Cafe Layal — Restaurant in Houston

This was by far the worst dining experience I’ve ever had. From the moment we were seated, the server was extremely rude and disorganized. He didn’t take our order properly, seemed irritated when we asked questions, and showed zero courtesy throughout the service. At one point, he literally tossed a soda can onto our table without a word — no glass, no apology, nothing.

Trying to get his attention for anything afterward was an exhausting task. He deliberately ignored us, and his behavior felt personally hostile — even racially motivated, which was both shocking and deeply uncomfortable.

The most unbelievable part of the evening came when he seated his clearly intoxicated sister at our table without asking. She intruded on our space, began smoking from our hookah without permission, and made us feel incredibly uneasy. On top of this, both she and the server pressured us to leave a larger tip, despite the already abysmal service.

To make matters worse, we were charged gratuity even though there were only two of us, when the menu clearly states it’s applied to parties of five or more. We usually tip generously and don’t mind doing so, but in this case, the service was so unprofessional and disrespectful that it would be outrageous to reward it.

Overall, this experience was beyond unacceptable. I will never return, and I strongly advise others to be cautious before choosing this...

Not a place to go for food, unless your primary concern is BYOB and Hooka. The food is not authentic: the do not even cook their gyro or shawarma meats on a kebab grill. They just reheat chunky meat (not at all like what a traditional shaved gyro or shawarma meat should be). And then there’s the service…. Over 20 mins from sit down to order taking (we had to flag the guy down) Another 35 mins to get the food (we had to flag the manager down just to get the food) including the appetizer (which came AFTER the entrees) which had 2 cold served items and one fried item (falafel) …there is simply no excuse for that. There were 3 people in my party (including myself) and the waiter forced a 15% tip into the bill and didn’t give us the itemized list of the charges and didn’t tell us he added tip. Keep in mind the menu says tips are added for parties of 5 or more, but we were 3…then another 15 mins to pay and get out of there.

Let me underscore this by saying we sat inside. There was a total of 10 tables (guests) and the inside dining area had 3 servers, so 3 tables per server. The outside had many more guests and 2 separate servers just for outside.

Not the place to go if you just wanna eat. If you wanna drink and hooka and very slowly get service for food, then maybe this is the spot to go. Otherwise I do not...

I had a male guest. I was ignored, I disnt receive the food I ordered, I had to keep asking until after the 4th time of asking for it I gave up . The lentil soup was split pea and cold, my grape leaves were from a can, I was given tomatoes on my all appetizers when I asked to make sure they werent on there as I'm allergic. I was put sandwiched between hookahs with fans blowing the smoke directly onto myself and food. Patio was empty so no reason for this. Further and final insult was when they handed the check to the guest as I had asked for it many times. My car was parked in valet which I paid for to be park at th door and I did ask b4 I paid. When came out valet was gone car was down block and I'm disabled. Do not go to this location it is a fraud. This location is for children who know know better of traditional food, behavior, and have terrible customer service and manners. Go to the Richmond one ..It is not in midtown it is in Galleria..Foot traffic destroys everything on top of it . Oh yes and I was seated at a table that wasnt even big enough to set a drink on nor fit my legs under, with and empty patio, was told I needed a reservation and tables were booked ..NOONE CAME TO THE LOCATION AT ALL WHIKE I WAS THERE FOR MORE THAN 3 HRS WAITING FOR MY FOOD . MY guest had to keep begging for...