Yaya Cuisine

CLOSED!!! My husband and I were down the street at Steelhead for dinner, we walked by and noticed an eviction notice on the door. Good riddance to bad rubbish!!!

Apparently, this place has closed. The website says, «Due to the poor management, YaYa Cuisine has closed.»
FINALLY!
Just in case it decides to open up again, here is my review:
To this day, I regret my choice to dine here. It was awful. We ordered a pizza for organic cracked wheat pizza and Perdaplow. The pizza was tasteless– I’d rather have one of those frozen pizzas available at the supermarket. The Perdaplow came with a hot pink looking raspberry sauce which was way too sweet — it was horrendous. The service was awful too. The servers didn’t even take away our appetizer plates before serving the main dish. They just sat there the entire meal.
Even if Yaya Cusine decides to open back up with improved management, I will never again set foot in this restaurant!

Walking down the streets of Burlingame Ave, I was starving & saw the sign outside of Yaya Cuisine: LUNCH BUFFET $ 10 (i think, i forgot)
Yeah what a deal! I was excited. The place looked cozy and adorable too with cool middle eastern music playing in the background.
I walked in to find that I was the only one inside going to eat. So I decided to eat out in the back patio. For a buffet, there wasn’t much options as I would’ve liked. Dressing/​dips bar, a meat bar & fruit for dessert. Nothing was that great. It was all a little decent, but I’ve definitely had better. I guess the best thing I enjoyed was just eating pita & hummus. One can never go wrong with some pita & hummus.

I walked into Yaya one Saturday eve with a date… we were so turned off by how tomb-​like it felt inside. Especially with STRAITS right next door… playing their live band… while we were obligated to sit through a very boring dinner. I wont even attempt to spell the food… but they tasted like goat-​weed. Dont ask me why. Needless to say… I never saw my date again after that. Lol.
Oh yeah… and Im still pissed off that Mijana (the Lebanese restaurant that used to be across the street) my favourite hang-​out place closed while Yaya stayed open.

Great Middle Eastern/​Lebanese cuisine. Ya Ya has a Happy Hour from about 4:30 to 6:30. The drinks which include beer, wine, and mojitos are half price although beer prices at $ 5 a bottle seem steep. However, there are free appetizers that include hummus, baba ganoush, tabouleh, sweet little pickles, chips, and guacamole that are delicious.
The chicken dish (the Ya Ya Nomad) was delectable shredded chicken encased in phyllo dough and mixed with pomegranate sauce. The lamb tikka kebab was good.
The host and food servers are very friendly. In addition to lunch and dinner, Ya Ya serves a brunch on the weekends ($ 17?). It also has belly dancing some nights. There is a hookah in the outdoor patio.

This place has great potential! The restaurant itself has an interesting layout including an enclosed outdoor space with an adjacent bar/​club. In the restaurant they have a live singer — in Arabic. The club was playing hip hop. So far sounds great right? Well…
The problem and the low rating is due to the food — it is horrible. A dinner entrée is around $ 15 – 20 which is reasonable… if the food is tasty. The staff is very friendly and attentive and I think that the cooks do their job… the problem is the recipes themselves really can’t be helped.
The «seafood» entrée is an odd fish-​bake. That’s right… imagine a chicken-​pot-​pie with random fish bits and shrimp with the tails still on baked in a phyllo dough pie. The chicken is also awful — molasses with the worst quality shredded chicken & again… baked in phyllo dough.
This is a great place to drink & smoke hookah. Just avoid the food.
If the owner is reading this… please please consider changing your menu… this place is so great otherwise!

As you might see, the reviews for this place have gone downhill. I went to Yaya on a Sunday night only to discover:
1) They had changed their menu two weeks prior
2) The same salad that I ordered the previous time had become a nasty combination of three ingredients
3) Our waiter (same as before) no longer felt it necessary to shave
4) They now host 16-​year old parties that MTV will attend
5) Their service now comes with a big helping of suckiness, and
6) They let you leave with a stomach full of filth.
The Biryani is like nasty porridge with little/​no meat. The Kafta used to taste amazing and now it is dry and also a rip-​off. The nomad dishes I had last time that made me like this place aren’t on the menu anymore. I had a seafood Nomad dish and the shrimp were tough and lacked any flavor.
Pretty much, this place probably was not doing too great before and had to cut down their menu for business reasons. Now they just don’t have the same pride in their work as they once did. Kind of sad, but don’t go there. It’s OVERRRRR!

