Dinner at Lyla, July 2025. They just received their star in February according to the staff.
The space is upscale and well appointed. The meal starts upstairs in the lounge with a drink and some amuse. Afterwards led downstairs to the dining room with a view of the open kitchen. The aesthetic of the space is much more reminiscent of a 2 star. I assume they are going for 2 based on the totality of the experience and similarities to other 2's I have been to.
The tables are well spaced for privacy, my only issue is that the staging table in the middle of the room is far too close to the center tables when patrons are seated. The staff had to awkwardly shimmy around as they passed through the room and came quite close to making contact with my dining partner's head on many occasions. Easily fixed with some placement improvement.
Service is a little more informal than I would have expected, but not unwelcome. We laughed and joked with many of the servers, but the pacing did start to slow down near the latter 1/3 of the meal and total time came in around 3 hours and 15 minutes.
The food itself was excellent with very few notes. I do think plating and presentation could use some refining, the most glaring example is the scallop course with the sauce just blobbed on the side, which really marred an otherwise elegant dish.
Overall fantastic experience and (relatively) reasonably priced at $303 per person with a few cocktails, no wine pairing.
9/10
by Barbie_and_KenM