Neyla Restaurant Review (DC)

Intro
Neyla - Recommended
3206 N St NW, Washington 20007
At Wisconsin Ave
Phone: 202-333-6353

So I went to DC this weekend with the girlfriend and I heard about this restaurant called Neyla from a co-worker. The place is a Lebanese / Mediterranean (interesting how Middle Eastern and Mediterranean are paired a lot) in the Georgetown area. First time really eating in DC, so I had no idea what to expect. Being from NY, there is sometimes a bias, but I always tried to keep an open mind. Overall, I was happy with the experience, but there some things that held it back from being a very good restaurant. Overall, I gave it a 75.4/100.

Dishes (72.7/100)
Amuse Bouche - Pita Chips with yogurt, olive oil, and olives.
No ratings for amuse bouche's for me, since it is free - however I'll give you my take on it. Pita chips were unbelievable. Really smoky crunchy thin chips which I believe had sesame seeds, cumin, and maybe cinnamon baked into the chips. The yogurt was OK, but the chips were spectacular. This really set the expectation for the restaurant.

Lebanese Tasting (74.7/10)
Consisted of Hommus, Baba Ghannoug, Tabbouleh, Grape Leaves, Cheese Rolls, Fried Kibbeh (beef dumplings) and Chicken Shawarma. Categories will be of the overall sampler, since it'll be too much to break each component down.

• Flavor 7.8/10 - Flavors overall were pretty solid. Cheese rolls were incredible - basically fried manchego cheese (not sure how this is Lebanese though). Chicken shawarma is kinda like a chicken sausage patty, but this was wrapped in it's own pita making it like a ravioli? Whatever it was, it was hella good. Hommus and baba were a little too lemony for my taste, but still good. Overall, pretty happy with the flavor of this sampler. The hommus and baba held it back from the 8.0 range though.
  
• Texture 8/10 - Again, very happy with everything here. The hommus and baba were incredibly smooth, maybe ran through a sieve. The fried cheese and meat dumplings were very crunchy. And the chicken shawarma was juicy on the inside and a nice soft/chewy dough on the outside.
  
• Aroma 7/10 - since most of the items were cold, the aroma was not really prevalent. A little, but I wasn't expecting much - hence the 7.
  
• Presentation 7/10 - It looked OK, served on a huge glass dish with separate compartments. Nothing special, but not messy at least.
  
• Price 6/10 - I thought the price was a tad bit expensive for the quantity of food. $30 I felt was a bit too much. $30 could bought me extreme happiness at Union Square Cafe...
  

Turkish Pizza (70.6/100)

• Flavor 7/10 - The "pizza" was phyllo dough, goat cheese, caramelized onions, and merguez sausage. This was setup to be a really powerful mix of flavors, but somehow things were flat. Onions were not quite sweet enough and sadly some of the tougher skin of the onions were mixed in. The goat cheese was baked too long and lacked that pungent umph. Maybe some fresh goat cheese at the end would have helped. The merguez sausage was overcooked and really didn't have much flavor. However, with that being said, the dish still tasted good, but I know it could've been much better. Hence the 7 rating.
  
• Texture 7/10 - Again, this could have been so much more. Merguez sausage was Ok, but could've have been really juicy. The phyllo was good, but maybe something super crispy would have had a better contrast. Again, I was OK with the texture and I was not unhappy with it, hence the 7.
  
• Aroma 6.8/10 - Same old song with this dish, but I felt like it could have been more. I should have smelled intense goat cheese, rich sausage, and a little sweetness from the onions. The aroma was very toned down on everything. You could barely smell those things, so I have to give it a 6.8. The aroma was not unpleasant, but there was nothing really there and there should have been, so I had to give a sub 7 rating.
  
• Presentation 7/10 - Standard small white plate, with the sausage in the center - rims were clean. It was OK and not terrible. Nuff said.
  
• Price 7.5/10 - I believe this was around $8, so I felt that for the types of ingredients being offered it was relatively inexpensive. However, this is comparing to NYC restaurants. I gave it a 7.5, since I felt the price was pretty good for the quality.
  

Moroccan Spiced Veal Cheeks (75.5/100)

• Flavor 7.5/10 - The veal cheeks were served with a parsnip puree, harissa demi glace, and creme fraiche. Again, I was expecting much more power here and they really had the balance incorrect. The parsnip puree overpowered the dish, since it was way too sweet and masked any veal cheek flavor. Combined with the spectacular pita, the dish was more balanced and the sweetness was minimized. I gave it a 7.5 here since it was pretty tasty with the pita, but I think it should have been so much better. Could have had a higher rating, but the dish was room temperature and should have been warmer.
  
• Texture 7.5/10 - The texture was quite fun opening the pita up and stuffing the veal cheeks an puree in. Nothing spectacular, but really the perfectly chewy pita made it. Pretty pleased here.
  
• Aroma 7/10 - The aroma was definitely there and you could pick a little bit of the richness of the meat and the sweetness of the parsnips. However, I feel it should have been a little more. Still good though and hence the 7.
  
• Presentation 8/10 - The presentation was good here with the play of the white parnsips, with the brown rich meat and red demi glace all contained in a nice bowl/plate thing. The best presentation out of all the dishes.
  
• Price 8/10 - The price was again great for what you got. I believe around $12 for all that and definitely well worth it.
  

Crab Spanokopita - a special for the day - (70/100)

• Flavor 7/10 - Flavor was OK here. Crab meat was overpowered by the mayonnaise/yogurt concoction inside. The leeks were a nice touch though and mixing with the micro greens made it more fun. However, I think since the balance again was off here, this flavor got a lower rating.
  
• Texture 7/10 - The phyllo dough was light and crispy and the filling was nice and creamy. Nothing special though, hence the 7.
  
• Aroma 7/10 - There was a little hint of aroma here, but I wasn't expecting much since it was sealed in a phyllo shell.
  
• Presentation 7.3/10 - Spanokopita was in the center of a small white plate. Off of the center was small mixed micro greens with a nice sauce around it. Greens looked nice and elegant, but the large spanokopita in the center took away from the presentation.
  
• Price 7/10 - Price of the dish was around $12. Value was not great, but not bad either.
  

Overall Restaurant Experience (75.4/100)

• Food 7.3/10 - I was happy with dishes, but something always held a dish back from being greater.
  
• Service 7.7/10 - Waitress was very nice and was extremely attentive for the first 75% of the time there. However, towards the end the place was pretty crowded and the service was slower. Still relatively happy with the service.
  
• Atmosphere 7.8/10 - Standard hip restaurant with low lights, but at least there are interesting decorations. The noise level was moderate and it was an interesting mix of some hip kids dressed up to go out, to a 30 something married couple, to some 50 year olds. I did feel comfortable here and the place put me in a good mood...not stuffy at all.
  
• Price 8/10 - For 2 people, the price came out to be $100 which isn't so bad. Overall, I thought for the food we got, the price was worth it.

Closing Comments
Overall, I was happy with the experience at Neyla. It was fun to try so many dishes that had some nice concepts behind them. The flavors were pretty good all around. However, something always held a dish back from being greater. I would say if I had a large group of people, this could be a fun place to hang out and sample lots of foods. However, I would probably not go back unless I met somebody up who suggested the place. There's nothing that I saw that would make me want to go back versus trying out a new restaurant. Maybe, that's just more curiosity for me of the DC food scene. Either way, Neyla was an interesting glimpse of DC food and I can't wait to see what else DC has to offer.