Comments on: Liliana’s: A Tale of Two Restaurants

By: Carol

Carol — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 22:26:51 +0000

We’ve dined at Liliana’s several times. The first few times we raved about it. However, we recommended going there to a large group of friends for the New Years Eve fixed menu. It was disappointing to say the least. We unanimously agreed the cost did not justify the portions or the quality. We also all agreed that we would not return. However, we again tried our luck 1/30 for Restaurant Week. For $25 I received a cup of greens/dressing with a barely distinguishable ration of Stilton cheese and three nuts for garnish; two medium size scallops (that’s correct – TWO) and two quarter size scoops of chocolate mousse. My partner had the crab cake, jambalaya and cheesecake. There were exactly three slices of Andouille and three shrimp in his jambalaya…the rest was rice and sauce. His cheesecake was 1/2 inch thick and very leathery. Sadly, neither of us ate our dessert. And, sadly – we will not be back.

By: Michelle

Michelle — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 20:31:24 +0000

We too enjoyed the excellent food at Liliana’s, but will have to say that by no means was service prompt. If I had truly been going to Liliana’s during my “lunch hour” I would have left with only having the the tasty bread and olive oil. We only ordered entrees and were there for 1 hour 45 minutes. Keep in mind it was not crowded (went about 11:45 ish), we were immediately seated upon our arrival and left immediately upon finishing our entrees (I was now running late to a meeting). Table size seemed fine, but it was not crowded, so that may be different when the restaurant is full and people are there for dinner. I will likely return for dinner (or lunch on a day off), as the food was excellent, but I would defintely not recommend going for lunch during the work week or if you have any type of time constraint.

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 18:35:28 +0000

My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed our wedding anniversary dinner at Liliana’s. I’m glad I had not read some of these comments first, otherwise we may not have gone. We were given an excellent table, near the music as we had requested. The staff considerately asked the excellent guitarist/vocalist Cliff Frederiksen to play an anniversary song for us, which he did not hesitate to do. The food was excellent. Although not as spicy as I like, it’s hard to please everyone, and when we go again I will ask for my dish to have more zing. The appetizer of crab cakes was great, and the two dishes we had were both excellent -
Andouille, Chicken & Blackened Shrimp Papardelle Pasta with Roasted Red Pepper Cream Sauce – $16
and
Roasted Red Peppers and Wild Mushrooms with Buccatini Pasta in a Pesto Cream Sauce – $14
As I said, though, next time we’ll ask for the dishes prepared spicier. Both my wife and I heartily recommend Liliana’s.

By: Janette

Janette — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 02:55:49 +0000

I came here for my birthday. While I must say the food was outstanding, the rest left something to be desired.
First, the table size was pretty poor for a party of four. Second, we were told that Liliana’s was in the process of changing their drink menu so I was left without a suggestion for a birthday drink. Second, it took probably 30-45 minutes for our appetizer to come out (a dozen oysters) and another 25 minutes for our meals once we had finished. I will take partial blame for this, but although I was asked when I made a reservation if it was a special occasion (and I informed them of birthday) this was never once acknowledged. I did not remind the server (I suppose I thought some of the gifts would tip him off) because every time he came by we became side tracked wondering where our appetizer/entree’s were. Lastly, the parking. Oh the parking. We ended up parking in a bank parking lot a few buildings away because there must have been 10 parking spots available. It wouldn’t have been too bad of walk, except the fact that it was 5 degrees out or less.

Overall, I truly enjoyed their food and would love to go back. But at those prices I would hope for more prompt service and at least a mention of a special occasion at the host stand when we checked in.

