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| - Our group of five friends went to check out Layalina: a new restaurant that took place of Minecci's. When we walked in, we couldn't tell the difference: the place looked exactly the same as in its previous incarnation as an Italian restaurant. Perhaps the owner thought that Italy is a subset of Mediterranian, so a Mediterranian restaurant can stay looking the same. The decor didn't change at all! Jumping forward, let me tell you what else didn't change: their kitchen equipment that burns and over-dries food. Or is it the chefs? I dunno, but it doesn't really matter to me how my food ends up dry.
The waiter was polite and helpful: probably the most enjoyable aspect of Layalina, but hardly the reason in itself to visit this restaurant. We placed our orders, but were informed that the kitchen was out of a bunch of very generic ingredients, so at least three of us had to change our (different) selections. This was only around 5 PM, and judging by how few tables were occupied, it was hardly because of a large demand that day. Three of us ended up ordering a variety of sandwiches, and the other two oredered vegetarian platters.
While waiting for food, I took a sip of iced water from my glass: Bleeeh! It was some of the most discusting water I have ever tasted in my life! I don't know if sewage water tastes much worse than that, but my glass remained untouched until we left.
The food was prepared in a reasonable time. An appetizer of "best in town" falafels (according to the waiter) came almost paper dry and hardened in a deep-frier. I have had falafels many times, but deep-frying them was both unexpected and unpleasant. The meat in my Kabob Sandwich was mixed with choped greens shaped into sausages before cooking. I have had this type of meat - Armenian lyuli - so many times before, and it's always been succulent and some of my favorite. That's why I have no idea how they managed to get it so dry and tasteless in Layalina.
The vegetarian platters came with clearly store-bought stale pita bread and were also averall boring. And no, serving a lot of pita doesn't make it OK pita. A "vegetable skewer" in the menu turned out to be a wooden skewer burned third way like a matchstick, containing one small slice of a bell pepper, a small slice of overbaked tomato and, if memory serves, something as unmemorable as a single onion ring. A ring, not an onion disc, an onion ring. I get it, we gotta be understanding and share whatever ingredients still left at Layalina with people who will have to eat after us. Anyways...
For desert, we didn't get our first choice, because... yes, you guessed it, they were out of it, so one of us ordered something recommended by a waiter. It was a palm-sized flat rectangular whitish pastry with something that _looked_ like a bunch white curly hairs. Not sure what it was, but three people in my party were able to choke down only half of it altogether. It tasted like cold porridge. At that point adults started playing with food, and I knew it was time to leave.
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