Layla — Restaurant in New York

I wanted to say I like Layla, I truly did but the truth is the food just wasn’t good. I am not too sure if my palate is too elevated for food at Layla, but I was highly disappointed. From the most popular item, the croquettes to the pollo fritos and salad. The croquettes tasted bland and as if someone chewed it right before plating. The caesar salad flavor was overpowered by the lemon juice / zest. The pollo fritos lacked flavor, though the sauce did help slightly. The steak skewers lacked a bit of flavor, but had a hint of spice so it was not too too bad. To be frank, the french fries were the best dish we tried. The espresso martini was decent as well. The saving grace was the service we received, as our waiter was very attentive and kind. Also, since we were celebrating our birthday they were willing to store our cake for us free of charge. Our sever even lit the candles for us when it was time to sing Happy Birthday. Overall, I may be willing to give Layla one more try, because maybe it was...

A solid 4, but if we want to get technical, the food was 4+ and the drink was a 3.

We came on a Saturday night around 7 pm (2 people) and had to wait about 5 min. It was definitely happening in there. Hookup vibes and pretty loud, but service was nice and attentive.

For drinks, I got the Spicy Mario (3/5). The mix was good but it was a mezcal drink with no rim! It gave me a cheap vibe even though it was almost $20. A salt rim would have elevated and given it the balance it needed.

For food, we got: Crab (3/5) Strachiatellla (5/5) Tortellini (4.5/5)

I'd come back for that strachiatella, in fact, order 2. The sourdough bread was perfect (get more to dip into the tortellini sauce!). The tortellini was also delicious - I am partial to fried sage. It was very al dente and took a long time to arrive but the flavors were beautiful.

Overall, it's a bit of a hit or miss food wise but the hits are worth...

There are bad drinks, and then there are drinks that feel like a personal attack. What I was served here falls firmly into the latter category.

An Aperol Spritz arrived with an olive floating in it - an abomination that defies both logic and decency. The highball somehow managed to taste like sour, rotting fabric - a flavor I didn’t think possible outside of a chemistry lab accident.

Every sip felt like punishment. There’s a difference between inventive and reckless, and this bar doesn’t seem to know it. The entire experience was a masterclass in how to ruin perfectly good ingredients and insult your palate in the process.

Oh and the volume in this place is crazy bad. Every table was screaming since you can’t hear anything.

Could be one of the worst “wanna be” bars...