Bala Baya

We visited Jerusalem in January this year and fell in love with the culture, history and cuisine and were thus delighted to find an Israeli gem in London. The food was SUPERB and so too was the service, really attentive, friendly and helpful. It was for my partner's birthday and when I booked I said it was for a birthday but was not expecting the restaurant to take too much notice, however, after we said no to dessert (too full) our waitress came over with two celebratory shots, telling us that she was going to put a candle in our dessert but since we did not choose one she wanted to still offer us a little something, which really made what was already an incredible dining experience that much more special!

From the moment we entered and were warmly greeted to our departure an hour and a half later, it was all perfect! The food had so much flavour and colour! The waiting staff were attentive and informative!

I love this restaurant, the food is always phenomenal. This time however, the service felt very rushed... constantly topping up our wine glasses, when they're still full... taking plates away with food still on them. It made us feel we had to hurry... I'll be back, I know this was just a glitch.

Another outstanding meal! Such exciting flavours. And not too noisy despite there being a table of 30 on the mezzanine upstairs. Some confusion over our order - with the waiter trying to deliver some dishes to us a second time - but overall a really interesting and delicious menu and friendly service.
Skip the lamb-flatbread (fatty, late to be delivered, and not good value) and invest in two portions of the sticky chicken thighs instead. Incredible!

Super small meals, not reflected in the web and the menu.
Very disappointing experience!

Nice restaurant, tasty food and very nice decor. It is a sharing concept albeit certain dishes are not presented in a way that they could be shared (i.e. one piece of potato or one aubergine cake on the plate).

Excellent food and service, with a menu full of dishes that none of us had tried before. The waitress was great and knew all of the dishes in detail. Would love to visit them again.

Great place for brunch and good choice from the menu.

I am quiete surprised of the poor level of this restaurant.
I came to London with great expctation for this venue knowing that this Chef was inspired by a very well known Chef (Otolenghi).

We tried more than 7 dishes and the only thing I could call normal was the hummus and the pitta.
For what's left, I am still nice by telling you it was a complete no sense and nightmare in terms of taste.

The hype for this place is crazy. It was a complete disaster in terms of taste, I have never experienced something like this.
I have tested several times Israeli food and this is not Israeli food (the idea of putting some jelly inside a lamb sandwich....).

If you want to save yourself money, time and your stomach, don't go there.

Our whole night was excellent. They read the notes in my OpenTable booking and wished my girlfriend a happy birthday. We were seated upstairs which I would recommend, the potato was excellent, the hummus was very nice. It's the sort of place where people are turning to the other tables to talk about how great the food is. A gem of a restaurant.

Delightful experience. Love the small plates.

Excellent food, wonderful flavours, much creativity. And very good value for money. Highly recommended

Excellent service, very pleasant staff. Food was very good.

Best pitta we’d ever tasted. Some of the food served with a bit too much sauce for our liking (very wet brick potato).

I was in a group of 4 on a Monday night and the restaurant was buzzing. The location is great in a rail bridge archway. I've never been to Tel Aviv so don't know about the cuisine, we all thought it was sweet and were perhaps looking for more spice. Unless you're a big eater, after the hummus starter, two plates per person were enough.

Fantastic flavours. Very prompt service by efficient and helpful friendly staff. Will aim to revisit next time in London.

We did the smaller tasting menu and were very impressed. A great fusion of flavours, each plate served was full of mouth watering surprises. My only feedback would be that they use a different fish for the ceviche as it was a bit tough and chewy (the mango salsa was amazing and you could almost forgive the chewy fish!) Apart from that the cauliflower was a highlight, the hummus was fabulous and the chicken was cooked to perfection! Cant wait to go back and try some more dishes.

This is a poor version of Berber and Q or Palomar. And yet, not that cheap. Food wasn't hot enough - serve on warm plates perhaps rather than cold ones. Staff very friendly. Drinks good. Just, the food lets it down. Such a shame as otherwise would be an awesome spot.

excellent food, excellent service. Fantastic Vegetarian options

Lovely unpretentious restaurant, tasty food and fantastic service. Whilst my group had an extended lunch which ran up to the end of the lunch sitting our hosts politely recommended places to continue our evening.

Our group had the set brunch & we all concurrent we enjoyed it.

Wonderful menu and cocktails. Great restaurant tucked away off union street

We had the tasting menu, which was pricey but the food was excellent. There was a small hiccup with the plates delivered and a bit of a longer wait for the final plate, but generally the service was very attentive and swift.

It was simply perfect :-) The food, the service, to book a table was really simply.

Overrated, overpriced,,, the food was not extraordinary. Not particularly delicious. Main course and drinks were especially expensive.

Lovely food and great service. Staff were super welcoming and helpful.

Really amazing restaurant. The food was fantastic!

The flavours were good, but all the dishes we tried from starters to mains were excessivly oily.

Not as good as it used to be. They have stopped refillable brunch plates, and they are still rationning the bread.

Nice buzzy atmosphere and lovely food. Service was efficient and helpful.

Amazing, authentic food. The best hummus I've had since visiting Isreal over 5 years ago! Friendly staff and great atmosphere too.

Wonderfully authentic dining. Great food and efficient, friendly service.

Great food. Attentive service. The weekend brunch is delicious and good value

Always delicious but portions have shrunk and prices have gone up over the last year.
Will try again for brunch and see how it compares

A little overpriced, service a bit inflexible, but otherwise great food.

Nothing particularly bad but generally felt like a less well considered version of ottolenghi. A number of the savoury dishes were oddly quite sweet. We had the tasting menu, assuming the dishes would come one by one but like all small plate places sadly they came out in droves, crowding the table and making the experience feel chaotic. Out of the lot I’d come back for the flatbreads and hummus

Fantastic food, although the service was lacking - half of our table received their meals 10 minutes before everyone else.

Could have been less 'background' music. Couldn't have a conversation with he rest of the table without shouting

I cannot fault the food. It was divine. The loud club music at 5.15pm in the afternoon, however, was unnecessary and totally at odds with a relaxed dining experience. The staff need better training in how to make customers feel at home. Being approached to ask if I wanted to order more food whilst my mouth was full was frankly embarrassing.

Great restaurant. One of our favourites! Food is always delicious and the service is good too. The only problem at our last visit was the noise. There were some big tables who produced a very high lever of noise and having the music on top of it meant we could hardly hear each other.

The food is amazing at Bala Baya. I love the hummus and pita and the sticky chicken is a must-have dish. The only downside to our last visit was our server pushed the lamb flatbread on us and it was our least favorite dish and the priciest at £18. Definitely don't get that dish because the portion is small and not worth the price.