Leila Cafe

Get the Baba Ghanoush, Potatoes With Eggplant sandwich, and top it off with a Banana Dates Smoothie.
wow.
I order delivery, so don’t have to deal with the service, which it appears people complain about. I have no complaints.

I love this place, though I’ll admit I come more for hookah than food. The food is standard middle eastern, very fresh and tasty. One standout is the fresh juice/​lemonade. The raspberry lemonade is to die for, seriously. There’s a good variety of hookah flavors. Prices are reasonable and they don’t care if you sit there for hours.
What I like most about this place is that it is small, quiet enough for conversation, and has a family atmosphere. It feels like you’re sitting in someone’s living room. You’ll probably end up talking to the people sitting next to you, and if you go often enough the owner will recognize you.
Overall, a great spot for a more laid back evening on the rare occasion where you want to actually be able to hear yourself think.

I’ll begin with the good. Would I go back again? Probably, would I go there and BMOB and smoke hookah for sure. I came here really not craving any type of food but because I was in the neighborhood, The food is extremely mediocre there is nothing that stands out about this place at all, but its decent enough to grab as take out on a lazy Tuesday. I got the falafel and grape leaves and didn’t have any complaints.
Okay so the not so good… the front door was boarded up, I wasn’t sure if I was walking into a restaurant or a crack house, the décor is drab and old and the music is extremely loud, the service is friendly but is not very attentive, my server only gave me water half way through the meal.
Now onto the bad. I asked for hot sauce at a middle eastern restaurant and got a mexican chipotle hot sauce… REALLY??? its like going to an indian restaurant and getting buffalo sauce to go with your tandoori chicken…
I wish I could give this 2.5 but alas Unilocal only allows whole number rankings.

After hearing such rave reviews from friends about Leila Café, I was excited to give it a try. Upon entering, I noticed the all the booths were covered with a strange looking cloth. A little dingy and dirty looking.
We were seated at a table and we placed our orders. I ordered the hummus for starters and a garlic chicken wrap for my meal. I also ordered a soda (which I never got). I must say the hummus was the best hummus I have ever had. Truly superb. Also, my garlic chicken wrap was so juicy and delicious. I loved the how the feta gave it a little creamy kick. It was such a nice compliment to the exploding garlicky flavor.
Even though the food was delicious, the service was not all that great (the reason why I am giving it 3 stars). The owner was not attentive at all. We had to ask for utensils after our food arrived, he completely forgot to get our drink order and when we reminded the server about our drink order, she didn’t bring it out until we were almost finished with our meal. If the restaurant were packed, I would be more lenient and understanding but there were only two tables there, including our table so there is no excuse. They just didn’t seem like they cared, which is a shame because their food is actually pretty good.
I suggest you order their food to go if you wanted to give Leila Café a try. It is probably what I would do for next time.

I bought a Groupon for Leila Café and sadly forgot about it. Fortunately, Groupon has a policy where you can always use the amount you paid for the voucher. Unfortunately, I was met with grumbling and defensive arguing when I tried to explain this to the owner. After pulling up Groupon’s fine print on my phone and convincing the younger man who worked there (his son maybe?) I paid for my meal and left.
I ordered the grape leaves platter which came with 6 grape leaves, tabbouleh, hummus, and a fairly large pita. Everything was just ok. The portions weren’t that big, which is fine, but I wouldn’t want to pay the regular price of almost $ 10 for it.

Stopped by for an impromptu dinner here recently. Sampled the fattoush salad, which was fine, the lentil soup, which was fine, the kibbeh, which was fine, and the one standout dish — the lamb sandwich. That one’s worth going back for. And maybe I’ll try some of their other offerings, as well, when I return.
The décor seems authentically Mid-​Eastern hole-​in-​the-​wallish. The table of young men casually shooting the shit and smoking hookahs nearby for well over an hour fit right in. Service is laid back. Prices are fair. It’s more of a 3.5, but they get a round-​up for yummy lamb.