By: Mike

Mike — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 02:50:26 +0000

Oh Boy, not enough time you say ? How about an hour for lunch, 45 minutes of it spent gazing out the window waiting for our meal to arrive ? As it arrived, the waitress informed my wife to “Be careful, the plate is hot…: It wasn’t it was cold.
My chicken sandwich was fine but my wifes etouffee was a dissapointment
Did I mention that when we entered, no one greeted us or took note ,finally a waiter was kind enough to show us a seat . When we left one of the waitress’s sitting at the bar eating told a couple that were coming in the door that they were closed for lunch, boy, some people have all the luck

By: RK

RK — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 06:39:56 +0000

I visited Liliana’s today and was very impressed with the feel of the environment. I had the crusted calamari, shrimp and crawfish etoufee, and beignets. The presentation of the food was lovely as well as the portion sizes. However, I was disappointed with the flavor of the food. As a frequent traveler to the French Quarter, I expected more “pop” from the etoufee. There was not a lot of seasoning to the food which made it rather bland. The atmosphere brought back pleasant memories for me, but I am not sure that I will return.

By: Patty

Patty — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 17:41:08 +0000

I ate at Liliana’s and thought it was very nice. I think the atmosphere is very nice and we also had good food and good service. We DID ask for a 4 table, even though there were only 2 of us. But I do that pretty much everywhere. I don’t think the table size is a “Liliana’s” problem. I run into that in most restaurants.

My favorite part of the meal was the dessert. For only $4 I got a perfect size portion of Banana’s Foster. My favorite, and it was delicious.

For a very moderately priced restaurant (as well as being new and still improving) I thought it was a very nice place to go. I will definitely come back and would like to make it in for lunch… your entree salads look delicious.

Good Luck and I hope everything works out for you.

Patty

By: Kathy

Kathy — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 17:46:01 +0000

I was a first-time visitor to your restaurant on Fat Tuesday. You must have had a limited menu because the onion straws were not offered, which would have been my choice.

I had the Andouille, Chicken, and Shrimp with parpadelle past in a roasted red pepper cream sauce. It was way too spicy, which I wasn’t expecting in a sauce that doesn’t specify “hot”. My partner had the jambalaya, which he also said was too hot for him to thoroughly enjoy. We both ate a small portion and took the rest home, where we doctored it up with some milk and rice to cool it down.

We sat at a table for two, and I agree it was too “cozy.”

We left the restaurant not sure we will return.

By: David Heide

David Heide — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 21:02:55 +0000

Dear Reviewer
First, thanks for the kind words about us. We really appreciate them. And thanks for your constructive and kindly-worded criticism. As a brand new restaurant, we’re still ironing out a few kinks—and we want you to know that we’re working hard every single day to get everything perfect. Anything less than exceeding all of our guests’ expectations, every time, would never be acceptable to us.

I’ll do my best to answer your specific concerns.
As far as table size and overcrowding, we researched tables and decided on fairly typical sizes, especially for restaurants seeking an intimate atmosphere. Still, if the tables seem too small, we need to address that concern. What we are working on now is a better system of keeping the table cleared as much as possible and streamlining the plating/presentation side of things. We think you’ll notice the improvement the next time you visit us.

You may be happy to know that we’ve also added an expediter to facilitate kitchen/wait staff communications and make sure the time between courses is less. It’s one of the great challenges of restaurant management, and we think we’re getting better and better at it—but seamless, streamlined perfection is what we’re striving for.

We took very seriously the comments you had for each of our dishes you tried, and rejoice about the things you loved. But we want every dish to be perfect. As far as the chicken entree you wrote about, we have implemented changes in the kitchen to ensure that the dish is consistently as good as it was meant to be, and we’ve increased the portion size. As for the doneness of the chicken, one of the problems we have run into with organic birds is that the meat will be fully cooked to temperature, but as the meat rests the blood will leech out from the bone. This gives the impression that the chicken is undercooked, but I can assure you that no matter how long the chicken is cooked, there will still be blood at the bone. I’m hopeful that our guests’ palates will confirm that the chicken is properly cooked, even when their eyes can’t. In any event, I can personally assure you that quality in the kitchen is absolutely foremost at Liliana’s—we take your concerns very seriously.
Thanks for giving us a second chance. Every comment you’ve made pushes us to do even better, to try even harder to make every dining experience at Liliana’s a perfect and memorable occasion. We’re grateful you’ve stuck with us so far, and promise that each and every subsequent visit will be even better than the one before.
Sincerely,
Dave Heide
Owner/Chef, Liliana’s Restaurant