I used to pass the Yaya sign in SF during the bus ride to work and became intrigued. After reading reviews on Unilocal,I was sad to find out it was closed but lucky me there’s a new location in Burlingame.
The food was just average but the service was horrendous.
#1) Our fault — we spill a cup of water. I was sure I misunderstood when the waiter pantomimed to me to throw my napkin over the half-​cleaned up puddle of water. What?!? Nope, he seriously just wanted me to eat on top of my wet napkin. I would have settled for him just removing the brown paper sheets on top of the actual table cloth.
#2) Our meals didn’t arrive for over an hour. In addition, my friend’s meal arrived 30 minutes before ours and then her salad showed up 15 minutes after her pizza.
#3) We’re patient people, all of this is tolerable. But here’s the kicker. When my meal showed up, the phyllo dough puffs were charred black on one side and the fried potato thing dark brown and hard as a rock.
This is difficult for me, I’ve NEVER EVER sent back food before. I flagged down the waiter and brought this to his attention. He told me that it wasn’t burnt and that was what it was supposed to look like and left. WHAT?!?
I’ll be a good sport. I take another look and compare my dish to R’s. Hers are dark dark brown (she confirms hers are overcooked after taking a bite)… but mine are definitely black and I take a bite and it tastes burnt. No surprise.
It takes me another 10 minutes to flag down someone else as clearly our waiter could care less. There are 2 older gentlemen who look like they run the place, I guess one is Yaya? One of them is an cute grandfather-​type guy.
One immediately takes the dish away and they both stop by to ask me how the replacement plate is. I tell them that it’s better than the 1^st and I’m giving 1star for the nice old men. After all of this, I expect the manager to stop by and talk to us but no further acknowledgment.
As a result of all this, my 2 friends and I never actually got to eat at the same time.
I really wanted to like Yaya but ended up feeling bad that I was the one that suggested this restaurant in the 1^st place.

Maybe it was the cook’s night off or something else was going on but we had dinner here last weekend and will not go back. The only reason why I gave them 2 stars is because the waitress we had was very sweet and the slowness of the service was not her fault. The décor is ok, I think dining in the outside patio would be better but it was freezing the night we went.
Food wise — yuck. My husband had the steak and it was a very large portion but the flavor was off. I had one of the nomad dishes which consisted of 3 phyllo packed «things» full of basically mush. They were tastless and swimming in way too much rasberry sauce. We ordered the baklava (excuse the spelling) and it too was swimming in a sauce. Even the Arabic tea was tastless.
Good location but lousy food and very slow service from the kitchen.

Went here today and saw a great band, Carla Blackwell, who played outside in the back patio area. The food was yummy (I recommend the salmon), the mojitos were awesome, and it was hella fun to dance around in the sun to really good music.
Cool joint. My friends and I will all be back.
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Just heard that the band will be back on Sunday, June 29^th. Woo hoo!

I have to give it four stars based on my one experience. It was a solid lunch.
We went here last week for lunch. We each went to the buffet.
There was a good selection of veggie dishes, salads, and meat dishes as well.
The price was right. Service was fine and the atmosphere is good.
I wish the bread was hot and i would have liked a small dessert option. Even ice cream or fresh fruit.
I will go back… Maybe even today…

for my first middle eastern food experience, yaya totally sold me. they offer the best of everything:
the best service (SO friendly, attentive, and courteous)
the best full bar (REAL mojitos… and everything else under the sun)
the best flavors (all sorts of spices, meld of flavors, and freshest ingredients)
excellent ambiance (i didn’t say the best because this is all relative to personal opinion)
we ordered the date ravioli for an appetizer and the sauce was like nothing i’ve had before. it was a tart yogurty and nutty combo with sweet dates stuffed inside soft pillows of dough.
for entrees, we had the seafood nomad, the beef and lamb briani, and yaya the nomad. the eggplant stuff that came on the side of the seafood nomad was delicious! all the meat was tender and tastey. yaya the nomad was beautifully presented in 3 brioche like pastries stuffed with savory rices and meats and then topped with 2 sweet sauces.
the restaurant has taken the place of the old F & A’s…previously more popular for it’s clubbing than as a restaurant. the place is extremely spacious. the prices are extremely reasonable! and the best part, yaya himself came out to greet us and ask if everything was to our liking.
i’m glad yaya popped my middle eastern cuisine cherry… because it was absolutely amazing and definitely an unforgettable experience.

Nomad cuisine? $ 7.95 lunch buffet? Sure, why not?
Of the sixteen buffet items to choose from, five are vegetarian, in addition to the hummus and baba ghannoush. We tried:
Eggplant Pomodoro: pretty sweet.
Roasted Vegetables: woah, that’s alot of garlic. Good nonetheless.
Lentil Salad & Pesto Noodles: sexy time.
Cucumbers & Yogurt: Well, you know.
Hummus & Baba Ghannoush: Hummus was otay, Baba Ghannoush was better.
Herbal Rose Iced-​tea: Loves it.
Service here was very attentive.
Then it was off to the Mac store, smelling offensively of garlic. What a happy lunch.

Ehh, not bad.
Had the mezze to start and it was good, nothing special however. It consists of hummus (so-​so), baba ghannouj (so-​so), mama ghannouj (didn’t know there was such a thing, but it was good), tabbouleh and some pickled vegetables (yum). We had the fatoosh salad and Nomad Specialty. The service was really good and the Nomad Specialty was delicious.
The salad was boring, but it’s a salad so what do you expect? Overall, the appetizer and salad we chose were OK, nothing special. The dinner was pretty good and service very good. I really want to give it 3 stars for appetizer and 4 stars for dinner, service and location.
Where is the 3.5 star button on this thing?

