Les Sardines

Les Sardines is the marina's flagship seafood restaurant — white tablecloths, harbour-facing terrace, and a menu built around the Red Sea catch. It is the single most-booked proposal room in Eilat, the default answer for a romantic dinner with a view, and the place most Israeli visitors cite when asked for the city's best fish.

The dining room runs along the marina's water edge with a full wall of windows and an outdoor terrace that opens in good weather. Tables seat two, four, and six, spaced for privacy; the terrace is the romantic book and the sunset over the Gulf of Aqaba is direct from every table. The cooking is Mediterranean seafood in the refined French manner: gravlax, seafood carpaccio, grilled sea bass with beurre blanc, lobster Thermidor, bouillabaisse with the full rouille-and-toast service.

The wine list is deep on Israeli whites (Yarden, Tzora, Flam) and French Rhône rosés; the Champagne programme runs the classical houses plus grower Champagnes that pair with the tartare and carpaccio courses. The signature dish is the whole grilled sea bass for two — filleted tableside, served with lemon, sea salt, and olive oil.

Service is refined in the French manner — captains in aprons, silver service where appropriate, an unhurried pace. The brigade has been at the restaurant for a decade. Reservations are 48 hours ahead for dinner in season.

Les Sardines is Eilat's proposal room. The sunset from the terrace, the whole-fish service for two, the champagne programme, the discretion of the waitstaff — the mechanics are all there. Book the westernmost terrace two-top at sunset, arrange the ring with the maître d', and brief the sommelier on the champagne. For a first date that wants classical seafood-and-a-view in the French tradition, the indoor window row is the pick.