Layla Restaurant

Great place to grab some mezze at the bar. Food was fantastic and service friendly. Had the hallowmi pizza, hallowmi and feta in filo, meat filled pastries and the chicken livers. Everything was fantastic. Bar tender was also very friendly. Great vibe and perfect place to gather with friends.

Layla is a cosy shisha place 10 minutes walk from Clapham Common station. It has a nice outside lounge area with comfy sofas, making it a perfect place to relax.
The menu has a selection of cold and hot mezes, as well as wraps and main dishes such as grilled meat.
The variety of shisha flavours is pretty big, offering unusual tastes such as Irn Bru or Red Bull, as well as alcohol based flavours. We went for a Kiwi, Mint and Grape flavour, but it didn’t impress me with a great taste.

On a good note, they have a nice selection of cocktails including champagne based bellinis.

Have been to Layla’s a couple of times and impressed both time. Good tasty food, smaller dishes and mixed plates make it easy to try multiple dishes and different flavours. Good quality for the price.

We dined at Layla Restaurant on a Monday evening and we had a good time.
I really would rate it a 3.5 if possible, but it deserves more than a 3 star, hence the 4 star rating.
As we don’t live in England, we thought it best to go for the Sharing menu for 4 people (25 pounds per person) and we definitely appreciated that they accommodated our request to switch a Chicken dish between the two sharing menus. Though some of the portions were small, it was plenty of food and I like having a diverse sampling.
The lounge was modern and comfortable — they offered some nice champagne cocktails.
The restaurant was quieter than expected, which I truly did not mind as it felt as if we booked a private dinner. We sat in a nice booth in the alcove, and that was fun.
The food was tasty, delicious and interesting, however, I felt it was overpriced — came out to about 50 pounds per person (we ordered one cocktail each and shared one bottle of wine in addition to the sharing menu.)
We did enjoy our dining experience there, and I definitely recommend trying it out especially if you can score a deal. But to pay full price, I’d recommend not doing the sampling menu as I feel it didn’t live up to my expectation.

A lively focal point for Esher. Friendly service. Great food.

+ generous portion
+ good selection of cocktails and wine
+ nicely decorated and spacious
— London prices
My boyfriend took me here for dinner on the day I returned from a long weekend in New York City. Despite my fatigue and memories of delicious meals in the Big Apple from the preceding days, Layla in Esher, Surrey made a very positive impression on me.
The restaurant is large, and the atmosphere was relaxed. Tables are nicely spaced apart so it doesn’t feel like others are eavesdropping on your conversations.
We started with Layla Hot Mezze Selection, which is a plate of five different hot mezzes. The plate consisted of five unique items so sharing is not the most convenient (unless you happen to be like my partner and I who don’t mind the constant swapping to get a taste).
We ordered a main each — Castaleta Ghanam (lamb cutlets) and Layla Lamb Shank, and both came in generous portion sizes with sufficient accompaniment. For example, there were five lamb cutlets in the serving of Castaleta Ghanam, all of which were beautifully seasoned and grilled to perfection. The lamb shank was flavourful and tender, falling clean off the bone when prodded with a fork ever so gently. The rice which came with the lamb shank was fragrant and tasty.
For dessert, we sampled Znoud Il Sit (ashta clotted cream wrapped in filo pastry) and Karabeej Halabi (pistachio filled short crust pastries with meringue cream). The first came in two pieces and was fairly light, and I highly recommend trying this if you have never tried Lebanese dessert before. The latter came in six pieces and were quite heavy because of the short crust pastry, and they were very sweet. I would recommend the latter to share amongst a group of friends.
Because my boyfriend was driving, we didn’t order wine to share although we have been told by friends that the restaurant does offer a good selection of Lebanese wine. Instead I selected my beverage from an extensive list of tasty cocktails. The restaurant also offers a variety of non-​alcoholic cocktails.
The prices are a bit on the high side, approaching London standards. For example, expect to pay £15−20 per main course and £7−10 per cocktail. There are 50% off food offers via popular dining programs, however, which make the dining experience less painful on the wallet.
The restaurant sits on the high street in a small town, so on-​street parking can be tricky. For those unable to locate on-​street parking nearby, there is a short stay car park nearby (one road behind the High Street) which offers free parking in the evening. The restaurant also offers a take-​away service.
I recommend this restaurant for the relaxed atmosphere and flavoursome food, especially if you can get a discount.

Layla is a welcome addition to Esher, as plenty of the restaurants here are parts of chains, and its always good to try out somewhere authentic. Layla has been around for about 3 years, and is still going strong. It is often hard to get a reservation on a weekend, but if you do, make sure you start off in the lounge bar first for a couple of cocktails. They are strong, well made and have a strong Middle Eastern feel to them, so lots of pomegranate, rose hip and lychee.
The menu is mainly Lebanese, with some Asian twists to it. Dishes are not too expensive, around 4 – 5 pounds for cold mezze, 5 – 7 pounds for hot mezze and 7 – 12 pounds for main dishes. I would recommend getting as many different mezze plates as you can, although they are not large portions, so you may find yourself ordering more than you planned to. A good bet is the baba ghannough, or the fetta bathinjan, both aubergine dishes. Last time I was here I had the fish of the day, which was tilipea served with seasoned rice. If meat is more your thing, my friend said that her lamb dish was fantastic and very fragrant. When I am next here I will probably skip the main meals and go for the mezze dishes. There are also combination mezze platters, which include about 5 different dishes.
Desserts are typically sweet, and the baklava can’t be missed. After sharing a good bottle of Syrah, we went back to the lounge and after sinking into the comfy sofas with plenty of cushions and throws, found it extremely hard to get back up again.