Approaching the host stand at Láylí Mediterranean Garden, I’m overwhelmed by a feeling of déjà review. It was only two years ago that I was here to critique Bar Ivy, its predecessor at the corner of North Highland Street and Wilson Boulevard in Clarendon.
Some vestiges of the former restaurant remain—wooden banquettes, mid-century modern chairs and a 75-seat interior that, in good weather, opens up to a sprawling patio—but the energy is different. The former occupant’s pink-and-green palette has been switched out for earth-toned wallcoverings, rattan pendant lamps and fuchsia up-lighting that sets the bar and the patio’s mature crape myrtles aglow. Goodbye, Southern California coast. Hello, Mediterranean beach club taverna.
Sitting outside on a balmy evening, the loud-but-not-too-loud thump-thump base of DJ Wissam’s dreamy house music fills the air. I sip on a gin and tonic with crushed rose petals and swipe warm pita bread through a trio of dips: labneh topped with black olive tapenade; muhammara (roasted red pepper spread) dotted with feta cheese; and hummus. My shoulders instinctively sway to the beat as my mind wanders to my favorite seaside haunt in Paros, Greece, at sunset—a fitting memory given that “láylí” means evening in Arabic.
This is the intended effect, according to co-owners Faris Ghareeb, Alex Haje and Walid Zeytoun, who opened Láylí in June 2024.
“With expenses so high, you don’t make money just from food in the restaurant business anymore,” says Zeytoun. (He and Ghareeb also have an ownership stake in neighboring Wilson Hardware.) “You have to have a vibe now. We were going for a Miami feel.”
Chef Samer Zeitoun, Láylí’s fourth partner, brings decades of experience to the kitchen. He owned and operated D.C.’s Café Paradiso in Woodley Park for almost 28 years with his older brother Salim Zaytoun before closing it in 2016. (Walid is their younger brother, though all three use surnames with different spellings.)
In a stroke of bad timing, Samer then opened the Lebanese restaurant Zenola in Vienna in 2019, months before the pandemic. While it received accolades, the economic challenges proved insurmountable. Zenola closed in July 2023.
At Láylí, the well-crafted cocktails highlight Levantine ingredients in subtle ways. An old-fashioned made with fig and date syrup, orange blossom water and Angostura bitters becomes a rich, cold weather quaff with the addition of a brown butter wash. The Flirty Baba blends arak, an anise-based spirit, with Campari, pomegranate juice, wild berry jam and lime juice.
Crispy za’atar dusted french fries with a side of garlicky toum (garlic and olive oil whipped into an aioli-like fluff) make a perfect cocktail snack.
Blending the flavors of Greece, Turkey and Lebanon, the menu is ideal for communal dining, although Láylí is guilty of furnishing illogically tiny plates for portioning out food that is meant to be shared.
Chef Zeitoun, originally from Beirut, received rave reviews at Zenola, and his cooking here shows why. Almost everything is cooked in olive oil, including a tender octopus confit served with chickpeas, tomato-parsley salad and piquant muhammara sweetened with a hit of pomegranate juice. A spritz of grilled lemon adds acid and tang.
I’m crazy for the spicy mezze dish of prawns coated with harissa, which are grilled and then tossed with yogurt, tahini and croutons of toasted pita bread. The dressing takes the edge off the wallop of heat from that red pepper paste.
Another tasty mezze is zucchini stuffed with ground lamb and rice, braised and perched atop tomato sauce.
The kibbeh nayyeh (lamb tartare) has an eye-catching presentation. Aleppo pepper gives it a sunset orange hue, but the mixture of ground meat, bulgur and onions has clearly been machine chopped into an unpleasant, pasty texture.
For mains, a prudent sharing strategy—especially for four people—is to order a variation of surf and turf. The mixed grill platter is piled with lamb sausage (kefta), succulent cubes of beef tenderloin and saffron-marinated chicken breast, plus grilled red onions, artichoke hearts and arayes, a snack of fried pita pockets stuffed with chicken. Add to that saffron rice, two sauces (toum and turmeric-laced tzatziki) and a panoply of grilled vegetables. The “surf” part of my recommendation is a scallop dish featuring four plump, seared bivalves served with fava bean puree, a bright yellow saffron cream sauce, and tiny florets of purple and orange cauliflower.
Fish lovers will also appreciate Zeitoun’s take on whole branzino, which is pan-seared and presented with grilled artichokes, tahini and cubed potatoes with garlic and cilantro.
Rose water makes several appearances on the dessert menu. It’s the predominant flavor in a silken mahalabia (milk and cream pudding) topped with pistachio cookie crumbles and halva cotton candy. The knafeh, meanwhile, marries two of my loves—dessert and cheese—by sandwiching sweetened akawi (a salty cheese similar to mozzarella) inside semolina dough, baking it and soaking the whole affair in rose syrup. It’s served warm, so the cheese is satisfyingly gooey, and garnished with chopped pistachios.
I would be remiss not to mention that Láylí’s beverage program also includes an outdoor coffee—and hot chocolate!—kiosk and bar. The weather was temperate when I paid my first visit, but heat lamps make the patio usable in most seasons.
Judging from the clientele, Láylí seems to have struck just the right balance, attracting customers young and old, families with children, couples on dates, friends hanging out and singles catching a vibe.
I was a fan of Bar Ivy and its talented chef, Jonathan Till, and reviewed it favorably. Who’s to say why one place clicks and another doesn’t? I’ll give you the answer the moment I get back from the beach in Paros.
What to Drink
Láylí Mediterranean Garden offers nine signature cocktails ($14 to $18), many of them featuring Levantine ingredients such as orange blossom, rose water, fig and date syrup, pomegranate juice, sumac and the anise-based spirit arak. Pistachio pesto stars in a tequila-based Pesto Sour frothed up with egg white.
Lebanon is well represented on the 24-bottle wine list, which includes three sparkling, two rosés, 11 whites and eight reds priced between $36 and $54. All but one are available by the glass ($9 to $15). Thirteen beers (six draft and seven bottled) are $7 to $9.
Láylí Mediterranean Garden
3033 Wilson Blvd., Arlington
703-512-3094
Hours
Tuesday and Wednesday: 4 to 10 p.m.; Thursday: 4 to 11 p.m.; Friday: 4 p.m. to midnight; Saturday: 11 a.m. to midnight; Sunday: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Parking
Find a metered parking lot on Highland Street behind the restaurant, plus metered street parking.
Prices
Spreads and dips: $9 to $18 (for a dip trio)
Mezze: $9 to $22
Entrées: $26 to $34, plus a couple dishes for two that are $56 and $57
Desserts: $12 to $13