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    Ya Hala

    4.2 (120 reviews)
    ModerateMiddle Eastern, Halal
    Closed 11:00 am - 12:00 AM (Next day)

    Ya Hala Photos

    YA HALA ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Casual
    Moderate noise
    Good for kids
    Good for groups

    Recommended Reviews - Ya Hala

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    Reviews With Photos

    The kitchen just steps away
    livy h.

    I love this place. The entire family does! We stop in at least 3x during the weeks we stay in London. Conveniently located just steps from Paddington Station. It's a quaint, small and extremely clean healthy food option. Its extremely clean. The entire front façade are tall, glass windows. You walk in and you can visually see all the food being made behind these glass counters. Again, everything looks so clean. The lamb and chicken Shawarma were one of our favorites. Spicy potatoes. Spicy hummus. Baba ghanouj with pomegranate. Thin Pita triangles. Ginger, apple, and mint juice. Mango juice. Everything is freshly made right in front of you just steps away. It's quick and healthy. It's a small place, so you do sit close together with all the other people eating. Not a problem. The bathroom is located in the basement down the rear stairs. You can smell the food as you walk past this restaurant. That is what drew us in the very first visit. It is always full of people. Which tells you they're on to some thing. I would highly recommend a stop here if you were in London.

    Mezze platter with chicken and lamb
    Rachel S.

    Stumbled upon here after the other restaurant I was looking for was randomly closed. Strong believer in everything happens for a reason! Was a fantastic meal that was good quality and perfectly flavored. Staff was very nice as well. Highly recommend!

    Ya Hala Menu
    Musa S.

    Very good and affordable. Large portions and great service. A definite place for dinner.

    Chicken Shawarma with various sides. Very delicious.

    Nice vibe in the restaurant. Wait wasn't too bad but the service was a bit intense. Overall a positive experience.

    Lamb shawarma plate with rice
    Angela D.

    Ya Hala is very conveniently located in Paddington. My sister and I were walking around and wanted to find an early dinner because we had flights out the next day. We saw the good reviews and decided to give Ya Hala a try. When we walked in we were immediately greeted and seated. We were given a few minutes to look over the menu and just asked for some tap water which we were happy came with ice. We ordered the lamb kofta and the lamb shawarma plate both with rice. While we were sitting we were close to the prep area where we could watch dishes being prepared. I watched for a little bit as they put plates together. They put one plate together that was supposed to be lamb shawarma (mine) but put chicken on it too. It sat up there for a little bit and when the waitress saw, told them it was wrong. So after a few minutes they took off the chicken, let it sit a little longer and then added some warm lamb on top of the lamb already there. It was about 10 minutes time from the time it was first put up until they brought our meals. By the time it got to me, the lab was really cold dry. It was not enjoyable and had no flavor. The rice was also very dry and flavorless. We drank our water and never got a refill and the waitress never came back to ask how anything was so we couldn't even say that the food was cold. I don't think I would ever return to Ya Hala if I were in the area and it would never be my first pick. It was mediocre at best.

    Lamb shawarma wrap

    I'd highly recommend this place if you are looking for delicious affordable shawarma and great service near Paddington Station. Get the lamb shawarma wrap and mango juice. It seems that they also go by the name Paramount or maybe it's the previous or new name.

    Pomegranate and Rose drink
    Diane M.

    Fabulous Place! Stopped in here on a whim and so glad we did. The best food we had during our London stay. Everything we ordered was tasty. Would highly recommend. Just a few steps from Paddington Station.

    Special mixed mezze plate. The selections might change, but everything on there was great
    Craig G.

    This tiny Lebanese diner/takeout counter offers up a big selection of tasty Levantine cuisine for cheap. With only a half dozen tables, many people seem to carry out; even at 9pm on a Friday night, the waitstaff seemed overwhelmed. While service was on the slow side, the food was worth the wait. I went with the special mezze plate: chef's selection of mezze with couscous, salad, and pita. That plate had small portions of hummus, lentils and rice, stuffed grape leaves, okra in tomato sauce, green beans, spicy potato, and thin lamb sausage. Everything on the plate was satisfying, all the better when paired with their house mint tea.

    Front of Ya Hala
    Bruce K.

    I love it when Yelp brings me to new places and new flavors and new experiences. I can't say that I've ever had "Lebanese" food before so when I was in the Paddington area but not quite ready to take my train back to Reading, I let Yelp do the searching and the suggesting. And now I have a favorite place to get a meal before getting a train! Clean and welcoming, I looked over the menu and went with a hummus starter and the Lamb Shawarma (with cous cous instead of rice). No beer of course, so I had a bottle of sparkling water instead. The food arrived almost immediately. The hummus presented nicely in a bowl with another bowl of cut up pita breads for scooping. A moment later, the lamb. A generous portion with a nice salad and a good pile of cous cous. Delicious and moist, I completely cleaned my plate. I would have picked it up and licked it if I didn't want to be thrown out. Since I was so appreciative, they gave me a free bit of baklava for the ride. (Not the usual triangle - it was rolled. Strange but good!) A fab deal for a decent price. I was stuffed and ready for the train back to Reading. I will absolutely return! It's just across the street from the station, so there aren't any excuses.

