Leilas

R.I.P. Leila’s. Former best restaurant in L.A. Been searching for the new, unified title holder since…

This place is closed. Sorry to see them go.

Leila has moved to Westlake Village and is now called the Pearl District. Same great food and service.

Drove over to try Leilas after the great Unilocal reviews, and today was their last day! I suspect Pearl District, under the same ownership down the road a ways, will be their new flagship gig.

Went to leila’s over the weekend. We’ve eaten here before and every time we leave happy. We had an all around awesome experience. Ambience was nice enough. a little minimal but the food and service make up for it. We had the pork belly and the tomato stack to start. We really can’t come here without getting those two things… they are our favorites. We decided to try new dishes for dinner and of course they were great as usual! We had the halibut and the filet. We loved loved them both! The purple sweet potatoes on the filet were so unique and the halibut had really amazing accompaniments also. It was light and bright but super flavorful. We were too full for dessert but will keep coming back again and again!!!

So my aunt has been coming here for over a decade and she finally took me here a while back… And finally again today.
I absolutely love this place. It’s easily my number one recommendation in the Westlake area.
The braised beef is key. It’s everything. I love it. Get it. Then get one to go and come back and get it again. The beef is tender, the pasta is perfectly cooked, and the sauce is dream worthy. It’s also my aunt’s favorite. She introduced me to it, prefacing that she has been coming here for over a decade and still orders the same thing. I can now see why. Dip the bread in it. It’s a dream come true.
Cocktails are pretty good. The ingredients are good quality but they are standard. You can essentially get them at any bar. The wine selection is pretty large — especially for a restaurant of this size.
The service is wonderful. My water glass was never less than half full. The waiter was so nice and checked on us the appropriate amount of times.
For dessert, we had the crème de caramel. I have a weakness for good caramel and this was it. I do warn you that it’s rich. But it’s also rich with amazing flavor.
I would drive up from LA to eat here. Maybe I would also make a day out of it but if I’m in the area and hungry, Leila’s is where I want to eat.

Most of the food was okay. If you want more bread and oil, they charge for it. The service was so slow. We had a 5:30 reservation and left at 7:50. Only a few appetizers and dinner, no dessert. Way too long. I don’t plan to return.
I heard they closed and opened a new place.

Reserved a table at Leilas this past Saturday for my boyfriends birthday weekend. It was amazing!
He is a really foodie and loves to try new places.
Wanted to reserve for a big group of 10 but the restaurant was having a special event so it was just my boyfriend and I. I got a very nice response from a staff member about not being able to accommodate that many people and they called back right away. That was nice.
When we arrived the place looked very romantic. Nice ambience. The attire was dressy but not fancy. Definitely a place to go to on date night.
The hostess was very nice and greeted us right away and took us to our table very quickly.
Our waitress was very friendly and knowledgeable on all the specials and menu items.
We got a small bread loaf and garlic olive oil to dip it in. It was delicious.
For appetizers we ordered the Braised Short ribs and pork belly. Im not a huge fan of pork belly buy my bf is and he ate the entire plate. The short ribs were amazing. Very tender. The sauce had a good spiciness to it. It was served over mashers. The pork belly was over crispy white rice.
For our main dishes, i had the mushroom gnocchi. Wow! It was a super filling dish with asparagus, olive oil, mushrooms and green peas, great flavor.
My boyfriend had a filet mignon with asparagus and mashed potatoes.
For dessert we got the Wonder bar which is a short bread crust with a peanut butter filling and caramel sauce on too. On the side was a salted caramel ice cream. It was like a snickers bar but so much better!!!
I would definitely recommend this place for a nice night out. Our bill was over $ 100 but well worth it.

