Leila by the Bay — Restaurant in Hercules

I absolutely love trying new places and I moved to Pinole in September 2023, this review is based on my visit October 10, 2023.. I was told to check this place out. I'm someone that looks at reviews and then decides to make my own opinion based off my experience, so here y'all go :

Food (5/5) : I reallllly wish I could have ordered the eggs Benedict but the breakfast menu is only available fri/sat/sun so it being a Tuesday, I ordered my go to sandwich, the Reuben with a side salad, while my buddy ordered the Tuesday special Fried chicken club with salad and fries on the side. My Reuben was perfect. I'll say I I don't like rye bread because I don't like the overpower of the flavor of the caraway seeds, but for some reason I love it with a reuben, so let me say, this bread was perfect and had the perfect balance of flavor. Good amount of corned beef/cheese/sauerkraut and dressing. The salad was light and I enjoyed that there was a good amount of tomato's/cucumber/carrots and some egg mixed in. The fries were also light and crispy. I only ate half the sandwich and took the other half to go and ate it later in the day, and it was a tad soggy(sat in the car for a couple hours) but still hella good. My buddys club, I didn't try, but he ate it all and loved it. He opted to have no avocado cause he's a picky eater but I definitely would have eaten it with all the fixings!

Environment (5/5) We got there right as they opened, and opted to sit outside, it wasn't chilly but it wasn't hot, slight breeze but nothing bad. Sun was shining through the trees so it kept me warm enough, I also am never cold, so some people who had been sitting outside opted to move inside. We were greeted instantly by a gentleman (didn't get his name) who asked our seating preference and brought us outside. Walked out and sat down, scanned the QR code for the menu, and waited a few minutes when he came back and got our drink orders (Pepsi for my buddy and a (spicy)Bloody Mary for me. Lovely younger lady brought us waters and Pepsi, told my BM was in the works. Took our order. The guy brought my BM out a few minutes later, he made it from scratch as they were out of the mix and tomato juice, so he wanted to make sure I liked it, and I'm a bartender soo I was like let me tell you, and it was great! Food came out a few minutes later. I had absolutely NO problem with the service, they were both nice and checked in on us often, the awesome chick also brought my buddy a Pepsi without him having to ask for a refill! The view from our table was perfect with the blue skies and sun shining!

Price (4/5) I'm always aware that prices are not what they used to be, so I don't judge places for higher prices as long as the service and food is worth it. In this case it is. They let me split the bill, I always pay for my alcohol and my buddy pays for the food. Bloody Mary was $15 after my $2 tip, which is the norm I've noticed at nearly every restaurant I've gone to the past few years, I miss the days of my $5 BM! The bill was under $50 for the food including tip. Which is average for most places. I'm not mad at the price because it was worth it all.

Overall (5/5) I've already given a lot of information and not sure what else to say, other than this place was exactly what I expected. Good food, good service, good view. I understand everyone has a different experience and time of day/week always matters, so in my review it was a Tuesday right when they opened at 11:30. I had no problems with any staff (I only had two people that I interacted with) they were helpful and efficient. I will be back to try the breakfast on a weekend one day and will happily update my review!

Thank you Leila by the Bay for a...

I'm giving this place an extra star only because the food is delicious and I have a sneaky suspicion the guys in the kitchen are busting their asses - which is less than I can say for the service. Here we go...

Made a reservation for 6 people online. Arrive at Leila's. Table was not ready. Had to stand in the doorway waiting for someone to help us. At least four people said "I'll be right with you." No clue who was actually helping us. No designated host/hostess. Finally we told them we had a reservation and we would like to sit outside - which they would've known already if they looked at their iPad with the reservation. Had to wait for them to set up the table.

Table was set up without an umbrella so two people in our party had to sit in direct sunlight. Waited forever for someone to take our order. Someone came by and offered us a refill on our non existent mimosas, when we said no he responded: "are you that hungover?" Pretty professional considering we had 2 kids in our group. By the time they came by we were ready to order everything. It took forever to get our drinks. In fact, I thought our food would come out first. When we finally did get our drinks, one of them was wrong, one was forgotten all together and no spoons to stir our coffee. We stirred our coffee with our forks.

By this time we were pretty much roasting in the sun. We requested an umbrella, but we're told there was no base on our table so we couldn't have one. So we requested to move inside.

Moved inside. Place was busy and customers being ignored. Two servers were sitting at the table right by the front door rolling up silverware while another two were behind the bar doing SHOTS! Right in full view of the customers. Real nice, Leila's.

When the food came, it was delicious and everyone enjoyed, so that is worth something. We were satisfied with that aspect of the experience.

When the bill came, an automatic 18% gratuity was already applied. Nice. Considering we had the crappiest service ever provided by drunk servers taking shots behind the bar.

We will not be back and...

I really had hopes for this restaurant.... beautiful view .... menu that had some of my favorite items. Unfortunately was very disappointed.

Arrived at the end of "happy hour" and ordered a craft beer on tap and the fried calamari. Both fine. For dinner I had the braised lamb shank(very generous portion) which was under-seasoned and on top of a bed of also under-seasoned whipped potatoes that were extremely loose. I hadn't finished the calamari when the lamb shank arrived so the server just set it to the side of the table. My plate sat there on the side until I was done with the appetizer. I asked for some bread and the server asked if I wanted sour dough or sliced. I asked if they had sweet french since I have never been a fan of sour dough. She said yes ...... and then brought me sour dough ..... ????

Didn't order dessert but asked if they had espressos. I was told yes and asked for a double. I was given a double espresso which was lukewarm and tasted like it was filled with grounds. There wasn't any foam that usually accompanies a well served espresso ..... no spoon .... no sugar ... nor was I asked if I needed any sugar. Then to top it off I was charged for 2 espressos because of it being a double. I know a double espresso costs more than a single but have never paid 2 times a single.

When the server brought the espresso she told me she would bring the check which also struck me as odd and then immediately placed the check on the table.

Leila's by the bay could be so much better .... it's really too bad since I so...