HaYekev, Netanya, Food OK, Service Deficient

As I had blogged yesterday, a few friends and I met in Netanya for a late lunch. One of the group lives in Netanya and she made us reservations in Hayekev, which is right near the boardwalk.

It's a kosher dairy and fish restaurant. There was a nice varied menu. The choice looked good, but although it was a very hot day, we were served plain warm tap water without any ice. A few times some of the women got up to look for someone to bring ice, and even then, they'd just bring for one person. The pitchers should have been full of ice cubes. Another problem was that the lovely picturesque wooden tables were sticky. I had to keep pulling down my sleeves, because it was uncomfortable on my skin.

But they did get one thing right. A friend and I had ordered their Tuna Salad with a few changes, and they got that right, though they never brought me the olive oil I had asked for in lieu of the dressing. So I decided to have some bread instead.

As you can see in the photos, the food was gorgeous, and the portions were large. Most of us found the food perfectly tasty, except for those who had ordered the salmon. They found it tasteless. The breads were good, too.

As we drove up I had no idea we'd be so close to the Mediterranean Sea. Even though we sat inside The view was mesmerizing, but that couldn't make up for bad service. The staff wasn't alert. Too many times, my friends were forced to get up and look for a staff member. And then after we had paid, each of us carefully gave money to cover what we had ordered and a minimal tip. Then the waitress insisted that we still owed money. Finally it was discovered that they had billed us for something we hadn't received.

Since I'm not familiar with the Netanya restaurant scene, I can't compare Hayekev with others. Here's more information:

• Address: 6 Gad Makhnes, Netanya, Israel
• Location: Middle East  >  Israel  >  Central District  >  Netanya
• Phone Number: +972 9-862-2220