Having passed Leila Café several times on my walk to the grocery store, I always wanted to try it out, but never really made the time. I saw a deal on Groupon a couple months ago for this place, so I snatched it up and was definitely not disappointed with my experience.
The place is small, but that’s okay considering it was a Wednesday night and not crowded at all. The setup of the restaurant is odd, considering you have to walk to the back where the register is to get seated. Also, because they don’t serve alcohol here (and no, it’s not BYOB), I noticed a couple young kids on dates. I have a feeling that this could be a big hangout for underagers on the weekends.
For dinner we both ordered the Leila Special, which was a combo of beef gyro, beef kibbie, beef kafta, rice, hummus, and tabouleh — not bad considering the $ 12.50 price tag. I’m no expert on this type of cuisine, but I thought this dish was delicious. The portion was generous and came with pita. I will definitely be back here to try out other things on the menu.
We also got a hookah with melon flavored shisha. No complaints here! There are several varieties of flavors to pick from.
After we got our food, service was ridiculously slow, but that wouldn’t stop me from coming here again for a relaxing, inexpensive meal. Check it out!

The only thing stopping me from giving this place an additional star is the sorry excuse of a delivery boy who «was pulled over by the cops» on his way here and got to my office almost an hour late.
I ordered a fattoush salad which arrived soggy because the guy probably decided to joy ride around town.
I also ordered the kufta platter which was cold by the time it got to me.
Aside from these issues, the food was good. The kufta platter came with rice, hummus and tabouli and it was all superb.
I will be giving them another chance to redeem themselves from the poor delivery issue.

You got me on my knees, Leila!
This place is good, man. I was skeptical about a salad with bread in it, but the fattoush salad is amazing — get it with the pita toasted, not fried. The baba ghanoush has a delicious natural smokiness to it and is an absolute must. The tabouli is crunchy, fresh, and darn good and worth the side effect of breath that could singe your fellow diners’ eyebrows off.
I ended up getting a chicken gyro. Now, I wouldn’t normally go with the chicken, but the very, very nice owner dude recommended it and, boy, was he right. My husband had the shawarma platter, which was full of tender, flavorful meat. And, for no apparent reason we were given a free dessert. Don’t mind if I do!

Good place for middle eastern cuisine.
Don’t expect fast service here (only when they are busy) since there will be only person work here.
High points:
Gyro is amazing
All the platters choices are pretty filling and full of flavor.
Their meat sandwiches are good for take out as well.

A friend of mine had a Groupon for this place. I Unilocaled it before going, and I was a little discouraged by some of the reviews, but then my friend told me that they moved locations, blah blah blah. So I don’t know if moving had anything to do with it, but I loved it here. It is a very small dining room but it is family owned and they definitely treat you like family when your there. We were even joking around with the owner and his daughter. They had a large range of hookah flavors and even let us mix. We got vanilla and strawberry! Mmmmm, it tasted like a milkshake! The hookahs there are so tall, they have to put them on the ground when you smoke them. We ended up getting the hummus platter and the falafel platter. Both were mighty tasty and I was extremely satisfied and full when I left. I will definitely be going back soon.

The owner actually yelled at me for a good five minutes as a first time customer because I commented on how there was ‘junk’ everywhere and no where to sit. His temper flared from zero to sixty because he thought I was calling him junk. His very cool 13 year old daughter calmed him down and explained what I had meant, but I can tell you that the falafel was not worth being abused and treated this way as a customer. Go somewhere else for your falafel.
Just as a side note, the booths were stained and filthy.

While I appreciated the mom-​and-​pop feel and the outdoor dining in the back of the restaurant, my meal at Leila Café was overall average. You could tell they use good olive oil, but the pita was kinda thin and the falafel was kinda dry. We didn’t receive waters until we were almost finished eating.
We had a Groupon– the owner jumped for joy when he found out that it was our first visit, and all because of the Internet advertising. I hope they succeed, if only because the people seemed so genuine. I just prefer Mama’s for my falafel.

Second time here. We had the beef and chicken shawarma. Both eere just ridiculous. Very juicy and well flavored. Hummus was great again. I love consistency in a restaurant.
So I have been back several times and the food is really fantastic. He makes everything in-​house and you can tell the difference. Highly recommended.

