Cafe Layal Midtown

Love this place!!! If you love to hookah you love this place, if you don’t know how to hookah you’ll learn and if you don’t hookah you’ll eat! The food is good and is warm and inviting. The hookah has many different flavor and you can concoct your own. Other food here is good while your dining with friends while you hookah. You always get greeted at the front and this place gets packed. Parking is a pain but it’s in midtown so you should get use it to. Not! Cool place to chill and bullshit ;)

Nice place! Would defiantly come back again! However, my waiter was very slow and his coworkers had to constantly pick after him!

This is my go to hookah. This last time I was very unimpressed. There were no seats available outside. The inside was very packed and it took over an hour for someone to take my order.

GREAT GREAT GREAT place! Hookah is awesome! Food is good! Customer service is great!
This is my boyfriend’s FAVORITE Hookah spot in Houston, so we are there often! The staff is very attentive to the customers! BYOB and did i say the hookah was great? The parking is pretty good for the area of Midtown, i’ve never really had any problems.

Out of towner took Über from hotel to pick up, no pita with hummus but WORST of all I ordered a gyro with extra sauce, not only did I not get it on the side, I got none on the gyro! What good is a gyro with zero tziiki? You suck!

I have been to café layal a few times and I have never been too thrilled about the service but this most recent visit was appalling! My boyfriend and I just wanted to chill and smoke hookah. It was empty on a Monday evening around 6pm with about 7 people working there and not even that many patrons (including us). With that many people working there you would think they would be attentive… NO! We sat there for 15 mins and no one said a word to us! A few workers passed by us and Nothing!!! Needless to say I will scratch this place off my hookah options. I’d prefer not to leave ANY stars!

what a great place. The perfect hang out. Great food and service. Ali and the staff are just the nicest people. Keep it up guys.

So, I absolutely love this place! My husband and I frequent Café Layal Midtown several times a week to relax after a long work day.
Here’s what we love about this place:
–The quality of customer service is amazing. Despite how busy this place gets in evenings and weekends, it’s never difficult to get one of the waiters’ attention.
–Everytime we come in, we’re always greeted with a smile and by name.
–The owner is very involved in his business and is often seen walking around, asking customers how they’re doing, and even cleaning tables and chairs when it gets really busy.
–Vidal and Martin are just 2 of the many amazing wait staff that they have at this place!
–The food is decent and the hookahs are great as well!

Came in with a HUGE group for a birthday party. Lots of food and hookah orders. We brought our own wine and beer and Vidal was timely and friendly with all of it.
Great service, great attitude, great staff. For the amount of people in the group everyone got everything they needed. Vidal is a rock star, I would definitely do this again for a group event or just a chill night out.

The absolute best fries you have ever had in your life!!! So good you will crave them every single day. The services are a little bit slow but we didn’t mind because the atmosphere is really cool and the food was worth the wait. The hookah is not always consistent but you can always tell the waiter and they will remake it!
It’s a good option to test out for lunch because they’re not very busy.

I am so totally impressed by the service here, everything I ordered came out delicious. Appetizer sampler, beef/​chx kabob, fried cauliflower and layal eggplant (came out on the oily side). Ask for Nas, you will NOT be disappointed! Bas special hookah is SUBLIME!

Definitely has the best hookah’s BY FAR that I have ever had. The customer service was great and the refill on the coals was about every 20mins. You can bring your own bottles of wine and beer but no heavy liquor is allowed (although we snuck some in). My friends and I sat on the patio and usually being in Houston, that could be tragic but, we were there at night so it was very comfortable. I don’t know any of the prices bc I didn’t pay of course but, I would go back on my own dime too.

Parking: a bit inconvenient, but it’s Midtown. There are paid parking lots beside the café and street parking options as well.
Atmosphere: pretty lively on a Wednesday around midnight. The location definitely helps. I’ve been to the one on Richmond and it’s just not the same. There were people here with groups of friends and others who were just hanging out on their laptops.
Food: decent, but the food isn’t supposed to be the main attraction. I love the fries, though.
Hookah: decent selection of flavors, with premium flavors being more expensive than normal ones. We had the rose hookah with mint, and it was really good. The mint added an extra kick.
Service: attentive and helpful when we had questions about hookah flavors. Our waiter also came back to our table regularly to check up on us, which was nice.
Overall, it’s a nice hookah lounge in which to hang out with friends, or just chill by yourself. I definitely want to come back!

