Layalina Beirut Restaurant — Restaurant in Hamilton

We visited for the first time. The man heard me speak English over the phone when I placed an order for picking up. When we arrived, the man cooking asked "do you want the shawarma done the English or Arabic way?" Confused by such an odd question, we said "do it the way you'd normally do it". Unfortunately, he chose to put fries in, which is not a good choice and not the authentic way! Fries are an odd choice - why even have that as an option at an authentic location?

In short, they gave us fries in a shawarma instead of the typical authentic ingredients - and did so based on an insulting cultural assumption towards us that we "probably wouldn't like it" (you said to us: "English people do not like other way" in broken English; making the assumption that non-Arabic people are all the same - "English" - which is a blanket term you used, incorrectly, to describe non-Arabic whites). And therefore no, I do not want fries in a shawarma, not even the English would. Why do you think I went here in the first place? I went here to have the real thing - just like countless others have!

I hoped to order again someday and wanted to recommend this place to my tetas and their families too. But this place was too obvious in how they treated English speaking Canadian born customers poorly - and there are other reviews that support this. The cook directly announced/assumed we were "English" and assumed that we would not like this Arabic food because of a stereotype based on our first language/appearance. If your staff think everyone who is not visibly Arabic and chooses to speak English is just "an English" (a blanket term that your cook used incorrectly to describe non-Arabic whites), I must educate them that the word "English" you used in that context is incorrect, and it actually has a correct meaning, which means "from England". First of all, I am not English...nor am I your false definition of it...I am from a multi cultural background. But maybe you are pooling us in with a stereotype because we look more like Canadian Europeans with a tan. The fact that the cook assumed that we won't like the authentic Arabic style based on our first language/appearance is a narrow minded assumption, and altering your cuisine to fit "Canadian/American/English" stereotypes will not impress people overall. Canadians of all cultures won't say it directly to you because they want to be polite and probably feel unwelcomed here and want to leave! Not all people enjoy fries, including those who fit your definition of "English" people, and many people across all cultures DO know what good Arabic food tastes like. My best friend recommended this place as she is from Jordan and has a daughter in law from Lebanon. Again - why do you think I went here and not some franchise instead?

Anyway, to discuss the food and atmosphere: Was disappointed overall in the dryness of the food we ordered - I could tell that the chicken may have been good with the typical ingredients (not fries). Layalina was out of stock on beef. Then, they gave us fries in a shawarma instead of the proper way. It was not a fair portion of chicken in the naan - it was filled with 70% fries. We hoped to try the other menu items but will not likely ever return. My word of advice to you is - don't condescend others because they are not fluent in your language - it is rude and will not help your business. Word gets around. By the way, the washrooms are dirty, broken stall doors, faulty taps, and mosquitos were in the stalls. The restaurant itself has dirty couches and upholstery. If what other one star reviews are saying is also true, then this place needs new staff and standards inshallah. It is clear to me that the people who own and run this place do not care at all - and I do not believe this place passes inspections quarterly. I will be telling everyone I know that this place discriminates against others who do not appear Middle Eastern - which is an insult to Lebanon, my friends, and family. You can claim you work hard but the truth is in...

I hate to have to make these reviews but the reason I’m making such a comment is because this is mostly common issue amongst middle eastern restaurants in general and this is where the mistakes happen. I’m not from Hamilton and was flying out of Hamilton Saturday the 20th of May 2023, I decided to take my elderly mother to a good restaurant that is relatively close to the airport and I googled and even checked the reviews before I made my way to the restaurant, all seems perfect. I arrived to this restaurant which at the first impression looks good, lots of room, tables with cafe, dining, patio, and semi private seatings, washrooms where fairly clean, the gentlemen working was polite and hospitable. But this is the reason for the problem in my opinion, this large restaurant with even a larger menu only had this one employee working the entire place at that time around 3pm, I understand it is not proper lunch or dinner time but still, more people should be there regardless because one employee is just not fair for the customer who’s spending his/her hard earned cash there nor is it fair for the minimum wage employee who has to cater to everything there in this big restaurant. Middle eastern restaurants mashaAllah make good good income but the managements in general only hire enough people during busy hours and don’t care about other times and that’s why employees change all the time because of lack of hours granted at minimum wages and it shows just how managements only care about income and expense and not about the customer because it makes since to provide good quality food and service to the customer if they show up during busy hours or during non busy hours, that’s number one. The other thing is because of the reasons mentioned, we received our order of Fattoush, Mandi meat, and mix grille dish, the fattoush was cut into super huge pieces of lettuce and tomatoes that we had to taste it with our hands not utensils, the Mandi did not come with the sauce, rice was super dry, and the meat was so chewy and old it tasted funny, I couldn’t tell if it was beef or goat meat, the mixed grille was burned on the outside and almost raw on the inside, the fries were the only good item in this dish, we were hungry and didn’t want to stir an issue and needed to get to the airport so we paid and left. Today is Thursday the 25th and my stomach is still bad and I have diarrhea because of that food. My advise to upper middle Easter restaurant owners, please do not be stingy with service, hire full time help with decent hours regardless of the busy hours because during non busy hours you still charge normal rate and the customer deserves the normal to good service and quality food advertised and should not pay with health and money for your lack of spending. Plus believe me, the more you spend on good service and quality the more money you’ll make and that is definitely your goal, so you’re not loosing anything and gaining better reputation and more clients. Also, clients of such restaurants, I know it is in our culture to not rate places openly in a negative way, but by keeping silent and not provide your honest or negative comments the managements of such places will start to think that what they are doing is great and will never care to make any improvements, and as a result some people such as myself will get food poisoning whilst thinking they are visiting the best reputed...

UPDATE: Ordered a second time last week and was UNIMPRESSED. Same order, Falafel sandwich with hummus and hot sauce inside. First off it was ready in 5 minutes. Second, I could feel the difference before opening it up, it was thin and tight. When I bit into it I realized there was no tomatoes, no onions, just hummus and flafel. Then to my shock, oil dripped onto my pants, but the falafel was wrapped and in the bag. Upon inspection I found that the falafel at the bottom was halfway out and with just a gentle squeeze oil dripped off it as if they had taken it directly from the oil into the pita. I felt sick as I dont enjoy drinking oil. They flash fried the falafel and did not even let it drain for a second. This is such a shame because as you can see from my original review the first time was really good.

Wow, IMPRESSED! I am a vegetarian and falafel is my staple. I would normally go to shawarma places for my fix, but tonight I decided on this restaurant. I ordered a falafel sandwich, tahini on the side with hummus and hot sauce inside the sandwich. Look at the amazing top view of this sandwich. What hit me immediately was the hummus, they arent shy with it, and its so creamy and delicious, I imagine its homemade. The pickles, turnips and Tomatoes were thick cut and so perfectly fresh. The parsley a great touch. Now for the falafels, they are more of a green consistency inside, they were hot and fresh, perfectly cooked. They were so delicious, the most perfect ratio of falafel, pita, vegetables and hummus. I enjoyed every bite. For $10 this was beyond expectations, I dare to say almost better than Shelbys which I consider to be the best falafel money can buy, if this place made the bread fresh, they would for sure be number one. The meats smelled so good, they have a big woodfire oven, chunks of wood underneath. This is a fancy restaurant so I dont think the average person looking for shawarma would stop in here, but I encourage you to stop in. These guys are going to get to know me, I'll be back 2 - 3 times a week. This is the perfect meal, for $10 I am stuffed, if I had room I'd go back in for another. Call it in, dont bother with shawarma places, this...