Me and some friends ended up here late at nite after some drinking on a Saturday night. It was a GREAT experience. The owner and servers were very friendly and super kind. They got us seated right away, and brought us a menu. He recommended a hookah flavor for us based on our tastes and likes — and he was really friendly. They were helpful with extra coals and mouth pieces as well. We orderd some falafel and humus as well — all of which were delicious. Not nearly as good as Mama’s — but def yummy. I wasa BIG fan. Also — they gave us extra pita when we ran out — for free! Yaay!
I love it here, and will def go back. There is an interesting mix of young and old — some bring board games, some bring movies and laptops — other just congregate. It’s a great place.

We strolled into Leila’s Café on Sat after book shopping at nearby Giovanni’s Room… My friend had eaten at this establishment once before and said the food and service were excelent… I said well lets give it a whirl…
The service was spotty this time. The Father and Son were working and not paying close attention to us since we ordered the Mezze Appetizer platter.(vegetarian for Vegetarians) They give you alot of food for only $ 16.95 (minimum 2 people). The platter contains: 5 falafel balls, 4-​stuffed grape leaves, hummus, baba ganoush, fatoush, tabouli salad and a basketful of pita bread. Yum. It all tasted really good. Kinda wish they had Labneh, Fool Muddamas and grilled zucchini, but, they are NOT Alyan’s.
So, if this rating were solely food: 4 Stars would be given.
Service: 2.5
So, that is how I came up with 3 Stars total…

What a sweet spot in Center City! We went there for a post concert night cap. Great, great Arabic coffee and superb baklava. Yummmm. The entire place makes me think I’m somewhere in Athen’s Glyfada or in Rabat; open kitchen, pop laboring in the back, sons tending the registers, the smell of food in the air…
Welcoming and tasty place. Grab a table outside and enjoy the passers by.

**Update: Not only is this place horrible, the owner is a blatant liar. See his comment below. What would I gain out of writing a detailed bad review? Instead of spitting out horrible lies from your mouth, why don’t you work on improving the service?***
The word disaster was invented for places like Leila.
If you want to be moved around twice during the course of your meal, wait an hour for your food, sit with 4 people at a tabletop for 2, and end up leaving without any food, this is your place.
I don’t wait long periods for food. It is against my principles. There is no place in this entire world that is worth waiting more than 15 minutes for food.
However, when you go out to dinner with friends you make compromises. That’s what friends do. We were in Philly for a conference. Four of us decided to have dinner on a Saturday night. One of us is vegetarian, we figured middle eastern food is a safe bet for vegetarians because of various options.
This place is small. We walked in to Leila around 8pm. It is Saturday night, the place seems busy, we were cool with a short wait. My friends decided we can wait for 15 – 20 minutes to be seated. Surprisingly, we were seated right away. The owner (I assume) moved a party of two to another table to seat us. That should have been our first clue to get out. We felt bad for the two ladies who were asked to move. That’s when I noticed he wants the four of us to sit at a table for two. He immediately brought two more chairs and put them around the little table and asked us to sit.
Under ordinary circumstances I would have walked out without saying a word, but I was with friends. They were ok sharing a small table. I didn’t want to be rude. We sat brushing arms with people sitting next to us. It was highly uncomfortable.
15 minutes later the owner comes to take our order. We were starving by then. We order right off the bat. My friend asks for a date smoothie that was on their menu.
Owner: Oh, we don’t serve that.
Friend: It says you have it, on the menu.
Owner: I just made it up because it sounds good. Nobody in America has it, so I made it up.
Friend (with puzzled look): So, you don’t serve it, but you have it on the menu because it just sounds good?
Me: Yeah, that doesn’t make any sense. Why offer something that you have no intentions of serving?
Owner: *skips this conversation and takes the rest of our order*
We wait… and wait… and wait… 30 minutes. We weren’t even served our drinks (water). How hard is it to serve water?
30 minutes later the owner comes and asks us to move to the table next to us because he thinks we need a bigger table. No shit, Sherlock… you should have done this 30 minutes ago. We move.
Next thing you know he seats another 4 people at the table we just vacated. This guy is unbelievable.
And then he tells us our food is ready to come out.
So, we wait for our food… and wait… and wait… for another 30 minutes. That is when the other lady working there comes and asks if we ordered.
Holy muthafu*kin hell. Did you just ask us if we ordered? We ordered an HOUR ago. And your greedy owner keeps seating people, but doesn’t serve them, because he doesn’t want to lose customers. You know what? I am finished here.
I look at my friends and say I am leaving. I don’t care if I am rude, I am not putting up with this bull$hit. My friends were pretty pissed off by then and we all left.
When you say my food is coming out right now, it means it will be on my table within the next 10 minutes. I shouldn’t have to wait 30 minutes only to be asked if we ordered.
Perhaps the food is good. But the inefficient service and rude staff are not worth returning.
The public health professional in me was also pissed that they do not have a separate area for hookah smokers. The tables around us were blowing smoke all over us. Isn’t this a violation of the health code?
P. S. We were there for an hour… they still did not serve our water. That is how horrible this place is.

