REYLA — Restaurant in Asbury Park

Well this is my second review of Reyla and after my previous negative review, Angelo invited myself back after gifting me a gracious giftcard, but it seems, nothing has changed. Previously I had a bad brunch experience and was told I gas lit a bartender, but now it is clear there are even more issues.

I will start with a positive that Reyla’s brunch has turned around for the better and is the only thing this restaurant has going for it left. Props to the brunch crew.

Two weeks ago I used my giftcard on happy hour at the bar and enjoyed a terrific Salatim and Lamb Burger meal.

After such a terrific meal I decided to bring my parents to happy hour on Wednesday 7/24 and had an immensely upsetting & disappointing time. Here’s the issues:

There is such a notable up charge in prices and seemingly a decrease in portion size. They are purposefully pushing us locals out.

Talking about portion size there is 0 and I mean 0 quality control. As stated I had a lamb burger for happy hour a week ago and today my lamb burger looked NOTHING like previously. It included an entire plate of fries a week ago and today I had a mere handful. What about shareable plates does this place not get. So I expected a meal I previously gushed over and instead was disappointed.

The happy hour menu online in no way reflects the one in person. I mean this is just lazy, how hard is it to change a menu online. And I mean truthfully the layover menu is a pitiful happy hour menu. Right next door the Black Swan has M-F happy hour and an all day happy hour on Tuesday that includes 50% off all alc and food deals. RIGHT NEXT DOOR. And it’s packed in there on a Tuesday.

The menus were written so lazily the “vegan/gluten free/dairy free” symbols don’t even correctly label what is and isnt. The salatim is missing the V for example and many more.

Happy hour inconsistency. I have been here 4/5 times since summer began. I have been told at-least two times that happy hour only applies to the bar, today they told me it applies to tables as well. I have literally left the restaurant because I wanted to get happy hour outside and they said no. Fine by me don’t take my money.

Today my 60 yr old father ordered the falafel swarma. Let’s begin with the fact that the price has risen and it has shrunk, literally shrunk. Used to be the best deal on the menu (under 20 if I remember correctly) and now it’s 28 bahaha. It’s a joke. Did they raise these prices for summer? Again pushing out the locals.

But that’s not the main issue. It was incredibly spicy, too spicy for him. He was unable to finish. Now that’s fine if you want a spicy dish, but maybe a pepper symbol or something. How does the customer know what Charif is and that it is spicy. You have to educate your customer.

We spoke to lovely Kerry the manager who was very patient with our concerns and that we had to send back the food, but was still a little surprised to see it on the bill after not being able to finish it due to the spice. That’s fine though never expect anything to be comped but it was just a waste of money for both of us.

Lastly, after literally being embarrassed for taking my parents here and feeling completely defeated (ONCE AGAIN BY REYLA) I wanted a simple dessert to make my day better. There’s two “solid” desserts one being a brownie, but, of-course there’s a but, THEY WERE OUT. At 5:30 pm on a Wednesday they were out. That’s a joke where’s Gordon Ramsey when you need him.

Overall I am embarrassed and disappointed for Reyla. Embarrassed because I keep giving this place a try when all they do is let me down. It’s frustrating. The management has failed. There is 0...

Today my wife and I visited this establishment for the first time, and I can assure you it won’t be our last!

The minute you step inside the first thing you notice is how clean and chic everything looks. Everything from the restauran decor, to the staff themselves, makes you feel relaxed and welcome.

Our server today was super helpful, and the food was absolutely incredible (my hats off to the cooks in the back for pushing out such a great flavor bombs!). As someone who worked in fine dining for over 20 years, I can be a bit picky, but I had not a single bad thing to say about the food.

We started off by ordering the avocado toast, which was absolutely incredible. Served on a light fluffy focaccia bread with pickled onions and beets, every bite was flavorful with a slight kick to keep you going back for more.

For the entrées, we ordered the waffles and fried chicken and the vegan tofu shakshouka. First off, the shakshouka was out of this world. The seasonings were spot on, and the scrambled tofu and chickpeas went great together. The Latkas were also very delicious, just the right amount of crisp.

And finally, the chicken and waffles were absolutely off the chart. The chicken was perfect and tender, cooked to perfection, and the waffles with chicken gravy were a perfect complement.

I left this restaurant, feeling full and happy to a found a new eating spot! Thank you to the cooks and servers for doing such a...

My girlfriend and I had a very weird experience here. After reading mostly positive reviews online, she was interested in trying it--at happy hour prices. We were told by the host that we had to sit at the bar to be eligible for happy hour, so we did. They had a short "layover menu" with only about six options, all listed at full price. We confirmed with the bartender that these prices would be discounted for happy hour; it's advertised on their website that happy hour is 25% off these items, so that is what we expected. I ordered the mint lemonade, which tasted terrible: Too sour and the only thing "mint" about it was a sprig of garnish. I also got the lamb burger ($26) and did not like it either. Between the lamb and tzatziki, it had a very funky flavor that neither of us enjoyed. My girlfriend got the chicken shawarma wrap, a $28 entree! I tried it and thought the chicken was overly seasoned. In the end, we were charged full price for a meal that I barely ate any of. Confused, we tried to ask the bartender why our food was not discounted for happy hour. She never apologized or really explained, saying only some things are offered on happy hour (not like she ever told us WHAT items are offered, even though we made it clear we were interested). We probably could've spoken to a manager about this, but at this point we were kind of dying to get out of there. Just an overall bad experience, from the food to...