6 Best Restaurants in Lower Galilee, Israel

Built on a pier extending into the Sea of Galilee, this family-run restaurant has breathtaking views from seats indoors and outside. This airy, casual spot with wooden tables and metal chairs is something of an institution, and locals keep coming back for the delicious meats—sizzling steaks, succulent goose liver, or long skewers of veal and vegetables, grilled slowly over hickory wood. The bluefin tuna carpaccio, caught by the manager's brother, is a delicacy. Save room for dessert, as all dishes are homemade.

At Michal and Avinoam Barkin's goat farm, you can sample excellent cheeses over wine or coffee in the wooden reception room or enjoy a light meal of salads, toasted sandwiches, or hot stuffed pastries. The farm is open Friday 10–2 and Saturday 10–4.

The sweeping panorama from the wooden deck and picture windows is attraction enough at this family restaurant operated by Yossi Mass, his wife Penina, and son Oren. Known for its greens and imaginative salads, it also impresses with homemade bread and tarts of shallot, forest mushroom, and goat cheese, not to mention a colorful pie of beef, lamb, goose, tomatoes, pine nuts, and basil. Desserts make for an agonizing decision, so share.

You can have a tasty meal and shop, too, at this showcase for creative work produced by the local special-needs community. Peek at the workshops based on anthroposophy (a system for nurturing the individual's healthy core), where community members work in the organic vegetable garden and the bakery, as well as in handweaving, ceramics, and paper-products workshops. Feast on a Galilee-style breakfast made with the organic vegetables grown here, and try homemade sweet potato, beet, and cauliflower spreads. Your food is served on exquisite ceramics, produced here and available for purchase. It's about 15 minutes north of Beit She'arim.

This imposing restaurant commanding the corner as you enter Beit She'an offers friendly service in a sparkling clean dining room. Don’t fill up on the fresh homemade salads; the grilled meat is delicious, too.

This quiet, modern café is a good place for a meal anytime. The menu features pasta, pizza, and salads as well as breakfast items. There is outdoor seating, but ask for a table inside near the window to enjoy the Wi-Fi, air-conditioning, and people-watching.