A highly-rated restaurant in Tel Aviv, recognized for its excellent wine, great cocktails, and original, flavorful small plates, holding a 5.0 rating on Tripadvisor.
Chef Guy Ariche leads the kitchen at Santi, a restaurant known for its contemporary Israeli cuisine and its focus on collaborative culinary experiences with other prominent Israeli chefs.
Santi is a 'Western Izakaya' concept restaurant located in the heart of Tel Aviv, challenging traditional culinary conventions. It offers a unique dining experience with creative small plates, an excellent wine selection, and a vibrant atmosphere. Guests can enjoy seating at a chef's table or kitchen island to witness culinary artistry firsthand.
Customer Perception
Customer perception is generally positive regarding the delicious and creative flavors, excellent wine and cocktail selection, and unique dining experience. Many praise the 'outstanding' and 'original' dishes. However, there's mixed feedback on portion sizes, with some finding them 'distinctively tiny' and leading to a feeling of poor value for money, while others found them 'perfect' for a tasting menu. The atmosphere is described as 'impeccable' by some, especially at the chef's table, but others noted loud, uncurated background music that didn't always fit the 'fine dining' price point.
Santi was founded by Chef Guy Ariche and partners Ido Kessler, Nitzan Dayan, and Omri Amar. It is recognized on Tripadvisor, ranking #108 of 1,386 restaurants in Tel Aviv with a 5.0 rating based on customer reviews.
The restaurant offers a 15% discount between 17:00-18:00 from Monday to Thursday. General operating hours appear to be 18:00-23:00 on Friday and Saturday, and likely similar hours on other evenings after the discount period.
Absolutely incredible experience at this restaurant. The food, the atmosphere, and the service were all exceptional, and it truly made my time in the city unforgettable. As an American Jew visiting Israel, this place gave me such a warm and emotional feeling of connection and home. Everything was delicious and beautifully prepared, but what really touched me was the hospitality. A special thank you to Ido, the manager, whose kindness, care, and personal attention made us feel genuinely welcomed and looked after. This experience will stay with me, and I highly recommend this place to anyone coming to Tel Aviv.
We ordered a table for 3 for dinner at Santi, and we had a truly wonderful experience.
First of all, the service was excellent. Adi, our waitress, was lovely, professional, pleasant, and made us feel like she genuinely cared about our experience. Ido, the manager, was also very kind, professional, and present in exactly the right way.
The food was at a very high level. Every dish we ordered was spot on. It’s honestly hard for me to choose a favorite, it’s somewhere between the Brussels sprouts, the Gruyère tortellini, the hamburger, or maybe even the insane cereal milk mousse that ended the meal perfectly.
The only small thing we noticed was that at a few different moments, other waiters who approached the table forgot to clear things or tidy up the table a bit, which could have made the seating experience even more pleasant and comfortable.
But other than that, we truly have zero complaints. It was an excellent culinary experience, with great service and a very pleasant atmosphere. We’ll definitely be back
5
I read lots of reviews of Santi and knew exactly what to expect. Armed with the right expectations the experience was sublime. The service wasn’t exactly 5 star but it was certainly pleasant and friendly. It didn’t detract from the outcome at all.
We got there early and chose to sit at the bar. Excellent choice as we had four wonderful tablemates - a real estate agent, a famous singer, a chef and a food photographer. Everyone was friendly and engaging like we were old friends.
The food was superb. We ordered eight dishes and all were excellent. The best was the scallops, followed by the beef tartare.
Instead of ordering wine or beer we chose a bottle of Sake. Excellent choice if I may say so myself!
The restaurant is really is really special. The food is amazing, the atmosphere is buzzing, I will definitely return.
3
Came here very excited to dine as I’ve heard great things, but sadly was disappointed. We ordered multiple sashimi’s, and felt they were one dimensional, either lacking acid or salt. The Kama-pici pasta was the best dish of the night by far. If I were to come back, I would just order this multiple times. The main issue was a server, dissuading me from adding something onto my order, quoting it would take 40 minutes for the dish. We ended up waiting more than an hour for a dish that we had already ordered, so seems a bit silly to dissuade somebody from ordering more food. After we confronted our server about this, he became very avoidant and didn’t stop by our table again.
The manager was very respectful and tried to apologize, but at that point, the vibe was off and we just wanted to go. If you’re dining here I recommend skipping the sashimis and enjoying a pasta and then the burger.
5
Recommended by a friend who lives in Tel Aviv and it did not disappoint. It’s a small restaurant with an indoor area and bar seating, and a small patio that’s covered as well. We were seated immediately, and waited on by servers, who are friendly and professional, and kind. The food consists of a lot of small plates, some of which is grilled, and all of which is delicious. We had calamari on skewers, incredible sashimi, beautiful pasta, wonderful beef tartare, and a variety of other dishes. Would highly recommend this restaurant for anyone visiting Tel Aviv.
