Growing up with a brother in law from Israel who had his own middle eastern restaurant I grew up eating the lavish and rich recipes handed down from his family for ages. Â Falafel, hummus, schwarma, etc. Â So, with that being said I couldn't contain my excitement after reading about this new restaurant Laffa. Â After reading about it, it seemed like it was really going to be an authentic middle eastern restaurant right here in the downtown heart of Tulsa! Â well...suffice to say..what a HUGE disappointment. Â there is nothing authentic about this place except that it is in the Brady district in an old building. Â The toubulli was so salty and drenched in some sort of italian dressing and there was no parsley in it. Â Last time I checked this dish had parsley as part of the recipe. Â The falafel was bland to say the least, and the hummus was average at best. Â To tell the truth I have had store bought hummus that was better. Â So, as you can see I was quite disappointed. Â It reminded me of Cosmo, but just trying to be fancier with middle eastern dishes. Â Low and behold, it is owned by the same people who own cosmo...go figure. Â In all fairness though, the service was really great and the ambiance was nice. Â Just too many times nice places open up and the food just sucks...unfortunately Laffa is one of those places.
Review Source:I've only picked up falafel from their counter so my review is a bit limited and I can't really speak to the ambiance. Â The falafel was interesting and tasty but not authentic at all. Â If you're looking for a yummy middle eastern meal, find yourself another place. Â This won't hit the spot. Â However, if you're looking for a mostly American tasting sandwich with interesting flavors, this is great. Â My pita was stuffed with sweet potatoes (random, but good), falafel (a little on the drier side but still good), some spicy mango sauce I believe, hummus, tahini and some veggies. Â It was great for a quick-ish meal.
Review Source:For the price, this place is decent. It delivers exactly what the menu tells you. Kudos for a very witty menu, including reference to Esau's Birthright Soup...hilarious. Prices? Not so hilarious. A wrap with a side of sweet potato fries nearly bankrupted me. Not so much the weekend dive in. However, ambience was romantic with beautiful mood lighting and fixtures. A nice date place on occasion.
Review Source:Very nice spot in the Brady Art District. Food was very good and well seasoned. Some of the dishes are not your "normal" middle eastern fare, like hummus made with black eyed peas instead of chick peas but very good. Prices on the entrees maybe a little on the high side as my lamb dish had 5 tiny little pieces of lamb for $18.
Review Source:We've been enjoying Laffa on a regular basis since it first opened, and have been consistently delighted by the experience. Â Both the falafel window and the interior dining room offer flavorful dishes, inventively prepared at affordable prices. Â All of the mezze items are quite tasty, the soups and sandwiches are also wonderful. Â The bar staff has crafted a cocktail menu that is unique and inspired, and an excellent compliment to the medi-eastern fare.
The interior decor is warm and welcoming, creating an exotic and comfortable atmosphere. Â On beautiful afternoons and evenings the outdoor seating is the most desirable place to be in the Brady District. The staff has continued to improve their service and knowledge as time goes by, exactly what one would expect from a newly launched restaurant.
As a Local who lives and works nearby, I couldn't be more delighted by the success of Laffa. Â As a vegetarian I celebrate the menu with its wide selection of non-meat dishes. Â And as a widely-traveled Tulsan I offer nothing but praise for this endeavor which interprets classic Middle Eastern flavors and dishes in a modern, healthful and wholly enjoyable manner.
It's funny how some people have all the money in the world, can just start a restaurant and know nothing about the food they're serving. Such is the case with Laffa.
The owner (the son of Tulsa's richest billionaire) and his wife used to live in Israel and as a result think they know Mediterranean or Middle Eastern food, although she's openly admitted she's "crazy addicted" to Middle Eastern COOKBOOKS. It's obvious she spent little time outside Israel or she'd know more about the food she's preparing.
Let's take just two menu items that she has 'Americanized' and butchered to the point of embarrassment.
First let's start with tabouli (also spelled tabbouleh). Like coleslaw, there are as many styles as there are people on the planet (nearly), but REAL Mediterranean chefs will tell you tabouli is at a minimum 80 percent parsley and no more than 20 percent bulgar. Why? Bulgar wheat sucks up the juices, like lemon, and ruin the dishes real flavor. But not at Laffa. Tabouli here is white as the sky with specks of parsley instead of as green in color as the 15th hole at Augusta. As a result, this dish is as bland as eating paper, ruined by a chef who needs to travel. If you can't make Tabouli right - a staple of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern food - then you're not a chef. Period.
