Iconic Seatara Restaurant to Close After 22 Years

Restaurant owner Harel Blo told N12 that Seatara, the long-running Tel Aviv institution at the Sea and Sun complex in the city’s north, will shut down at the end of the month, with operations ending officially on June 30. Founded in 2004, the restaurant became a destination for hundreds of thousands of diners and a local status symbol over more than two decades.

Blo said the main reason for the closure was severe damage caused when an Iranian missile fell near the restaurant during the war known as “With All Its Might.” He said the venue has been effectively empty for about a year and a half since the first Iranian attack, and that the business could not recover. “The rent is 100,000 shekels a month, so I decided enough and I gave up,” he said.

In his remarks, Blo called the decision “one of the hardest of my professional life,” adding that Seatara was more than a business, it was “a home, a way of life and another child” he raised since 2004. He thanked the guests, employees, partners and suppliers who supported the restaurant through wars, pandemics and financial crises, saying their trust and love helped him turn Seatara into a culinary institution.

Blo said he will continue operating other seaside businesses in Israel, including at Hilton Beach and Metzitzim Beach in Tel Aviv, Poleg Beach in Netanya, and a new project soon to open in Eilat. He also urged the public to keep supporting Israel’s restaurant industry, which he said has been through especially difficult times. N12 had previously reported advanced talks between Blo and businessman Barak Abramov over a possible purchase of Seatara and Metzitzim Beach, but those negotiations did not lead to a deal.