Ayla is the brand-new full service restaurant up at the Nayara Tented Camp at the Nayara Resort in Costa Rica. We ate here on one of our last nights, and considering that at home we are transitioning to a Mediterranean diet, and we recently ate at Galit in Chicago (check out my review here!) which serves very similar fare, eating at Ayla was definitely on the list for us.

The ambiance at Ayla is glamping chic. Ayla is in a very large tent connected to the concierge area of the Tented Camp, but gussied up with fancy chandeliers and heavy wooden tables. It really gives you the feeling of being on an African safari back in the 1920’s. There is also a stage at the front, and we had some chill, live guitar music playing during our dinner.

Service here was excellent, and the place smelled great from the wood-burning oven in the back. All of the food that we ate here was good. We started off with the wood-fired bread and two dips – tzatziki and hummus. Both were amazing, though we had to order a second batch of bread to soak up the abundant dips.

We also ordered the falafel, which were perfectly crispy and flavorful, and the mahi mahi shawarma.

For the mains, I had the shrimp skewer, which was good, although nothing super interesting or outstanding. Brian ordered the octopus skewer, and he though the octopus was a bit tougher than at some of the other restaurants around the resort.

Ayla is the only restaurant up at the Tented Camp, but its super pretty, chill, and the glamping vibes are strong. The lunch that we had by the pool is also prepared at Ayla, and was one of our best pool lunches of the week. Check out my pool overview here! Ayla has a lot going for it, and the truly Mediterranean dishes like the bread, dips and falafel were outstanding.