Excellent Nomad Style Buffet. I don’t know how to explain it but delicious and and an INSANE value for only $ 7.99. Beef lasaga, pesto noodles, grilled chicken thighs, hummus, lentils, fava beans with lamb, I tried and conquered 2 full dishes and left VERY satisfied. The guy who the restaurant is named after is very friendly and gracious. say hey to YA YA!
I think I was most impressed of the quality of the food for a buffet. I guess they have worked out their kinks since they opened, because my co-​workers and I are harsh critics and we all left very happy and satisfied.
Plus, it’s on burlingame ave, so you can catch all the eye candy of the local soccer mom’s who spend their husband’s credit like it ain’t no thang. Way hot, way sweet.

Went back here at their new location in Burlingame after having an awesome meal when they were in the SF city. Still a great service but I am convinced that they must have shortened and altered their menu. I thought they had more stuff, like whole fish, on their menu before. And I don’t remember their hummus being green.
Oh well… it’s still enjoyable though I prefer old Yaya.

We went here for brunch today and sat on the patio. The place was surprisingly empty, so we had the whole patio to ourselves. I was getting worried when it seemed like it was taking forever for our food to arrive, but it finally showed up and it was really good. I had the Kuzi, which is phyllo wrapped around lamb, rice, raisins and almonds, on a plate of tart raspberry (I think) sauce, totally delicious. At our table, there were also some kebabs and an omelette, and everyone enjoyed everything.
Great service, too – my mom casually mentioned that we were celebrating my sister’s birthday when we were ordering, and they surprised her with a lovely dessert at the end of the meal.
Try this place instead of the insanity on Burlingame Ave. and you won’t be sorry.

I have a feeling this will really be a two start joint but I’ll give three since I have only been once and didn’t have a full meal.
In any case… had the dolmas, yuck.
Negative points for the shill review down below. Only 1 review and its a brand new place? Give me a break loser. Go review other places and build the illusion of crediblity.
On a different note, this place is poised to fail. Don’t misunderstand me: I DON’T WISH IT ON THEM OR ANYONE but judging from the RIDICULOUS amounts (and variety) of liquor they were bringing up to the bar, I get the distinct feeling that they are pumping WAY too much money into this place without realizing how little they will get back. (SEE ARCHIPELAGO ONE BLOCK OVER)

Incredible food and GREAT SERVICE! I’m not sure why elspeth s. had a problem there, but I went for dinner, apparently somewhat underdressed and they still treated my girlfriend and I with the utmost respect. One of the bus boys even briskly walked across the restaurant just to open the door for my lady and I as we were leaving. Once again, food was absolutely delicious and would highly recommend this place to anyone wanting a great mixture of flavors and spices.
Update: 4÷7÷08
So I went back there not too long ago and the dinner service went down. Actually, I didn’t even get dinner. That night, there was an electrical problem but most places had their backups. I got there and things seemed normal, the host came up and greeted us. He told us it’d be about 15 – 20 min. After watching a few tables get cleaned off and looking at the minutes on the clock, I decided to see what was going on. He then proceeded to tell me that they couldn’t take any more people that night. He walked by me multiple times not saying anything. I know the food is good, but that night did not leave a good impression.

The chef from Yaya moved his restaurant from a long time stint in SF down to Burlingame. They specialize in what they call Mesopotamian-​Californian cuisine. The space they have is right on both Burlingame Ave and California Dr. Both doors go behind the Straits which is on the corner and intersect to have an outside dining area. The restaurant is decently spacious with a nice open kitchen. Since they just opened we were the only ones in the restaurant, though many curious onlookers came in to check it out.
After looking at the menu I recognized a lot of different Middle Eastern elements and we decided on the following:
— BBQ Quail with Hummus
— Small lamb pizza
— YaYa the nomad: Perdaplow Phyllo dough filled with shredded chicken, saffron rice, almonds, golden raisins, and cardamom. Served with raspberry-​cinnamon sauce. Kuzi Phyllo dough filled with shredded lamb shank, rice, almonds, golden raisins, allspice, cinnamon, and ginger. Served with pomegranate-​rosemary sauce. Makhlama Iraqi mash potato mixed with curry and vegetables. Served with salata.
— Biriani: Shredded Lamb shank, rice, almonds, golden raisin, sun dried lime, and Mesopotamia Baharat (cumin, cinnamon, cardamom, allspice, ginger, and nutmeg).wrapped in lavash bread. Topped with jameed (dehydrated yogurt) potato, and garbanzo beans, surrounded with Munsef: Shredded Lamb shank cooked in jameed (dehydrated yogurt), mixed with rice, and almonds, topped with Salata.
Phew, some of the descriptions were quite lengthy for some of the entrees had multiple components. In fact, this might be some of the most complex dishes I’d seen in a while. Everything was tasty and definitely unique in our minds. We also split the Kahi, which was phyllo dough stuffed with kamer (Iraqi whipping cream) surrounded with
rasberry sauce. The waiter and manager took really good care of us and while we were enjoying our Arabic teas, they brought over complimentary date and pistachio cookies. Great service all around.
Definitely hope they do well because not only is the food unique and flavorful, the staff are all really personable. Definitely returning to give the rest of the cuisine a roll.