    V M.

    Oh my God best falafel in the world. Hummus amazing Chicken kabob was awesome! Lamb kabob wasn't very good Cute place Reasonable prices!

    Nour R.

    One of the best placces to eat middle eastern food it's really good salad and meat was season well and u get big portion my friend said this was best spicy hummus he ever tried and he love all the food he got will be coming back again is a different name now so I will take a pic of front because on Yelp they didnot change it

    Lena H.

    Came here twice for my late night dinner. Pretty good and inexpensive foods. 4 pounds for a wrap which was a pretty darn good deal. Delicious foods.

    Hummus & Lamb Shawarma
    Andrew L.

    This was one of the best placed we ate at the entire visit in London and some of the best Lebanese food I've had. It's located right near the Paddington station. We were able to get a seat without a wait, but it does get very busy. They seem to also do a pretty big takeout business. The food was so good. The hummus was lamb shawarma was delicious. Very smooth hummus and the lamb was really tender. I've never seen lamb shawarma and it did not disappoint. The mixed grill was great. Each kabob was flavorful and tender. The rice and salad that accompanied it was fresh. I was really impressed with the price points. I felt you got a real value for your money. Service was adequate. The wait staff takes your orders in a timely manner and delivers the food when it's ready. Overall a really great place and definitely worth the trip if you are craving Lebanese food.

    Vegetarian falafel.

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    1 year ago

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    11 months ago

    Great food and service. We had the chicken lunch special and portion was very generous.

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    3 years ago

    The food here is delicious! Next time I'm in London I will gladly return! Chicken Sharma was my favorite!

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    Page 1 of 3

    Ya Hala Reviews in Other Languages

    Review Highlights - Ya Hala

    I went for halloumi starter and lamb kebab with Lebanese couscous, freshly prepared, fast service.

    Mentioned in 4 reviews

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    Berenjak - House rice

    Berenjak

    4.4(48 reviews)
    1.9 miBloomsbury

    My friends absolutely love Berenjak, so of course I had to see why they rave so much about it…read more Definitely make a reservation, because you will not have much luck if you are trying to walk in. Unfortunately, it seems like all the reservations are for counter seating. It was fine though, since we were able to watch them grill all the kababs in their coal-fired grill! Kept it straightforward and ordered the Feast Menu, which is £55 pp. Comes with two types of bread in Taftoon and Sangak, four starters (Mirza Ghasemi, Mast O Khiar, Hummus, and Black Truffle Olivieh), two kababs (we chose the Koobideh Kebab and Jujeh Kebab), and three sides (Shirazi, Torshi Phel Phel, and House Rice). I've never had Persian cuisine on this level as all the dishes were very unique. Even the hummus tasted like hummus I've never had before. I would say that the Jujeh Kebab took me by surprise because I don't expect white meat chicken to be very good, but this was genuinely great! Service was fine, although nothing to rave about. We were handed our bread and starters pretty quickly, but the kebabs took 25 minutes for us to get. I don't know if that was an intentional decision to space out the starters from the kababs. Since we could see that they were cranking out many kababs, maybe that was an intentional decision. I don't know. Ambience is fine. Hard to feel the ambience when we were sitting at the counter rather than an actual table. Overall, I can see why my friends love Berenjak, because everything was absolutely delicious! Worth the visit.

    Stunning meal! Went in a party of 8 and so we got "the feast". It was a feast, indeed. Came out in…read more2 big sharing courses. First we had bread and dips and the flavors here were outstanding. It was very hard to stop myself from eating to bursting in this course, just knowing the main was still to come. Every dip was so good, but my favorite might have been the hummus. Unlike any other hummus I've ever tried - much thicker, really highlighting the chickpea with other nutty bits and seeds mixed in. For the main, we each chose one kebab per person, and since we had so many of us, we really had coverage of every single one they had to offer. Instead of serving the one kebab ordered in front of the person, this was served on sharing platters as well, which was perfect! These were huge and we had so much meat that everybody got to try all the kebabs. So juicy, perfectly seasoned and grilled. This course was served with more bread, rice, and bright crunchy salads with enough acid to cut the fatty meat. Plus leftover dips from the first course. Overall a delightful, rowdy, elbow to elbow and heavily laden table meal! Would highlight recommend. Sounds like reservations are hard to come by and recommend booking far in advance!

    Photos
    Berenjak
    Berenjak - Mast o khiar

    Mast o khiar

    Berenjak - Watermelon Shumpine Cocktail (~£12)

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    Watermelon Shumpine Cocktail (~£12)

    Ya Hala - mideastern - Updated June 2026

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