Yalla Yalla

We were looking for a reasonably-priced restaurant and ended up at Yalla-Yalla in Fitzrovia, just off Oxford Street. After a short wait, we got a place and could place our orders. We selected a number of starters and shared them among the table.

All in all most of us quite enjoyed the food at Yalla-Yalla. If you look for Lebanese food in central London, this is definitely a place you should check out.

HOMMOS SHAWARMA-Chickpea purée topped with marinated thin slices of lamb fillet.
SOUJOC- Homemade spicy Lebanese sausages with tomato, parsley and lemon juice.
KAFTA MESHOUE- Charcoal grilled spiced minced lamb, onion and parsley skewers, grilled tomato, sumac onion salad.

I loved everything here except there was a bit too much lemon juice in our soujoc. Hommos was smooth and delicious. Service was super friendly and efficient even during the workday lunch time rush. The minute we walked in, everyone was very welcoming. I keep coming back and it is still delicious. The schwarma here is just too delicious to stop eating....

Very nice food! I ordered a mains and it was massive! Ive been a few times and prefer getting multiple starters over 1 main mean as you get a nice selection of food that way. Its bigger than the Soho branch also which is a massive plus.

Meh. Just plain meh.

Chicken was good, but incredibly dry.
And the place was so insanely loud, that I could barely hear my friend from just across the thin banqueting table. Maybe it's intentional so the people next to you can't hear your conversation.... Maybe.

I don't think I'll be going back, to be honest. I mean. If I'm in the eighbourhodo and  craving lebanese food and don't mind something loud, then maybe. Otherwise I don't see myself bothering.

Staff are lovely, and the food is quite decent, but the place is so incredibly loud that I'd avoid it on those grounds only. If I go eat, I want to talk to my companions, not have to lean over and shout.

yep – great takeaway lunch wrap. hot and tasty. flavours are great. price is good. maybe a bit larger portion but overall excellent.staff were friendly and attentive except for one little rude short haired brunette girl telling us to shut up moaning about the over 10 minute wait.(my friends wrap)

I cunningly geared a group of friends towards the new Yalla Yalla, as it is conveniently positioned a stone's throw away from my office.

The four of us are big middle eastern food eaters so know our babbas from our hummuses.

The restaurant is far large than its Soho sister, making it less claustrophobic, although I found the high stools and long benches rather out of keeping with the lebanese norm - when you think middle eastern, youu think comfy poofs and low tables. The effect seemed slightly sterile - very much a Londoner's lebanese - although you can't argue with the fact that the restaurant looked bright, brand new and clean.

Hummus and Babba Ganoush were pretty standard but tasty and fresh nonetheless. A dish of crushed nuts with peppers and olive oil was more unsual (so much so that I can't remember the name) and therefore a welcome addition. The Makale Samak - a HUGE portion of deep-fried seafood - was a bit full-on for my tastes, and needed a good dose of lemon juice. It took us a good 15 minutes to get someone's attention for the lemons, by which time the seafood was cold - the one blight to the evening.

Shish Taouk (grilled chicken with vermicelli rice) was good but could have done with a bit more Taouk, and the Fatte Khodra (another unfamiliar dish of cooked veg in yoghurt and tomato sauce topped with pitta) was slightly over-cardamom'd but generally liked by all.

The perfect place to go with a group of friends - it was rather noisy but that only added to the atmosphere, and we were happy to dig in to the pitta and shout along with the rest of 'em.

Tasty, tasty, tasty... This place has a great atmosphere (lunch / dinner / meet with friends / take a date / take your mum), friendly staff, nice relaxed vibe and the food ain't bad either. Well worth a trip for a PIG OUT on mezze. I was with 2 vegetarians when I went and they seemed pretty happy with the menu options too.

I'd recommend booking. YUM.

Tiny but pretty much perfect. It's kind of a cafe/ restaurant with food to take away and a working kitchen downstairs. There's not a load of seating so turn up before 7pm or book.

Also,since i'm here, this place has the smallest gents toilet I've visited to date. You head down some stairs, round a corner and then along a passageway that gets smaller and smaller until you're almost crouching... worth a visit right?

Full review at www.grumblinggourmet.com

I didn't know whether to be excited or trepidatious when somewhere I love, especially somewhere so small, quirky and seemingly unchainable opens another branch. The original Yalla Yalla only opened a year or so ago on a tiny anonymous (and slightly pissy if we're honest) alley just off Brewer Street. It became a favourite for lunch, if slightly far away and always too crowded to sit down. They some very clever things with a bit of lamb, a few sesame seeds and some very good flatbread. Homely, authentic and very down to earth, it certainly didn't have Global Resto Megachain written all over it.

The closure of our local greasy spoon wasn't a cause for much mourning, cheap and a little scuzzy, it was never more than a last resort lunch spot. The surprise came with the news that Yalla Yalla was going up in the world, and expanding. It's certainly got more space than the original. They've still got the same menu of authentic Beirut street food, though have expanded this to include a few larger dishes.

On both occasions (twice in two days, but working lunches doesn't count as proper calories) we went for sets of mezze to share. Tart pickled turnip (a proper revelation), olives and peppers came as we sat, the food freshly cooked and shortly afterwards. Hommos (sic) came with moreish juicy lumps of lamb, melting with crisp burnished edges from the hefty elephantine leg of meat rotating round the grill. This is how sheep hope their babies end up and as far from your local 'bab house as you can get. The same lamb features with a lemon parsley salad as a main course and packing their (perfect for takeaway) rolls. Grilled pitta stuffed with spicy minced lamb came topped with tahini and pomegranate, a princely portion for £4.25. The other entrant in the 'can't believe they can do that good for that cheap' category was a huge portion of deep fried prawns, whitebait and calamari, well cooked, well spiced and well cheap (sorry, really) for £5.50. There's not much I wouldn't go back for to be honest. And it's round the corner from my office, so I will, soon.

The slightly claustrophobic feel of the Green Court original has gone, banished by wide spaces, though thankfully many of the more pleasing, rustic touches remain. Bench seating, dotted in places with throws and cushions, goes well with the thickset oak furniture. The staff are keen, possibly too keen, but you can't fault them for that. Genuinely eager to please, four of them checking on how the meal was going may have been a little OTT, no matter how much they meant it. It's a genuinely promising place for lunch, perfect for shoppers and Soho workers unable or unwilling to get to Charlotte Street.