas worth eating in?+

Yes, and it is best in the morning. The market quarter between the German Colony and Hadar carries the hummus counters, falafel stands, bakeries and knafeh trays that feed the neighbourhood, and Ynet's 2017 guide to the Arab restaurants worth knowing picked out two Haifa addresses in and beside it, one a hummus house then approaching fifty years in a historic khan. Wadi Nisnas trades hardest before lunch and quietens in the afternoon.

Can I eat well on the Carmel ridge without going down the mountain?+

Just about, but the choice is thin. Most of Haifa's cooking is at sea level and the ridge has the hotels and the views instead. Zafririm 1 has held the Carmel entertainment district since 2012 with aged meat, fish and a wine list poured from a preservation machine, and Vivino near Elizabeth Square handles a family dinner. For anything more, take the Carmelit or a bus down, and note the funicular does not run through Saturday daytime.

Is Haifa's restaurant scene good, or thin for a city this size?+

It is genuinely good and badly under-reported, but it is concentrated. Three of the country's more interesting kitchens sit within a couple of minutes' walk of one another on Ha-Namal Street, all Arab-run, alongside a set of family restaurants in the lower city that have been trading for fifty years and more. What Haifa does not have is depth spread across the city: outside the lower city, the German Colony and Masada Street, the choice thins out quickly.

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