The Last Refuge

The Last Refuge has been operating on Coral Beach since the early 1980s and is one of the longest-running restaurants in Eilat. It is the default answer when a visiting Israeli asks a local 'where do you go for fish?' — the unpolished, unhurried, sea-facing opposite of the marina's white-tablecloth rooms, and the more characterful choice for a team dinner or a family birthday.

The room sits directly on the Coral Beach promenade, with a large outdoor deck overlooking the Red Sea and the Jordanian Aqaba mountains beyond. Tables are wooden, seating is banquette-or-chair, the room is lit with overhead fishing lamps. The cooking is Red Sea seafood in the plainspoken grilled-and-fried tradition: the daily catch displayed on ice at the entrance, grilled whole over Galilee-wood, fried calamari served with house-made lemon mayonnaise, a seafood platter for four that is the best group order in the restaurant.

The wine list is modest but competent — Israeli whites by the glass, a short bottle programme, and local arak for the traditional evening. The bar programme runs basic but the beer sleeve is strong on Israeli craft producers.

Service is warm, casual, and delivered by a brigade that has mostly been there decades. The outdoor deck is the book; tables turn once per evening, and the sunset sitting runs about three hours. Reservations are 48 hours ahead for groups of six or more; otherwise, walk-ins are viable mid-week.

The Last Refuge is Eilat's team-dinner and birthday room. The long wooden outdoor-deck tables, the platter-for-four service model, the unhurried pace, and the Red Sea directly below — the mechanics are built for groups. Book the corner of the deck for a team of eight; ask for the seafood platter in advance to be built from that day's catch. For a casual first date at a cheaper price point than the marina, the indoor window tables are the local pick.