I might’ve been the hype of Valentine’s Day, but Leila’s was one of the most romantic places I’ve dined in. The low key, quiet restaurant is perfect for a one on one date night. The ambience and service were both immaculate. Because the restaurant is more intimate, I felt that waitresses paid more attention to tables and our food and drinks were brought out in a very timely manner. I really love when I am in a restaurant and the employees are all familiar with the menu and are able to explain the items rather than give you a «deer in the headlights» look.
The food was a ⁴⁄₅. The menu was a prefix menu special for Valentine’s Day. For appetizers. we had the lump crabcakes and the 7 spice lamb skewers. The crabcakes had perfect texture and the mango salsa and lime aioli were great compliments. The lamb skewers had a Mediterranean twist with the eggplant spread. The flavors were fantastic but the texture was not my favorite. The toughness of the lamb turned me off because they were a bit difficult to cut through and chew. For our entrees we had the red chile filet mignon and the grilled salmon (swordfish style-​they were out of the swordfish). The filet was served with a corn relish that I loved; but again the meat was a bit tough especially the temperature we ordered. The salmon was amazing. The flavors were popping in my mouth and the fish was cooked perfectly. For desert we had chocolate bread pudding and the wonder bar. I was enjoying my bread pudding until I decided to take a bite of the wonder bar. I can easily say that the wonder bar is top 5 in the deserts that I’ve had. It was AMAZING. It was a peanut shortbread crust with white chocolate and peanut butte ganache, peanut toffee and salted caramel ice cream. I was in heaven.
The biggest downside to this place was the distance. It’s a bit of a drive but it was absolutely worth it. The parking was easy as was the drive, and the area was very peaceful (unlike the chaos of the city). I hope to be back to try a few more stand outs in the menu and of course– for that wonder bar!

Great Food.
Perfect service.
Comfortable, yet refined atmosphere.
Close to home.
Never disappoints.
CONSISTENT!
Our go-​to #1 restaurant.

Came here for dinner on a Friday night. The food was delicious – we had a ginger miso salad, salt and pepper shrimp appetizer, braised beef, pork chop, and cobbler for dessert. They serve freshly baked bread, which is amazing. The meal ranked up there as one of the best I’ve ever had, the food was so good! Establishment is clean and casual, I thought the two-​tops were pretty spacious. Other reviews are right… this place is a little hard to find being tucked away in a strip mall, but we managed ok.
Here’s why I’m only giving Leila’s 4 stars:
It’s too pricey. Our entrees seemed fairly priced, but $ 13 for a salad? It was a giant piece of lettuce with some ginger miso dressing on it and a sesame cracker. I didn’t quite understand the pricing on that. Other dishes on the menu were also a bit overpriced, in my opinion.
$ 25 corkage fee to bring your own wine? That’s ridiculous. I respect the fact that Leila’s has an excellent wine list and a sommelier, but some of us still prefer to bring our own wine anyway and that corkage fee is way over the top. The only people who charge that much are the big steakhouses– Mastros, Ruth’s Chris, Morton’s, and Flemings – and Leila’s is none of those. Leila’s needs to lower their corkage fee. The $ 25 corkage fee will probably keep us from going back.

This is now my favorite restaurant west of the valley and is easing my transition from LA to the 805. The lamb lollipop appetizer was fantastic. The lamb was cooked to perfection and the seasoning was mouth watering. The Crispy Salt and Pepper Shrimp was very tasty too. I had the Branzino as my entrée and that sweet corn purée was a very tasty accompaniment. My husband had the Fried Chicken Breast which was very moist and generally just a good piece of chicken breast. Quality meats, fresh produce and ingredients, flavorful and well-​prepared. Seamless service. We’ll be back.
The interior is fine, nothing special. While I was first dismayed it was in a strip mall, the interior was sufficient in making me forget where I was.
5 stars for food and service. 4 stars for atmosphere. Food is more important to me hence the 5 star Unilocal rating.

We absolutely LOVE this fine dining experience! All around! Food, atmosphere, service, wine selection and… did I mention the cuisine??? OMG! Addicted to their beet salad! I have had many, and this is by far the best! We also love their garlic dipping sauce for their complimentary bread. I like how the menu changes with the seasons. Some of their best stuff is their lobster tempura, grilled summer peaches, fried chicken, filet mignon, lamb meatballs, short ribs, wonder bar and the chocolate bread pudding! Everything looks and tastes SUPERB! The presentation is second to none! I We have never been steered wrong when we have needed suggestions for wine pairing. We appreciate Paymen and his staff for always making us feel at home!
We had them cater an event for us at the beginning of this year and they were fabulous! Professional, easy to work with and enjoyable! The food was outstanding!
If you want to treat yourself or have a special occasion to celebrate, go here!

