ala | Bethesda

“We had an excellent experience at this Mediterranean restaurant in Bethesda, MD. Everything was delicious, fresh, and beautifully prepared. A special thank you to Daniel, our server, who was absolutely amazing. His recommendations were spot on and made our dining experience even more special. Thank you, Daniel, for guiding us through such a wonderful meal and making us feel so well taken care of. Everything was excellent, and we will definitely be back soon!”

“Great food and drinks, excellent choice for Mediterranean/Levantine food. Best to go with friends in order to share and sample more of the menu. Different takes on some classics but all we tried was very good. The chicken Kevin with spicy aba sauce is a must. Good selection of pides as well. Wine list leans to Lebanese wines.”

“Ala is a unique and delicious dining experience. With creative dishes that combine the cultures of many different middle eastern cuisines, they bring the best out of so many options. Highly recommend coming with a larger group and sharing everything tapas-style, as you will all be glad you got to try more options. All the appetizers hit the spot and the entree blew our group away. A must-stop if you are in the area”

“This was my second time at the restaurant. I went the first week it opened, so this time the service and operations were much better. We got the tasting menu which seemed to be a good value- $52 per person. Everyone at the table has to get it. The flavors of the food were pretty good, although some tasted very similar and was not a distinguishable flavor with some. The babaganuche was as mediocre. The Brussels sprouts were kind of bland. The pide were tasty- we got the short ribs and the Turkish sausage. Our server seems to be new. He struggled with filling our water, getting the bottle of wine out on time. However he was very friendly. I would say I’ve checked this restaurant off my list.”

“I came here to celebrate my Aunts birthday on 06/30/26 and for the most part had a decent visit until the very end. The place is very inviting but a little small. Our waitress was very sweet and the food was good although the portion sizes were smaller than I expected . It was very different from what I usually eat so I had to get used to the taste but it was all very good. I especially liked the branzino. What tanked this experience for me was 2 things, we had brought a cake and specifically asked to get the cake brought over to us with a candle after our entrees, as it was a surprise for my aunt. There was poor communication between the manager and waitress and we unfortunately waited extra long to get the cake over, after another dessert had been brought to us, instead of bringing everything out at the same time like most restaurants do. We ended up not even cutting the cake because it has been brought out so late (not to mention there was a $4 PER PERSON fee for cutting the cake we brought) I didn’t want to dwell much on this because for the most part I had a pleasant time. The worst part was going back to our car in the parking garage across the street. The garage had apparently closed at 9. I had missed this detail because the only place that mentioned this was a small sign outside of the garage. Most garages would have big bold writing to warn you before parking there. There is a QR code to pay an EXTRA $25 fee to get your car out. I accepted defeat and decided to just pay the $25 but that wasn’t an automatic ticket to your car (because why would it be that easy)… then you had to call another phone number and tell them you want to get your car out and then they have to transfer you over to “dispatch” and the “dispatch guy” made it seem like he was personally coming out to open the gate and that he had so many other people ahead of us to service to. There was 4 different groups of people out there including my other disabled aunt and a baby. All we wanted was to get our cars and go home. After several calls, and being hung up on a few times.. we finally were able to get a “dispatch guy” named James to open the garage for us. He said he would open it in 5 min, I replied “ok see you soon” to which he replied “no no, I will open it remotely”.. REMOTELY??? That was an option this whole time??? We ended up waiting about 30 minutes outside while getting dust blown onto us by construction workers working on the road. Overall it was was a very easy to fix problem that was dragged out for no reason. I also feel that Ala restaurant should have gave us some warning about this parking situation as I know I couldn’t have been the first guest with this issue.”