Rooftop

Well, I start with the end. When asking our waitress for the bill I presented her my cellphone for payment, Told her to add 15% for the tip. She then asked me without any hesitation if I could pay the tip in cash…. Well, for a five star hotel roof top restaurant, maybe they have a black money cash box only for the waitresses? The saviche was fine and well presented but the salad wasn’t tasty at all, just a large bowl of salad and vegetables plus a few pieces of fruits. The dressing was out of a bottle taste like… Ordered a strong cappuccino, got a vanilla tasting coffee instead from an automatic coffee dispenser, like you have in the airports… Expensive, not tasty food, terrible service. Ah the view! Yes the view is amazing :)

While it is advertised as a “chef” restaurant unfortunately it does not present as such. The flavor profile of the food was below average and the presentation at times was disappointingly messy and without any refinement. Much better to go to a typical Israeli grill restaurant and eat good food at 1/5 th the price. This would not be true if it were a true chef restaurant. We spent 980 NIS for two people, which would have been fine if the food was up to par. Maybe nice for drinks due to the amazing view.

This was so bad it was insulting. The roast beef sandwich was a HUGE piece of dry and untoasted challah with two thin - and I mean thin - strips of roast beef in them. I respectfully tried to tell the waitress that I do not blame her but it was not good as it was slapped together untoasted bread with very little meat. The sandwich was 90 something shekels… The waitress instead of taking constructive criticism fought with me and said the bread is not toasted because it’s Shabbat. I didn’t say this to her but IF ITS SHABBAT YOU WOULDNT BE OPEN TAKING MONEY. So hypocritical and frankly untrue to say bread was untoasted because of Shabbat. She then came back and rudely slapped a small plate on the table with a small heap of cold roast beef, assuming because I said there was almost no meat in there. The meal was so expensive for nothing. My wife and I went out for another meal directly after at an Arab establishment who gave proper service and real food. I am Jewish and the service from Israelis is usually sub par - but this was on another level of bad. Incredibly disappointing and they should truly be ashamed. The view was good but could not save this for us.

I don’t even know what happened. We used to come to the rooftop a lot and last night we went with a big group since I recommended the place. I ordered the shashimi salmon/ and got an avocado shashimi in a bath of teriyaki sauce. It was very heavy . Totally not what I was expecting. The duck for main was actually very good but then when we ordered the malabi for dessert it was like eating butter instead of a light dessert that’s malabi is supposed to be. We had a bite of the lemon cake, you expect it to be lemony sour/ it was more like a puffy shortcake with some sweet lemon on it. What happened to the chef? Bring him back!!! Other then that, I found the service to be pleasant and quick and great. And the view is spectacular. I will come back again, but only because if past expiriance not because of this last time. Cocktails were also very good.

First the hotel is worth seeing in itself. As for Rooftop, it has a cool vibe, satisfactorily service and inspired food / cocktails. Great layout and views. It was warm enough despite a cool evening and the background EDM music set the tone. The starting bread was an instant winner and the Salmon was the best plate we tried. Judah Hill cocktail was on point as was the lemon olive oil cake.

The Rooftop restaurant on top of the Mamilla Hotel in Jerusalem offers some fantastic views over the New and Old Cities but, with the exception of some delicious roasted bone marrow I found the food to be unexceptional and the service very poor indeed. Having waited a very long time to be given a menu or offered a drink we hijacked a passing young waiter who did his very best to help and give us what we needed, despite being very busy and working in a completely different section of the restaurant. Without his initiative we would certainly have made a complaint or indeed left. Here are a few photographs of some of the food at Rooftop and a few other places in Jerusalem.

The restaurant is located on the 8th floor in the luxury mamila hotel. When I made the reservation I asked to sit by the window, and the view of Jerusalem was breathtaking. The food was good, worth the price. I was a bit disappointed when no waiter came to take our order and we had to call someone and it took too long for the main course to arrive after the appetizers. AND THE MOST unprofessional thing was that we were not able to leave a tip with the credit card. It was only cash OR "bit" which is like "venmo" or a direct deposit to the waiters bank account, for me it felt a bit sketchy and I did not expect this from a place like this!

Steaks were 80 per 100 grams. We were told minimum size was 500g, and they had 1. We ordered it with other mains. While waiting we were told they only had a 700g steak, and did we still want it. We felt pressured so accepted. The steak that came was not 700, 500 at max. Just felt ripped off.