While Tiberias is famous for St.Peter’s fish, my personal recommendation would be this restaurant called Yali’s. The Halloumi Cheese Salad here is so so so good! It’s so good that I didn’t mind that there wasn’t meat in it! Yes! It’s that incredible! Even as a non-vegetarian, I loved it!

Location

Yali’s is on the Main Street in Tiberias. The Great Mosque is right behind it. And I don’t understand why the rating is 3.9.

We were sitting right in front of the mosque!

Dishes

We didn’t come here for good reviews online, but simply because the restaurant seemed to have more customers than others in the area. That’s a good sign!

I chose a salad and pizza so that the 3 of us could share!

I never heard of Halloumi cheese, and to my amazement, every piece of it was a bite of happiness. It’s like fried cheese, and it tasted better than meat! And the salad was a combination of fresh mushroom, nuts and rocket leaves. I couldn’t believe this was in Israel! And this was large size salad (with complimentary bread), it was enough for 3 of us, even if we didn’t order pizza.

And pizza was good! The crust was crispy. The cheese was not boring, you could feel the love of the mother cow (seriously!) From my other reviews you’ll see I’m not a fan of cheese. But I love this pizza! Again, since it’s kosher, there’s no meat!

This is Sahleb, an Middle Eastern drink available in winter only. This was 17NIS I think.  Cinammon stick, nuts, cocoa and coconut powder. Well, it is okay. It’s very thick milk and spices. It looks pretty though!

And mint tea, you have to try mint tea in Israel! I think this was 12NIS

Our paked dinner. Yes we underestimated the serving size in Israel. I like this paper bag. The bill was about 175NIS.

So the 3 of us tried very hard to finish the lunch, yet we still had salad, one big piece of bread and two slices of pizza….. haha!

I couldn’t wait for dinner time because this salad was SO GOOD! And after finishing this leftover salad, I was already planning my next trip to Israel. For this salad! Seriously!

This restaurant honestly changed my view to Israeli restaurants. I could finally say that I found good food in Israel! It’s hard because I come from Taiwan where you easily find GREAT food at cheap prices.  And this salad was good because it is only 80NIS, not expensive in Israeli standard. But it was simple and good!

Final Verdict

1 of my only 3 restaurants in Israel that I will definitely recommend. Order Halloumi cheese salad!

It feels like if you haven’t had St.Peter’s fish, then you haven’t been to the Sea of Galilee. In Tiberias, there is a restaurant called Avi’s Restaurant, and it’s probably the best for value restaurant. In 70 NIS, you get a St.Peter’s fish, with salad, fries, some side dishes (falafel, pita bread) and fruit! It’s good if you MUST try St.Peter’s fish (because I don’t like tilapia)

Location

Avi’s Restaurant is in an alley off the main street. It’s not by the lake!

A very visible flag of Tripadvisor! Well I found this place because of Tripadvisor too. They’re glowing with so many positive reviews there!

The outdoor seats… you get the idea. It’s a cozy little restaurant!

There’s a fish tank, These fish must be glad that they aren’t big enough to be eaten (or they don’t know about that? haha). There’s an office behind this fish tank, and there was an old man sitting there. Maybe he was Mr.Avi?

Dishes

I came to Avi for St.Peter’s Fish. You can choose either “grilled” or “fried”. The price is the same, 70NIS.

This one is fried. You get whole fish but there are tiny fish bones! If you don’t know how to eat a whole fish like this, maybe you should go for the grilled option.

Grilled St. Peter’s fish. No bones. But the meat is dryer and honestly there’s nothing special about the taste of tilapia. I like the sauce though!

If you prefer juicy meat…  I guess you should go for the fried version. Just be patient with fish bones….

These are small appetizers served for two.  The place is very generous on giving olives!

This is called Falafel.  Each gets two.

Olives. Looks super healthy…  I should learn to like olives!

Garlic bread.

Pita bread (am I supposed to eat this with fish? :/)

And fruits as desert! This is for two.

Final Verdict

Since I grew up having seafood, I find it hard to like tipilia, which is so common in my country. And the meal cost 150NIS for the two of us. So I guess unless you are dying for this experience, there are other things that you can eat with this budget! But if you have to try St.Peter’s fish in Tiberias, Avi’z place is very good for value!