4 Best Restaurants in Haifa and the Northern Coast, Israel

No visit to the Carmelite Monastery and Stella Maris Church is complete without a meal at this local favorite, where you can marvel at the eye-popping harbor view from the floor-to-ceiling windows in the exposed brick dining room while you enjoy traditional Middle Eastern fare. Start the meal with an array of salads and appetizers served family style; inventive grilled haloumi cheese with crunchy peanuts and a sweet mango salad are more unusual additions to the traditional plates of eggplant, hummus, pickles, and cabbage salads. Grilled meats and fresh fish are the house specialties. The restaurant has a second branch on the beach.  Reservations are essential at this popular spot.

At this attractive restaurant--bar at the foot of the Baha'i Gardens, olive trees hung with blue and green lights set the tone for the elaborate interior, which contains several intimate rooms. One is a "cave" with Arabic script on the walls, low banquettes, wooden stools, and filigree lamps; another is modern with leather seats, embroidered cushions, and a changing art exhibit set against burnt orange walls. The eponymous Fattoush Salad is a favorite, consisting of a generous helping of chopped tomato, cucumber, onion, and mint and sprinkled with crisp toasted pita pieces. You might follow it with emsakhan, roast chicken topped with sumac and served on oven-baked pita.

At this storefront eatery, brothers Fouad and Ahmad Halabi greet you with a handshake and a "Hello, my cousin!" The delicious falafel and shawarma are wrapped in thin, lightly browned, Druze-style pitas—a nice change from the fluffy ones served at most other places in the country—and a refreshing splash of lemon tops the salads. Watch everything being prepared in the glass-front kitchen that opens onto a series of tile-floor dining rooms. The adjoining gift shop, also run by the siblings, displays locally woven tablecloths and pillowcases.

People come from all over the Carmel for a meal in this Druze restaurant at the northern edge of Isfiya (it's on the left; look for the tables outside under the trees). The Middle Eastern fare here is excellent, especially the homemade hummus with pine nuts, olive oil, garlic, and lemon juice, as well as the well-seasoned kebabs on skewers. Those with a sweet tooth should sample the sahlab (a warm, custardlike pudding of crushed orchid bulb with thickened milk and sugar).