Writing this review takes me back to so many great nights out with friends that ended at this place. It really is one of my favorite hang out spots of all time.
The staff is great here. They know the regulars and they are all very friendly, including the owner. I’ve even had friends that worked here. I’m not an expert hookah like some of the people I come with so I’m not going to analyze it too much, but we usually just let them bring out whatever flavor they want and it’s always spot on. There is plenty of room here for any size crowd and they have a really nice patio. I love sitting out here during the fall and winter, enjoying some hot tea and catching up with friends.
This place gets crazy packed on weekends because they stay open very late and people tend to come here after the bars start to close (stay late enough and you may run into some local athletes here). But they are also open pretty early during the day so my friend and eye will come here to work and get things done and enjoy some fries which I never leave without.
BYOB, and they will keep wine cool for you and supply wine glasses!

This place is by far the best hookah joint in Houston.
— BYOB! I mean come on that makes your night so much cheaper.
— Yummy food and you get A LOT for the price. My boyfriend and I can split a gyro plate and be stuffed.
— AWESOME service! The dudes there are so nice and accommodating. Always a smile and always willing to go above and beyond.
— There may not be that many flavors of hookah BUT you can have as many flavors as you want for the same price.
Midtown is full idiots but this place seems to have less of that. Love it!

Everybody knows about Café Layal. But it’s so much more than a hookah lounge. The main reason I love this place: great Mediterranean food and its byob. The corking fee is minimal, m compared to other byob places. But I always stop by spec’s and bring a six pack of beer rather than wine lol. They’ll even hold it in a fridge for you. You really can’t go wrong with any food you order. My favorites: beef and lamb gyro and chicken shawarma.
I wish I could remember my last waiter’s name because he was extremely polite and concerned with our experience. But that’s something you’ll experience all the time at Café Layal.

Have had lunch here twice & dinner once. This is certainly a hookah spot with middle eastern food. Super casual, laid back atmosphere, easy going staff, and good food.
They have a patio on W. Grey and walking distance to downtown & midtown. Had chicken kabobs for lunch once, Shawirma (gyro) another time, and kufta (lamb + beef combo) for dinner. I liked all the above but the Chicken kabobs were definitely the tastiest. The rest were a bit over cooked for me. They all come with sides of grilled veggies, fries, salad, and humous. Each for less than ~$ 12.
No alcohol is served but they allow for byob at no charge when ordering dinner. I saw many with bottles of wine, and alcohol, enjoying their time, as well as smoking some hookah.
Cool spot to start your eve or enjoy a lunch outdoor in the midtown area.

Consistently the best hookah bar in Houston, this is where you come to kick back and enjoy some quality hookah. They are BYOB, play an eclectic variety of music, and have great food served by a friendly staff. Majority of the week there’s valet service but there’s plenty of parking around and in the back if you would rather self-​park. They’ve got large variety of tobacco flavors but the classic double mint apple or blue mist blends are my default orders which can be enjoyed on the large covered patio outside.
Food wise, notables include the following:
1. Fatoush salad
2. Chicken Shawarma
3. Layal Sampler
4. Hummus

This has been my hang out for years…
Last night I had to come and have a late snack and the fries with the melted cheese with beef sandwhich was so good. I have had various dishes from here all good. I’m not going to say it’s the best food in town comparable to others but the prices and food choice is great.
The great part about this place is that it’s in midtown and they have both indoor and outdoor dinning. Most of the time everyone loves the outdoor dinning since it’s right outside where the action is. Their hookah is great except for not so sure on the type of coals they use. I don’t like to smoke all the time since it’s really not that great for you health wise. I know some spots have the self lit coals and those are the worst. So just inquire if your picky…
This place also allows you to bring your own alcohol since they don’t have a drink menu. But if your a Mediterranean food lover you would know that. The staff is always friendly and they are always busy. Even though this place gets packed you never feel pressured to leave so others can dine. They really do believe in stay as long as you’d like… :)

I’m a sucker for hookah and grew up eating all the Middle Eastern food I could get my hands on so during a trip to visit a friend in Houston we had to come here. NYC hookah does not compare to Layal’s experience. From the food, to the service, to the hookah itself this place is B.O.M.B.
Get this: A hookah, baba ganoug, the Layal sampler, the mixed grill plate, and a pot of Persian tea (with a free refill!)…all for $ 50! $ 25 a person, YES PLEASE! In NY you can’t even get a hookah for that price! DAYYYUUUM.
Now lets discuss the food, please, and then never speak of it again because my pants don’t fit any longer…
Everything. Is. Amazing. Hummus everywhere, meats are moist and grilled to perfection, pita is warm, falafel and kibbi are perfectly fried, tea isn’t too strong, I can go on and on. WHY MUST I HAVE TO GO BACK TO THE NORTHEAST… WHY I ASK YOU?!
Our server, Becker, was the man. Ask for him! Tip him well!