Our second example is the shawarma. I can't say this more clearly...this 'chef' has ruined what is suppose to be a beautiful and flavourful, handheld meal. A traditional shawarma is beef or chicken cut from a block of meat into thin, long shavings or chunks....NOT FINELY SHREDDED, ROASTED CHICKEN! (Go search for shawarma on Wikipedia and you'll see what a REAL shawarma is suppose to look like). Hell, I can get a shredded chicken shawarma at Taco Bell! It's called a burrito!
As a REAL Middle Eastern chef commented to me after hearing this shawarma recipe, "she's taken the chicken and destroyed its real flavor by roasting it and shredding it like it was fine tuna fish." This is suppose to be their real staple as they're selling it out a side window until midnight. It's sad they've ruined it.
Do yourself a favor Laffa, PLEASE put on the menu the fact that the chicken in your shawarma is shredded. You're disappointing intelligent people who bite into this mess and find out it's not a real, traditional shawarma.
Bottom line...the Mediterranean or Middle Eastern food served at Laffa is anything but. It's the iterations of a woman who thinks she's a chef, but simply is not. A dash of this and a dash of that a professional, commercial chef does not make, my dear.
Add to the mix the fact that the service is lax, the menu descriptions are horribly written, and the waiters really don't know their own menu and you have a restaurant that acts like they know what they're doing, but can't play one in real life.
Laffa is a laugh. It fools Tulsans into thinking they're trying Mediterranean or Middle Eastern food and it's not even close. It's disappointing area residents can't experience even near to the real thing. Sure, create your own recipes, but stay within a range so you can still say you're serving Mediterranean food. Believe me...many Tulsans actually TRAVEL and have tasted Mediterranean food and this is NOT it!
Laffa has left the Mediterranean and ended up on Mars.
This restaurant is by far the best mid-east food place in downtown. I was thoroughly impressed! The food was so flavorful. My husband had the street falafel and it was huge and tasty. I had a sandwich (can't remember the name) with egg, sauces, cucumber and cheese. I was literally surprised at how good it was when I bit into it the first time. Let's just say I will going back many times. The atmosphere was so hip and yet casual enough to feel comfortable in jeans and a nice top. Reasonable prices with lots of food. Their lemon mint dressing on the side salad was awesome too! Really, I can't say enough good things about my visit. One improvement they could make is to have their wait staff create more of a personal experience. All ours did was ask what we wanted to eat. This was my first time and I didn't know about the special or I would have spent more money to get it.
Review Source:Laffa is fairly new addition to the artsy Brady District and offers of variety of foods and drinks from all around the Mediterranean in one beautifully designed space. It's very hipster and artsy with tables in the front and back and a bar tucked away around the corner. There is a falafel counter out front where you can grab fast food to go.
I'm embarrassed to say  that with all these exotic dishes, I ordered a burger. But I was in a burger kind of mood and Laffa makes a Sultan Burger which is lamb and beef combined with a pomegranate flavored-ketchup, feta cheese and a side of sweet potato fries. Pretty damn tasty. They have plenty of exotic sounding mixed drinks (I had a Sour Grape which was more licorice then sour or grape) as well as teas, coffees and other things. I ended up with a steamed milk with ginger, clove and honey which tasted delicious and made a perfect dessert.
The music was a bit alternative and trendy (Phoenix, Monsters and Men, Air etc.) but not obnoxious and the sound level was decent. At the bar, they were playing Antony and Cleopatra on the bar screen which beats the hell out of piping in cable to me. Â Staff was friendly and seemed to be enjoying themselves which is always a good sign.
This would be a good place for dinner meet up with friends or a maybe a first date since it's comfortable but offers a lot of unique foods to sample and talk over.
It looked quiet from the outside but I was impressed by the inside since it was decorated well. Â I had the falafel and enjoyed all the different tastes but the tiny crunchy pickles on the inside really stood out as well as the sauce.
It's trendy but not trying too hard. Â I'll be back!
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