Laila Bayridge — Restaurant in New York

My friends and I live in the area and we love to support new food businesses.

That being said, we walked into a cozy and beautifully decorated restaurant expecting the best. Everything went well as we began to order food. One friend has a severe allergies to sesame seeds and nuts, and we made sure to make it clear to the waiter taking our order. We ordered filet mignon kebab, shish kebab, and Laila kabab. The food is delicious. The meat is juicy and the rice is rich in flavor.

However, the most unpleasant incident happened at this restaurant that we never even went through at any other restaurant. Yes, you picked up the detail! My friend with allergies to nuts and sesame seeds had an anaphylactic reaction! Her whole face blew up and her tongue was swollen! We immediately alerted the staffs to show them what happened. And they denied the food having any nuts or sesame seeds!! My friend had to leave the restaurant and head to the emergency room.

We found out after googling the Tahiti sauce that came with the kebab has sesame seeds. We confronted the staff again and they again denied having knowledge. It seems like they don’t even know what is in their food. How can a food establishment be trusted if they don’t know the food they serve and try to deny it when such a serious incident happened.

Worse, we had to fight to get my friend’s meal refunded. They tried to placate us by offering on the house lava cake which we said yes. But they ended up not giving that to us and gave us a cappuccino we previously ordered for free. The waiter even gave us an attitude as we finished our meal and paid for the remainder of the meal we should have gotten for free.

Thankfully, my friend’s sesame allergy is not as serious as it would be if it was nuts. She was given a shot of epinephrine and had to stay late at the ER to be monitored.

I hate to give bad reviews to businesses because that’s what many people look at before visiting. However, the blatant ignorance and disrespect we experienced is not acceptable.

Go at...

ALLERGY ALERT: A restaurant who argues that they don't have nuts or sesame seeds in a dish and then tells me there's tahini sauce in the same breath is questionable.

I went to eat with a friend who has serious nuts and sesame seeds allergies and she told the staff at the beginning. Shortly after she ate her food, she experienced a swollen tongue and throat closing (anaphylaxis) and had to go to the ER. Then the staff come in and was talking us he doesn't put nuts or sesame seeds in his food. I ask him what about the sauce? He said there's nothing like that in there it's just tahini sauce...I googled what's in the sauce and it literally says there's crushed sesame seeds as the main ingredient. Took 1 second to prove him wrong.

A few things bother me here: -He either didn't know what was in a standard Mediterranean sauce or he was trying to gaslight us.

-If he doesn't know what's in his sauces then what else doesn't he know? Are they store bought then?

-The fact that he was insistent on the food not having nuts or sesame seeds despite the fact that our friend definitely had a reaction is EXTREMELY concerning as he's gaslighting us and also trying to feign ignorance of his food while our friend clearly had a reaction.

-ALL of our food had the same tahini sauce so there's no mix up with the plates either. I can clearly taste the earthiness from the sauce that could be the sesame.

The food was okay otherwise and the decor was pretty. It's just the service and knowledge of staff that disappoints.

We were offered some free stuff to make up for it but we paid for our meals in full minus the friend who couldn't eat her food (they insisted on taking the cappuccino off the receipt). No free meals are going to be able to make up for the fact that they put her life in danger and that is unacceptable. We've never experienced this in any restaurants (we've been to Thai restaurants that are heavy on nuts and sesame seeds) with her and this put us...

There are restaurants that treat you like a valued customer, restaurants that treat you like family and those that do both. Laila is the latter.

My girlfriend and I discovered Laila upon moving to Bay Ridge together tits past May and while there are many gems in the neighborhood, Laila is our go to. Whether it's for dinner, to take out friends or just for a drink- we always find ourselves back here.

The wait staff are amazing - Christina, Rania and Roger are just amazing people aside from providing great service. They are so warm, friendly and professional.

Arda is a master mixologist and such a pleasure to interact with. He's funny, friendly, intelligent and knows how to make a drink sing. His passion truly shines through in his creations.

Whether Cyril is spinning tracks or mixing drinks, his presence is always felt. He has an infectious smile and it feels like you've known him for years.

The owner, Allan is highly personable and makes everyone feel like when they've come into Laila, they've come into his home.

What is equally impressive to the beautiful employees of this restaurant is the food and drinks served at Laila. People ask me what to get when they try Laila for the first time and my answer is always the same- ANYTHING! There are very few places where you can literally order anything and not be disappointed- Laila is one of them. Everything tastes like it was made just for you and is if the cooks were only cooking for you. The truly aren't words to describe how good the food and drinks are here- it needs to be experienced.

I'd have to look back at my history but I don't think I've ever written a review like this for any other restaurant but I feel fully confident in recommending Laila and look forward to enjoying many delicious lunches, dinners, drinks and special...