One of the best dining experiences I have had in years !!!
First of all the music being played was all of my five-​star rated artists on iTunes (Zero 7, Chris Coco, Pretty Lights, Thievery Corporation), it felt like someone had access to all the electronica hits I love and decided to play them for the entire meal.
For drinks I initially had San Pellegrino and Firestone Walker 805 to start off with which was refreshing coming in from the heat outside. After cooling off I ordered a bottle of Sunstone Santa Ynez Valley 2011 Merlot, what a fantastic bottle of wine to compliment the main entrees.
For appetizers I tried the black pepper & coriander seared ahi which was fantastic. All the flavors of the marinated Asian king oyster mushrooms, black garlic-​truffle vinaigrette, radishes and wasabi furikake came together for a very nicely creating a light easy to enjoy appetizer. Next was their crispy soft poached egg salad including arugula, Parma prosciutto, sherry wine vinaigrette and shaved parmesan. The poached egg was really an incredible unique apetizer setting the stage for further enjoyment to come.
For the main course I enjoyed their grilled filet mignon which had garlic mashed potatoes, grilled asparagus with a cabernet demi sauce and smoked chili shallot butter. This was one of the best filets I have had in a long time. The presentation and pairing of flavors could really teach some of the large steakhouses how to present/​prepare a fillet.
For desert I was really impressed with their bittersweet chocolate bread pudding, being a fan of bread pudding in general it was a real treat to try this chocolate version. The desert comes out piping hot and has a marshmallow like softness to it, what an incredible way to end a fantastic meal.
The only negative is how far this restaurant is from my house, I would like to come back here again for another experience. If I lived in the area I could see coming here a few times each month to experience the entire menu. If the owner ventured down to San Diego I would be thrilled.

Ok
I have to say that I just revisited Leila’s and I have to say I always wanted to rate this with five stars. Well they earned it. Creative, fun, well appointed, solid wine list, I just had a great meal there with my guest.
Personal attention, excellent service, great experience. For couples and small parties if is great. Really enjoyed the experience.

Chose this location because my wife and I were in the area for a rare date night and it had excellent Unilocal reviews. It didn’t quite get me on my knees … or begging darling please.
We came super early and it looked closed from the outside without seeing outdoor seating. The strip mall it’s in is a bit odd — a casual café, a gym and a couple of boutique clothing stores. The whole center didn’t have a lot of pedestrian activity so it looked abandoned.
Walked in and it was fairly empty but the décor is nice. Looks big with a lot of tables. We had a reservation but obviously didn’t need it. The dark brown décor works well and we have the same chairs. The music selection was a bit unusual — heard a lot of U2, Tom Petty and other classic rock.
It was Friday afternoon around 5pm and the place was empty. So why no happy hour to get people in the door and save a couple of bucks on each item? I would have enjoyed seeing it more lively and everyone’s looking for happy hour on Fridays.
I was hungry and ate a lot of the loaf they put out. Like another reviewer said, it was just a plain loaf of bread that hadn’t been warmed. But the olive dip they gave you is tasty.
We ordered the vegetable salad to split which was tasty.
Even though there were wine bottles everywhere throughout the restaurant and my wife and I both wanted to have a drink of some sort after studying the wine menu, our waiter took our orders without asking us for drinks so we just drank their ice water. When the salad came, no questions about a drink. In fact, he never asked. Do we look like recovering alcoholics? Because we’re not!
My wife ordered the one vegetarian option — a stuffed poblano pepper. I had the salmon. Both of our meals were excellent.
The bill came and was lower thanks entirely to our waiter for not inquiring or promoting drinks. Seems like a lot of lost revenue for the place but not our problem.
I think we got them a bit on an off night or off hour. But I can see why the place is popular because every bite we had was delicious and the ambiance is cozy.

