Alali

Alali, Tel Aviv: a beautiful room, and a steak I wanted more from

I had been wanting to try Alali for a while, so let me be honest and useful at the same time, because there is a lot to like here and one thing I would do differently. Start with the room, because the room is the best part. Alali sits in Sarona, and they have clearly invested in the place. The lit sign glows off a rough stone wall washed in red, there are palm shadows overhead and cool marble tables, and the whole thing has real style. It is not the generic kosher fit-out you see everywhere, and it does not feel cheap or thrown together. This is one of the better-looking kosher dining rooms in Tel Aviv, closer to a night out than a regular dinner, and if the atmosphere is what you are after, you will not be disappointed. Now the food, and here I have a small gripe that shaped the whole meal. I wanted to try a few things off the menu, some starters and a couple of dishes to get a feel for the kitchen. The waiters really pushed us toward the steak, and only the steak. At a chef restaurant I want to explore a little, so being funneled straight to one big cut was a shame, and I wish they had let us build the meal we came for. On the steak itself, they only do large cuts, 700 grams and up. I took an 800 gram bone-in and asked for it medium. The flavor was good, but two things held it back. It came thinner than I expected for that weight, and because it was thin the kitchen overshot the cooking a little, so it landed past medium. A thicker cut would have given them room to get it right. It was a nice steak. It was not an outstanding one, and at this level I am looking for something that stays with me. On the kashrut, Alali is a meat restaurant under the Rabbanut Tel Aviv, with a mashgiach on site, so it is fully kosher, just not mehadrin or glatt. So here is the honest bottom line. The ambience is a 9, genuinely one of the nicest kosher rooms in the city. The service was warm and attentive, an 8, and the only thing I would change is letting the guest order the way they want. The steak was a 7, good but not memorable. Overall it comes to an 8, carried by the setting more than the plate. I would go back, but next time I would tell the waiter up front that we are ordering a spread of starters and smaller plates, and treat the giant steak as optional rather than the whole evening. Practical notes: Alali is at Walter Moses 10 in Sarona, dinner only, closed Friday and reopening after Shabbat. Expect roughly 400 to 700 shekels a head once you add wine. Book ahead through Tabit or call 050-907-7811. One more thing worth knowing if you need to host: they run private events and will close the place for a birthday or a group, which in a room this good is a genuinely nice option.