Layaly Lounge

by Ted L.

Typical hookah bar/club kinda deal with middle eastern music and dancing. Kinda packed when I went. Hard to get a drink. People have fun though.

by Armin L.

One of my favorite places in the city if I want to chill with a group of friends and listen to Arabic music. Saturday nights it can get cramped especially in comparison to Horus lounge across the street. But if I were to compare the two hands down this would be my choice. If you get there before midnight you are good to go. But some Saturday nights after midnight they charge guys $10. At  2AM on Fridays and Saturdays they have a belly dancer. They also have a menu with pretty descent middle eastern food. But what people usually come here for is the dancing, the music and the company. Be sure to go with a group of people who will also enjoy the music. Oh yes did I mention Hookah? Yes they also have hookah. Definitely on my top places to visit, aside from when it get too crowded, but then everyone is there to dance and have a good time anyway. Based on the cramped quarters I would have given it 4.5 stars, but I didn't have that choice. so I rounded up, deservingly so.

by Hootie H.

Go for the borek. Stay for the music/dancing. Tip: go early and get a good corner seat to watch the action from. The dancers can get pretty crazy. :)

by Adriana K.

This place would easily have gotten four-and-a-half stars had it not been for that sneaky little number they pulled at the end. I went there last night with a good friend who'd been before. Our waitress was really attentive and really nice. She brought us each two free shots that she said were "on [her]" and she kept coming back to make sure we were having a good time, which became more impressive a feat as the night went on and the place got more and more packed. The music was fun and the dancing was great. After a hitherto excellent experience, we decided at around 2:30 am to get the check and take off. The waitress brought the check promptly, and as I looked over it, I saw that they'd added $2 to the menu price of every item we'd ordered. My Istanbul Martini (which I recommend, but know that  it's $10, not $8), had been listed at $8 in the menu, and came up as $10 on the check, as did my friend's Kir Royales, each listed at $7 on the menu. My friend's food was also $14 on the check, as opposed to the listed price of $2 on the menu, and they did the same thing with her mojito, as well as my amaretto sours. By the end of the night, we'd each had a few drinks and two shots, but we weren't hallucinating; they had either given us an old menu to begin with or were trying to pull a fast one. I remember looking at the menu and  thinking, Wow, that's not too bad for these cocktails. When I asked the waitress about it, she quickly said, "No, no it's $10. It's $10. I promise." And I said, "Well, we may have had a bit to drink but we're not crazy. The menu said $8." And she said, "No, I promise. Do you want to see the menu? I'll bring you the menu." Which she did. And lo and behold...all the drinks we'd ordered  were suddenly listed at $10 each. The most ridiculous thing about it was that halfway through the night when we decided to order our second round of drinks, my friend asked for the drink menu... and again our waitress brought out the one that listed everything at $8 or $7!! So after studying the menu I said to her, "Listen, you need to go through your menus again, because there's definitely at least one back there that has everything listed at $8." And she said, "No, no, I just checked just now. Earlier tonight I went through all the menus and they all said $10." And I said, "Well, I promise you my friend and I aren't crazy. We both remember having a menu that said $8 for all these drinks, so you need to check the menus again." Again, the waitress insisted that we must be mistaken, that she had just checked all the menus. I realized we weren't going to get anywhere, so I said, "Listen, we'll pay the check, but for the sake of your business and the reputation of this establishment, you need to go through your menus again, because there is assuredly one back there that has $8 listed for all the drinks." As soon as I said the part about how we'd pay the check anyway, she was infinitely less defensive. "Oh, ok," she said, "I'll check again. Maybe I missed one." Interesting how when she thought we might not pay the  whole check she insisted that we were the ones that had to be mistaken. The thing is, we thought she was so great and we would have given her a huge tip... but the shots that she "gave us" essentially found their way onto the tab in the $2 additions to each item. Each of those $2 increases more than paid for the four shots she brought to our table. And a 20% tip was already factored in when the check came. Since when does a party of 2 have an automatic 20% gratuity? I've heard of 18% gratuities for parties of 6 or more. I've never been to a place where they were so obviously worried about making a profit off of patrons, and I was frankly pretty insulted. It had been a great night, with great drinks, dancing, and music, and to be honest, the waitress was one of those people with whom you feel a sort of comraderie at the end of the night. But my friend and I left feeling a little betrayed. This waitress was either so concerned that we wouldn't give her a good enough tip (did we look cheap? I don't think so...) or just thought we looked dumb and naive and thought she could get away with a stunt like that. Or it was really an honest mistake, but I've lived in New York too long to believe that.  The "free shots" were a ploy to get us drunk so we wouldn't notice the price changes, and frankly, they don't really matter in light of the disrespect we were shown at the end of the evening. So, as far as quality of drinks and food and fun, this place gets 4.5 stars. But if you plan to go and they give you the menu listing everything at $8, make sure you ask for the *real* menu, because it'll show up on your check at $10.

by Tim L.

A tad on the smaller side, however you're pretty much guaranteed a good time coming here.  Relatively diverse given it's mostly middle eastern vibe, however that's all part of the charm of this place.You can come here to get your drink on, hookah on, and dance on. Although don't be powering through that hookah and trying to do twirly spins on the dance floor.  I saw a girl nearly pass out.The drink prices are reasonable and the crowd here seems real friendly, meaning you'll probably meet some interesting people given the alcohol and small space.Girls be weary though, there are also the fair share of pervs and creepy crawlies in this place.

by La Z.

Oh my sweet lovely Layaly...How many wonderful fun nights I spent there :)))))Wednesday, Thursday is live music with great singers... Friday and Saturday is a DJ night with bellydance students of Nourhan Sharif.Hookah is good, food is just OK but FUN is amazing. :)

by EJ K.

Probably one of the worst bars / lounges I've been to in NY.  Had to pay a $10 cover, which I really don't mind... but once inside, I regretted paying.  The crowd was not a good looking one... and a bit of a hodge podge group... you had 50 year olds getting HAMMERED and pushing people as they walk to the dance floor, gay Indian men belly-dancing, etc...  The owner was nice, but the place was stuffy and smelled of the hookah smoke, which I like, but it was just not properly ventilated.  I would seriously avoid.

by Namrata A.

Like the music, the hookah, and the set up.  Love the intense Arabic music, not feeling some of the crowd but overall good, and definitely not the cover charge for men after midnight.  But this is some good times nevertheless....

by Joe D.

I went with a few guy friends and the one knew someone there to get us in since there was a bachelorette party there on Saturday night. It was not crowded at all especially for a Saturday night.We had a great time though relaxing with some great quality, grape flavored Hookah, a good mix of live DJ music which was mostly a mix of Arabic dance music - very cool, and a female Brazilian dancer for entertainment.  The decor is pretty typical for a LES hookah lounge. The bachelorette girls were all dancing and got progressively drunk, but kept up their drunk dancing towards the end.  Come to think of it, its not always fun to watch drunk people sober and definitely odd, but this time we enjoyed it.  Good hookah bar to try if you get a craving.

by Nina C.

i'm not sure when this place gets packed because I remember sitting in a cozy little corner and having a little undisturbed make-out session.  The drinks and hookah were both okay.  Not sure of the prices since I wasn't "allowed" to chip in on the bill.  Good music though!