Before you embarrass yourself by opening a bottle of beer, take note: this place is not BYOB. I learned from Mohammad and Smiley (the owners) that Leila’s is being a good little restaurant by not trying to upset their dirty neighbor (Dirty Franks) by giving patrons a BYO option. They’re also not trying to compete with the Last Drop, so Leila’s is only giving diners one type of Arabic coffee-​something they can’t find at the across the street coffee shop. So far, they’re making some pretty smart moves.
I decided to try this place out last night after reading all the positive reviews. What my friend and I came to find was the most generous service this city’s ever seen. It might be due to the fact that Smiley’s only been here for 4 months and hasn’t been hardened yet. Something about his genuinely friendly, humble, and well, smiley, disposition tells me he’s set to remain resilient to our snarky tendencies.
They’re not only bringing general cheeriness to the corner of 13^th and Pine, they’re also bringing back an old world honor code system. Allow me to explain.
A table next to ours finished up their meal and when handing the server a credit card, he informed them the café wasn’t credit card ready yet, they were still waiting for the credit card machine to be set up. The lady at the table offered to head to an ATM when Smiley jumped in and told them to pay up next time. I think the diners were as shocked as my friend and I. Nevertheless, off they went without paying for the night’s meal and promising to return soon. How awesome is that?
I’m an idiot and ordered the shawarma thinking it was going to be chicken. It was lamb. I hate lamb. I expressed my complete idiocy and asked them to give me a container so I could give the meal to my roommate. Smiley came outside, with a new chicken platter for me and put the lamb one on the house. Once again, are you kidding me? The meal was fantastic and came with a healthy serving of tabouli, hummus, rice and white meat chicken.
Later, Mohammad came outside with his personal hookah and insisted that my friend and I share it with him. We did. You’ll feel like an absolute prince/​princess when eating at Leila’s. They’re genuinely nice people who want their business to succeed, and in my opinion, they’re headed in the right direction.

Recently opened, this is a great corner spot on Pine & 13^th.
We were early afternoon customers and were greeted with a warm and friendly service. We were the first customers of the day and one of the owners treated us to free pineapple, banana, blackberry smoothies.
We tried Leila Maza, a sampler of appetizers. The Baba Ghanoush & Hummus were lemony and spiked with smoky paprika… definitely not a mild spread and very refreshing on a warm summer afternoon.
The second wave of mezze appeared… falafel-​like kibbeh, grape leaves, tabouleh all served over a bed of yogurt-​dressed greens, onions & tomato. There was also fattoush, a chopped salad with toasted pita chips scattered throughout.
The kibbeh was very similar to a falafel, but with a little more spice… the grape leaves were lemony as well. All in all, the sampler was a good way to taste your way around the menu.
The had a variety of sandwiches (Gyro, Shish, & many vegetarian options) and desserts as well… save those for next visit.
Outside seating & Hookahs.