WHO’S IN CHARGE Yalla! Grill in Methuen is a labor of love for the Abourgeili family: father Jean, mother Haim, daughter Dalia, and son Dylan.

Jean attended culinary school in Lebanon. When he moved to the United States, he opened a couple of pizza shops where he also served Lebanese food.

The rigors of working 20-hour days meant very little family time, so he left the restaurant business for a couple of years. When his tenant’s pizza business failed, the family decided to start a new venture together: a restaurant serving only Lebanese food, a decision that proved to be a hit with patrons.

Trying to pin down a name, a family member finally said, “Yalla!’’ meaning “let’s go’’ in Lebanese. And so the restaurant was named.

Jean and Dylan do most of the cooking, with Haim providing backup with her specialty dishes. Dalia manages the front of the house.

Before Jean opened the restaurant last October, he tested his recipes for two weeks daily on family and Lebanese friends and further refined the dishes for two months to get them just right. He and Haim don’t measure their ingredients, they simply cook from experience. Jean told me a Lebanese saying, “Good food comes from good breath [taste].’’

They make everything from scratch, like hummus, whole milk yogurt, and falafel. The exception is makanek, a Lebanese sausage, which is locally sourced. All the spices they use are imported from Lebanon.

THE LOCALE Yalla! is located in a nondescript minimall on Route 110. The dining room is small with only 11 tables, but decorated with a modern feel.

A newly opened function room is off the dining room. The night we ate there, the room was booked by a Lebanese wedding party, and while we ate, we enjoyed the sounds of the guests dancing the dapke and beating the tabla (drum) enthusiastically.

ON THE MENU Our very knowledgeable server, George, explained the choices to us. We were then given an abundance of food at reasonable prices.

The meat-filled sambusic (small turnovers, $6) were good — fried but not greasy — with dry exteriors as if baked. The makanek sausages ($11) were a little spicy and peppery with a finely ground texture.

The Yalla Let’s Mezza! ($18) was a combination of tabbouleh, hummus, baba ganoush, stuffed grape leaves, falafel, and pita. The baba ganoush had a wonderfully smoky flavor (it’s char-grilled) with bits of eggplant. The creamy-textured hummus was very good. The grape leaves were citrusy, stuffed with rice and chickpeas. The falafel was a delight, with a very crisp exterior and a soft interior of chickpeas and fava beans. The tabbouleh salad was flavored with an understated lemon dressing, a nice combination of flavors.

We also liked the chicken shish kebob ($15), marinated and charbroiled chicken breast skewered with grilled vegetables.

The ashta dessert ($5) tasted like a delightful cross between cream cheese and whipped cream.

Yalla! Grill, 169 Merrimack St., Methuen. 978-794-1718, www.yallagrill.net.

Diane Severin can be reached at DianeAndTheBees@comcast.net.