Did we eat at the same restaurant as everybody else???
Firstly, the bread that they put out is kindof terrible. It’s not warm or particularly fresh. But the olive oil it comes with is great.
For food, we ordered the crispy soft poached egg appetizer, the hearts of romaine salad, the seared sea scallops appetizer, the 6-​hour braised beef, and the halibut. And they were all so so off.
The poached egg was the best of the group, but it wasn’t anything special. That is NOT a poached egg. That is a soft-​boiled egg. If anybody else wants to debate this, fine. Go to any 5-​star restaurant and any diner down the street for breakfast and none of their poached eggs look like that. Leila’s should call it what it is — a soft boiled egg. Because it’s a nice egg so don’t sell it short. There’s nothing wrong with a fried soft boiled egg.
The salad was alright. It wasn’t anything special.
The seared sea scallops were SALTY. The scallops are topped with bacon so I’m not sure why they felt the need to further season the scallops themselves? Scallops have a natural sweetness to them and I think if Leila’s just used a good butter or even some sort of light sweetener for the scallops, this dish would have been better balanced with the salty bacon. Also, all three pieces of scallops were different sizes. NOT great to look at.
The 6-​hour braised beef was tougher than a twisted paper towel. 6-​hours sounds like it should be enough… but maybe we had a slacker beef! I don’t know. The beef was really sweet and not easy to chew. The pasta was fine.
And finally the halibut. OH the halibut. It came in two pieces — AS IF somebody needed to split the fish to check the temperature. Which is ridiculous, right!!! Because any chef should be able to generally tell what state the fish is in after the amount of time spent cooking it. Right? Or no? I dunno. But this dish made me the MOST upset because for $ 36, I did not expect a piece of overcooked, old halibut that wasn’t even nicely cut apart. Anybody worth half their weight in human could tell from looking at this fish that it’s overcooked. But I guess Leila’s couldn’t.
Edit: Also, all the dishes came at a strange lukewarm temperature. None of the dishes were hot. Some were a weird variation of slightly warm and warm, which is a bit unsettling. Is it a new trend? To eat lukewarm dishes?
The service was fine. Attentive without being overbearing. When we called to make a reservation, we were told to come 15 minutes early because it’s really busy. What a lie. If that’s busy, then I guess I don’t understand the English language well.

Just ate here tonight… this is a romantic place with great service.
The garlic oil the bread comes with us to die for. I ordered the risotto corn cake with unique veggies like purple asparagus… delish but a bit too fried and buttery. My sister’s duck was too tough even though she ordered it medium and it was paired with a tough grain as well.
My Riesling was great. The cheese plate was amazing even though they ran out of goat cheese… it had some truffle cheese and another creamy cheese. There were delicious spiced, candied walnuts with it.
The oysters were a bit flavorless and did not taste the freshest. The Wonder Bar had a bit too many peanuts but the creamy carmel flavors paired well with the ice cream!

Leilas is simply a great restaurant, wonderfully understated and tucked away in a small suburban strip center in sleepy Oak Park. It’s been here for years and deservedly so.
The interior space is adorned with interesting artwork, romantic lighting, and subdued color walls complimenting white linen covered tables, some of which peek into the busy open kitchen.
The food is the star here at Leilas.
Appetizer highlights: The heirloom tomato salad is a tower of cheesy, tomatoey goodness, adorned with tasty double crisp bacon and crunchy sweet kernels of corn. The crispy tempura lobster is wonderful, though the the sauces upon which the crusty-​acean sits seemed a little sweet to me.
Entrée highlights: The slow braised beef has been a long time fave of mine at Leilas. Flavorful pulled beef shares the bowl with celantanni pasta curls. Comfort food at its finest. The dish is different, but equally as good as the tender brick of braised short rib beef and roasted veggies at nearby Café 14. To me, Agoura/​Oak Park is a short rib/​braised beef mecca.
As mentioned elsewhere on Unilocal the filet at Leilas rivals the bull meat at more steak-​ey Mastros. That’s a real compliment to the chef’s selection of meat and the perfect preparation.
Desserts are not my forte, but the chocolate bread pudding is very good, though very sweet. Carmel flavored hot pot de cream was decadent with a layer of chocolate floating on the top. A little salting made the postre even more memorable.
Service is mostly spot on, though water glasses may go unfilled from time-​to-​time, and while known as a wine place Leilas has a full bar, too.
Leilas is truly one of the diamonds in the restaurant crown of the Conejo Valley.

We ate here a few weeks ago for a large party. The staff could not have been friendlier or more welcoming and they were quick but did not rush us.
We started out with appetizers: salt and pepper shrimp, oysters, crispy soft poached egg and the pork. I don’t eat oysters but everyone said they were good. The shrimp was amazing and I think my favorite. I did like the pork and poached egg as well. Who doesn’t love crispy things?!
For dinner I shared the chopped vegetable salad and had the burrata caprese rigatoni but also tasted the filet and the pork chop. No complaints all around.
Dessert: we had the apple cobbler, bread pudding and wonder bar. All were amazing and loved by everyone at the table!
Definitely would go back!